The phrase “what is written” in
Paul always refers to Scripture, and the present sentence is no exception. Paul
has prominently spotlighted six Scripture quotations in the first three
chapters of the letter (1:19, 31; 2:9, 16; 3:19, 20). In the case of the first
two and the last two, the application of the texts is explicitly spelled out:
No boasting in human beings. First Corinthians 3:21a links the two quotations
in chapter 3 back to the quotations in chapter 1. As we have seen, the wider
Old Testament context of each of these quotations reinforces the theme of
divine reversal: God confounds the wise, the strong, and the prosperous and
raises up the simple, the weak, and the poor. Furthermore, the two quotations
in chapter 2, though they are not explicit admonitions against boasting,
reinforce the same theme by juxtaposing God’s gracious ways to all human
understanding. The cumulative force of these citations is unmistakable: the
witness of Scripture places a strict limit on human pride and calls for trust
in God alone. What would it mean to go “beyond” (hyper) this witness of
Scripture? It would mean, quite simply, to boast in human wisdom by supposing
that we are, as it were, smarter than God. (Cf. Rom. 12:3: “For by the grace
given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly [hyperphronein]
than you ought to think.”) The last clause of 1 Corinthians 4:6 confirms this
interpretation. (Richard B. Hays, First Corinthians [Interpretation: A
Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching; Louisville, Ky.: John Knox Press,
1997], 69)
