You Were There: (08/25/15)
By now the proud ones have been slapped in the face so many times by the message that their cheeks must be growing numb. Even so, this comes as perhaps the most direct rebuke. The only way Paul could have made it any stronger would be to completely remove the ‘if’ and point the finger directly. In truth, there is no need. Even with the ‘if’, that finger is clearly pointing. You have deceived yourselves with your sense of being so grand and wise. Your whole system of measures is off when it comes to assessing wisdom, for you have yet too much of the world in you. Become foolish! Shed that false assessment and humble yourselves before the all-Wise God. Let Him inform your thinking lest you find you have fallen under discipline far more severe than these words.
Are you embarrassed by this? Humiliated? Good! It is to your benefit that it is so. Learn while the lesson is easy, lest your Master find it needful to reteach the lesson in terms more readily absorbed.
How hard it must have been for those proud men to sit through this. And yet, to rise and leave would subject them to humiliation as readily as remaining. Truly, it is just as Paul is saying. They are caught in their own craftiness.
But, before we become too superior to these poor leaders in our own estimation, let us recognize with utmost clarity that we stand in their shoes ourselves. There, but for the grace of God, go I. There, it is entirely probable, I go already all unawares. We are all too readily deceived by our own pride, all in need of the humbling reminder of who God is and how thorough is our need for Him.
New Thoughts: (08/26/15-08/27/15)
The first thing we should clear up about this passage is that there’s no question in Paul’s mind as to the situation. Things get lost somewhat in translation, but there are two certainties implied by the syntax. First, “Let no man deceive himself” might better be understood as, “Stop deceiving yourselves!” The implication of tense and mood in this case is that self-deception has been an ongoing, repeated, even continuous action. The command of the imperative insists that this practice stop immediately. Knock it off!
The second certainty is announced by the indicative mood in which ‘thinks’ is written. Wuest brings this out: “If, as is the case”. The estimate of self is, after all, the issue in which we are most often deceived. “The heart is more deceitful than all else – desperately sick. Who can understand it?” (Jer 17:9). It insists we are fine when we are in fact well on the way towards destruction. It tells us we’re beyond salvage when in fact we are firmly in God’s hands. The heart would seem to be the devil’s tool implanted within us, constantly driving us off course and putting blinders on our moral vision. But, it’s not the devil. It’s us. We do it to ourselves.
So, with these two certainties in place, or one certainty in two steps, let us take our eyes off the Corinthians and set them upon ourselves. Stop deceiving yourself about how wise you are. As my coworker used to say, “You’re so smart, you figure it out.” That’s the last thing you want to be hearing from God. The condition is presumed to be true, and we should presume it to be true. We are inclined to measure wisdom by the standards taught us by the world. We are educated men and women, after all. We have learned well, and we have the lessons of experience to add atop our education. We can hold forth with the best of them. Our eloquence may not be so grand, but we know how to argue our case and, if that fails us, how to get our way. We know how to look out for number one. We know what’s right and don’t stand in need of correction, thank you very much. My talents got me this far, and they’ll carry me through.
Now, I’m sure that we have learned to ameliorate this tendency, or at least to keep it under wraps. But, it persists. It persists in large part because we deceive ourselves yet again. We are proud of our humility, and we fail to see the issue with that. What we need is a clear sense of our dependency. We know it. We know that apart from God we can do nothing. After all, we read that, and the wording isn’t particularly difficult to grasp. The syntax presents us with no particular challenges. It is simply stated and simply understood. The problem is that it is simply not believed. We hear it. We proclaim it to be true. But, then we go on about our business as if we’d never heard it. Really? I can’t do anything apart from God? Just look at my record! Ask my coworkers. They’ll tell you.
OK, chances are they’ll tell you more than I’d care for you to know. They may confess my genius, but they’ll probably also have something to say about my attitude which maybe I’d as soon stayed work related. You know how it is. We strive to get ahead. We have to see to it that the bills stay paid. We’ve got kids to put through college, houses to maintain. We deserve a vacation, and that needs paying for. These are the priorities that are drilled into us. And what does the Lord say about all this? Why are you anxious? Don’t you trust Me? I know what you need, and I’ve got it covered. I have no issue with you working profitably, but what is profitable, and what is profit for? Is it profitable for you to neglect your family in favor of work? Is it profitable that you gather your wealth solely to provide for your own pleasures? Where is the kingdom mentality? Where is the recognition that you are a servant of the Most High? When was the last time you asked Him for direction? Oh.
We have all fallen into the self-deception of self-reliance to one degree or another. I honestly don’t think any man, woman, or child escapes this issue. It is a given. You have deceived yourselves. Stop! You think you’re so smart you don’t need God. Stop! You think you’ve got Him sussed, and can give Him his portion, His tithe, and then forget about Him until next week. Stop! If you think you’re so wise, then recognize the wisdom of becoming foolish.
Here is another word whose strength is largely lost on us. Foolish doesn’t mean all that much to us. Yes, the foolish child can become annoying, but he can also be endearing. The foolish adult may be the object of pity or even scorn, primarily for having never grown up. But, that adult is also the life of the party, so we not only accept him, but welcome him. Life would be dull without the fool. Why do you suppose all those depictions of kingly life in the Middle Ages feature the Jester so prominently? Nothing makes a man feel better about himself than having this idiot around for comparison.
Now, the term we are translating here is mooros, which lies at the root of our own moron. Yes, this is more derogative, but it’s still something we are more likely to use in jest than as a serious diagnosis. But, there are some implications to this term which may have faded from view over time. Indeed, there was a time when this was an actual diagnosis, indicating one whose cognitive abilities stopped a bit short. This is defined in one instance as somebody whose IQ ranges between 50 and 69, in another as one whose mental age remains in the 8-12 year old spectrum. But, we don’t use it that way any longer. It’s just an insult.
What is interesting is that one of its remaining meanings is to indicate that one lacks good judgment. This root word, though, mooros, indicates something rather more severe. It bespeaks moral worthlessness. It could be taken to indicate an impious, godless person. Now, there’s an interesting thought experiment. Go wander up to your nearest atheist and declare him a moron. In fairness, it would be absolute truth, but he’d likely fail to take the core meaning. To be an atheist is to be a moron, at least in as much as both indicate an impious, godless character. I wonder how well that person would handle the implications of being morally worthless.
But, then, we could all account ourselves in that condition. We are all morally worthless in our own strength, for we are all fallen individuals, wholly enslaved to sin unless and until God sovereignly decides to cast off the chains of that enslavement. And, even then, as we know too well, we are so utterly insensible that our first inclination is to head back to the slave pits. Give me that back! I was fine. I can handle it. And, the command comes again: Stop deceiving yourselves!
Zhodiates notes that this term mooros is a far starker insult than raca, that term which Jesus called us to expel from our vocabulary. Raca gets nearer the sense we generally apply to moron – it’s a mental lack. Mooros adds heart and character, and accounts the whole as being worthless, heedless, and godless. In fairness, where Jesus rejects the one, he rejects the other (Mt 5:22b – Whoever calls his brother raca shall be guilty before the supreme court. Whoever calls his brother mooré shall be guilty enough to be cast into fiery hell.)
How can it possibly be, then, that Paul advises this condition? Clearly, this is not a literal commendation of moral turpitude. And we can be certain that Paul is not advising godlessness or impiety. Quite the contrary. His every effort, particularly in the first half of this book, is concentrated on rooting out these godless, impious practices; calling them out for what they are, and stripping away the deceiving disguises by which they have slipped into the church. I think we must find the qualifier that he applied to wisdom – in this age – applied as well to the foolishness. We might suggest that the one who measures himself by the standards of the world and thereby accounts himself wise should seek to be such as those same standards would account foolish. Why? Because the wisdom of this age is foolish before God (verse 19). They think themselves cultivated, learned, ever so clever. God thinks them crass, impious oafs. They look upon the Christian and see a poor, benighted, throwback. God looks upon the Christian and sees a beloved child struggling to grow up. Whose opinion matters?
Looking at the two verses Paul quotes to back his point, the first reminds me of God’s ironic justice. I don’t know if I picked that phrase up somewhere or have simply formed an opinion, but it strikes me that this often describes the ways in which we find God responding. Pharaoh thinks to trick the Jews, telling them they are free to go, while planning to trap them against the Red Sea and destroy them. Instead, he finds himself tricked into attempting passage across the Red Sea, only to be destroyed together with his army, while the Jews escape free and clear. We could take the parable of Lazarus and the rich man as another example, the roles in this life being reversed in the next. Here, “He is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness,” suggests that this is not the occasional bit of luck on God’s part, but a definite part of His approach.
There is another way we might understand the meaning, however. We might find it amplified somewhat when we recognize that the Greek word for wisdom, sophos, lies at the base of one of the meanings of panourgia, which we have translated here as craftiness. Another word for that is sophistry, particularly as it applies to mental gymnastics. But, where wisdom certainly has its positive application, sophistry is more universally negative. Sophistry implies an attempt to cloud understanding with clever argument. It suggests the use of intelligence for the purpose of trickery.
More generally, we can go back to the term wisdom itself. To be wise is to have a certain capacity for making plans that understand the complexities of the situation, and for putting those plans into action by making good use of the available means. This moves us closer to the craftiness or cleverness by which God catches these wise ones. In this light, we may take the meaning as indicating that God’s wisdom, being so much greater, will demonstrate the foolishness of their purported wisdom by causing all their carefully implemented plans to result in their own capture. “The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps” (Pr 16:9). For the believer, this is cause for comfort. If we err, He will correct. If we stray, He will draw us back. But, with the craftiness of the purportedly wise, it is a different story. The Lord still directs his steps, but so as to catch them, and render them as impotent as their reasonsing is useless.
The connection, then, is established. This ironic catching of the wise by their own plans is clear demonstration that their wisdom, the wisdom of the world, is foolishness to God. His wisdom is greater. His plans are superior and indeed infallible. They cannot fail. The most clever opponent, which will not be man, cannot by his cleverness cause the plans of God to fail or even to be altered in the least. It’s already been accounted for. He may allow the plans of man or devil to proceed apace for a season, creating a false sense of security in His opponent, but in the end it shall be seen that every action they undertook served to further His own good purpose. One need look no further than the cross. There, the devil was sure he had won. The Son of God hung upon that wicked device, dead and utterly humiliated. Surely, that plan that had been unfolding since Adam was in total disarray now! But, that death was not the defeat of God’s plan, it was the culmination of it. Through that humiliating death came victory. Oh death, where now is your sting (1Co 15:55)?
Moving to the second quote, we address the ‘reasonings of the wise’. Most of us grew up in a period that greatly valued reason. From the Enlightenment on through all but the last few decades, this power of reason was upheld, inculcated, valued as the highest good. I would have to question whether this still holds true, as it seems we have overthrown reason in favor of emotional fervor and mind-numbing indoctrinations. But, reason is still upheld as the evidence of human advancement, even if it is upheld by those who demonstrate it less and less. (They are caught in their own craftiness. Selah.) But, from the stance of Scripture, this term, dialogismous, almost always bears a very negative connotation. It is not the systematic assessment of facts, sifting together the available data to arrive at a valid conclusion. It is more the opposite, arguing oneself out of, or around the truth; what is commonly called rationalization.
Rationalization, it might be said, is the direct opposite of rationality. It moves us into the place of cognitive dissonance, where we find ourselves denying or ignoring a subset of the facts in order to maintain our preferred fiction. We can and do see the reality of our sinfulness. We recognize the clear and evident error of our ways. But, as we have no desire to correct these things, we craft soaring, lacy works of ‘reasoning’ by which to convince one and all that our sins are actually virtues after all. And we are our first victims. “Let no man deceive himself.” Knock it off! All of that rationalization, all your dubious reasoning done in an attempt to show yourself in a better light are useless.
The truth is that you fool nobody, with the possible exception of yourself. Even if, as President Lincoln proposed, you were able to fool some people all the time, you cannot slip one by God. He sees through the façade. He cuts through the obfuscations and misdirection and probes directly into the heart of the man. He knows your thoughts before they are formed, and you would seek to throw Him off with your cleverness? Vanity and wind! This is what you think of as wisdom, that you can ignore God? You do so at your own peril, for there is none so clever that God shall not arrange their downfall with perfect irony.
I will end with a coupling of two more verses from the Old Testament. “Woe to those who are wise in their own opinion; who think themselves so clever” (Isa 5:21). “They have rejected the word of the Lord, so what sort of wisdom do they have?” (Jer 8:9). Remember this, when those who are put forth as brilliant and capable men start to impress. Remember this, when you begin to think maybe you’re a pretty smart guy yourself. Remember this, when you think you must be something in the sight of God. Pride wants you. Pride wants to see your ego overwhelm your good sense. But, the temple of God cannot aspire to outshine God. Nor can the temple of God cause God to bow down before itself. No. The temple of God, like the Word of God, exists to exalt God and demonstrate His glory. The temple can only do so in humble adoration, acknowledging His greatness, and our smallness. Apart from Him, we can do nothing (Jn 15:5). Oh! But, as we abide in Him whose abode is in us? We shall bear much fruit to His glory.
