The Big Head Men

*THE BIG HEAD MEN IN CORINTH*

"If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing."

— 1 Corinthians 13:2

A magnificent, almost poetic gem that theologians have come to call this "The Love Chapter". But up to this point, the Apostle Paul has been dealing with problems after problems; from divisions, immorality, idolatry, theological confusion, and of course you have the BIG HEAD MEN boasting about what they know and their spiritual gifts. Paul writes this verse to remind the BIG HEAD MEN in the church of Corinth that though they might be extraordinarily gifted and have done great theological understanding, they are nothing if they don't have love. 

The irony here is that the one who wrote this has so much to say in terms of boasting about things. He was caught up in the third heaven (2 Cor. 12:2), the mystery that was hidden for ages was specifically revealed to him (Eph. 3:9). Above all, he's the 'maestro' in all various forms of theology – in Christology, pneumatology, anthropology, soteriology, eschatology, ecclesiology, angelology, demonology, name it all! Yet, if you go back 11 chapters in the same book, in the same verse; the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:2 exclaimed, "For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." What an example we have in this Apostle of Christ! 

Genuine humility, in a nutshell, is simply Christianity at its best.

A theologian named Warren Wiersbe nailed it, "The mark of a true bible student," he said, "is not a BIG HEAD, it's a burning heart." Indeed, a heart that is burning not a HEAD that is getting BIG.

Thus the real question here is; does your theology make you kneel down before God? Or does it make you look down on people before God? Does it produce humility or does it produce superiority? When you are pressed hard on both sides, will it be love or will it be acid that will spill? If the answer is the latter one, perish the thought!

May we learn to humble ourselves. (1 Peter 5:6)

May we learn not to think of ourselves as significant than others. (Phi. 2:3)

May we learn not to be wise in our own eyes. (Pro. 3:7)

May we learn not to wash our own feet. (John 13:5)

Do we not have a Master that came not to be served but to serve? (Matthew 20:28)

O Pilgrims, reflect on this! 

Put this in your mind!

Tie this around your neck!

Stamp this in your eyes!

Bind this upon your heart!

Grow in the knowledge of God. 

Much above, grow in grace and love.

God forbid that we become like the BIG HEAD MEN in Corinth. Alas, what a dreadful state that is! 

Woe to us if we become like them!

Woe to us if we have knowledge but not grace!

Woe to us if our love does not prevail! 

May we come to our understanding and sit beside the Apostle Paul and cry together with him, 

"But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ."