May that happen for all of us this morning as we follow the word of God. I see at least five steps in Paul's thought in these verses. Let's look at them one at a time not necessarily in the order he wrote them but from the most basic premise to his final conclusion. The first step is the basic fact of experience that Humans want something to boast in, but not God. It might be a World Series ball team in your city that you boast about, or it might be your alma mater, or the company you work for, or a friend, or even a religion, or a church.
Pride can boast in itself directly or it can boast in itself indirectly by association.
So two absolutely incompetent ballplayers may brag about the ball team in their city as though they had anything to do with making the team good. I think God created man with a deep desire to boast in something great, but sin came into the world and made everyone of us hate to boast in God. So we seek for displays of power and displays of intelligence and we make these our gods. Or it might be an A-average in school or an advanced degree, or a published article, or a merit scholarship, or investment savvy, or the ability to win at Trivial Pursuit. The Greeks craved eloquent displays of intelligence and the Jews wanted amazing displays of power.