The city of Corinth
had many philosophical schools that were divided among each other. And students
would champion for their philosophers or teachers. One student would say I
belong to the Epicurean and another might say I follow the school of Philo, and
still another would say I follow the Stoic, and so on. This attitude had
invaded the church. These were the making of human cleverness.
Paul wanting to
dissociate himself from their thinking, started verse 17 by saying he would not
rely on that human cleverness or so called wisdom. And then went on to elaborate
in verse 18. He contrasted the message of the cross with human wisdom. Human wisdom
was just a word of wisdom but the
cross was the message. Notice the
definite article for the message of the cross.
Some Corinthians in
Corinth evidently preferred wisdom of men
over the message of Christ. Paul
emphasized that the cross might not seem logical to the perishing and would be considered
foolishness by them, but to those being saved this message is God’s power to
save. The fact remains that some people do think that they are wiser than God.
And this is not an exaggeration. To illustrate that, Paul quoted from Isaiah
29:14. The context was when Israel relied on their own wisdom went and allied
themselves with Egypt to help them fight the enemy, they had rejected God’s
plan. And they were nowhere closer to a solution. In fact they went into exile
because of that.
In verse 20, Paul then
went on to ask, “Where
is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age?” The philosophers, the
scholars and the debaters may argue and debate about the answers to the problem
that plagued mankind. Yet they are also nowhere close to providing an
everlasting solution to the problem of sin that is still plaguing mankind. In
fact Paul said, the intellectuals of this world had been proven foolish time
and again, whereas God’s wisdom had been upheld all the time.
Paul then showed how
futile the wisdom of this age is in verse 21. For through human wisdom none came
close to knowing God. None had been saved and none could be saved through it. So
God chose the message of the cross, which is foolishness to the world, to save
those who believe its content.
From verses 22-25,
Paul shows that God’s way is far more superior then man’s way. It’s always a
temptation to pander to what man wants to hear. Paul did not preach to the Jews
or Greek what they wanted to hear. He preached what they needed to hear, Christ
crucified. To the Jews their coming messiah would be a reigning messiah, how
could a messiah suffer and die. The message of the cross jarred with their
beliefs. To the Greeks the cross was totally irrational. How could a savior die
in order to save? Hence to the Jews the cross was a stumbling block and to the
Greek it was foolishness. But to Jews or Greek or anyone, when they believe the
message of the cross, it would be God’s power and wisdom. He is the power of
God because He did what man’s philosophy could never have done, i.e. to change
man from inside. Christ is also God’s wisdom because when Christ speaks, God
speaks. And when He speaks, there would always be eternal effects. Therefore the
cross which unbelieving men consider as foolishness of God, is much wiser than them,
and what they thought is God’s weakness is much stronger than them.
Worldly philosophy can
be very appealing but it may not have lasting value for eternity. Whereas the
Word of God reveals Christ to us in all His fullness. Let’s not spend too much
time being consumed with the quest of acquiring what would not impact our life
forever. Go for the Word of God. No wonder Paul said to the elders of Ephesus
in Acts 20:32, “…I commend
you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those
who are sanctified.”
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