1 Corinthians 4:6

Scripture: 1 Cor. 4:6 I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another.
Teaching: In these past few chapters, Paul has been admonishing the Corinthians for setting up divisions in their church, particularly surrounding which apostle they followed. Here in verse 6, Paul says that he has highlighted this apostolic division as emblematic of a greater issue in the Church – their Greek culture was overshadowing their new life in Christ. Despite being in Christ, they were determined to be Greek to the core, valuing what Greek society told them to value rather than what Christ told them to value. Hence, Paul adds in verse 6 that all this teaching was for them to “learn...not to go beyond what is written.”
Going beyond what is written means not just overstepping the boundaries of Scripture (which are there to encourage good living and God-honoring), but even more so, assigning value to things that Scripture does not value. In the case of the Corinthians, they were valuing wealth, status, living for the present, and cultural honor when Scripture values sacrifice, love, eternal perspective, and brotherhood, to name a few. Such boasting, or being “puffed up” as Paul says, was leading to divisions far greater than just who follows Apollos or Paul – these two apostles were merely being held up as figure-heads representing a greater set of errant beliefs, like a flag for a nation or group.
Takeaway: Ideological lines are often the starkest divisions in our world. What we truly believe is what dominates our thoughts, provides a compass for our decisions, and, thus, motivates our actions. The Bible teaches heavily on idolatry because idolatry is setting anything or anyone at the center of our worship (our thoughts, our ideas, our desires, our hopes, etc.) other than the Lord. When we do that, that thing dominates our thoughts and motivates our actions. It is the compass by which we find our own true north. In the case of the Corinthians, they had a Greek, pagan, and idolatrous ideology that ruled their minds and overshadowed their living for Christ. Rather than setting Christ at the center of their hearts and minds, and testing new ideas/thoughts/actions by asking “Is this of Christ?”, they had Greek culture at their center and thus would test things by asking, “Is this of Greek culture?” The difference in those questions cannot be overstated. When we live to conform to our lives Christ, our lives will look drastically different than when we live to conform to culture or worldly ideologies. We make the same errors today in Western and American culture, in some cases being motivated to conform to what is Western or American rather than what is of Christ. We “exceed what is written” by valuing a Church or a “Christian” way of living that is actually more emblematic of our American culture than of Christ. None of us is perfect, but our aim should always be to ask ourselves when faced with decisions or new ideas, “Is this of Christ?” and if not, turn from it.
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