⁷You are looking at things as they are outwardly. If anyone is confident in himself that he is Christ’s, let him consider this again within himself, that just as he is Christ’s, so also are we.

Bringing every thought into obedience to Christ applies to how the Corinthians should think about Paul. The spiritual warfare that pits the world’s speculations and philosophies against the true understanding of the life of obedience to Christ can be seen precisely in this relationship between the apostle and his readers.

We can see the beginnings of Paul’s taking on the obvious elephant in the room, namely, the mistrust of those in Corinth against the apostle. They think of themselves as the spiritual ones, the true ones in Christ—at least when they compare themselves to Paul. We could describe this as a sort of self-claiming spiritual superiority. How ironic, in view of the fact that Paul was the one who first proclaimed the gospel in Corinth.

To be sure, Aquila and Priscilla were in Corinth when Paul first arrived (Acts 18:1–3). We don’t know whether those two had already come to know Christ before that (perhaps through Christian travelers they had crossed paths with either in Rome or during the flight along with others from the Roman persecution of the Jews, or whether they came to faith under the direct teaching of Paul.) But we do know that in the time that had elapsed between Paul’s first visit there and his first letter back to them, they had become exposed to the powerful teachings of Apollos, whom Aquila and Priscilla had taught about Christ (Acts 18:24–28), and evidently also the teachings of the apostle Peter. These influences, good as they were, became fodder for the self-inflating minds of the Corinthians that led to schism in the church, which Paul addressed in 1 Corinthians 1:10–12. Do we not see this today, as Christians divide by the influences of various teachers of the church?

Paul, though, speaking as one in the midst of this problem, challenges the Corinthians for their superficial thought processes. This is precisely the way the world thinks. It is fleshly. It is contrary to obedience to Christ. We are all one body, working together, for one Lord (see 1 Corinthians 12). The Corinthians, all of them, and Paul, are “Christ’s.” We all belong to Him. There is no room for differentiation in our significance of belonging to Christ. None of us is more Christ’s than any other. Thoughts of “spiritual superiority” must be brought captive to the obedience of Christ! This is the center of our spiritual warfare.

Lord, help me to think soberly about myself, not with thoughts of superiority over other believers (Rom. 12:3).