1 Corinthians 1:5

1:5 For you were made rich ¹  in every way in him, in all your speech and in every kind of knowledge ²  –

1 Corinthians 3:1-2

Immaturity and Self-deception

3:1 So, brothers and sisters, ³  I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but instead as people of the flesh, ⁴  as infants in Christ. 3:2 I fed you milk, ⁵  not solid food, for you were not yet ready. In fact, you are still not ready,

1 Corinthians 5:6

5:6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast ⁶  affects ⁷  the whole batch of dough?

Proverbs 13:7

13:7 There is one who pretends to be rich ⁸  and yet has nothing;

another pretends to be poor ⁹  and yet possesses great wealth. ¹⁰ 

Proverbs 25:14

25:14 Like cloudy skies and wind that produce no rain, ¹¹ 

so is the one who boasts ¹²  of a gift not given. ¹³ 

Isaiah 5:21

5:21 Those who think they are wise are as good as dead, ¹⁴ 

those who think they possess understanding. ¹⁵ 

Luke 1:51-53

1:51 He has demonstrated power ¹⁶  with his arm; he has scattered those whose pride wells up from the sheer arrogance ¹⁷  of their hearts.

1:52 He has brought down the mighty ¹⁸  from their thrones, and has lifted up those of lowly position; ¹⁹ 

1:53 he has filled the hungry with good things, ²⁰  and has sent the rich away empty. ²¹ 

Luke 6:25

6:25 “Woe to you who are well satisfied with food ²²  now, for you will be hungry.

“Woe to you ²³  who laugh ²⁴  now, for you will mourn and weep.

Romans 12:3

Conduct in Humility

12:3 For by the grace given to me I say to every one of you not to think more highly of yourself than you ought to think, but to think with sober discernment, as God has distributed to each of you ²⁵  a measure of faith. ²⁶ 

Romans 12:16

12:16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly. ²⁷  Do not be conceited. ²⁸ 

Galatians 6:3

6:3 For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

Revelation 3:17

3:17 Because you say, “I am rich and have acquired great wealth, ²⁹  and need nothing,” but ³⁰  do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, ³¹  poor, blind, and naked,

[1:5]  ¹ sn Made rich refers to how God richly blessed the Corinthians with an abundance of spiritual gifts (cf. v. 7).

[1:5]  ² sn Speech and knowledge refer to the spiritual gifts God had blessed them with (as v. 7 confirms). Paul will discuss certain abuses of their gifts in chapters 12-14, but he thanks God for their giftedness.

[3:1]  ³ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:10.

[3:1]  ⁴ tn Grk “fleshly [people]”; the Greek term here is σαρκινός (BDAG 914 s.v. 1).

[3:2]  ⁵ sn Milk refers figuratively to basic or elementary Christian teaching. Paul’s point was that the Corinthian believers he was writing to here were not mature enough to receive more advanced teaching. This was not a problem at the time, when they were recent converts, but the problem now is that they are still not ready.

[5:6]  ⁶ sn In this passage (5:6-8) yeast represents the presence of evil within the church, specifically the immoral person described in 5:1-5 and mentioned again in 5:13.

[5:6]  ⁷ tn Grk “a little yeast leavens.”

[13:7]  ⁸ tn The Hitpael of עָשַׁר (’ashar, “to be rich”) means “to pretend to be rich” (BDB 799 s.v. עָשַׁר Hithp); this is the so-called “Hollywood Hitpael” function which involves “acting” or pretending to be something one is not.

[13:7]  ⁹ tn The Hitpolel of רוּשׁ (rush, “to be poor”) means “to pretend to be poor” (BDB 930 s.v. Hithpolel); this is another example of the “Hollywood Hitpael” – the Hitpolel forms of hollow root verbs are the equivalent of Hitpael stem forms.

[13:7]  ¹⁰ sn The proverb seems to be a general observation on certain people in life, but it is saying more. Although there are times when such pretending may not be wrong, the proverb is instructing people to be honest. An empty pretentious display or a concealing of wealth can come to no good.

[25:14]  ¹¹ sn The emblem now is one of clouds and winds that would be expected to produce rain; they gain attention and raise people’s expectations but prove to be disappointing when no rain is forthcoming, and hence could be thought of as deceitful.

[25:14]  ¹² tn The form מִתְהַלֵּל (mithallel) is the Hitpael participle of the well-known word for “praise”; but in this stem it means “to praise oneself” or “to boast.” The description of “windbag” seems appropriate in this context.

[25:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “a gift of falsehood.” This would mean that the individual brags about giving a gift, when there is no gift.

[5:21]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Woe [to] the wise in their own eyes.” See the note at v. 8.

[5:21]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “[who] before their faces are understanding.”

[1:51]  ¹⁶ tn Or “shown strength,” “performed powerful deeds.” The verbs here switch to aorist tense through 1:55. This is how God will act in general for his people as they look to his ultimate deliverance.

[1:51]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “in the imaginations of their hearts.” The psalm rebukes the arrogance of the proud, who think that power is their sovereign right. Here διανοίᾳ (dianoia) can be understood as a dative of sphere or reference/respect.

[1:52]  ¹⁸ tn Or “rulers.”

[1:52]  ¹⁹ tn Or “those of humble position”

[1:53]  ²⁰ sn Good things refers not merely to material blessings, but blessings that come from knowing God.

[1:53]  ²¹ sn Another fundamental contrast of Luke’s is between the hungry and the rich (Luke 6:20-26).

[6:25]  ²² tn Grk “who are filled.” See L&N 23.18 for the translation “well satisfied with food.”

[6:25]  ²³ tc The wording “to you” (ὑμῖν, Jumin) is lacking in several witnesses (א B K L T W Θ Ξ 0147 Ë^1,13 579 700 892 1241 2542 al), though found in most (Ì⁷⁵ A D Q Ψ 33 Ï lat co). The longer reading looks to be a clarifying addition; nevertheless, “to you” is included in the translation because of English requirements.

[6:25]  ²⁴ sn That is, laugh with happiness and joy.

[12:3]  ²⁵ tn The words “of you” have been supplied for clarity.

[12:3]  ²⁶ tn Or “to each as God has distributed a measure of faith.”

[12:16]  ²⁷ tn Or “but give yourselves to menial tasks.” The translation depends on whether one takes the adjective “lowly” as masculine or neuter.

[12:16]  ²⁸ tn Grk “Do not be wise in your thinking.”

[3:17]  ²⁹ tn Grk “and have become rich.” The semantic domains of the two terms for wealth here, πλούσιος (plousios, adjective) and πλουτέω (ploutew, verb) overlap considerably, but are given slightly different English translations for stylistic reasons.

[3:17]  ³⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[3:17]  ³¹ tn All the terms in this series are preceded by καί (kai) in the Greek text, but contemporary English generally uses connectives only between the last two items in such a series.