1 Corinthians 4:3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. 4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. 6 And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another. 7 For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it? 8 Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you. 9 For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. 10 We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised... 14 I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children.Let's look at Paul's points about pride and prejudice:
- Judge not others.(verse 3)
- Judge not even yourself. (verse 3)
- All that is known is from the Lord. (verse 4)
- It will be the Lord who judges. (verse 4)
- The time of judgment will come. (verse 5)
- The time for judgment is the Day of the Lord. (verse 5)
- Paul and Apollos apply these points to themselves, (verse 6)
- Think of men only through the eyes of scripture, (verse 6)
- Learn to not go beyond what is scriptural. (verse 6)
- Never get puffed up - prideful (verse 6)
- Don't be at odds with one another. (verse 6)
- You have nothing that you did not receive - everything is from God. (verse 7)
- You are already rich and don't know it. (verse 8)
- All are equal in power. No one is above another but everyone is rich, (verse 8)
- The first shall be last. The powerful weak. (verse 9)
- Be peculiar people. (verse 9)
- Look foolish if it magnifies Jesus.(verse 9)
- Wisdom comes from Christ. (verse 10)
- Strength and honor does not come from position. (verse 10)
- Teach to train not to shame (verse 14)
These points are much like Austen's! Paul here teaches against pride and prejudice. In the eyes of God, we are all equal - even those in high positions are no better than the next. The chapter, James 2 is all about the sin of partiality. If I was to summarize all the points above it would be: No one is better than the other so quit acting like it! On a spiritual level, we are all equal. Abraham Lincoln wrote in his Gettysburg address, "our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."
Equality has nothing to do with traits, intelligence, appearance, abilities, beauty, healthiness, poverty, personality, nationality, race, gender, and any other feature common to man. Look at how we were made in the image of God: each person is one entity consisting of mind, body, and the soul.
The body is superficial - it will return to the dust from which it came. It's hue will be mere loam-colored. Taking pride in the things of the body is foolishness because those things are temporal: beauty, healthiness, race, gender, etc.
The mind is eternal, and consists of: intelligence, cognition, abilities, and other things of the gray matter of the head. The mind is of little use to mankind without a body to command. However, when our bodies return to the dust, the mind will no longer control the soul - God will. Our mind's will work for God because there will be no body to command. God is an equal opportunity employer, requiring all of us to do good work. Our mind will even exist without our brains which too will turn to dust. Therefore, the only utility our minds will have is to relate to our soul, and that's where God can be.
Our minds here are on the past, the present, and unfortunately, only a little on the future. Our spiritual minds forget the past - not looking back, live in the present - in unity with God without looking down wherever earth is, and not concerned with the future because it is never ending!
Death is the equalizer! Our earthly bodies will be trashed, and our minds will belong to God. I've yet to mention the soul. Until one is born-again, the soul belongs to Satan. He is prince of the air, and it is his "oxygen" which fills it. The atmosphere here on earth is iniquity, and the air we breath is sin. The gravity which keeps us in iniquity is the attraction to temptation. The new born-again creature has anti-gravity boots, so to speak. When Christians walk the Way of Christ, God's power offsets the attraction of sin. That is the "safety" which gets us to the prize - salvation!
When we're born-again, God emancipates our soul from Satan and adopts it as His - just as Adam was before he fell. Then God fills our soul, and the Holy Ghost of Jesus Christ lives within our temple. That temple is the Christian's soul. Our minds are the priests of our own temple. Christians are to think of the things which God wills, and instructs the body to comply. As such, the mind exercises wisdom, and is what obeys, loves, reveres, and appreciates; and it reminds the body to whom it belongs!
Thus, although are bodies are obviously not created equal, and there is not equal intelligence because gray matter has differences in surface area, all men can have the same wisdom if their body of knowledge is the same. That knowledge is Holy Scripture. Witness the stupid people who are wise enough to know that the world had to be created! Think of the scientists who are fools for believing the cosmos just happened!
We get rewards in life for abilities and intelligence. Sports figures, entertainers, and entrepreneurs are the richest and most admired. Actors have the ability to memorize as their minds inhale the words of others. They are easily programmed. Most of those people, though, are stupid. All they have is from God but they get puffed up. They look down on lesser people, even their own groupies and others who admire them. The elite are prideful people, and their actions are prejudicial of others. Just think of the popular people who think that their thoughts are superior to the thoughts of commoners, and expect us to ingest the Pablum they spew!
Guess, what? We are all prideful, and we are all prejudiced. It's not our fault. We truly have someone to blame! Eve blamed the serpent, and we must credit Satan for our pride and prejudice. He told us that we would see ourselves as gods. His prophecy came true. Gods get puffed up with themselves. We people tend to believe that our thoughts are greater than God's, and our will more important than the will of God. Even our wills are gifts from God. We received that faculty when he endowed with His image. In the beginning, Adam's will was God's will. Sin broke that communion, and mankind has been in disharmony ever since!
Many who judge others regarding their prides and prejudices are the most prideful and prejudiced. Just look at how popular it is for political correctness, and how prejudiced people are of those who do what is correct in God's eyes! They puff themselves up as gods!
Like the addict, we follow the will of Satan. Dope is their devil. Pride is our addiction. We all our prideful, and we all our prejudiced. Just look at the left which seeks special treatment for minorities. They propagate the notion that lesser people can't make it without them! Like the open classroom concept, liberals put blacks and other minorities in the low-level classes where the teacher must give them special help, and more attention as a pretense of making them equal. Treating people as if they are stupid doesn't make them smarter; they are done great injustice.
The fact is that we are not all created equal. I don't mean that to be puffed up or prejudiced. However, we were all created spiritually equal, but that was with equal chances, not equal spiritual outcomes. Lincoln was speaking of the physical but was wrong. I speak of spiritual equality without regard to appearance nor intelligence.
In the Kingdom of God, the least will be first, and the greater last. If we look at the handicapped black lady who loves others and God, she will be in heaven. Not to judge, but unless things change, Miley Cyrus is destined for eternal damnation. They both have equal opportunity in God's eyes, but it's up to them, and them alone, to work out there own salvation with God.
Miley sings well, and memorizes her lines proficiently. The typical distraught downtrodden person may sing off-key and forgets where he or she lays their Bible, but they have the sort of meekness which is wisdom. The downtrodden have more faith in God because they don't have the things of the world.
Miley Cyrus must submit, and be willing to give up her witches. She is the rich young girl who surely won't give up riches for eternal life. The old lady with little has little to give up. In her meekness, the world will be hers someday! The world won't give it to her, but God will. She will reign with God on earth in New Jerusalem!
We dislike people, usually not because they look different, but because their beliefs are different. I despise Miley Cyrus's culture (or lack thereof) but like God, my desire is that none should perish. Christians must pray for Miley and those like her. I may not like the rap scene and the jive, but God loves the rappers and those who jive too. To think otherwise is to puff myself up. He wants that none should perish, and so should we! Who you see is of little importance; only their souls. One soul is equal to another, and our duty is for our minds to be of one accord!
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