So that let no one boast in men; for all things are yours.
Paul closes a long correction of party spirit at Corinth with a command: stop boasting in men. His cure is not a lower view of their teachers but a far bigger view of what already belongs to them.
The problem at Corinth was not that Paul, Apollos and Cephas were unworthy, but that believers had lined up behind favourites. One writer names the fault precisely:
So in 1 Corinthians the apostle meets an unspiritual preference for one servant of Christ over another. It was unspiritual because it shut the others out. Against it he presses the broad and blessed truth, "All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas." What Paul rebuked was a sectarian spirit about those who ministered.
The ban on boasting is not limited to bad leaders. It reaches the finest of them:
Let us not glory in men. Some of those in whom the Corinthians had been glorying may have been men of a very poor kind. But let us not glory in the best of men. On the one hand, no man is worth it, as 1 Corinthians 1 showed us. On the other hand, as emphasised here, grace has given us a place which should put us far above glorying in a mere man.
Choosing a name to rally under does not enlarge a believer's portion. It shrinks it.
Taking up the apostle's figure, those who said they were of Paul lost Apollos and Cephas. Those who said they were of Cephas lost Paul and Apollos. Why not benefit by all the gifts an ascended Lord has seen fit to give to His church? The church is a whole.
There is something worse than a narrowed portion.
So we as Christians are warned against glorying in men. To do so would put us in the false position of seeming to belong to those we glory in. As Christians we do not belong to men. All things belong to us, in the sense that we belong to Christ and are set above them all. The Corinthians were lining up under certain teachers as if they belonged to different gifted men. No, says the Apostle, they all belong to you.
"All things are yours" sounds too large to be literal. The next two verses trace it back through a chain of ownership.
How are they ours? Verse 23 answers that. They are ours because we are Christ's, and Christ is God's. All things are God's. No one can dispute that, and there we begin. But then God has His Christ, who is the Heir of all things. And, most wonderful to say, Christ plans to take real hold of His mighty possessions by putting His own people in possession of them.
The same reasoning explains a strange reversal. Those who own nothing in this world own everything.
The wealth of the world passes into the hands of the people of God. People outside of Christ have a right to nothing, and so they own nothing. In the end that is how it will turn out. Those who go out of the world as pilgrims still carry all the good of the world with them. The world that wants to enjoy it must hand it over to them. To him who belongs to the world the world cannot belong.
The list that follows in verse 22 includes things no one would call an asset.
While we belong to no one but Christ, all things belong to us. "Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas," and so on. They are all in the place of servants to us, no longer as masters. Even death itself has lost the mastery. It is now to the believer, not a master, but a messenger of peace — his servant. It can no longer look on me as its prey; the world can no longer say I am its own.
The passage ends by turning ownership the other way. One writer warns against improving on it.
Before we reach the striking statement at the end, we are told, "All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours." Popular Christianity would crown this glorious wealth by saying, "And best of all, Christ is yours." But the Scripture does not say that at all. What it says is, "YOU ARE CHRIST'S, and Christ is God's."
- Cause. The boasting Paul rebukes is party spirit: preferring one servant of Christ so much that the rest are shut out.
- Cost. A party never adds; it subtracts. Claiming Paul loses you Apollos and Cephas, and it puts you in the false position of belonging to a man.
- Ground. All things are God's. God has given all to Christ the Heir, and Christ puts His people in possession. The chain runs God, Christ, you, all things.
- Reach. The list spares nothing: teachers, the world, life, death, present and future. Each one is demoted from master to servant.
- Result. The order is never reversed. Scripture does not end with "Christ is yours" but with "you are Christ's" — which is exactly why nothing else may own you.
Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or [the] world, or life, or death, or things present, or things coming, all are yours;
Paul ends his rebuke of the Corinthians' party spirit with a startling list: their teachers, the world, life, death, and all of time belong to them. How could quarrelling believers own such a list — and why did naming it cure their boasting in men?
The rebuke works by ownership. Attaching yourself to a favourite teacher makes you his; the truth runs the other way.
As Christians, then, we are warned against boasting in men. To do so would put us in the false position of belonging to the men we boast in. As Christians we do not belong to men. All things belong to us, in the sense that we are set above everything because we belong to Christ. The Corinthians were lining themselves up under certain teachers, as if they belonged to different gifted men. No, says the Apostle, they all belong to you.
When a teacher treats believers as his own following, jealousy follows. And the people lose the gifts God gave them through others.
Suppose that in our relationship to the Church of God we treat any people as our people. Then we will always be jealous about them. We will always be afraid of their listening to anybody but ourselves. We will always be anxious to shape their opinions to fit our own, perhaps very narrow, minds. In any case, no man — I do not care how great he is — no man has all the gifts... All things are ours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas. So anything that hinders the working of all the gifts God gives for God's people is false in principle.
Cephas is Peter. Naming him to readers who were not Jews carries its own point.
Writing to non-Jews, he wants them to know that they have the same interest in what Peter taught as in the words of their own God-inspired apostle. For Peter, the apostle to the Jews, was, like his "beloved brother Paul," a minister of Christ.
The world is on the list as well. The reason lies in Christ's victory, not in any advantage we hold now.
The Lord's chosen servants are not the only possession of His saints. The world too, and all it contains, is theirs, for Jesus has overcome the world... He is already crowned on high with all dominion. But so far He has only claimed this world; He has not yet enforced that claim... For this very reason, those whom the Spirit leads keep away from the world and its honours until its rightful owner comes.
Death appears on the list of a Christian's assets. What altered its standing was Christ's victory.
Christ's victory has completely changed how death looks to His believing people. It is no longer "the king of terrors" (Job 18:14) to us. On the contrary, death is ours, as the rejoicing apostle tells us in 1 Cor. 3:21-22. In other words, it is a servant that serves for our blessing.
More than my own dying is meant. Death as God has used it belongs to me as well.
Death is mine in the highest sense; not merely in the lower sense, that, as it is appointed to men once to die, I may have to die; but, in the highest sense, Death is mine; for death itself, in the divine use of it — in the way God has used it — has been, and is marvellously mine, my own: my boast and my song.
Owning the present does not promise pleasant circumstances. It means holding a claim over them.
For the believer who wants to walk godly in Christ Jesus, present things are more often painful than pleasant. Yet he carries peace within him, and by faith he already holds immortality and glory. While he suffers the troubles allotted to him, he knows that all things work together for his good... The man without Christ holds only an uncertain allowance from time. The believer holds the earth and all its fullness by his Redeemer's title.
The next verse gives the reason. Follow the ownership upward, and the huge list stops sounding extravagant.
How are they ours? Verse 23 answers that. They are ours because we are Christ's, and Christ is God's. All things are God's... But God has His Christ, who is the Heir of all things. And, most wonderful to say, Christ plans to take hold of His own mighty possessions by putting His saints into possession.
Notice which way the last clause runs — and what it asks of us.
Popular Christianity would crown this glorious wealth by adding, "And best of all, Christ is yours." But Scripture does not say that at all. What it says is, "You are Christ's, and Christ is God's." Christ was and is and always will be completely at God's disposal, the willing Servant of His good pleasure. In the same way, we are to be at Christ's disposal.
- Cause — Boasting in a favourite teacher puts you in a false position. You start to belong to a man, when you do not belong to men at all.
- Reversal — No one man has all the gifts. Every gifted servant belongs to all God's people, so blocking any gift is wrong in principle.
- Reach — The list runs outward: teachers, the world, life and death, present and future. Death stops being the king of terrors and becomes a servant.
- Anchor — All things are yours because you are Christ's, and Christ is God's. The Heir of all things takes possession by putting His people into possession.
- Result — Scripture never says "Christ is yours." It says "you are Christ's." The wealth is real, and it comes with being wholly at His disposal.
and *ye* [are] Christ's, and Christ [is] God's.
The chapter closes a quarrel. Believers at Corinth had split into camps behind favourite teachers. Paul does not rank the teachers. He settles a different question: who belongs to whom. So the verse does not list what Christians own. It names their Owner, and then names His.
One writer traces the line of ownership from the top down. He also shows where the Corinthians had turned it around.
As Christians we do not belong to men. All things belong to us, in the sense that we belong to Christ and so are set above all. The Corinthians were lining up under certain teachers, as if they belonged to different gifted men. No, says the Apostle, they all belong to you. The world with all its power, life with all its changes, death with its terrors, even all that can happen now or later — all of it is set under the Christian. That is because he belongs to Christ, and Christ is God's. God is over all, Christ is God's, we are Christ's, and all things are ours.
People often quote this sentence backwards. Scripture says we are His property, not that He is ours.
We are His possession; His claims are absolute; He is our Lord. This is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Many things are yours... Popular Christianity would crown this glorious wealth by saying, "And best of all Christ is yours." But Scripture does not say that at all. What it says is, "YOU ARE CHRIST'S, and Christ is God's." Christ was, is, and always will be completely at God's disposal, the willing Servant of His good pleasure. In the same way, we are to be at Christ's disposal, a pleasure to Him both now and for ever.
The claim rests on a purchase, and a purchase excludes every rival owner — including death.
While we belong to no one but Christ, all things belong to us... They are all in the place of servants to us, no longer masters. Even death itself has lost the mastery. It is now to the believer not a master but a messenger of peace — his servant. It can no longer look on me as its prey; the world can no longer say I am its own; the enemy cannot say I am his. That precious word settles all, "you are Christ's," and no one else's... We are bought with a price. We are His by right of purchase — the price, His precious blood.
The last clause describes the place the Lord took as Man. It sets the pattern for the clause before it.
Let us keep from glorying in human wisdom or in men. "For all things are yours" — God's servants, given for the help of all saints; or the world, life, or death. All of them are meant for the spiritual good of the saints of God. They serve their need; they do not master them. For "you are Christ's" — not then mere servants of men or things, but Christ's own bondservants. And Christ is God's. He came as Man in perfect subjection to God, given completely to the service of His Master. Here is the supreme Example of proper subjection to true authority.
Verse 23 explains verse 22. The reasoning starts with God, moves to His Christ, and only then reaches us.
How are they ours? Verse 23 answers that. They are ours because we are Christ's, and Christ is God's. All things are God's. No one can dispute that, and there we begin. But then God has His Christ, who is the Heir of all things. And, most wonderful to say, Christ means to take hold of His mighty possessions in a practical way — by putting His saints in possession of them. Even in Daniel 7 this is hinted at. The "Ancient of Days" takes the supreme throne. When He does, "one like a son of man" appears. To Him was given "dominion and glory and a kingdom." But that is not the end of the story. We read further, "the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom."
- God owns. The chain starts at the top. All things are God's, and the verse makes no sense unless you begin there.
- Christ is God's. As Man He took the place of full subjection to God — the supreme example of proper subjection to true authority.
- You are Christ's. Not the reverse. He bought you at the price of His blood. His claim is absolute. No rival — world, death, or enemy — can claim you.
- All things are yours. The Heir of all things puts His own into possession. So teachers, life, death and the future serve you. They never master you.
- So stop taking sides. Taking sides behind a favourite teacher is a step down from your real standing. You belong to Christ, so everything belongs to you.