4
The Foolishness of God—part 1 (1:18–25)
For the word of the cross is to those who are
perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power
of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.” Where is the
wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has
not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom
of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was
well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save
those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search
for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling
block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of
God is stronger than men. (1:18–25)
First Corinthians 1:18–2:5 continues to deal with the
problem of division in the church, focusing on what Paul calls the
“foolishness of God” (v. 25). It is a contrast between the
foolishness of men, which they think is wisdom, and the wisdom of
God, which they think is foolishness. It is a contrast between God’s
true wisdom and man’s supposed wisdom, between God’s supposed
foolishness and man’s true foolishness.
The Inferiority of Human Wisdom
The ancient Greeks were in love with philosophy, around
which their culture was built. They had perhaps as many as fifty
identifiable philosophical parties or movements, which vied for
acceptance and influence. Each had its views of man’s origin,
significance, destiny, and relationship to the gods—of which they
had many. Some of the philosophies had detailed schemes for the
religious, political, social, economic, and educational ordering of
society. The Greeks were in love with human wisdom. They believed
that philosophy (philosophia,, “love of wisdom”) was
all-important. Philosophy provided a view, invented by man, of the
meaning of life, values, relationships, purpose, and destiny. Thus
there were as many philosophies as there were philosophers, and
people tended to line up behind their favorite. They widely disagreed
as to which philosophy was the truest and most reliable, and,
inevitably, many factions developed, each with its own leaders and
adherents. Without an absolute standard for truth, ideas of right and
wrong were based entirely on human opinion.
Unfortunately many of the Corinthian converts carried
their spirit of philosophical factionalism into the church. Some of
them still held onto beliefs of their former pagan philosophy. They
were divided not only regarding Christian leaders (1:12) but also
regarding philosophical viewpoints. They could not get over their
love for human wisdom. They had trusted in Christ and recognized
their redemption by grace through the cross, but they wanted to add
human wisdom to what He had done for them.
Although it is true that men have recognized much that
is true about life, a Christian has no need of human philosophy. It
is unnecessary and, more often than not, misleading. Where it happens
to be right it will agree with Scripture, and is therefore
unnecessary. Where it is wrong it will disagree with Scripture, and
is therefore misleading. It has nothing necessary or reliable to
offer. By nature it is speculation, based on man’s limited and
fallible insights and understanding. It is always unreliable and
always divisive. “See to it that no one takes you captive through
philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men,
according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than
according to Christ” (Col. 2:8).
The general intent of what Paul is saying to the
philosophically oriented Corinthians can be stated like this: “Since
you have become Christians, have been filled by God’s Spirit, and
recognize the Scriptures as His Word, you have no more need for
philosophy. It did not help you when you were unbelievers and it will
certainly not help you now that you believe. Give it up. It has
nothing to offer but confusion and division. You are now united
around God’s supreme revelation in Jesus Christ. Don’t be misled
and split by human speculations.”
Society in our own day still is enamored of various
philosophies. These are not usually expressed in philosophical
systems such as the Greeks had, but they are nevertheless human ways
of understanding life’s meaning and values and of understanding
them. The world today, just as in Paul’s day, is caught up in the
admiration and worship of human opinion, human wisdom, and human
desires and aspirations. Men are continually trying to figure out on
their own what life is all about—where it came from, where it is
going, what it signifies (if anything), and what can and should be
done about it (if anything). Modern man has made gods of education
and human opinion. Although human ideas are constantly changing,
appearing and disappearing, being tried and found wanting,
conflicting with and contradicting each other, men continue to put
faith in them. As long as they reject divine authority, they have no
other option.
Just as in Paul’s time, the church today has not
escaped the problem. We ourselves can fall prey to current trends in
human thought. Some Christians frantically look almost everywhere but
to God and His Word for values, meaning, guidance, and help. Or they
add human ideas and insights to Scripture or try to “baptize”
human ideas and insights with Scripture. We sometimes are more
concerned about human opinion than about God’s Word—“using”
Scripture, but not fully believing, trusting, and obeying it.
Paul had begun to attack the problem earlier in the
chapter: “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the
gospel, not in cleverness of speech, that the cross of Christ should
not be made void” (1:17). “Cleverness of speech” (sophia
logou) means literally “wisdom of words” or “wisdom of
doctrine.” Paul came to preach God’s Word (which is the gospel),
not men’s words (which are sophia logou). From 1:18 through
the end of chapter 3, he continues to show the superiority of the
former over the latter. In that passage he uses sophia
(wisdom) 13 times—sometimes referring to God’s true wisdom (as in
1:24, 30; 2:6–7) and sometimes to man’s presumed wisdom (as in
1:17, 19, 22; 2:4–5). God’s Word is the only true wisdom and is
all the wisdom that is reliable and needed. All truth that God
intends us to have and that we need is there. It needs no addition of
human wisdom, which always falls short of His Word and most often
contradicts or distorts it. Scripture stands alone—reliable,
sufficient, and complete.
Human wisdom, epitomized in philosophy, has always been
a threat to revelation. Martyn Lloyd-Jones has commented, “The
whole drift toward modernism that has blighted the church of God and
nearly destroyed its living gospel may be traced to an hour when men
began to turn from revelation to philosophy.” But the trust in
human wisdom that we call modernism is hardly modern. It began with
Adam and Eve, when they set their own judgment above God’s, and was
in full bloom in Paul’s day. Whenever human wisdom, whether a
definite philosophical system or not, gets mixed with divine
revelation, revelation loses.
The Bible, for example, affirms that its first five
books were written by Moses. In many places in Scripture those books
are referred to as “the law of Moses,” using “law” in its
broadest sense. Beginning in the late 18th century, however, and
coming to a peak about a hundred years later, rationalist scholars
developed the “documentary hypothesis.” They did not agree on all
details, but the main idea was that the Pentateuch (the first five
books) was written by a number of different men over a considerable
period of time. Some of those men strongly affirmed that
sophisticated codes of law did not even exist in Moses’ day and
that he could not possibly have written any of the Pentateuch.
(Incidentally, archaeology has long since proved that law was highly
developed in the Near East centuries before Moses.) Some parts of the
Pentateuch, they maintained, were not written or finally edited until
after the Babylonian Exile. They divided those Bible books into
various subparts—called J, E, D, and P (representing the supposed
Jahwist, Elohist, Deuteronomist, and Priestly sources of the parts).
Behind that theory was the presupposition that only what
is understandable to the human mind (rational) is true and reliable.
Also behind it was the specific notion of evolution, then coming into
vogue among many intellectuals. They reasoned that, because man and
his ideas evolve, those parts of the Pentateuch that reflect more
“primitive” stories and beliefs were obviously written earlier
than those that are more “advanced.” Later editors, or redactors,
put it all together in its present form. They taught that monotheism
(belief in one God) had not evolved as a theory of deity early in the
Pentateuch period, so that part of Scripture must be dated later.
Thus philosophy became the judge of biblical authority—and
Scripture was declared unreliable.
The most difficult part of the Pentateuch for
rationalists to accept is its account of creation. There is no room
in evolution for the immediate and full-grown type of creation
described in Genesis 1–2. Some scholars, trying to allow for some
sort of creation as well as some sort of evolution, hold that God got
it all started by creating the raw elements, or perhaps primitive
forms of life, and that evolution then took over, with God
interjecting the soul at the proper time. But such “theistic
evolution” or “progressive creationism” also contradicts
Scripture. It imposes a philosophy and process on creation that the
literal interpretation of Scripture does not allow. Again revelation
was forced to bow to human ego.
Psychology is another form of human wisdom that
frequently contradicts or is used to modify or “enhance” God’s
Word. It is not a true or exact science but is basically
philosophical. It seeks to understand and modify man’s inner
workings—his mind, emotions, and spirit—by human observations and
theories. But every form of psychology has an underlying,
preconceived philosophy that colors, and to a great extent
predetermines, its methods and its interpretation of findings. Like
every other form of philosophy, it sees man and the world through the
lens of human reason and understanding. By its very nature,
psychology could never discover and understand sin, because sin is
offense against God—whose nature and will are totally outside
psychology’s scope. Psychology may understand men’s offending men
and try to deal with a person’s feeling of sin and guilt.
But human reason and wisdom cannot possibly identify, much less
determine, what sin against God is or give a remedy for any of it.
Only God’s Word can identify sin and only His forgiveness can
remove it. Because sin is offense against God, only God can determine
what sin is or provide forgiveness for it. The Bible is clear that
the heart of all man’s problems—physical, mental, social,
economic, and spiritual—is sin. And a true understanding of sin is
completely out of psychology’s realm. But Christ not only can
remove guilt feelings; He can remove the guilt itself—in fact, the
sin itself.
Even some theologians (whose name means “student or
studier of God”) try to improve on God’s Word by their own
understandings. Because his own philosophy did not allow for the
miraculous, the very influential German theologian Rudolph Bultmann,
for example, decided to “demythologize” the Bible—to identify
the supposed myths and to consider only what remained to be God’s
Word. That is, he decided in advance what God’s Word could and
could not be. He relied on his own wisdom to determine God’s
wisdom. In doing so he tried to make God in his own human image. When
man tries on his own to determine what God is like, what His will is,
and what He can and cannot do, the creature merely creates an
imaginary god, an idol in his own image and to his own egoistic
satisfaction. When human philosophy is in any way imposed upon God’s
revelation, revelation loses.
Without exception, man’s wisdom elevates himself and
lowers God. It always, no matter how seemingly sincere and objective
and scholarly, caters to man’s self-will, pride, fleshly
inclinations, and independence. Those are the basic characteristics
of the natural man, and they always direct and determine the natural
man’s thinking, desires, and conclusions. The reason men love
complex, elaborate philosophies and religions is because these appeal
to human ego. They offer the challenge of understanding and doing
something complex and difficult. For the same reason some men scoff
at the gospel. It calls on them to do nothing—it allows them to do
nothing—but accept in simple faith what God has done. The cross
crushes man’s sin and crushes man’s pride. It also offers
deliverance from sin and deliverance from pride.
In his own wisdom man inevitably exchanges the truth of
God for a lie and worships the creature rather than the Creator (Rom.
1:25). Man’s wisdom is founded in his own will and it is always
directed toward the fulfilling of his own will. Consequently it is
always against God’s wisdom and God’s will. Human wisdom
(“cleverness of speech”) will always make God’s wisdom (“the
gospel” and “the cross of Christ”) void (1 Cor. 1:17).
Men have, of course, made remarkable discoveries and
accomplished amazing feats over the centuries, especially in the last
fifty years or so. Science and technology have developed countless
products, machines, instruments, medicines, and procedures that have
made great contributions to human welfare.
It is also true that becoming a Christian does not give
us all the answers to everything—certainly not in the areas of
science, electronics, math, or any other field of strictly human
learning. Many nonbelievers are more educated, brilliant, talented,
and experienced than many believers. If we want our car fixed we go
to the best mechanic we can find, even if he is not a Christian. If
we need an operation we go to the best surgeon. If we want to get an
education we try to go the school that has the best faculty in the
field in which we want to study.
As long as they are used properly and wisely, medicine
and technology and science and all such fields of human learning and
achievement can be of great value. Christians should thank God for
them.
But if we want answers to what life is about—answers
about where we came from, where we are going, and why we are here,
about what is right and what is wrong—then human learning cannot
help us. If we want to know the ultimate meaning and purpose of human
life, and the source of happiness, joy, fulfillment, and peace, we
have to look beyond what even the best human minds can discover.
Man’s attempts to find such answers on his own are doomed to fail.
He does not have the resources even to find the answers about
himself, much less about God. In regard to the most important
truths—those about human nature, sin, God, morality and ethics, the
spirit world, the transformation and future of human life—philosophy
is bankrupt.
The Superiority of God’s Wisdom
For the word of the cross is to those who are
perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power
of God. (1:18)
When man elevates his own wisdom he automatically
attempts to lower God’s wisdom, which looks to him like
foolishness, because it conflicts with his own thinking. That God
would take human form, be crucified, and raised in order to provide
for man’s forgiveness of sin and entrance into heaven is an idea
far too simple, foolish, and humbling for the natural man to accept.
That one man (even the Son of God) could die on a piece of wood on a
nondescript hill in a nondescript part of the world and thereby
determine the destiny of every person who has ever lived seems
stupid. It allows no place for man’s merit, man’s attainment,
man’s understanding, or man’s pride. This word of the cross
is foolishness (moria, from which we get moron).
It is moronic, absolute nonsense, to unbelievers who rely on their
own wisdom—to those who are perishing. That phrase is a
graphic description of Christ rejectors, who are in the process of
being destroyed in eternal judgment.
Word in verse 18 is from the same Greek term
(logos) as “speech” in verse 17. Paul is contrasting man’s
word, which reflects man’s wisdom, and God’s Word, which reflects
God’s wisdom. Consequently the word of the cross includes
the entire gospel message and work, God’s plan and provision for
man’s redemption. In its fullest sense it is God’s total
revelation, for His revelation centers in the cross. God’s whole
redemption story and His whole redemption process seem foolish to
unbelievers. And because Christ’s work on the cross is the pinnacle
of God’s revealed Word and work, to reject the cross is to reject
His revelation, and to perish.
When Paul first came to Corinth he continued to face the
maelstrom of philosophies with which he had contended in Athens (Acts
17:18–21). But he had “determined to know nothing among [them]
except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). The response
of some in Corinth was the same as that of some in Athens: “When
they heard of the resurrection of the dead, [they] began to sneer”
(Acts 17:32). But Paul did not change his message to suit his
hearers. The Corinthians, like the Athenians and most other Greeks,
had more than enough philosophy. They did not need Paul’s opinions
added to their own, and the apostle was determined not to give them
his opinions but the word of the cross. He would give them
nothing but God’s profoundly simple, but historical and objective,
truth—not another man’s complex and subjective speculations.
Human wisdom cannot understand the cross. Peter, for
example, did not understand the cross when he first heard Jesus speak
of it. In fact Peter took Jesus “aside and began to rebuke Him,
saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You’ ”
(Matt. 16:22). Peter’s own understanding about the Messiah had no
place for the cross. He thought the Messiah would soon set up an
earthly kingdom and that everything would be pleasant for His
followers. But Peter’s wisdom was contrary to God’s wisdom, and
anything contrary to God’s wisdom works for Satan. Jesus’ reply
to His disciple was quick and sharp: “Get behind Me, Satan! You are
a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s
interests, but man’s” (v. 23). When the soldiers came to the
garden to arrest Jesus, Peter still did not understand. He still
tried to interfere with God’s plan. Drawing his sword, he cut off a
slave’s ear—for which Jesus again rebuked him (John 18:10–11).
Only after the resurrection and ascension did Peter understand and
accept the cross (Acts 2:23–24; 3:13–15). He now had God’s
Spirit and God’s wisdom, and no longer relied on his own. Years
later he would write, “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the
cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His
wounds you were healed” (1 Pet. 2:24).
To the natural mind, whether Jewish or Gentile, the
cross is offensive and unacceptable. But to us who are being saved
it is the power of God. All men are either in the process of
being saved (salvation present is not complete until the redemption
of the body—Rom. 8:23; 13:11) or of being destroyed. One’s view
of the cross determines which.
Paul proceeds (1:19–2:5) to give five reasons why
God’s wisdom is superior to man’s: its permanence, its power, its
paradox, its purpose, and its presentation.
the permanence of god’s wisdom
For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of
the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.” Where
is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this
age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? (1:19–20)
Paul uses a quotation from Isaiah 29:14 to emphasize
that the wisdom of men will be destroyed. Isaiah’s teaching will
have its ultimate fulfillment in the last days, when all men’s
philosophies and objections to the gospel will be swept away. Christ
will reign unopposed and unobstructed as Lord of lords and King of
kings (Rev. 17:14), and all of man’s wisdom will become ashes.
But the prophecy also had a more immediate significance
and fulfillment, which serves to illustrate its future and ultimate
fulfillment. When Isaiah made the prophecy, Sennacherib, the king of
Assyria, was planning to conquer Judah. The Lord told His prophet not
to worry or fear, because the king’s plan would fail. But it would
not fail because of the strength of Judah’s army or because of the
strategy of King Hezekiah and his advisors. “The wisdom of their
wise men [would] perish, and the discernment of their discerning men
[would] be concealed” (Isa. 29:14). Judah would be saved solely by
God’s power, with no human help. He destroyed 185,000 men of the
Assyrian army with just one angel (37:36). The full account is given
in 2 Kings 18–19.
God continually told Israel that He would fight for her.
All she had to do was trust and obey. That is why, when Israel went
into battle, a choir singing the Lord’s praises often preceded the
army.
Men are all inclined to try to solve their problems and
fight their battles by their own ingenuity and in their own power.
But human ingenuity and power only get in God’s way. Men’s own
efforts hinder God in His work rather than help Him. “There is a
way which seems right to a man,” Solomon tells us, “but its end
is the way of death” (Prov. 14:12). One of the things that keeps
many people away from Christ, away from the Bible, and away from
salvation is their disagreement with the gospel. It just does not fit
their way of thinking. Even when they know their own philosophy or
their own religion is shaky, they often would rather put their heads
in the sand and hope for the best than simply take God at His word.
This is the willful ignorance of unbelief described by Paul in Romans
1:18–23. Pretending to be wise, such men are fools.
Jeremiah asked, “The wise men are put to shame, they
are dismayed and caught; behold, they have rejected the word of the
Lord, and what kind of wisdom do they have?” (8:9). If men reject
God’s revelation, what truth is left, what sort of wisdom do they
have? It “is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly,
natural, demonic” (James 3:15). Being earthly, it never gets beyond
what man can see, touch, and measure. Being natural, it is based on
human desires and standards. Being demonic, its real source is Satan.
That is human wisdom. “But the wisdom from above,” James goes on
to say, “is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of
mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy” (3:17).
Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is
the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the
world? (1:20)
This verse specifically teaches that human wisdom not
only is unreliable but impermanent. To continue that thought, Paul
asks several questions, really one question in three parts. In
slightly different form they each ask, “Where are all the smart
people that have the answers?” How much closer to peace is man than
he was a century ago—or a millennium ago? How much closer are we to
eliminating poverty, hunger, ignorance, crime, and immorality than
men were in Paul’s day? Our advances in knowledge and technology
and communication have not really advanced us. It is from among those
who are intelligent and clever that the worst exploiters, deceivers,
and oppressors come. We are more educated than our forefathers but we
are not more moral. We have more means of helping each other but we
are not less selfish. We have more means of communication but we do
not understand each other any better. We have more psychology and
education, and more crime and more war. We have not changed, except
in finding more ways to express and excuse our human nature.
Throughout history human wisdom has never basically changed and has
never solved the basic problems of man.
In asking about the wise man Paul paraphrased
Isaiah, who wrote, “Well then, where are your wise men?” (Isa.
19:12). The prophet was referring to the wise men of Egypt—the
soothsayers, mediums, and wizards—who always promised but never
produced good counsel. “They have led Egypt astray in all that it
does, as a drunken man staggers in his vomit” (v. 14). The
scribe probably referred to the Assyrians, who sent scribes along
with their soldiers to record the booty taken in battle. But God
would see to it that they had nothing to record, nothing to count or
to weigh (Isa. 33:18).
The debater of this age does not seem to have a
counterpart in the Old Testament. Debater was a very Greek
word (suzētētēs) and referred to arguing about philosophy,
of which Greeks were so fond. “Where is the debater now?” Paul
asks almost sarcastically. “Where have all the clever arguments and
impressive rhetoric brought you? Are you better off because of
them—or simply more self-satisfied and complacent? Don’t you see
that all the wisdom of your wise men, your scribes, and your debaters
is folly?” Nothing really changes. Life has the same problems; men
have the same struggles.
Could the apostle have written anything more appropriate
for our own day? Where have our great thinkers—our philosophers,
sociologists, psychologists, economists, scientists, and
statesmen—brought us? Never before has mankind been so fearful of
self-destruction or been so self-consciously perplexed, confused, and
corrupt. Modern human wisdom has failed just as ancient human wisdom
failed, except that its failures come faster and spread farther. The
outer life improves in a material way, while the inner life seems to
have correspondingly less meaning. The real issues are not solved.
Human wisdom sometimes sees the immediate cause of a
problem but it does not see the root, which always is sin. It may see
that selfishness is a cause of injustice, but it has no way to remove
selfishness. It may see that hatred causes misery and pain and
destruction, but it has no cure for hatred. It can see plainly that
man does not get along with man, but does not see that the real cause
is that man does not get along with God. Human wisdom cannot
see because it will not see. As long as it looks on God’s
wisdom as foolishness, its own wisdom will be foolish. In other
words, human wisdom itself is a basic part of the problem.
Peace, joy, hope, harmony, brotherhood, and every other
aspiration of man is out of his reach as long as he follows his own
way in trying to achieve them. He who sees the cross as folly is
doomed to his own folly.
the power of god’s wisdom
For since in the wisdom of God the world through its
wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the
foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For
indeed Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom; but we
preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles
foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks,
Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the
foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is
stronger than men. (1:21–25)
With all their supposed wisdom men have never been able
to know God, much less come to a personal relationship with Him.
Man’s increase in knowledge and philosophies tends to increase his
problems, not solve them. Hatred increases, misunderstanding
increases, conflicts and wars increase, drunkenness increases, crime
increases, mental breakdowns increase, family problems increase. They
increase not only in numbers, but also in extent and in severity. The
more man looks to himself and depends on himself, the worse his
situation becomes. As his dependence on his wisdom increases, so do
his problems.
This is God’s plan, as the words in the wisdom of
God indicate. God wisely established it this way, that man could
not come to know Him by the wisdom of the world. Man cannot solve his
problems because he will not recognize their source, which is sin, or
their solution, which is salvation. Man’s own sinful nature is the
cause of his problems, and he cannot change his nature. Even if human
wisdom could recognize the problem it does not have the power to
change it. But God has the power. God was well-pleased through the
foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. He
chose to use that which the world’s wisdom counts as moronic, as
foolishness, to save those of the world who would simply
believe. Believing implies complete assent to all the truth of
the saving gospel. For those who will exchange their wisdom for His,
God offers transformation, regeneration, new birth and new life
through the power of the cross of Jesus Christ, His Son. This
“foolishness” is man’s only hope.
When human wisdom recognizes its own bankruptcy and a
man turns in faith to Jesus Christ, whose saving work is the
message preached, he can exchange poverty for riches, sin for
righteousness, despair for hope, death for life. The simplicity of
the gospel gives what the complexity of human wisdom promises but
never delivers. “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you
thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become foolish that he
may become wise” (3:18). When we come down (in the world’s eyes)
to the cross, God will raise us up to eternal life.
Even though surrounded by evidences of God’s wisdom
men choose to trust their own. They “suppress the truth in
unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident
within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation
of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine
nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has
been made, so that they are without excuse” (Rom. 1:18–20). The
wisdom of men is totally indicted. Their wisdom is not merely
ignorant of God’s wisdom but is scornful of it. Their ignorance is
willful, because they refuse to recognize that which is “evident,”
that which can be “clearly seen.”
Every time a person looks at a mountain he should think
of God’s greatness. Every time he sees a sunset he should think of
God’s glory. Every time he sees a new life come into the world he
should see God’s creative hand at work. Yet an astronomer can look
through his telescope and see a hundred thousand stars, and not see
God’s greatness. A natural scientist can look through his
microscope and see intricacies of life beyond description, yet not
see God’s creation. A nuclear physicist can produce a thousand
megatons of destruction, yet not recognize God’s power.
When Paul came to Athens he noticed a shrine inscribed:
“To an unknown God.” He proceeded to declare to those around him
on Mars Hill (the Areopagus), “What therefore you worship in
ignorance, this I proclaim to you” (Acts 17:23). With all their
learning and philosophies and debating they had come to recognize
countless gods—but not the true God. They made for themselves many
gods, but the God who had made them they did not know. The world
through its wisdom did not come to know God.
God does not expect men to come to Him through
their own wisdom; He knows they cannot. But they can come to Him
through His wisdom. God was well-pleased through the
foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
The phrase message preached is one word in the Greek
(kērugmatos) and can also be translated “proclamation.”
It does not refer to the act of declaring a message but to the
content of the message. The content of God’s message is the gospel,
“the word of the cross” and “the power of God” (v. 18). The
content, in fact, is Jesus Christ Himself, who is “the power of God
and the wisdom of God” (v. 24).
Paul is not talking about foolish preaching, of which
there has always been more than enough. He is talking about the
preaching of that which is foolish in the world’s eyes—the
simple, unadorned, uncomplicated truth of the cross of Jesus Christ
that allows no place for man’s wisdom or man’s work or man’s
glory. The wisdom and work and glory are all God’s. But the
blessing they give can be man’s.
It is not through philosophy, intellectual
understanding, or human wisdom that salvation comes, but through
believing. God saves only those who believe. Men cannot
“figure out” salvation; they can only accept it in faith.
For indeed Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for
wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block,
and to Gentiles foolishness. (1:22–23)
Unbelief is always the basic reason for not accepting
God’s will and God’s way, but unbelief is expressed in various
ways. The Jews wanted supernatural signs before they
would believe the gospel. The Gentiles, represented by Greeks,
wanted proof through human wisdom, through ideas they could
propound and could debate.
Desire for proof most frequently is an evasion, an
excuse for not believing. Jesus performed miracle after miracle in
the heartland of Judaism, most of them in public. Yet most of those
who witnessed the miracles, the supernatural signs, did not believe
in Him. A man whom Jesus healed in Jerusalem had been blind from
birth and was a well-known beggar in the city. After he was healed,
however, some of his neighbors refused to believe he was the same
person, even though he told them himself (John 9:9). The man was
taken before the Pharisees, to whom he gave his testimony of
miraculous healing. They too refused to believe the sign, even
with the additional witness of the man’s parents. The Pharisees
believed in the supernatural, but only in the supernatural that fit
their own scheme of understanding.
At another time, a group of scribes and Pharisees came
to Jesus, demanding a sign from Him to prove He was of God. Knowing
their insincerity and hypocrisy, Jesus refused to give them a sign—at
least of the kind they wanted. He told them, “An evil and
adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign shall be
given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet,” which represented
His crucifixion and resurrection (Matt. 12:38–40). As events
proved, most of the Jews did not believe even that greatest of all
signs when it was given.
Most of the Jews of Jesus’ and Paul’s day could not
accept the idea of a crucified Messiah. That was a stumbling block
to them (cf. Rom. 9:31–33). To them He was to come in earthly power
and splendor and establish an earthly throne and kingdom. Such clear
messianic teachings as those found in Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 were
either explained away or ignored. Scripture that did not conform to
their preconceived notions was simply reinterpreted or sidestepped.
The Greeks, on the other hand, wanted
intellectual proof, something they could mull over and figure out
with their own minds. They too were insincere. As Paul had discovered
in Athens, the Greek philosophers there were not interested in
discovering truth, especially not truth about God. They were
interested only in hearing and arguing about exciting new ideas and
problems (Acts 17:21). They had no interest in seeking out eternal
truth to believe and accept and follow. The wisdom they sought was
not divine and eternal wisdom, but human and temporary wisdom. The
wisdom they sought, as illustrated by the Athenian
philosophers, was not divine truth but intellectual novelty.
Like the Jews, they also had preconceived ideas about
what a god could and could not, or would and would not, do. Greeks
generally believed that all matter was evil and that everything
spiritual was good. It was therefore inconceivable to them that a god
could come to earth as a man. It was even more inconceivable
that he would want to. To them the gods were indifferent to
men. They were totally apathetic to things that transpired on earth.
The second-century philosopher Celsus, who made a career
out of attacking Christianity, wrote, “God is good and beautiful
and happy, and if in that which is most beautiful and best, if then
he descends to man it involves change for him, and a change from good
to bad, from beautiful to ugly, from happiness to unhappiness, from
what is best to what is worst, and God would never accept such a
change.” The idea of the incarnation, not to mention the
crucifixion, was utter folly to Greek thinking. To those rationalists
nothing could be more absurd than the idea of an incarnate God giving
Himself to be crucified in order to secure salvation, holiness, and
eternal life for a fallen world.
The two groups Paul mentions here are representative of
all of unbelieving mankind. Whether, like the typical Jew, they
demand proof by a supernatural sign or, like the typical Greek, they
want proof by natural wisdom, unbelievers will find an excuse for
rejecting the gospel.
Paul very much believed in the supernatural; and he was,
by any standard, highly intelligent. He was both a supernaturalist
and a rationalist in the best senses. But above all he was a
believer, a believer in God. The gospel is both supernatural and
sensible. But it cannot be discovered through supernatural signs or
appropriated through natural wisdom apart from a willing heart. It
will save only those who believe.
Paul would only preach Christ crucified, the only true
sign and the only true wisdom. Those who will not believe that sign
or accept that wisdom will not accept God. To those who seek other
signs the cross is a stumbling block, and to those who seek
other wisdom it is foolishness.
The only message a Christian has to tell is the message
of the cross—of God the Son becoming man, of His dying to pay the
penalty for our sins, and of His being raised from the dead in order
to raise us to life.
But to those who are the called, both Jews and
Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the
foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is
stronger than men. (1:24–25)
Paul makes clear that he had been using the terms Jews
and Greeks in a general way to represent unbelieving
Jews and Gentiles. God’s called people also include both Jews
and Greeks. For those who believe in His Son, the crucified
Christ is both the power of God and the wisdom of God.
He who is a stumbling block to the unbelieving Jew is Savior of the
believing, and the One who is foolishness to the unbelieving Gentile
is Redeemer to the believing.
In mentioning God’s foolishness and weakness
the apostle is, of course, speaking from the unbeliever’s point of
view. Ironically, and tragically, the very part of God’s plan and
work that seems most ridiculous and useless from man’s natural
standpoint actually exhibits His greatest power and greatest
wisdom.
Paul is also saying that, even if God could possess any
sort of foolishness, it would be wiser than man’s greatest
wisdom. And if God were able to have any weakness, it would be
stronger than the greatest strength men could muster.
God’s power is real power, power that means something
and accomplishes something. It is not of men but it is offered
for men. It is the power of salvation from sin, of deliverance
from Satan, of life in God’s very presence for all eternity.
Was Paul crucified for you? (vv. 18–25)
The mention of the cross in 1 Corinthians 1:17 introduced this long
section on the power of the Gospel versus the weakness of man’s
wisdom. It is interesting to see how Paul approached this problem of
division in the church. First, he pointed to the unity of Christ:
there is one Saviour and one body. Then he reminded them of their
baptism, a picture of their spiritual baptism into Christ’s body (1
Cor. 12:13). Then he took them to the cross.
Crucifixion was not only a horrible death; it was a
shameful death. It was illegal to crucify a Roman citizen.
Crucifixion was never mentioned in polite society, any more than we
today would discuss over dinner the gas chamber or the electric
chair.
The key word in this paragraph is wisdom; it is
used eight times. The key idea that Paul expressed is that we dare
not mix man’s wisdom with God’s revealed message. The entire
section on wisdom (1 Cor. 1:17–2:16) presents a number of contrasts
between the revealed Word of God and the wisdom of men.
God’s wisdom is revealed primarily in the cross of
Jesus Christ, but not everybody sees this. Paul pointed out that
there are three different attitudes toward the cross.
Some stumble at the cross (v. 23a). This was the
attitude of the Jews, because their emphasis is on miraculous signs
and the cross appears to be weakness. Jewish history is filled with
miraculous events, from the Exodus out of Egypt to the days of Elijah
and Elisha. When Jesus was ministering on earth, the Jewish leaders
repeatedly asked Him to perform a sign from heaven; but He refused.
The Jewish nation did not understand their own sacred
Scriptures. They looked for a Messiah who would come like a mighty
conqueror and defeat all their enemies. He would then set up His
kingdom and return the glory to Israel. The question of the Apostles
in Acts 1:6 shows how strong this hope was among the Jews.
At the same time, their scribes noticed in the Old
Testament that the Messiah would suffer and die. Passages like Psalm
22 and Isaiah 53 pointed toward a different kind of Messiah, and the
scholars could not reconcile these two seemingly contradictory
prophetic images. They did not understand that their Messiah had to
suffer and die before He could enter into His glory (see Luke
24:13–35), and that the future messianic kingdom was to be preceded
by the age of the church.
Because the Jews were looking for power and great glory,
they stumbled at the weakness of the cross. How could anybody put
faith in an unemployed carpenter from Nazareth who died the shameful
death of a common criminal? But the Gospel of Jesus Christ is “the
power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16). Rather than a testimony
of weakness, the cross is a tremendous instrument of power! After
all, the “weakness of God [in the cross] is stronger than men” (1
Cor. 1:25).
Some laugh at the cross (v. 23b). This was the
response of the Greeks. To them, the cross was foolishness. The
Greeks emphasized wisdom; we still study the profound writings of the
Greek philosophers. But they saw no wisdom in the cross, for they
looked at the cross from a human point of view. Had they seen it from
God’s viewpoint, they would have discerned the wisdom of God’s
great plan of salvation.
Paul called on three men to bear witness: the wise (the
expert), the scribe (the interpreter and writer), and the disputer
(the philosopher and debater). He asked them one question: Through
your studies into man’s wisdom, have you come to know God in a
personal way? They all must answer no! The fact that they laugh at
the cross and consider it foolishness is evidence that they are
perishing.
Paul quoted Isaiah 29:14 in 1 Corinthians 1:19, proving
that God has written a big “0—Failure!”—over the wisdom of
men. In his address on Mars’ Hill, Paul dared to tell the
philosophers that Greek and Roman history were but “times of this
ignorance” (Acts 17:30). He was not suggesting that they knew
nothing, because Paul knew too well that the Greek thinkers had made
some achievements. However, their wisdom did not enable them to find
God and experience salvation.
Some believe and experience the power and the wisdom
of the cross (v. 24). Paul did not alter his message when he
turned from a Jewish audience to a Greek one: he preached Christ
crucified. “The foolishness of preaching” (1 Cor. 1:21) does not
mean that the act of preaching is foolish, but rather the
content of the message. The New International Version states
it, “Through the foolishness of what was preached,” and this is
correct.
Those who have been called by God’s grace, and who
have responded by faith (see 2 Thes. 2:13–14), realize that Christ
is God’s power and God’s wisdom. Not the Christ of the manger, or
the temple, or the marketplace—but the Christ of the cross. It is
in the death of Christ that God has revealed the foolishness of man’s
wisdom and the weakness of man’s power.
We are called into fellowship because of our union with
Jesus Christ: He died for us; we were baptized in His name; we are
identified with His cross. What a wonderful basis for spiritual
unity!1
1:18–19 The cross divides the human race. The
division is between those who are perishing, to whom the cross is
foolishness, and those who are being saved, to whom the cross is
wisdom and power. Paul supported this truth by quoting Is 29:14,
where God warned the unbelieving leaders of Jerusalem who considered
themselves wise. God’s judgment will expose all pretensions to
human wisdom not anchored in Christ.2
1
Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The
Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, pp.
570–571). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
2
Tomlinson, F. A. (2017). 1
Corinthians. In E. A. Blum & T. Wax (Eds.), CSB
Study Bible: Notes (pp. 1812–1813). Nashville, TN: Holman
Bible Publishers.
