Humility popped up in something yesterday. Corinthians 1, perhaps? In my memory, the leaders of the church in Corinth needed to be humble so they could learn to run a church without internal conflict. Actually, they thought they were pretty clever, too clever, according to Paul. They needed to be more foolish, in order to listen and learn.[1]
I don’t come from a background that included bible learning or church community. I didn’t memorise any scripture as a child, and have so far found it impossible to do this as an adult. What I remember about the bible is erratic, and tends to need a prompt to help me recall it. Regardless of my understanding, I never remember verses. For me, remembering scripture is not a comfort in times of need, because I can’t. I usually feel quite foolish in all things biblical.
Over the years, this has caused me various kinds of worry, from inadequacy (bad Christian? terrible memory? tiny pea brain? poor upbringing? lazy?) to frustration (I’m good at memorising song lyrics, even terrible ones, so why not a short verse?), to exasperation (oh well, I don’t care anyway!) to indolence (ah well, can’t be bothered, let’s eat chocolate).
I’ve kind of come to terms with it by now. I think it’s ok that I have my head. I expect God has to deal with all kinds of brains and memories, and perhaps in the future mine will have space for the whole bible. If not, I just have to be good at listening, and learn in other ways.
The advantage of this background is that I didn’t come stuffed full of as many churchy prejudices as I might. No received opinion sometimes means you didn’t realise there’s an issue, maybe.
Anyway, humility. Due to the above, the Corinthians stand, to me, for the kind of studious Christianity that is scary. The kind with marker pens and quotes, which cause instant amnesia. It’s interesting that my first defence against that is to remind myself that at least I can consider the question with an open mind. Not exactly a humble, open-minded, response…
…and that brings me to the (tenuous) point. Somewhere in the bible there are many verses about people who rely on their scriptural knowledge in one way or another, but don’t have faith, humility and wisdom. Pharisees; struggling new Christians in Rome; Corinthians; Gentiles; Jews: all kinds of folk.[2] These people Do Not Get It.
But, are there specific verses about those who do not have biblical knowledge, and are also not humble?[3] It is pointless being deliberately ignorant, and then showing it off as an advantage, a proof of humility, even a way to criticise those with life-giving knowledge. Someone with that approach Does Not Get It either.
In fact, I think there’s two sides to the coin of Corinthians. The church leaders with knowledge might need to become more humble, but those who are less knowledgeable need to remain humble too. Ignorance and arrogance are a dreadful combination. Nearly as bad as knowledge and arrogance, perhaps.
Anyway, humility is good, the bible says so.
I’d share a relevant verse or two with you, but I’ve forgotten them, sorry.
Theme photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
[1] This may not be accurate, for reasons forthcoming.
[2] I can’t tell you where.
[3] No point telling me.