1 Corinthians 1:31

All this, he says, was done so that no one would consider himself to be something and would boast neither in himself nor in any other person, but only in God, Who has granted us such great blessings. How then do you take pride both …

Thirdly, he assigns the cause of the above when he says: Therefore, as it is written, Let him that boasts, boast of the Lord (Jer 9:24), where our version has: "Let him that glories, glory in this that he understands and knows me." For he …

That, according as it is written,.... Jer 9:23. He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord; not in his own wisdom, riches, and strength; but in Christ, as his wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

Observe, It is the will of God that all our glorifying should be in the Lord: and, our salvation being only through Christ, it is thereby effectually provided that it should be so. Man is humbled, and God glorified and exalted, by the whole scheme.

As it is written - This is evidently a quotation made from Jer 9:23-24. It is not made literally; but the apostle has “condensed” the sense of the prophet into a few words, and has retained essentially his idea. He that glorieth - He that boasts or exults. In the Lord - Not ascribing his salvation to human abilities, or learning, or rank, but entirely to God. And from this we see: (1) That the design of the plan of salvation is to exalt God in view of the mind.

Lord-- (Jer 9:23, 24) --in opposition to "flesh glorying in His presence" (1Co 1:29). In contrast to morbid slavish self-abasement, Paul joins with humility the elevating consciousness of our true dignity in Christ. He who glories is to glory in the Lord, not in the flesh, nor in the world.

WE MEET SOMEWHERE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT with the expression “salt without prescribing how much.” Beyond all question the name, person, and work of Jesus are the salt and savor of every true gospel ministry, and we cannot have too much of them. Alas! that in so many ministries there is such a lack of this first dainty of the feast, this essence of all soul-satisfying doctrine. We may preach Christ without prescribing how much, only the more we extol him the better. It would be impossible to sin by excess in preaching Christ crucified.

WE MEET SOMEWHERE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT with the expression “salt without prescribing how much.” Beyond all question the name, person, and work of Jesus are the salt and savor of every true gospel ministry, and we cannot have too much of them. Alas! that in so many ministries there is such a lack of this first dainty of the feast, this essence of all soul-satisfying doctrine. We may preach Christ without prescribing how much, only the more we extol him the better. It would be impossible to sin by excess in preaching Christ crucified. It was an ancient precept, “With all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt;” let it stand as an ordinance of the sanctuary now: “With all thy sermonisings and discoursings thou shalt ever mingle the name of Jesus Christ, thou shalt ever seek to magnify the alpha and omega of the plan of redemption.” The apostle in the first chapter of this epistle was anxious to speak to the Corinthians about their divisions and other serious faults; but he could not confine himself to that unpleasant theme; as naturally as possible his heart bounded over the mountains of division to his Lord and Master. Divisions did but remind him of the great uniting one who has made all his people one, and human follies did but drive him nearer to the infallible Christ who is the wisdom of God. Though Paul had to write many sharp things to those ancient Plymouth Brethren at Corinth, yet how sweetly did he prevent all bitterness by dipping his pen in the honeyed ink of love to the Lord Jesus, and admiration of his person and work! Let us, dear friends, if we have to preach, preach Christ crucified; and if we are private persons, let us in our household life, and in all our conversation, make his name to be as ointment poured forth. Let your life be Christ living in you.

THERE is an irresistible tendency in us to glory in something or other. All classes of men glory—the highest and the lowest, the richest and the poorest, the best educated and the most illiterate. Solomon glories and so does the fool. Goliath glories and so does David. Pharaoh glories and so does his slave. Even in the most modest, the tendency to boast is present—only its nakedness is daintily concealed. Good men glory, yes, and in hours of weakness they have gloried in objects very unworthy of their boasts. You remember how, when the ambassadors came out of Babylon, Hezekiah showed them all his riches and his stores—and no doubt he gloried while he took them from treasure house to treasure house— and opened his caskets and showed all his precious things. But it was an evil thing, and the Lord was angry with him for that glorying, and bade the Prophet foretell that all his choice vessels should be carried away as plunder by the very people whose ambassadors he had so delighted with the sight. The very first person who was born into this world was the subject of glorying and his mother, as she gazed upon him with rapture, said, "I have gotten a man from the Lord." Perhaps she even said, as the original has been construed, "I have gotten a man—the Lord," thinking that surely he might be the promised seed of the woman who would bruise the serpent's head and would prove to be both a man and the Lord. Alas, it was Cain, who slew his brother, and was a child of the serpent rather than the bruiser of his head. The thing we glory in, though it is a dear child, may turn out to be a scourge for our backs—a Cain and not a consolation. Jacob glories in Joseph's princely coat, but he wept, indeed, when he saw its many colors all turned to a blood-red hue. I say good people have the tendency to glory and sometimes they glory in unworthy objects.

THERE is an irresistible tendency in us to glory in something or other. All classes of men glory—the highest and the lowest, the richest and the poorest, the best educated and the most illiterate. Solomon glories and so does the fool. Goliath glories and so does David. Pharaoh glories and so does his slave. Even in the most modest, the tendency to boast is present—only its nakedness is daintily concealed. Good men glory, yes, and in hours of weakness they have gloried in objects very unworthy of their boasts.

According as it is written - In Jer 9:23, Jer 9:24: 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 loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth. So then, as all good is of and from God, let him that has either wisdom, strength, riches, pardon, holiness, or any other blessing, whether temporal or spiritual, acknowledge that he has nothing but what he has received; and that, as he has cause of glorying (boasting or exultation) in being made a partaker of these benefits and mercies of his Creator and Redeemer, let him boast in God alone, by whom, through Christ Jesus, he has received the whole. 1. This is an admirable chapter, and drawn up with great skill and address. The divided state of the Corinthian Church we have already noticed, and it appears that in these factions the apostle’s authority had been set at nought by some, and questioned by many. St. Paul begins his letter with showing his authority; he had it immediately through Christ Jesus himself, by the will of God. And indeed the success of his preaching was a sufficient proof of the Divinity of his call. Had not God been with him he never could have successfully opposed the whole system of the national religion of the Corinthians, supported as it was by the prejudice of the people, the authority of the laws, and the eloquence and learning of their most eminent philosophers. It was necessary, therefore, that he should call the attention of this people to the Divine origin of his mission, that they might acknowledge that the excellency of the power was of God, and not of man. 2. […]