The Bible Edge
Everyone needs an Edge, Believers can have the Bible Edge
I Corinthians 1:31
That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
Evidently, Paul paraphrases Jeremiah 9:23-24 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: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.
In I Corinthians 1:31 the Lord gives the church in Corinth a bare bones factual statement telling them, through the Apostle Paul, to glory only in Him. Probably that church knew from whence the quote was taken as they would have had the scriptures of the Old Testament. The first-generation believers in Christ must have had a greater, deeper, and wider understanding of the Old Testament Scriptures in that those were the only Scriptures that they had. The simple teaching of today’s verse is made much richer or fuller by reading Jeremiah’s words concerning the same topic.
Jeremiah lists three areas wherein we should not glory; wisdom, might (power), and riches. Then the prophet records three things in which we should glory: that we know and understand the Lord, that He exercises lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness on earth, and that He delights in those things. Clearly then, instead of glorying in temporal things, believers should glory in eternal things. This clarifies that which Paul succinctly states in today’s verse.
The things Jeremiah lists that we should not glory in are things of self. The things that he states that we should glory in emanate only from God, can only be of God the Lord. Meaning, if we are to glory, let us glory in the right things which are the eternal things of God and not the earthly things of self.
An Edge in life found in and throughout the Bible is this: when we glory (and we will) let us glory in the Lord for He, and He alone, is worthy of all glory. After all, that night so many years ago when the angel announced the birth of Christ to the shepherds… well Luke tells it better than I ever could… And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. Luke 2:13-14. The heavenly host gloried in the Lord, may we let ourselves do the same.
William Howe, Ph.D.
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