Preliminary thoughts about 1 Corinthians

We've dug into 1 Corinthians in our ladies' Bible study.  I couldn't figure out what 1 Corinthians was about until after we started.

It's about humility. 

In that vein, I've been pondering whether the fear of the Lord is actually humility.  Have you experienced the phenomenon where people recoil from the phrase fear of the Lord, saying things like, "Of course God doesn't want you to be afraid of Him!"

I have a new puppy.  He is a delight.  I love him dearly, and I also want him to be a little bit afraid of me.  I do not want him to cower and flinch when I come near, but I want him to watch and listen to me carefully, and do what I say.  I want him to know that I am his owner, and the Boss, and he is my dog, my good buddy, and we get along much better when he realizes that it is not okay to piddle on the floor, bite my ankles, or chew my shoes.  I want him to be afraid to piddle, bite and chew inappropriately.  I want him to respect my boundaries and fear my displeasure.  We are working to teach him to go outdoors for his potty needs, eat his food, chew his toys, sit, lie down, come, stay (stay is not coming very fast), and cuddle on the sofa in the evening (that is also turning out to be a difficult skill for him to master, but with patience and perseverance we will prevail).  I think there may be some similarities between the way I feel about my puppy, and the way God feels about me.

This is why I think fear of the Lord is very much connected to, and possibly the same as humility.  Humility is understanding our place under God, in His Creation.

On Wednesday, when we were studying together, we considered the following:

The world sees humility as foolishness.
God sees humility as wisdom.

We wrote it in a diagram:

  The world                                 foolishness.
                     sees humility as 
      God                                       wisdom.

Had we not been diagramming it to show the relationship of the ideas, I think I would have said it this way:

The world thinks humility is foolishness,
but God knows humility is wisdom.

Now, 1 Corinthians is not exclusively about humility before God.  It is also very much about how to live humbly in fellowship with other believers.  Every one of the issues Paul takes up and deals with, throughout this letter, will be solved when the people involved give up their pride and surrender in humility, willing to do whatever is best for others, and to do everything for the glory of God.

Humility is also based in love, as Paul explains clearly in 1 Corinthians 13.  Love is the only motivation that can save us from our sinful pride.  No good deed counts for anything, unless it is done in love, and love is humble: "Love is patient and kind.  Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.  It does not demand its own way.  It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged," (1 Corinthians 13:4-5 NLT).

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.  Jesus told us these are the first and second commandments (Matthew 22:36-40, Mark 12:29-34), the ones that are at the root of every other commandment.  Jesus told us that if we can keep these two commandments, we will keep the whole law.

Humble before God and man.

So simple, yet so profoundly difficult.  The power of paradox.  Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up (James 4:10).  Have this mind among you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, giving up all His divine privileges and taking the form of a servant, a humble slave, a mortal human.  In obedience to God, He humbled Himself to a criminal's death on a cross.  Therefore, God raised Him up, highly exalting Him, and bestowed on Him the name that is above every other name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2).

On the night before He was crucified, Jesus washed His disciples' feet.  He literally wore the dirt from their feet on a towel around His waist.  When He was done, He said, "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.  For I have given you an example, that you should do just as I have done to you." (John 13:14-15)

Dear Lord, please help me understand what it truly means to have the mind of Christ. 

(1 Corinthians 1:16)