so that no flesh should boast before God.
God has just listed what He chose — the foolish, the weak, the low and despised — and now He gives His reason. It raises a question: why does God care so much about our boasting, and what may we still say in His presence?
The makeup of the church at Corinth was no accident. One writer separates what people could see from what God planned:
But the apostle goes further and shows that it is not only a fact among men (v. 26) but a purpose on God's part (vv. 27-29). He chose the foolish things of the world to put the wise men to shame. He chose the weak things of the world to put the strong things to shame. His judgment is clear on the very thing that always tends to capture the heart of Christians. They love to count up the wise and the grand people of the world in their own ranks, as if anything like that could add glory to Christ.
The words "in the presence of God" are the hinge of the verse. Boasting is not impossible everywhere — only there. (Older translations read "no flesh" where the ESV has "no human being.")
No flesh shall glory in the presence of God. It may boast outside. It may make its claims, glory in its resources and be proud of what it does, as long as no one thinks about God. But bring Him in, and in a moment it all withers — the boasting, the empty glory, the high claims, the self-satisfaction and the self-conceit.
The flesh must have something to glory in. What we mention about ourselves measures how close to Christ we are standing:
The flesh must glory in something — either birth or riches or intellect. But in the presence of God, neither believer nor unbeliever can glory in these things. Sadly, in front of one another we may try to lift ourselves up by birth, riches, wisdom or achievements. But in the presence of Christ we are ashamed of the very things we glory in before one another. We dare not mention them in His presence, except to condemn ourselves for glorying in them. To glory in them only shows how little we are in His presence.
How does God make boasting impossible? One writer points to the cross:
Verse 29 gives us one specific goal of God's sovereign calling and choosing. Boasting cannot live with grace. The cross withers nature to its very root, and leaves nothing for the flesh to boast about.
Jesus told of an older son who resented his father's welcome home for the runaway. One writer sees that pattern in every age:
The elder son has a natural claim; and religious people in every age have considered themselves in this position in relation to God — to a greater or lesser degree. But for this very reason God rejects them, "so that no human being might boast in the presence of God" (1 Cor. 1:29). It is surely no accident that Scripture always shows the elder son outside God's blessing. It is the sinner who admits his guilt, who has nothing to plead but what he finds in God Himself, who gets the blessing.
The same rule decides whom God uses. Gideon was hiding from Israel's enemies, the least in his father's house:
Such was the man that God visited and chose as His servant — a man who realised his utter weakness, and who said, "O my Lord, how can I save Israel?" This gives us a first great principle about the work of God in this world. God never asks what man can offer Him. The instruments He takes up to glorify Himself are the weak ones, who know their weakness (1 Cor. 1:27-29; 2 Cor. 12:9-10).
God does not only silence us. The next verses give us something better to say:
Flesh is completely set aside, and its wisdom is now written down as folly. No flesh is to boast in His presence: "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." Flesh cannot boast before Him. We are to boast in Him. But then the whole being of man in the flesh, morally speaking, has ended for the Christian. We are in Christ Jesus because of God, and Christ Jesus is made wisdom from God to us. That is the great subject here — and then righteousness, sanctification and final deliverance.
- Purpose. God's choice of the foolish and weak was not chance but design. Verse 29 states the goal He had in view.
- Presence. Boasting can live anywhere except in front of God — bring Him in, and the pretensions wither.
- Cross. Grace and boasting cannot share a room. The cross kills nature at the root, so the flesh has nothing left to boast about.
- Persons. Those with a claim, like the elder son, are shut out. The empty-handed sinner and the weak servant get the blessing and the work.
- Praise. God stops our mouth, then opens it on a better subject: we are in Christ Jesus, and the only boast left is in the Lord.
But of him are *ye* in Christ Jesus, who has been made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and holiness, and redemption;
Paul has just stripped away every ground for human pride. He has pointed to the cross, to the people God calls, and to the preaching He uses. Now he says what the believer is and has. The whole verse hangs on two phrases: where we are ("in Christ Jesus") and where it came from ("from God").
The verse opens with "because of him." Older translations read simply "of him," and the word points to origin. Everything the verse lists starts with God, not with us.
"Of him," that is of God, "are you in Christ Jesus." I am of God. And I have my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption from God, all in Christ. It comes from Him; it is not my thinking about Him. And so man is totally set aside, flesh is put down.
The four words are not a random list. Each one answers a specific damage sin has done.
Wisdom naturally comes first, because it is the point under discussion. We need it, for sin has plunged us into ignorance and folly. But sin has just as surely plunged us into guilt and condemnation, so we need righteousness. It has plunged us into contamination and corruption, so we need sanctification. And into bondage and slavery, so we need redemption. Redemption comes last, because it includes the final thing — the redemption of our bodies at the coming of the Lord.
So where does a believer go for wisdom? Not to any human teacher, and not to his own reasoning.
We may have very little wisdom of our own. Still, Christ is made to us wisdom. We need not turn for wisdom to philosophy, to wise men, or to our own imagined wisdom, for we have Christ. Christ, on the cross, has fully shown us our ruin and made God known in His love.
If righteousness is a thing Christ is for the believer, then its stability is His stability.
God has made Christ to the believer "wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" (1 Cor. 1:30). And if Christ is made righteousness to the believer, that righteousness is absolute and permanent, for Christ never changes.
Commentators differ on which side of sanctification this verse names. Some read it as the believer's settled standing, true of everyone in Christ:
Every true believer is sanctified. To each one it can be said, "because of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption." So if you are truly converted and "in Christ Jesus," you may call yourself sanctified as confidently as you call yourself redeemed.
Others place the verse alongside the ongoing work in daily life:
There is a practical work in us which is progressive. And this is the work of the Holy Spirit. Scriptures like this one have progressive sanctification in view.
Writers also warn against one mistake here. Some read the verse as a transfer of Christ's own holiness to our account:
Christ's holiness is not imputed. The only passage that can appear to resemble this teaching is 1 Corinthians 1:30, but imputation is not spoken of there. It is not possible to impute redemption. It is in Christ, and through Christ, that these are according to the will of God.
So one part of this list is still future. Yet we already hold it, and we can already see it in Christ.
Last of all, Christ is made to us redemption — "the complete deliverance from the effects of sin in our bodies." We are still waiting for it. We see this redemption already set forth in Christ; we have it now in Christ our Head; we wait for it to appear in ourselves.
The verse does not end in a list. The next words send all boasting in one direction.
We have everything in Christ, and nothing in man as such. So, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." The cross, the preaching of the cross, the call of God, and our position in Christ before God shut out the flesh completely.
- From God — the chain starts outside us: we are of God, and we are of God in Christ. Nothing here is our contribution.
- For folly, wisdom — sin left us ignorant. Christ on the cross shows us our ruin and makes God known in His love.
- For guilt, righteousness — Christ Himself is made this to us, and He never changes. So the standing is absolute and permanent.
- For corruption, sanctification — writers differ here. Some see our settled standing, others the Spirit's ongoing work. Neither one is a transfer of Christ's holiness to our record.
- For bondage, redemption — last on the list, because it reaches furthest. We hold it now in Christ our Head. We wait for it in our own bodies. Four supplies, one Person, and therefore one place left to boast.
that according as it is written, He that boasts, let him boast in [the] Lord.
Paul ends a long argument about human pride by quoting an older scripture. He does not only silence boasting; he gives it a new object — the Lord Himself.
Everyone boasts in something. One writer traces the urge to the flesh, and shows where it collapses:
The flesh must boast in something — birth, or riches, or intelligence. But in God's presence neither believer nor unbeliever can boast in these things. In front of one another we may try to lift ourselves up by birth, riches, wisdom or achievements. But in the presence of Christ we feel ashamed of the very things we boast about to each other. We dare not mention them in His presence, except to condemn ourselves for boasting in them. To boast in them only shows how little we are in His presence.
The silence is not permanent. The mouth that had nothing to say for itself now has something to say — and someone to say it about:
We have seen, in verse 29, that the work of God silences boasting in the flesh. Now the lips open again for those who willingly bow the knee to Jesus, according to the faith of God's chosen people. For those who in Christ are already more than conquerors may boast. The revelation of God's glory as a Saviour leaves His true worshippers with little but praise. But their boast is Jesus.
Some readers get nervous at the very idea of a Christian boasting. One commentator answers that worry by pointing at who is giving the command:
How complete the blessing Christ has been made to us! And what a joy that we not only may but ought to boast in Him who has so ordered and given to us! Do devout souls call on us to beware of presumption? It is the apostle himself, on the strength of Jeremiah the prophet, who calls on the one who boasts to boast in the LORD. It is therefore not rash nor wrong, but a hallowed boast. We owe it to Him, and He deserves it of us.
Paul is quoting, not inventing. One writer shows the source, and the three boasts it cancels:
God has made Him everything to us, therefore our boasting is to be in Him. This quotation is from Jeremiah. Speaking of the sad state of Israel and its leaders, he said, "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD" (9:23-24).
Boasting in the Lord rules other boasts out — even religious ones:
In what does this scripture ask us to boast? Certainly not in the state of the world! The state it is in now has made large numbers drop their old boasts about its progress. Nor do the inspired words quoted above encourage us to boast in the churches. The Spirit has pictured their declining state for us in Revelation 2 and 3, just as we see it today. Much less are we told to glory in ourselves, either naturally or spiritually.
The same writer applies this to boasting in people:
So he says, "Let no one boast in men" (1 Cor. 3:21). Why? Because we have the Lord Himself whom men crucified to boast in; and we belong to Him.
The verse does not ask for an empty heart. It supplies a better object for an appetite the heart already has:
Grace brought them all to glory in the Lord — to boast in Him! They had nothing in themselves to boast in. The heart needs something — or rather someone — a worthy object. So He is the One provided for that purpose. Anyone who boasts in people is not wise; and anyone who boasts in himself is a fool. The word boast sounds a little out of place at first. But this is the word the Spirit of Truth has used to build us up, and we do well to take hold of its force: "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." We have good reason to do so. We were once far from God, but now in Christ Jesus we have been brought near. Christ carried our sins and their judgment away on the cross, and has secured an eternal redemption and an eternal inheritance in glory for us.
- Silenced. Before God, nobody can boast in birth, money or brains. In Christ's presence those things only shame us.
- Reopened. God's work shuts the mouth, then opens it again — this time for praise, and the boast is Jesus.
- Grounded. Christ has been made everything to us, so boasting in Him is not presumption but a hallowed boast we owe Him.
- Written. Jeremiah said it first: not wisdom, might or riches, but knowing the Lord.
- Redirected. Not the world, not the churches, not ourselves, not other people. The heart needs a worthy object, and He is the One given: He brought us near and carried our sins away.