1 Corinthians 4:6 – Volume or weight?

…that in us you may be learning not to be disposed above what is written that you may not be puffed up, one over the one, against the other.

Paul reproaches the Corinthians for the fact that one person was puffed up against the other. This imagery is telling. Whoever is puffed up, makes oneself big, but only appears to be. It is a bubble. It does have volume but no weight. It is strongly reminiscent of the behavior of leaven about which Paul writes in the subsequent chapter (5:6). Leaven increases the volume of the dough. But it causes gas and is acidic indicating decay.

Where “what is written” is sacred, own assumptions, feelings, opinions and judgements are completely subordinate to the Scriptures. This also applies to human tradition and “the wisdom of this world”. If that is not in keeping with what we have received from God in black-and-white, the it belongs in the trash. This position of Scripture as the highest source of wisdom puts us as people in our place. It also makes us modest towards each other. My opinion is just as irrelevant as the opinion any other. Not what people say, but what GOD states, has weight.

Delen: