1 Corinthians 1:31

In 1 Corinthians 1:29 all human glorying has been declared to be excluded; in this, the apostle invites the new people, the wise and mighty whom God has raised up by preaching, to strike up a song of praise, but of praise relating to God alone.

The term κύριος, Lord, in the passage of Jeremiah 9:23-24, quoted by the apostle, denotes Jehovah; but it could hardly fail in the mind of Paul to be applied at the same time to Christ, by whom the Lord has done this work, and who has so often received the title in this chapter.

Here is no commonplace exhortation to glorify the Lord. What we have to see in these words is a hidden antithesis, which is sufficiently explained by the passage, 1 Corinthians 3:21-22: “Therefore let no man glory in men; for all things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas; and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's.” What they have become by the gospel, they owe to the Lord alone, and not to His instruments. For as to what they have been able to do, it is He who has done it by them; therefore it is He only who is to be glorified. The imperative καυχάσθω does not correspond grammatically to the conjunction ἵνα, in order that. But the apostle directly transforms the logical conclusion into the moral exhortation contained in the prophetic saying.

This last word sums up the dominant idea of the whole passage from 1 Corinthians 1:13: viz. Christ's unique place in relation to the Church. Let others be teachers, He alone is κύριος; for He alone has paid the ransom. To Him alone be the praise!

As God in the salvation of humanity has set aside human wisdom, first of all by the mode of salvation which He has chosen, then by the mode of propagation which He has adopted for the Church, the apostle has also set it aside in his mode of preaching; such is the idea which he develops in closing this passage, 1 Corinthians 2:1-5. Thus all is harmonious in the Divine work: the gospel, the work, the preacher.