1 Corinthians 1:29

That no flesh should glory before God.

How incredible it is that a man, a creature of flesh and blood, created of the dust and to the dust certain to return, whose glory at its zenith is only for a moment, whose days are spent in frustration, whose tears flow incessantly, whose very righteousness is filthy rags - how unbelievable is it that such a creature as man should glory before God! Such is the wretched state of Adam's race that only God can give salvation and even God could do so only at the extravagant cost of the blood shed on Calvary. God desires that man should recognize and confess his sin and unworthiness, and, like those poor mortals of Corinth, turn to the heavenly Father through Jesus Christ the Lord. If the first converts to Christianity had been the wealthy rulers of earth, there would inevitably have prevailed an impression that such persons had earned eternal life. However, no man, but no man, was ever capable of earning one second of eternal life; and Paul's thought here stresses the wisdom of God in saving the outcasts of Corinth in order that no flesh should glory before God. Those former debauchees of unspeakable Corinth deserved salvation as much as the wisest and greatest of earth, which is not at all; and fortunate is every man who comprehends this basic truth of salvation in Christ.