The wisdom of men can shipwreck the faith and Gospel fruit of any body of believers. This is what was occurring in the Corinthian church as they were extolling the giftings and personalities of their favorite church leaders (i.e., the Apostles) that they preferred. This misappropriation of glory was the source of factionalism in the church they had divided the congregation into four groups, "...I follow Paul,' or 'I follow Apollos,' or 'I follow Cephas,' or 'I follow Christ'" (1 Cor 1:12). In response to this error, Paul labored to use these questions to re-establish Biblical truth in the first 3 chapters of his (1st) letter:

· What is the difference between the wisdom of God vs the wisdom of men?

· What is the true foundation of Jesus Christ and his teaching? And how is church doctrine and living built on that substructure?

· How is the operation of worldly wisdom (of men) in the church ruinous? How does it destroy the work of the Gospel and our witness to the world?

· What is a servant of God? Do the congregants owe glory to the Apostles or to God?

Throughout his exhortations on these questions, he has used office of the Apostles as a model of the kind of attitude and service the Christian should imitate and submit to by the wisdom of God. Having dealt with the issue of right judgements and faithfulness (1 Cor 4:1-5), he now confronts pride that is propping up human supremacy and self-righteousness which is the root of the division plaguing the Corinthian church.

Focus Scripture: 1 Corinthians 4:6-8
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