|
|
Pathways Through Paul
Daily Devotional
May 31
Click on verses for Full Scripture
|
previous - - - - - - - - - -
next
|
Today's Pathway:
|
In verses 26-28 we saw that Paul reminded the Corinthian believers that God had chosen the weaker and despised things in this world to confound the mighty things. Paul then writes in verse 29 that this was done "that no flesh should glory in his presence". All glory belongs to God. Isaiah 42:8 says,
"I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another."
Salvation is all through the grace of God. No man will ever be able to say that he did some special deed that earned him his redemption. The Christian's service to the Lord is all accomplished by the grace of God as well. No man will stand before the Lord and boast about everything he achieved. For every ability and talent that we have, and the very breaths that we take, are given to us by God. We saw back in the early part of this chapter that the Corinthians were following after men. Paul reminds them here that there is nothing praiseworthy about the men themselves. The One Who deserves to be followed and glorified is the Lord.
In verse 30 Paul tells them that it is because of God that they are in Christ. It was God Who devised the plan of salvation. It was God Who loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for sin (I John 4:10). It is God Who justifies the sinner (Romans 8:33). Ray Pritchard put it this way,
"It’s not your wisdom or your intellect or your memorized Bible verses that brought you to Jesus. And you are not a Christian because you are a good person or a church member or because your father was a preacher and your mother was a Sunday School teacher. Salvation is of the Lord."
Paul then states it was God Who made Jesus to be "wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" for us. He is wisdom, for Colossians 2:3 says of Him,
"In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
Albert Barnes wrote,
"Christians have become truly wise by the agency, the teaching, and the work of Christ. Philosophers had attempted to become wise by their own investigations and inquiries. But Christians had become wise by the work of Christ; that is, it had been by His instructions that they had been made acquainted with the true character of God, with His law, with their own condition, and with the great truth that there was a glorious immortality beyond the grave. None of these truths had been obtained by the investigations of philosophers, but by the instructions of Christ. In like manner it was that through him they had been made practically wise unto salvation."
He is righteousness, for our righteousnesses are as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6), but at salvation believers receive His righteousness (Philippians 3:9). He is sanctification, because it is through His offering of Himself on the cross that we are set apart unto God (Hebrews 10:10). He is redemption, because He paid the price for our sin with His own blood (Ephesians 1:7). Because of all these truths, all praise must go to God.
Paul concludes chapter 1 with a reference to Jeremiah 9:23-24, which reads,
"Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth."
If you are saved today, it is because of God. If you have a good mind and a strong body, it is because of God. If you have material blessings, it is because of God. If you have a good family, it is because of God. Every good gift that we have comes from God (James 1:17), and therefore all glory belongs to Him.
Pastor Mark J Montgomery
|
|
You Are Here: 
