1 Corinthians 3:18

Let no man deceive himself. If any man thinketh that he is wise among you in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise.

A SUMMARY OF PRECEDING ADMONITIONS

Here begins the summary of what Paul had written up to here. This through 1 Corinthians 3:23 gives the highlights of what Paul had written up to this point.

Dummelow's paraphrase of this is:

Do not deceive yourselves; but if there be any of you priding himself on his worldly wisdom, let him quickly unlearn it, that he may learn the true wisdom.[28]

Macknight gave another interesting paraphrase of the same verse:

Let no teacher deceive himself with false notions of prudence. If any teacher among you thinketh to be wise, in this age of spreading the gospel, by misrepresenting its doctrines for the purpose of making it acceptable to bad men, let him become a fool in his own eyes, by preaching the gospel sincerely, that he may be really wise.[29]

This verse is a short summary of much Paul had written in Corinthians thus far; and it has the effect of condemning intellectual pride, one of the most hurtful of human vanities. In this vivid phrase Paul urged the man who would be wise to become a fool. "This is a simple way of urging a man to be humble enough to learn."[30]

[28] J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 898.

[29] James Macknight, op. cit., p. 55.

[30] William Barclay, The Letters to the Corinthians (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1954), p. 39.