<p>2:3 <i>Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself</i>- In chapter 1, Paul notes that some preach Christ from the wrong motives. Although he rejoiced Christ was preached, he urges the Corinthians to not be wrongly motivated. &quot;Conceit&quot; translates <i>keno-doxia</i>, literally 'empty glorying'. The argument goes on to play with this idea by saying that the mind of the Lord Jesus on the cross emptied itself (:7 <i>kenoo</i>) of all human glory and thereby He received the highest glory. Seeking our own glory is not therefore having the mind of the crucified Christ. And &quot;lowliness of mind&quot; is the basic word used of how the Lord there &quot;humbled Himself&quot; (:8), allowed Himself to be brought down, that He might be exalted in due time and not right away. For the believer, that means so realizing our own sins that we <i>hegeomai</i>, place others in a hegemony, higher than ourselves. The idea is not that we think others are better than us, for that would mean doing ourselves down in an unrealistic and psychologically unhealthy way. Rather is the nuance of meaning that in any hierarchy or hegemony, we consider ourselves on the lowest level. Paul was secure in himself, confident of his salvation, satisfied with the fight he had fought and the race he had run; but he also considered himself the least of the believers (Eph. 3:8) and the worst of sinners. We are all as the beggars in the parable, who quite undeservedly are invited to the banquet, and so should take the lowest seat- that they might be invited up to a higher seat in the hegemony or ranking when the Lord comes, and not now.</p>