himself against accusations made against him by others in the church. The nature of those accusations is unclear. But we can surmise that they stem in part from his opposition to the worldly wisdom (the Greek perspective) that was common among Corinthian believers. He put himself and the heart of Christianity in opposition to the common sense and practices — the common (Greko-Roman) culture — of the day. He said that the wisdom of Christ is contrary to human wisdom, that the culture of the church (believers) is contrary to the culture of the world (unbelievers). Those who supported the superiority of human wisdom accused Paul of foolishness among other things.
So, following the basic themes of First Corinthians to this point, we understand that Paul’s comment in verse 4 was an expression of the crux of his argument against worldly wisdom. The story of the Serpent in the Garden and the temptation and Fall of Adam and Eve tells us that the Serpent provided a way to know the world apart from God. Satan convinced Eve that truth was not dependent upon God, that truth could stand alone, apart from any reference to God. From this perspective, God and man (humanity) could both use reason to understand and discern truth because truth was thought to exist independently of God and man. And furthermore, said the Serpent, God knows that if you employ reason as the primary tool for understanding the world, “your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5).
When Paul said “for I know nothing … myself” (1 Corinthians 4:4) he meant that genuine knowledge of the world required a reference or anchor point beyond himself, beyond his own ability to know and understand. He meant that human knowledge required a