1 Corinthians 1:18-31

Introduction

Corinth was known for its human philosophy and wisdom and tonight we are going to see Paul bring them to the realization that God is wiser than any human philosophy or worldly wisdom and he proved it on a cross. What the world deemed foolish, God chose to send His Son to a cross, to shed his blood so we could have eternal life, paying our past, present and future sins.

The Cross divides vs. 18

Here Paul begins by showing us the difference between the saved and unsaved views of the cross

To them that perish the cross is foolishness

There was nothing lower in Paul’s day than being crucified on a cross. It was a death reserved for slaves, the lowest type of criminals, rebels and enemies. So to hear that the Son of God was crucified on a cross would be foolishness. The greek word for foolishness is moria which refers to things as stupid or silly.

The wisest people of the world regard the message of salvation, the preaching of the cross as nonsense.

In our day, modern men have not changed their mind about that. Everywhere we look we find humanism being taught. We look to everything, science, technology, sociology, psychology, philosophy, education, but it hardly occurs to man that the answer is found at the cross.

John Phillips wrote this “Those who embrace the message of the cross find it works! It releases the very power of God into human lives. It makes crooked men straight, profligate people pure, drunken men sober, weak people strong”

But unto us which are saved it is the power of God

Romans 1:16 “16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”

One commentary wrote it this way “In fact, the cross of Christ is the power of God that saves us in three tenses! It delivered us in the past from the penalty of sin (justification). It delivers us in the present from the power of sin (sanctification). It will deliver us in the future from the presence of sin (glorification). Nothing other than Jesus’s death on the cross could save us.

The cross reveals the foolishness of worldly wisdom vs. 19-21

Paul begins here by quoting Isaiah 29:14 “14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, Even a marvellous work and a wonder: For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, And the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.” Where the prophets completely missed Gods plan.

Later in Isaiah we find this passage in Isaiah 55:8–9 “8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are my ways higher than your ways, And my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Notice the three questions paul asks in verse 20

Where is the wise? not here

Where is the scribe? not here

where is the disputer of this world? not here

Then he lands with a question that destroys all human wisdom “Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?”

The cross is foolishness to the perishing (v. 18), but by means of it God has himself thereby rendered as foolish the world’s wisdom; wisdom that belongs merely to the sphere of human self-sufficiency. God has not simply made such wisdom appear foolish; by means of the cross God has actually turned the tables on such wisdom altogether, so that it has been made into its very opposite—foolishness.”

In verse 21 we find that through mans wisdom they didn’t know God

Romans 1:22 “22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,”

The world is so smart sometimes that they become foolish

It pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save those that believe

Their is only one way to heaven and that is through Christ finished work on the cross. While to the world it seems foolish but to us who believe it is the power of God.

The wisest man is foolish in comparison to an all knowing God.

And opposite it is! People do not save themselves. God does! Humans are not saved by what they know (by a philosophy) but by the one they believe in (a person brutally executed on a cross for the forgiveness of sins). The message of a crucified Savior strips prideful humans of all their genius and intellectual achievements. It drives us to our knees at the foot of a horrible instrument of execution and says, “Here and only here may we be forgiven. Here and only here may we find God!”

The hymn writer wrote it this way in his song the way of the cross leads home. “I must needs go home by the way of the cross, There’s no other way but this; I shall ne’er get sight of the gates of light, If the way of the cross I miss. The way of the cross leads home, The way of the cross leads home; It is sweet to know as I onward go, the way of the cross leads home”

The cross is a stumbling block or power vs. 22-25

The Jews

require a sign

Matthew 12:38 “38 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.”

This was the reason for the miracles, signs and wonders that Jesus did on earth and the Holy spirit baptism and speaking in tongues.

Christ preached to the jews is a stumblingblock

They misinterpreted passages like Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 and missed the messiah because there was nothing less of a sign than a Jew dying on a roman cross.

The Greeks or gentiles

Seek after wisdom

One commentator wrote this Knowledge was their pride, their idol. Heirs to Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, the Greeks lifted sophists (traveling teachers of wisdom), popular rhetoricians, and debaters as the celebrities of the day

Christ preached to the Greeks was foolishness

The cross was unimaginable to them. If this truly was the saviour of the world how could he die the death of a criminal.

vs 25

Paul concludes his argument by noting the paradox of the gospel of a crucified Savior. He uses two phrases we would not expect: “God’s foolishness” and “God’s weakness.” We know that God is neither foolish nor weak. But the cross looks both foolish and weak to the world. Nevertheless, in reality, it is power and wisdom for salvation. It is how God saved us and how he will judge sinful humanity. By the cross God outsmarted the wise and overpowered the strong. God’s seemingly foolish and weak thing is wiser and more powerful than anything mere mortals can come up with. Truly, the cross is what all who are being saved rejoice and boast in (1:31). We need nothing else. We want nothing more. It is all we need today and forever

God calls the unexpected to do his work on earth vs 26-31

Not many

Wise

mighty

noble

Because they don’t see their need for a saviour

God has chosen

the foolish things of the world to confound the wise

The weak things to confound the mighty

base things and things that are not to bring to nought things that are

Why?

That no flesh could glory in his presence

Our glory should be in the Lord

Jeremiah 9:23–24 “23 Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Neither let the mighty man glory in his might, Let not the rich man glory in his riches: 24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, That he understandeth and knoweth me, That I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: For in these things I delight, saith the Lord.”

Conclusion

Its all about him, lets not forget that