Devotional 1 November 2025

Paul’s words strike with a sharp and holy irony. The Corinthians, rich in spiritual gifts and eager for status, had begun to act as though they were already reigning in the fullness of Christ’s kingdom. They boasted of wisdom, power, and prosperity, imagining that maturity meant superiority. Yet Paul’s tone reveals the absurdity of such pride. He is not celebrating their growth: he is exposing their blindness. They had confused the promise of the kingdom with its arrival, mistaking the pledge for the inheritance.

Paul’s sarcasm echoes Jesus’ rebuke of the disciples who sought greatness in the kingdom (Luke 22:24–30). True reign is not seized by pride but received in humility. “Already you have become rich!” he says, knowing well that true riches belong to those who know their poverty (Matthew 5:3). The Corinthians’ boasting reveals that they have forgotten the very gospel that saved them: the gospel that proclaims glory through suffering and life through death.

Paul does not deny that the kingdom of God is real and present. It is ready for the taking, but not as the world takes power. Those who reign with Christ must first bear His likeness, walking the path of the cross before sharing in His crown (Romans 8:17; 2 Timothy 2:12). The apostles themselves, far from living as kings, were despised, hungry, and persecuted for Christ’s sake (1 Corinthians 4:9–13). Their lowliness was not failure, it was faithfulness.

The Corinthians wanted the glory without the grief, the crown without the cross. But the kingdom of God does not belong to the proud or self-sufficient. It belongs to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, who submit their wisdom to the wisdom of the Spirit. The kingdom of God is ready for the taking, but only the humble inherit it.