1Co 4:8  Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you.

1Co 4:9  For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.

1Co 4:10  We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.

1Co 4:11  Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace;

1Co 4:12  And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it:

1Co 4:13  Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.

1Co 4:14  I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you.

Having the “mind of Christ” is contrary to having the mind of this world and Satan; and there is a proper designed way for the son to obtain “the mind of Christ,” and that comes from our standing upon the word of God in everything that we do as sons “in Christ.” Furthermore, as we are taught by Him with His word we will gain the ability to ‘judge’ what this world has to offer, and what our Father values and esteems based upon what His word says. The Corinthians thought this world’s thinking, and ways were what “godliness” was all about, they thought that the things that Paul experienced in verses 10-13 was ‘un-God-like,’ and by following this world’s standards and norms they assumed that having a perception of “wisdom” and ‘blending in’ with what this world is doing is what “godliness” was all about. But Paul comes along and ‘warns’ the saints about this “ungodly” thinking because of the danger that there is to the son’s edification, and his proper understanding upon what the will of God is all about.

Rom 8:4  That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 
Rom 8:5  For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 
Rom 8:6  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 
Rom 8:7  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 
Rom 8:8  So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 

Furthermore, the saint has to first possess a ‘spiritual mind,’ so that he can be educated unto having the mind of Christ. The Father desires that the saint be “spiritually minded; which is to be ‘Word of God minded alone,’ and that our minds ought not be “led” by anyone, or anything else, but by His Word of truth alone. But the “carnal mind” operates upon the world’s ways, and it’s system, and upon the wisdom of men, but this ‘way’ is “enmity against God,” and this ‘way’ cannot please God, but it is well pleasing unto the men of this world, especially to those who teach this worldly doctrine.

1Co 4:15  For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.

1Co 4:16  Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.

1Co 4:17  For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church.

1Co 4:18  Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you.

1Co 4:19  But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power.

1Co 4:20  For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.

1Co 4:21  What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?

Moreover, if we who are sons “in Christ” are not looked upon as “fools for Christ’s sake,” or made as “the filth of this world” by today’s church, then we are doing what I stated earlier; ‘blending in’ to what this world is doing regarding how godliness should be displayed by the members of the body of Christ. But by following Paul, through God’s word to us, we will see that “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution,” and that as Paul says his ways “in Christ” should be taught “everywhere in every church.” And by having “ten thousand instructors in Christ” might not seem so bad to some, but if a preacher, pastor, or elder of a church can only ‘instruct’ the church in “Christ crucified” and nothing more than just going over the basic fundamentals of the gospel, then he is not following Paul, and does not have “the mind of Christ,” he will say he does, but if the local church is still “following” some of the things they used to do, or what this world does in an ‘assembly,’ then they are “reigning as kings” along with this world; in this world. And again, most will say they don’t (especially the ones that “rightly divide” the word of truth), but if your church does not teach God’s word from the time you sit down until the time you get up, then you are “following” this world’s “ways” instead of Paul’s. And you will think that things like ‘testimony,’ ‘altars,’ choirs, ‘mass prayer,’ and anything else that is not in God’s word to us is what God would have the church to be doing today.

2Co 11:12  But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.

2Co 11:13  For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

2Co 11:14  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

2Co 11:15  Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

2Co 11:16  I say again, Let no man think me a fool; if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little.

2Co 11:17  That which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting.

2Co 11:18  Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also.

2Co 11:19  For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise.

We must understand the Corinthians were justified, sanctified saints “in Christ,” but Paul was not content to let them just attend ‘church’ for the rest of their lives without any doctrinal growth. The goal of the saint ought to be to possess “the mind of Christ,” and filling his mind with the wisdom of the Father, and this is done by following Paul from Romans through Philemon and using our King James bibles for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness the way God intended. But today’s church leaders rather base the doctrine of the church around the wisdom of this world, and this is displayed by their commands and ‘do’s and don’ts’ that their congregation must ‘follow’ to be a member of their church, but here is where we as sons ought to “judge” these things by what we are taught within God’s word, and determine whether if what we hear is from our Apostle who we are to follow; or are we ‘following’ doctrine, commands, and the wisdom of Satan’s ministers and this world.

Rod Jones