Cosmic Debate

Have you ever been to an academic debate? In College, I was on a very small debate team. We didn’t compete between colleges, just among ourselves. And, my partner and I were always pitted against teams better than us. It could be that we were just bad, but I choose to think that we were good, just unequally matched against geniuses.

I love debate. I’ve been able to attend live debates on the reliability of Scripture. It’s always fun. But, I know that I am weird.

Paul invites us into a debate on the Gospel. He is beginning to get excited about the content of his letter. He has just reminded the Corinthians about the need for unity, a unity based upon the Gospel. So, he takes a minute, or a chapter and a half as it is, to remind the Corinthians about the Gospel.

While we are only going to be studying 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 today, let us read the entire section to get what is going on in context.

Read 1:18-2:5

Paul did not want to empty the cross of its power, so he came to the Corinthians in weakness, because the message of the cross is weakness compared to what the world thinks.

In this passage we have a debate between humanity and God. And this is not a simple debate, eternity stands in the balance.

This is not a quick debate, but a cosmic one. It’s been occurring since the beginning of time. Humanity steps up and declares that they know what is right and good, that they have wisdom and power. And God says: nope.

So, here we have it, human folly vs divine power. Which is going to win? We say that we know the answer, but do we live like we know the answer?

So often, we imitate the Corinthians: we try to live our lives on the basis of unsanctified common sense which has self-preservation as its ultimate goal. That kind of life is self-seeking, self-serving, and ultimately self-destructive.

So, who do you want to win? Your ability to live according to what you think is right? Or God’s ability to direct you into a life which everyone else will think is foolish and weak?

The debate is set. Instead of the normal two speakers on each side, we have five speakers on the human side and one speaker on the divine side.

1A. Humanity says they can know and do

First up on the human side is the possessor of secret knowledge.

1B. The possessors of secret knowledge

Paul says:

1 Corinthians 1:18–20 (NIV)

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness 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;

the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

Paul asks: Where is the wise person? Let him stand up and give his defense for what he thinks.

The Greek society loved wisdom, but there was a group of people that were just starting to meet together, called the Gnostics. They believed that there was a such a thing as secret knowledge.

I kind of believe that they were the forerunners of today’s conspiracy theorists. They believed that there was hidden truth to be found and only certain people could find it. This hidden truth would allow them to know God in a way that no one else could know and ultimately allow them to shed the confines of this physical life and body.

They denied the ability of the cross to save, because more had to be added to it. It was too simple. They wanted more: more searching, more conspiracy, more for them to do.

And, they wanted a way to be better than everyone else: they wanted a secret key that no one else would know.

People today who dive into hidden meaning in the Bible or who follow such things as the Di Vinci Code fall into this category.

But, what did God say? He made foolish the wisdom of this world.

1 Corinthians 1:21 (NIV)

21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

Possessors of secret knowledge cannot know God, because God works through clear revelation.

Why? Consider what Paul wrote in Ephesians:

Ephesians 1:9–10 (NIV)

9 he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

People who keep searching for hidden knowledge pass over the truth which God has clearly revealed.

Also, people who search for hidden knowledge want to boost their pride because they want to know what others don’t. But, God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.

The possessors of secret knowledge say that the cross is foolishness, because it doesn’t give them what they think they want.

2B. Those who study revealed knowledge

Debater number 2 stands up. This is the one who studies revealed knowledge.

Paul says: “Where is the Teacher of the Law?” Other translations say “scribe” or “expert in Mosaic Law.

This is the person who spent their life studying Scripture. They are not looking for secret knowledge but wanting to have a clear, undeniable, unmuddied knowledge of Scripture.

This is the person whom Herod called to find out where the Messiah would be born. They said Bethlehem, because they knew what Scripture said.

They were also the people who would hand Jesus over to be killed.

Matthew 16:21 (NIV)

21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

And we see them in Matthew 27, mocking Jesus as he hung on the cross of them.

These are those who knew where the Messiah would come. They knew what the Messiah would do. But, when the Messiah came, they refused to follow him because he demanded that they do something they were not willing to do: have the humility to follow him instead of their own reason.

It is interesting how someone who is so knowledgeable in the Word of God can be so far from God.

One of the best commentaries on the Gospel of John was written by Rudolf Bultmann in 1941. It is considered one of the most accurate technical commentaries on the words and grammar. However, Bultmann was not saved.

He did not believe in the inspiration of Scripture. He did not believe in the historical accuracy in Scripture. He did not really believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He was caught up in his own reason rather than in humbly following God.

Just because someone has a great knowledge of revealed truth, Scripture, does not mean that they have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Those who teach the Word of God have a huge danger, because in the studying and the teaching about God, we can so easily forget God. And what worth is that?

God says that their wisdom is foolishness because they cannot know God through their own reason.

Those who study revealed knowledge say that the cross is foolishness because it doesn’t make sense to their mind.

3B. Those who defend knowledge

Debater number 3 steps forward. This is the one who defends knowledge. Paul calls him “the philosopher of this age”.

He looks at the world and has a strong belief in the ability to make sense of anything. Nothing is a mystery. Everything can be explained. And, he is able to stand up toe to toe with anyone and defend his position.

The wise searches for truth among secret things. The scribe searches for truth among what is written on paper. The debater searches for truth through in what can be argued and proven.

Unfortunately, being adept at knowledge and debate does not equal knowing God. Because God has made foolish the wisdom of the world, and through the wisdom of the world, God cannot be known.

The debater doesn’t seek to know God through his debate, he seeks to be right. To know God, he would need the humility to declare that he is wrong, completely, including his reasoning and his ability, everything is flawed.

Those who defend knowledge say the cross is foolishness because it doesn’t stand up to an exultation of human reasoning and argument.

4B. Those who look for power

Let’s pick up speed.

Number four steps up, the one who looks for power.

1 Corinthians 1:21–23 (NIV)

21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,

The Jews demanded signs. Throughout Jesus’ ministry, the Jews were always demanding miracles to prove that he was who he said he was.

They were obsessed with power. Can you blame them?

They had been controlled by another nation for years. They yearned for a Messiah who would use his power to do what they wanted him to do. They wanted him to live and lead a political revolution.

But, he didn’t come to do what they wanted him to do. He came to die. So, those who seek power say: why in the world would you follow someone who died.

Even today, there are so many people who only follow Jesus so that he will do what they want him to do: to be the divine vending machine. Unfortunately, God calls us to follow him in weakness, not power.

Those who look for power, dismiss the message of the cross because it is weakness, a stumbling block, it takes power away.

5B. Those who seek mastery

The final debater is the one who seeks mastery.

Paul said, the Greek look for wisdom. They were continually looking for someone who had all the answers, someone who had all the answers, who could put the sceptics in their place.

Think about the people in Athens who met every day not at a temple or a synagogue or a church, but in a place where philosophy was talked about. We still read the writings of Homer, Plato, Socrates, because wisdom was so pursued.

Someone who was wise gained a following and power and money. Someone who followed that wise person gained the same status.

Christ gained none of those things. He died. His followers were scattered, poor, killed.

Where is wisdom in that? It is foolishness.

Sure his followers say that he rose again, but where is the wisdom in that? If he did come back to life, he wasted that time because he did nothing to increase his status.

Those who seek mastery consider the cross of Jesus foolishness because it does nothing for their status.

So humanity declares that the cross of Jesus is foolishness. It does not bring wisdom or power. Humanity declares that if this is all that God offers, they can do better and know better on their own.

2A. God says he alone can know and do

In answer to those five human debaters, God steps up and presents two pictures.

1B. Foolishness

First, he speaks of foolishness.

1 Corinthians 1:23–25 (NIV)

23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Let’s be honest. The Gospel is foolish. This man lived 2000 years ago and he died. Anyone who follows him is guaranteed follow him in hardship. Who wants to follow that?

Not only did this guy die, but he is supposedly God? And he was born of a virgin? And we can celebrate his death by eating his body and drinking his blood?

Those who are his followers are literally brothers and sisters now, and we can only marry each other, which means we are marrying our brothers and sisters…

Doesn’t this sound foolish? The whole system is messed up!

But, God designed his salvation to be such that humanity would have to leave their wisdom behind.

In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve declared that they wanted to be like God to know right and wrong. They wanted power. They declared by eating the fruit that their own wisdom was better than God’s.

So, God designed a salvation which denied humanity of their wisdom. They could not trust in their wisdom, their secrets, their debate, their intellect, their arguments. They had to leave behind everything and follow solely what God said, even when it flied in the face of what they thought was right.

Even today, people consider God foolish. So many “Christian” belief systems are not based upon the Word of God but upon what a human wrote. Granted, these belief systems claim that the human was given a new revelation by God or this human in their role is speaking for God. However, it is still human wisdom compared to God’s. And most of the time, humanity is trying to water down or add to the depth and simplicity of the Gospel.

There are some preachers who take the Bible and claim to teach only the Bible, but then they come to passages that they don’t like or that go against their certain theology and they start redefining words or messing with sentence structure, or just cutting certain things out. Their wisdom against God’s.

God in his wisdom, or his foolishness if you will, declared that his salvation would not be based upon human reason or wisdom or common sense, but upon Christ crucified: an acknowledgement that God is all we need.

2B. Weakness

Then God speaks of weakness.

The Gospel is about weakness.

Adam and Eve wanted to be like God. That is a state of power. So they ate the fruit.

The people of Babel wanted to create a tower scaling up to Heaven, earning eternal life for themselves. So they built the tower, thinking that they had the power to grasp the things of God.

The Jews thought that if they kept all the Laws of Moses in addition to all the others that human teachers made, they would have the power to change the decision of a holy God.

But, the Gospel is about weakness. Christ willingly gave himself up to die the most miserable death possible. That is absurd. That is weak.

Do you realize that the church didn’t start using the cross as a symbol for our faith for centuries because of what the cross meant for society? It was a thing of the social outcast, the criminal. It was something to be hidden because of the shame that came with it.

But, Christ crucified calls all of his followers to take up their cross, their shame, their weakness, their suffering, and follow him to glory.

He calls all of humanity to admit that they are nothing, that they are powerless to change their state of sin. That they are powerless to change their desires and temptations. That they are powerless to do anything.

Today, “Christian” denominations have taken the weakness of the Gospel and added power to humanity, declaring that there are things we can do to earn our salvation. And so many people follow those systems because it feels good to be able to do something.

But, all the while, Jesus is standing over there, begging us to leave Adam and Eve behind, and live in foolishness and weakness, because only there does the power and wisdom of God shine through.

Through the cross, God has turned the world upside down. The cross brings a new world into being which Paul is going to call the “mind of Christ.”

Through the cross, we understand the message of self-renunciation, that obedience to God may lead to humiliation and death, but will ultimately lead not to self-destruction but to preservation and glory.

As one man wrote:

In the death of his Son, God has judged us who were responsible for it. Christ has thereby not only taken on himself our sins and guilt and “removed them.” He has disarmed us in the divine presence by forgiving us when we richly deserved death. Thus forgiven we are set free not only from our sins but to become his new people in the world. It thus achieves what the god of human expectations cannot achieve—it creates disciples who will trust in him for life. Such “weakness” in God is scandalous to those who think of themselves as righteous and thus in no need of forgiveness; but to those who recognize themselves as in need of mercy this is the good news that sets us free to follow him. Thus this weakness is also the ultimate power, and therefore the final wisdom of God.

So, who wins? God or man?

If humans were the judges, they would say that God lost, because they do not want to give up their wisdom and their power. They do not want to declare that they are wrong and they need something else. So, God, we don’t want you or your convoluted system.

But, in the end, those who declare their own wisdom and power ultimately lose.

Because God, in his foolishness and weakness, is wiser and stronger than we will ever be.

Today, we get celebrate the foolishness and weakness of the cross through communion.