Comments on 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

    As I had mentioned last time, Paul was calling the Corinthians believers to focus on Christ Himself rather than on the one from whom they had heard the message. I had mentioned in my first post on Corinthians, this was actually the second letter Paul had written to the assembly there in Corinth. He mentioned in verse 17 that his purpose was, “...to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech…” and so he continues that theme in the next verse. We’ll be covering verses 18 to 31 in this post:

For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, 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.

For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

    The NASB translates “word” here where the KJV has “preaching.” The Greek is actually λόγος (logos) here and so word does make the most sense. Paul is contrasting the “word of wisdom” from the previous verse with the “word of the cross” that seems so foolish to the worldly mind. Note too that the “word of the cross” is foolishness “to those who are perishing.” The unrepentant, those who have everything in the world and nothing in God. They want nothing to do with God and so they are, even now, perishing. Another thing to note is the cross itself. Because it is such a central part of our faith, I think we may have lost some of the shame and disdain that was associated with it when Paul was writing this letter. Multiple commentaries I read mentioned that this was not a topic that polite society would discuss. Wiersbe specifically mentioned that speaking about the cross in that day would be like discussing the gas chamber or the electric chair at a dinner party. It just was not done. Yet, for the believer, that same shameful cross, because of the finished work of Christ thereon, is “the power of God.”

Paul draws a sharp contrast between the world, to whom the cross is foolish, and the saved, to whom it is the power of God. We have a Savior who willingly left His glory on high with His Heavenly Father, to come to Earth, walk as a man, live a perfect life, be crucified for our sins, and be raised again on the third day. We will speak of the cross because apart from it we would be lost as well. God’s power was shown to us in that He took us from the kingdom of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of His beloved Son. Ironside wrote in his commentary: “I stand up in the name of the God of Heaven and declare ‘Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures’ (1 Cor. 15:3-4). The world says, ‘Foolishness! You could not prove that if you had to.’ No, I could not; but I repeat the announcement: ‘Christ died for our sins …’ And whenever a man is humble enough and lowly enough to believe the announcement, he is saved.”

    Paul then spends the rest of this chapter furthering the point that the world’s wisdom will not bring anyone to salvation. He quotes Isaiah 29:14 here but I’m going to read 13-16 for some context: “Then the Lord said, ‘Because this people draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me, and their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote, Therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous; and the wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the discernment of their discerning men will be concealed.’ Woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the Lord, and whose deeds are done in a dark place, and they say, ‘who sees us?’ or ‘who knows us?’ You turn things around! Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, that what is made would say to its maker, ‘He did not make me’; or what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘He has no understanding?’” As we can plainly see from the context, Paul is driving home the point that man’s wisdom doesn’t amount to anything when compared to God. Mankind thinks it can hide its wrongdoing from the Creator. In their wisdom, many have done things that, in the world’s eyes, are quite amazing. Yet they can’t even compare to the wonders of creation, let alone the wonder of the finished work of the cross. But in all of man’s religions and philosophies, not one could come up with the idea that there needed to be Christ, the Son of God, on the cross for sinners to be saved. 

    So Paul calls out the contemporary worldly philosophers. He asks, “Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age?” He looked around for any who could answer. I think it is clear that he is calling out both the Jew and the Greek here. First he asks after the scribe, the Jewish religious scholars. Men who had tried to work out a means of salvation through ritual and religious observances. But they could not fathom the word of the cross and so Paul rightly brushes them aside. Next he calls out the “debater of this age.” The Greek philosophers, so proud in their philosophies. We still study Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates in school in the modern age. But even as wise as these men were, and as much as they understood the human condition, they too did not understand the word of the cross and so Paul can dismiss them as well. 

We see Paul tackling this problem from a slightly different angle in Athens in Acts 17. I’ll read 22 to 31: “So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus [which was a famous location for these philosophers] and said, ‘Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one many every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’ Being then children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.’” 

In Athens, Paul took the evangelistic approach of mentioning that their altar to an unknown god, was One who was knowable, just not through their earthly wisdom. To the Corinthian assembly, he points out that God has made foolish the wisdom of the world.

    We’ll continue in our passage: “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.” He had allowed philosophers, debaters, scribes, and wise men to try and seek for Him using their own thoughts, and their own ways, but they could not reach Him. In Acts we read “if perhaps they might grope for Him,” but it could not be. The only way to reach God is through the cross, and we read in Romans 10: “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?” (v14). Paul’s mission was to be that preacher. You’ll note he does not call God foolish, but rather points out that the “word of the cross” looks foolish to the world’s wisdom. But it is the only way to salvation.

It might do well for us here to consider Psalm 2:2-4 : “The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, ‘Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!’ He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them.” The mighty and wise, according to the world, scheme and devise, and try to explain the mysteries of the universe even today, and God laughs at them because they try to explain the natural apart from the supernatural and cannot come to firm conclusions apart from Him. We need to understand the message of God in order to be saved, and we cannot understand that message unless He gives us His Spirit to help us. 

    Paul again splits the world into Jew and Greek in the next couple verses. He writes, “Jews ask for signs,” and yet in Acts when we read of signs being performed among the Jews we do not see vast numbers repenting and believing. Instead we see Peter and John getting arrested in chapter 4 for healing a lame man, and Paul being stoned in Acts 14 for the same miracle. The Jews even asked Jesus for a sign in Matthew 16 and His reply was they would see none “except the sign of Jonah.” Their history is full of miraculous and wondrous signs and all of that was not enough for them to believe in the Messiah when He came, so He offered nothing further.

The Greeks sought wisdom. I know I’ve belabored the point, but they were known for their philosophers and putting great stock in those who were deep thinkers. To them the simplicity of the message of the gospel seems foolish. It makes no sense from a worldly perspective for someone so powerful to become so weak. For someone so great to become so small. You’ll permit me to share the chorus from one of my favorite Christmas songs: “How many kings stepped down from their thrones? How many lords have abandoned their homes? How many greats have become the least for me? And how many gods have poured out their hearts to romance a world that is torn all apart? How many Fathers gave up their Sons for me?” But this seems foolish to the world that honors strength. So the “word of the cross” is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks. I appreciated Ironside’s conjecture in his commentary here so I’ll quote it in full: “Someone might have asked Paul, ‘If you know it is a stumbling block and foolishness, why don't you serve it up to your audience in such a way as to get rid of those offending elements?’ And Paul would have answered, ‘If I make the message attractive to the natural man, it will not be the means of salvation to sinners.’ The preaching of the cross involves the work of the Spirit of God; He must prepare the heart. His work is the effectual call.”

    “but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” We who have been saved by the finished work of Christ on the cross know the wisdom and power of our God. Note that the message doesn’t change between the Jewish and Greek audiences. Salvation comes from “Christ crucified.” The Jews wanted a powerful Messiah to come and break their bonds, the Greeks wanted a wise philosopher to show them the way. Christ does fulfill both, just not in the expected way. We know that a day will come when the power of God will be revealed to the unbelieving world, and we can be grateful that we can see that power now.

    Paul next points out that even the most foolish that God can be, (in His perfection), is orders of magnitude better than the wisest of men. And even the weakest that He can be, is so much stronger than the strongest of men to be completely outside of human experience. The Lord Jesus Christ left eternal glory and took the low place, and even though He could’ve taken up His power and prevented His death, He knew that His purpose was to be the sacrifice and He had to do His Father’s will. He could have prayed and had legions of His angels come and rescue Him, but “He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death” (Philippians 2:8) “that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14). 

    Paul then brings this home to the Corinthians and reminds them of their own calling. He reminds them as well that not many of them were mighty, noble, or wise “according to the flesh.” Ironside had shared an amusing anecdote in his commentary about Lady Huntingdon. She was a friend of George Whitefield and the Wesleys and greatly helped with their revival movement, but she used to say that she got into Heaven by an “m.” When asked what she meant by that, she replied that Scripture does not say that “Not any noble” are called, but rather “Not many” and so she got in by an “m.” This is a good point for us to remember as well. God does not evaluate us the same way that the world does. There is nothing in and of ourselves which we can boast in. There are none so good that they can reach heaven on their own, and none so bad that God cannot save them.

     “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God.” When God chooses to act through those who have no strength and wisdom in themselves (and I’m glad He does so, as I write here) He gets the glory because the messenger is weak but He is strong. I might be foolish and base, in fact, I know that I am, but I am amazed that God can still use me to preach His Word. 

One of the gentlemen at my office shares inspirational, usually Biblically based quotes with us through email every work day. Last month he had shared a quote stating, “God does not call the equipped, He equips the called.” That point is born out here in our passage. We see that with the first disciples as well. Fishermen and peasants, He made them into great and faithful preachers of His word. 

To quote Wiersbe now: “The wise of this world cannot understand how God changes sinners into saints, and the mighty of this world are helpless to duplicate the miracle.” No matter how “advanced” we get, we won’t be able to get anywhere near God on our own strengths. “So that no man may boast before God.” If God had taken up the rich and powerful, they might’ve tried to claim some credit or at least some measure of merit in His choice.

    “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus…” Salvation is all of God. Through His power and wisdom we find ourselves in His beloved Son. What a blessed place to be. And He “became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.” Every spiritual blessing we need to live a life of godliness isn’t some abstract thing that we should have trouble grasping, because they are all found in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Also we see here the entirety of our salvation. We see the past reality of it in the word righteousness. Christ died to bear the penalty of our sins and we now have His righteousness applied to us. We see the present reality in the word sanctification. We are currently being conformed more and more to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ as we grow in holiness as we learn to live more like Him. And we see the future reality in the word redemption. There is coming a day when, as the hymn writer put it, “from sin, the world, and Satan, we’re ransomed by Thy blood.” He has bought us and that purchase will be fully realized when He comes back for His own.

    We end our chapter with Paul paraphrasing from Jeremiah 9:24 which reads: “but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,’ declares the Lord.” When we truly begin to understand the plan of salvation, the price that was paid, the depth of our own sin, the love which God had for us before the foundation of the world, we will inevitably come to the conclusion that He is the only one we can boast in, and nothing in ourselves. 

    So as we conclude this passage, we are reminded that the Christian life begins, continues, and ends with Christ Himself. God has not saved us because we were wise, strong, or worthy in the eyes of the world, but because He is gracious and sovereign. He has placed us in His Son, and in Him we have everything we need: wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. That truth should humble us, steady us, and free us from boasting in ourselves or in others. If there is any boasting to be done, let it be this: that we know the Lord who saves sinners by the power of the cross. May our lives, our words, and our worship reflect that our confidence rests not in human wisdom, but in Christ crucified.