September 8, 2024|The Wisdom of God|1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5
John-Daniel Cutler
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As we continue through our study of 1 Corinthians, we will finish chapter 1 and get a few verses into chapter 2 this morning.
In our first week in this book, we saw where Paul began his letter by reminding them, and consequently us, of who a believer fundamentally is, in Christ.
His words are encouraging and uplifting. Paul rooted their identity in Christ and expressed beautifully what believers possess both in positional standing as well as spiritual standing.
And then in week 2 we got to verse 10 and if we weren’t sure that the first 9 verses and the start of verse 10 belonged in the same letter we might be forgiven for how suddenly it seems his demeanor changes. He goes from thankfulness and encouragement to correction in the blink of an eye.
But we also saw why. We saw in verses 10-17 that these Corinthian believers had corrupted their identity through division over various ministers. They had shifted their identity from Christ to Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas (Peter), or in the case of some, giving lip service to Christ but rejecting his messengers.
All in all, we get the picture that the church at Corinth was not experiencing the beautiful Christ-centered unity that Paul had expressed in the first 9 verses, so before he addresses anything else from their correspondence, he addresses their identity.
We saw in week two the danger for us in shifting our identity away from Christ, or of separating our identity from his body, and prayerfully we saw that the answer Paul gives is for the church to unite in the gospel.
This morning Paul turns his attention to the subject of wisdom. It seems that the major dividing factor between the Corinthian church was their assessment of the various ministers of Christ they had been exposed to. They seemed to be judging them based on their preferred rhetorical style, or preaching style rather than uniting in the fact that they all preached the same gospel.
Preference was dividing the church that Christ had united.
Here’s the problem, the Corinthian church was trying to judge the ministers according to the wisdom and power of man and missing that it was the wisdom of God that mattered. It might feel like a subject change, but at the heart of Paul’s purpose is still this idea that they have misplaced their identity.
In this section he is going to show them that the wisdom of God is beyond mankind. They need to stop looking and judging and valuing human wisdom, because God’s wisdom is greater. It is beyond our ability and beyond our strength.
So for our purposes this morning, I want to show you two ways God’s wisdom is beyond human beings.
If you haven’t already, open your bibles to 1 Corinthians 1, at verse 18.
1 Corinthians 1:18 - 25 (ESV) 18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
The first way God’s wisdom is beyond human beings is that…
God’s wisdom is greater than the world’s wisdom.
Vs 18- the central statement of Paul’s argument- 18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
The word ‘for’ connects us back to the basis of this application statement. Vs 17 (ESV) lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
Paul addresses two divisions of people, those who are perishing and those who are being saved.
To those who are perishing- those who are (separated unto destruction)
Who are those that are perishing? Who does Paul contrast them with?
‘To us who are being saved’. Who is the us, ‘that are being saved’?
Contextually, it is Paul and those with Paul as well as those he has previously mentioned in his letter.
1 Corinthians 1:2 (ESV) 2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
Essentially then, Paul has two people groups in mind here. One, those who are in Christ and two, those who are not.
Those who are being saved and those who are perishing.
To one group the message of the cross, the gospel that Paul preached, the context of verse 18 comes from verse 17. (ESV) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, this he calls the word of the cross, is folly.
Folly-foolishness, another good word here is absurdity.
The gospel is absurd to those who are perishing but to those being saved, it is the power of God.
They view the gospel, the message of a crucified savior as absurd, we, who have been brought into Christ understand that it is the very power of God that saved us.
This is Paul’s argument about why he did not rely on the eloquent wisdom of men when he preached the gospel message to them.
Because, in man’s wisdom, to those who are in the flesh and according to the flesh, it is foolish.
Follow me as we follow his argument- If, I, Paul had come and somehow, with eloquent wisdom, convinced the minds of men that the gospel of Christ made sense, then I would have no longer been preaching the gospel, because it was, and is, and always will be foolishness to those outside of Christ.
To these Corinthians, who were currently being divided over issues of whose rhetorical style or eloquent speech they held higher and which preacher embodied it best, Paul says, you are missing the point. God’s wisdom is greater than man’s wisdom. Not only is it above man’s wisdom, it openly frustrates the wisdom of men.
Quoting Isaiah 29:14 to demonstrate that God has rejected the wisdom of the wise in this world.
19 For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
The fuller context of which is this.
Isaiah 29:13-14 (ESV) 13 And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, 14 therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”
Thomas Schreiner highlights the significance of this reference
Isaiah is prophesying that God would prevent the wise from understanding his plans. Paul applies it to our day in that God has determined to frustrate the wisdom of those who claim knowledge, just as he did in Isaiah’s day, since their hearts are far from God. By acting in this way God ensures that human beings will have no basis for pride in their own wisdom, as if their wisdom is the pathway by which one comes to know the truth of God.
Paul goes on in verse 20 to highlight the evidence that God has frustrated the wisdom of men. He says, where are the wise, where are the scribes, where are the debaters of this age?
Wise- the wise men, among all men (those the world considers wise)
Scribes- the experts in Jewish law
Debaters- the philosopher, the Greek intellectuals who share their wisdom in the public square
What is Paul saying?
Look around, are these men in the church?Now, Paul is obviously not saying that they don’t exist within the church. He himself could have been described as an expert in Jewish law; we are told that synagogue leaders came to the faith, even here in Corinth. But what he is saying is, look around, if the world’s wisdom could lead you to the truth about God, the church would be full of these types of men.
The Bible says that there are things in the general revelation of the world that can help us discern that there is a God, but apart from special revelation, human wisdom and knowledge cannot get us to God.
So why is the Corinthian church not full of the wise men of this world?
Because God’s wisdom is greater than man’s wisdom. Has God not made foolish the wisdom of the world?
The wise of the world debate, speculate, and pontificate, and yet for all their wisdom, they are perishing men and women, because all of their wisdom does not lead to know God through it.
This is not by accident but by God’s own wisdom, vs 21. 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.So how did any of you come to know God?
Through the folly of what we preach, Christ crucified.
Listen, a crucified savior makes no sense to the world. That God would come in the flesh, that he would submit himself to one of the vilest and cruelest ways to die, at the hands of his creation is absurd to human wisdom.
Furthermore, for that action to secure forgiveness for his people is unthinkable to human reasoning.
...a crucified savior makes no sense to the world.
Paul says it is a stumbling block to the Jews. Listen to the way the Apostle Peter says it, quoting various Old Testament passages. ((ESV) Isa. 28:16 (ESV) Ps. 118:22 (ESV) Isa. 8:14)
1 Peter 2:6-8 (ESV) 6 For it stands in Scripture:
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” 7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”
8 and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.”
Peter says they stumble because they do not believe the word. The gospel does not make sense to them. They don’t understand or believe… that they are sinners in need of a savior, …that they are not reconciled to God based on their nationality or their religiosity, …that they are in the same desperate situation as the gentiles.
It actually offends them. The word offense in 1 Peter means the stick that leads to a trap being sprung. Their offense at the gospel is what catches them in their own thinking, traps them, so as to reject God’s plan and even go as far to actively oppose it because Christ did not fit their expectations of the messiah.
For the gentiles, Paul says it is folly. Absurd. It doesn’t make sense. Paul switches between using Greeks and Gentiles. His view is in gentiles in general, all those outside of the nation of Israel, but he sums up all human wisdom as Greek. The Greeks in particular embodied the pursuit and value of human wisdom. So Paul says, to the Jews the gospel is a stumbling block, or offense, but to the Gentiles, it is folly. But. Paul is going to introduce a third category, that encompasses men and women from both the Jewish world and the Gentile world.
But, to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
The Jews hear the gospel and are offended, the Greeks hear the gospel and think it absurd, but to those that God calls, whether Jew or Greek, they hear the gospel and understand that Christ crucified is the power of God and the gospel of Christ is the wisdom of God.
Same message, different outcomes. What is the difference? Those who are called.
What are we to do with this? Change the gospel?
Do we try to make it less offensive to the religious, do we try to make it more rational to the thoughtful?
I pray your answer is a strong ‘of course not’.
But isn’t that what many in churches today have tried to do?
They use language like, we need to be a more ‘seeker friendly’ or ‘seeker sensitive’ church.
What does Paul say about that?
Jews demand (desire) signs and Greeks seek wisdom,
So, follow me, if we want to meet a seeker where he or she is, we either have to have big, emotionally manipulative productions that produce feelings in people, or have great displays of Spiritual power like tongues or slaying people in the Spirit, or we have to have clever speakers that sound wise according to the world, that dish out soundbites that sound good on youtube and facebook.
Or like most of the seeker friendly, successful churches, (they attract a lot of people) some combination of both.
You may say, I don’t see anything wrong with that Pastor, if we can get them here, they can hear the gospel.
Let’s make church as easy as possible and attractive as possible to gather a large group of people so we can preach the gospel.
Let me ask you this, what do you think one of the first things you're going to have to do, having gathered a large crowd of those that desire signs or those that seek human wisdom? You are going to have to change the gospel. Why? Because it is inherently offensive and absurd to human reason and wisdom.
What are we really trying to do at that point? We are trying to use the power of men and the wisdom of men to connect people to the wisdom of God, and not only is it a horrible strategy, Paul gives us a great reason to not do it.
Even if we think that God’s way is foolish, as though it could be. Even if we think that God’s way is weak, as though it could be. That is, even if we allow the nonsensical statement that God could be either foolish or weak, He is still wiser and stronger than men.
His way, that seems foolish, is still wiser than our wisest human strategies.
His way, that seems weak, is still stronger than our strongest human strategies.
Paul’s point here is that God’s wisdom is far greater than the wisdom of men and this wisdom is ultimately revealed in the cross of Christ.
Paul is digging at the very heart of the matter plaguing the Corinthian church. They have forgotten that they were not saved by human rhetoric or skilled presentation. They were not convinced of the gospel by human wisdom because the cross turns human wisdom upside down.
What the world thinks is foolish (the gospel) is actually the wisdom of God.
What the world thinks is weak (the cross) is actually the thing that brings the power of God.
This of course has powerful implications for the church.
Our calling is to clearly preach the gospel, to clearly illustrate the gospel through the ordinances, and call people to live out the gospel in their day to day lives.
Our calling is to clearly preach the gospel, to clearly illustrate the gospel through the ordinances, and call people to live out the gospel in their day to day lives.
But don’t miss the implications for you as a believer.
Your evangelism, your proclaiming the good news of Christ, is just that. Proclaiming the good news of Christ. The lost around you don’t need a great spiritual experience or sign to experience the wisdom of God in Christ. You don’t need a complicated and clever way to share the gospel with them appealing to their intellect in order for them to experience the wisdom of God in Christ. On your best day, your greatest strength falls short and your greatest wisdom fails when we compare it to God’s wisdom and power.
You just need to proclaim the unadulterated gospel and let God do the calling. Amen?
Why? Because, God’s wisdom is greater than the world’s wisdom.
The second way God’s wisdom is beyond human beings is that…
God’s wisdom is not obtained by human effort.
Let’s pick up in verse 26 of chapter 1.
26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Consider your calling- This is a different word than Paul used when he said to those who are called. There he is speaking of God’s salvific call, here he is talking about their station in life.
‘turn your mind to, or contemplate your own situation when God saved you’. Paul uses calling in this same way in 1 Corinthians 7:20
1 Corinthians 7:20 (ESV) 20 Each one should remain in the condition (same word used in ‘consider your calling’) in which he was called (word he used in those who are called.)
What was their situation when God saved them? Or to use his language in verse 24, when God called them.
The majority of you were not wise according to worldly standards.
The majority of you were not powerful according to worldly standards.
The majority of you were not of noble birth according to worldly standards.
Paul seems to be violating the 11th commandment, ‘thou shall be nice’ doesn’t he?
Remember that you were not wise, skilled in letters, cultivated, learned.
Remember that you were not powerful, mighty in wealth and influence.
Remember that you were not well born in society’s eyes.
Paul’s emphasis here is that the majority in the church in Corinth were of low social status in the world. But it is not to insult them directly, although I am sure it hurt a few feelings.
No, Paul is writing in the context of a culture that prized status and honor. The Graeco-Roman world centered around these things.
What does all of their boasting over particular ministers reveal in their hearts? A desire for status and honor in the church. What they did not have in the world, they were trying to obtain in the church. Paul is exposing the heart behind their division, pride. But he is also setting up another contrast, not between the wisdom of God and the foolishness of man, but of the choice of man and the choice of God, or we might say the will of God vs the will of man.
In verses 27-28 Paul is going to use the word ‘chose’ three times. The word chosen is a compound Greek word from two words ‘to call’ and ‘out of’. And out of the 20 or so times it is used in the New Testament, it means… to choose.
Paul says God chose. Another Biblical word to describe God’s choice is the word election. The doctrine of election, that God chooses for Himself His people, is a Biblical fact, there is no way around it if you believe the word of God is to be taken seriously. God chooses whom he wills.
The doctrine of election, that God chooses for Himself His people, is a Biblical fact, there is no way around it if you believe the word of God is to be taken seriously. God chooses whom he wills.
The debate in Christian circles is not whether God chooses, but what is the basis of God’s choice, and perhaps one day we can dive a little deeper into that, but for now, let us simply ask, according to Paul, what did God choose?
1 Corinthians 1:27-28 (ESV) 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,
Paul is trying to show them the foolishness of trying to find their identity in status by reminding them that God did not call them because they were wise, because they were strong, because they were of high status or beloved in the world, because they were anything at all in the world.
God’s choices are not the ones that men would make.
Why did God do this?
To shame the wise, to shame the strong, and to bring to nothing things that are.
In a culture that revolved around honor and shame, where wisdom and strength and status were honored and simpleness, weakness, and lowly status were a source of shame, Paul says, in the same way that the cross turns human wisdom on its head, God’s choice turns the world’s system on its head.
How is this shame experienced? I don’t think Paul is talking about a shame that would lead others to repentance, but a shame experienced at the final judgment.
One day all those who thought they were wise and strong and important will stand before Almighty God and learn that professing to be wise they had in fact made themselves fools, that declaring themselves to be rich they have actually forfeited what is of most value, and celebrating their pride in this life will actually bring them to ultimate humiliation.
All of this, the wisdom and power of God in the cross will eventually bring to nothing things that are. The word ‘bring to nothing’ is nullified.
In the day of our Lord, everything the world trusts in, other than Christ will be devoid, empty of any value, it will mean nothing. All the money in the world, apart from Christ, will mean nothing. All the power in the world, apart from Christ, will mean nothing.
All the wisdom in the world, apart from Christ, will mean nothing.
I think Paul is encouraging the Corinthian believers and us, if it will mean nothing in the end, don’t put your value and identity in it now, but even more directly than that he tells us why God did this.
What is God’s ultimate purpose? We might ask it this way, ‘But Paul, why did God choose this way?’
Vs 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
No human being can boast that they belong to God because of their wisdom, strength, or nobility.
You are not in Christ because you were inherently smart enough, wise enough, or strong enough.
Then why is anyone in Christ?
1 Corinthians 1:30-31 (ESV) 30 And because of him (or from him) you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
If you are in Christ, it is because of God, not your wisdom, not your power, and not your status.
Listen to what Paul is saying. Christ, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, is only yours because of Him.
What is Paul’s point? So that, if anyone boasts, let it be in the Lord alone.
Why? Because the wisdom of God cannot be obtained by human effort. It is entirely of his grace.
And how are we to understand God's wisdom? In his righteousness (or right standing of the condemned before God), sanctification (covered by Christ’s righteousness), and redemption (the freedom from the bondage of sin).
None of these things can be obtained by man’s effort.
Friends, let me ask you a question, what do you have in Christ that you can boast about?
What do you have that is due to your knowledge or wisdom?
What do you have that is due to your strength or ability?
What do you have that is due to your status or social standing?
Nothing.
When someone comes to Christ in our church, what do we have to boast about?
Only one thing. We boast that the Lord saved them. It was not the cleverness of our speech or the impressiveness of our church experience, it was God calling them to himself through the gospel message.
It was not the cleverness of our speech or the impressiveness of our church experience, it was God calling them to himself through the gospel message.
The Corinthian church seemed to have forgotten that they had been saved by grace alone through faith alone and were trying to build their identity on human wisdom and strength. So Paul takes them back to their beginning. Let’s pick up in verse 1 of chapter 2, still under the heading, God’s wisdom is not obtained by human effort.
2:1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
Paul says, when I came to Corinth, when many of you were saved and God called out a church in your midst, by what means did He do it?
Paul says, I was there. I did not come preaching to you the testimony of God, the gospel of Christ, with lofty speech or wisdom.
Why? For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
The word decided does not refer to a momentary decision but a resolve or determination within Paul’s ministry. Paul, as a Pharisee of Pharisees, certainly could have employed lofty speech or excellent presentation. He could have used earthly wisdom in his presentation. But he knew that the power and wisdom of God are not in those things.
He reminds them that in physical power, he was weak.
And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling.
In speech, he was simple.- my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
Paul reminds them that he did not want the Corinthians to be impressed by his rhetoric, thus he did not preach to please and entertain his audience. From the very beginning, the Corinthians encountered the shameful and scandalous message of the cross.
Furthermore, I believe that his description of being in fear and much trembling, had little to do with what he would encounter. He was not worried about the reception of his message, he was worried and fearful that he would rely on himself, on his own rhetorical abilities, such that the message of the cross would be hindered. Paul resolved to preach Christ and him crucified, plainly and clearly to the people in Corinth.
It is not that he did not want to persuade people, but he did not want to persuade them in the wrong way. Rather he relied on the power of the Spirit in his preaching.
For a little context, it is no wonder Paul had this mindset. In Acts, we find Immediately before he came to Corinth he had been in Athens. While in Athens, the hub of Graeco-Roman wisdom, knowledge, and philosophy, he had stood on Mars Hill and tried to preach Christ in human wisdom and rhetoric. And unlike most of Paul’s preaching, it yielded little fruit. The results were that some mocked, he piqued a few other’s curiosity and their desire to hear anything new, and a very few believed, but overall, Paul saw the failure of human logic and reasoning when it comes to the crucified savior.
When he got to Corinth he was determined to simply proclaim a crucified savior and rely on God’s power rather than his own.
Why?
5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
Paul understood that saving faith must not rest on human ability and strength because God’s wisdom, God’s power, does not rest in those things, and it cannot be obtained by those things. The only answer for the redemption of human beings is a crucified and risen savior, Jesus Christ.
This is the word of the cross.
As Shreiner notes in his commentary. The cross underscores the brokenness, the weakness, the sin, which is at the heart of the human condition.
How? By what it displays and by what it declares.
The cross displays…
the severity of our sin (in the punishment of the one who knew no sin but became sin for us) ,the righteousness and holiness of our God (that he cannot overlook or minimize sin), as well as the love and mercy of our God (that he made a way for sinful beings to be reconciled to a just and holy God).
The cross declares…
you cannot save yourself with your wisdom or power, you cannot be born into the right family to be saved, you cannot learn your way out of sin, you cannot work your way out of sin.
Christ did on the cross what you were and are unable to do. This is the word of the cross, this is the gospel.
Which is foolish to those who are perishing, but to us, those who are being saved, it is the power of God.
I want to close this morning with two questions.
What does your faith rest in? Do you think that you were wise enough to accept the message of the cross? Were you convinced by the eloquence of a man, or the power of a man?
Or do you understand that it is by God and God alone that you are in Christ?
Paul reminds us that we are saved by the power and will of God, that’s what our faith rests in, not in any way our human effort.
Second, what does your witness rest in? There are people all around you that are perishing. What will you tell them?
Will you rely on your own power or will you trust in the power of God?
Friends, they do not need man’s wisdom or man’s power, but the message of the cross.
God calls us to simply and clearly proclaim Christ and him crucified.
How would your life change if you determined to know nothing among those around you except Christ and him crucified?
God’s wisdom is greater than our wisdom, may we embrace it for ourselves and trust it for those around us.
Let us pray.
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