The Message of the Cross

1 Corinthians 1:18–31 NKJV

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. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are 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 you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”

I. The Message of the Cross is Either Foolish or Powerful - vs. 18-21

As we begin to analyze this passage, the first thing we notice is that Paul places humanity in one of two categories, but not in the categories we may initially expect, which would be to contrast believers with unbelievers. While this contrast is valid, Paul is more starkly in his contrast of people by distinguishing humanity either as: 1. Those who are perishing. Or, 2. Those who are being saved. At this point, we might ask the question, “what characteristics define each group?” With regard to those who are perishing we may notice the following:

Those who are perishing - vs 18(a).

To these the cross is folly:

There is a historical and cultural context that if we are unfamiliar with may cause some confusion for us. It’s common for people today, even among Christians, to view the cross as an emblem, a religious symbol that serves as a distinctive badge worn either to identify oneself as a believer in Jesus Christ, and/or, maybe especially in the West, merely as a fashion statement. The cross has lost much of its original scandalous meaning. Both Romans, who ruled the Mediterranean world in Paul’s day, and Jews viewed the cross as a disgusting and offensive symbol. Why was the cross seen as so offensive? The answer is found in how the ancient world viewed crucifixion.

It was performed with the aim of inflicting not only the most physical pain and discomfort imaginable, but also served to administer the most public shame possible on the tortured individual during their execution. To this end, contrary to most modern depictions, the victim was hung naked on the cross, exposed not only to the elements, and various birds which might harass the victim, but to all people that would pass by the place of their suffering. The Roman orator and philosopher, Cicero, referred to crucifixion as “a most cruel and disgusting penalty.”

The cross was associated with criminals and the most vile and despised members of society.

Deuteronomy 21:23 states “you are not to leave his corpse on the tree overnight but are to bury him that day, for anyone hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.” Based on this passage, Jews were skeptical of Jesus’ and his followers claims of his messiahship, precisely because a person who died in this manner was viewed as cursed by God. Biblical Scholar David Fiensy notes that a scroll found in the caves of Qumran in Israel, called the Temple Scroll, “had changed this curse to include those hanged on a tree while still living (thus crucified).” Paul may have been referring to Deuteronomy 21:23 when he stated in the third chapter of his letter to the Galatians that “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.”

The Jewish historian, Josephus, referred to crucifixion as “the most pitiable of deaths” in his book entitled Jewish Wars.

Those who viewed the cross as folly failed to recognize that its great societal offense revealed hidden wisdom by mirroring in dramatic fashion humanity’s offense against a holy God. In essence, the Lord was demonstrating through the offense of the cross the level of offense humanity had committed against him, and the equally drastic measures necessary to reconcile those who were alienated from him, which was all of humanity.

Romans 3:23 NKJV

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

What are the distinguishing characteristics of those who are perishing today?

Now that we understand some of the cultural and historical context that made the cross so offense to people in Paul’s day, what does it mean to be someone who is perishing? In answering this question, we need to recognize that the gospel causes us to re-evaluate every societal norm in a completely new and different way. This is known as transvaluation. We should not be surprised if the values instilled in us by our culture should come in conflict with the message of the gospel. The gospel indicates that we are helplessly alienated from God because of our sins and can do nothing within our own power or ability to change that situation. For people like me, who grew up in a Western culture and society, this runs contrary to everything I have been taught to value. In the West, we value above all else individuality and self-determination. We instill in our children, or at least we used to, that we can pick ourselves up by our bootstraps, to use a Western idiom, which means we possess in ourselves everything necessary to self-determine our future. We long ago rejected the concept of monarchy when we overthrew British rule over us, and said we will no longer have a king rule over us as a people. In so doing, we inadvertently built in the same type of skepticism to the message of the cross that characterized the people of Paul’s day. The cross of Christ is scandalous to our modern intellect, because while we may not associate it with the same ideas ancient peoples did, nonetheless we associate it with less than honorable or appealing ideas. The values I have described may be different from those you have developed within your own culture, but how do you own values cause you to view the message of the cross?

What is meant by perishing?

There are two different ways the word Paul uses in verse 18 are understood in scripture when it discusses the topic of perishing:

As it relates to this world.

As it relates to the next world.

It is the second of these that Paul most likely has in mind in verse 18. The word or one of its derivatives is used in 1 Corinthians 8:11; 2 Corinthians 2:14, 4:3; 2 Thessalonians 2:10; 1 Corinthians 15:18; John 3:16; and so forth. In these and other passages where the word is found may carry the idea of “bringing one to eternal destruction.” The subject doing the destroying may be human, demonic in nature, something authorized by God to destroy, “or finally God Himself, who in such a case does not play the passive role of One who loses something, but exercises the supremely active function of Judge.” - Albrecht Oepke, “Ἀπόλλυμι, Ἀπώλεια, Ἀπολλύων,” in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964–), 396.

Those who are being saved - vs 18 (b).

In contrast to those who are “perishing,” are those who are “being saved.”

These have discovered the power of God in the cross of Jesus Christ.

Paul uses language that indicates the present condition of both groups. Those who reject Christ are presently perishing, and will ultimately perish when Christ returns, being cast into a place of outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. In contrast to these, Paul says that those who have experienced the power of the coming kingdom are those who are being saved.

“The term ‘power,’ in this context, has to do with the effectiveness of the cross to make God known, to accomplish salvation, and to transform lives. ‘In v. 18 the word of the cross is the power of God in the sense that God’s intention to defeat evil, to make himself known, and to save those who believe will certainly be brought to completion. In other words, he is able to deliver on his promise that is the gospel.’” - Mark Taylor, 1 Corinthians, ed. E. Ray Clendenen, vol. 28, The New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2014), 66.

God has frustrated or brought to nothing the wisdom of the wise - vs. 19.

In verse 19, Paul quotes an altered version of Isaiah 29:14 found in the Septuagint, in which he changes the final word of the passage from “hide” to “nothing” in the NKJV, and “frustrated” in the NIV, and “thwart” in the ESV. The idea behind Paul’s choice of Isaiah is to demonstrate that the Scriptures support God’s sentence against human wisdom. This is a powerful indictment by the Lord against all human wisdom and demonstrates that God’s present actions are consistent with how he has always acted in response to human wisdom that does not take him, his word, and his will into account in its deliberations. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever to quote the author of Hebrews and he acts consistently toward humanity in both the past and present and will continue to act this way in the future.

Again, to quote Mark Taylor, “The wise of this world are on their way to destruction (1:18) because the Scriptures declare that God will destroy the ‘wisdom of the wise’ and will frustrate the plans of the self-styled intelligent (1:19). God’s power both to save and to destroy is a theme developed further in the next unit, 1:26–31; God shames the wise and the strong, and he brings to nothing the things that are (1:27–28). - Mark Taylor, 1 Corinthians, ed. E. Ray Clendenen, vol. 28, The New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2014), 67.

II. Responding to the Preaching of the Message of the Cross - vs 20-25

Two responses to the preaching of the cross - vs. 20-25.

Ultimately, there are two ways that people respond to the preaching of the cross:

Either they stumble at it to their own destruction or

They experience it as the power and wisdom of God that transforms their lives.

God has determined that the wisdom of the world is foolish in light of the wisdom of God found in the cross of Jesus Christ. It’s noteworthy that Paul identifies three types of people:

The wise of the world.

The scribe or what we may refer to today as the scholar.

The debater or the one who investigates claims to dispute them.

First, we need to clarify that human wisdom and knowledge in and of itself is not invaluable. Education is helpful for the benefit and further development of humanity, so Paul is not making a sweeping judgement regarding human wisdom and knowledge, rather he is speaking about that type of wisdom that in all of its achievements fails to come to know God or grasp the truth about him. This is wisdom that God considers foolish because at the end of the age it will retain none of its former appeal. Paul’s association of these three classes with “this age” is significant because in this age these three categories each represents a distinct type of person who attempts to come to know God through their own wisdom, but God has established the means through which people come to know him; therefore, in their wisdom they reject the cross to their own destruction, so that the folly they perceive in the cross becomes the folly of their own wisdom.

What is our response to the preaching of the cross?

III. Consider Your Calling - vs 26-31

Consider your calling - vs. 26.

Paul opens verse 26 with the concept of “calling” which he first introduced in verses 24. The underlying word that Paul uses has a range of meaning, called its semantic range, which is the sum of all of the possible meanings of a given word. Examples in English would be words such as nail, bat, bark, and novel. The context to a great degree determines what is meant by a given word even when spelled the same but used in different ways. So, if you are familiar with the game of baseball and I mentioned the word bat in the context of bases loaded, team jerseys, umpires, a pitcher, your much more likely to think of a wooden instrument used by a batter. Conversely, if I were to mention hitting a nail you may not know if it had in mind the top of a metal fastener or the protective plate over the end of the finger commonly struck with a hammer while driving the other type of nail into a wall! The point is, the context is what determines the intended meaning of a given word.

When we read in verses 24 & 26 that we would consider our calling, there are at least two possible ways that underlying Greek word can be understood:

To name, identify, or designate.

An invitation or summoning.

While it may be more common to think of the second sense of the word in the context of Paul’s arguments in this passage, I’m convinced that the first definition is equally, if not more, possible. To the possibility of calling indicating naming or identification, Biblical Scholar Brian Abasciano argues, “For Paul, calling and election are closely related. Calling is the application and appellation of election, the act of designating a group as God’s elect people...The calling of the individual Christian would refer to her coming to share in the name and attendant blessings of the eschatological messianic community upon entrance into the community at conversion...those who have been called, those who belong to Christ, have been called by his name as his own people, so that they bear his name and have become his family; being in him who is the Son of God, they have become God’s children as well, brothers and sisters of Jesus and one another. As bearers of the divine name, their behavior will bring honor or disgrace to the family name.169 Therefore, exhortations to holy and righteous living which are often the purpose of calling might appeal to the family name/namer, and familial address is often used as an implicit appeal to the familial relationship effected by the naming of the messianic community.” - Brian J. Abasciano, Paul’s Use of the Old Testament in Romans 9:1–9: An Intertextual and Theological Exegesis, ed. Mark Goodacre, vol. 301, Library of New Testament Studies (London; New York: T&T Clark, 2005), 205.

What Type of People Does God Choose and Bring into His Family? - vs. 27-31.

Perhaps you feel that you have nothing to offer God and, therefore, God would not want you. However, the exact opposite is actually true; God seeks those who recognize they are powerless in themselves to affect any lasting change and so are dependent upon his grace for their ability to come into a right relationship with him. God chooses the weak in the world because they are often the ones who are rich in faith, and through them God confounds the skeptical wisdom of the world and brings it to naught, all so that no human being may boast before him of their own ability to attain a right standing with God. Those of us who have come to know him boast only in the Lord who has reconciled them through faith in his Son, Jesus Christ.

There is a hidden treasure in the cross of Christ that can only be seen through faith.

Conclusion: The hidden Treasure of the Cross of Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:7 ESV

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

Illustration: Hidden Treasure

After Hurricane Hugo ripped through Charleston, South Carolina, in 1989, construction workers found hidden treasure. While cleaning up the rubble in a decimated church, they saw the cross still standing. Unable to move it - even with a crane - they eventually discovered that pure gold filled the inside of the cross. Evidently, during the American Civil War people melted down their gold and hid it there to keep it from invading troops.

The cross of Christ is a place of true spiritual treasure for those who believe in Him, but as the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, its message “is foolish to those who are headed for destruction.” Those who reject Jesus’ death on the cross might think it foolish to believe that the Son of God died and rose again to release us from the consequences of our sin. But for those who believe, those who are “being saved,” the cross “is the very power of God. As Paul says, God makes foolish the wisdom of the world, but “this foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans.”

When we submit to God and accept the gift of Christ’s cross, we’ll enjoy the riches of a relationship with Him. We won’t find treasures of gold but the far better gift of abundant and everlasting life with Him. That’s not foolish!. - Easter: The Promise of Forgiveness - 10 Reflections From Our Daily Bread