The Apostle Paul is letting us know here that he was once a very proud and boastful man well trained in all sorts of philosophy and Jewish traditions. He thought everything that he had been rooted in would pave his way in life. But he realized through Jesus Christ that all the philosophy and traditions that he was taught when he was younger was nothing but a thorn in his flesh that held him back from the truth. Now Paul is speaking out about the real truth is in Jesus Christ. It doesn’t matter what people teach you if they aren’t teaching you the truth it’s a waste of your time. Don’t get caught up in the traditions and philosophical conversations that he once led or you’ll be deceived into believing something that isn't true. The Apostle Paul is letting us know from the knowledge he received through philosophy it later became an insult to his integrity and true beliefs in Jesus Christ. I believe he struggled with the fact that he had wasted so many years of his life in believing in something that he thought was true to later find it was false.
There are several different religions and beliefs today that don’t tell you the whole truth or they skip part of it because it’s too sensitive to their beliefs or the churches beliefs. We need to read and examine for ourselves so we aren’t misled by false teachers and false indoctrinations.
I know when I was younger I was raised in a way that I thought you would got to heaven by doing good deeds and by living a good life. I never understood about salvation. I thought it was something that everyone had that went to church every Sunday. As I got older and started studying the word myself. I understood there was much more to it than just going to church on Sunday and being a good citizen.
1 Timothy 6:20 Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge.
Acts 17:18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news ‘gospel’ about Jesus and the resurrection.
1 Corinthians 2:13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.
1 Corinthians 1:19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
We need to be watchful and careful of what the universities teach our children in college as they embark on adulthood. They’re so many colleges that will not stand up for Christian principles and beliefs that try to put a thorn into what we have taught our children.