Part 3: The Nature of the Gospel

1 Corinthians 1:18–25 NASB95

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.

Paul has just expressed how the Corinthians to be united on the Gospel, and so he turns to explain/remind them about the nature of the Gospel: it is powerful.

Those churches that are messy and divided among themselves need to be reminded how powerful the Gospel is.

1. The Gospel is Divinely Powerful (1:18)

1 Corinthians 1:18 NASB95

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 the Unbeliever, It is Foolishness (v.18a)

Subject: “word of the cross” = this is what the Gospel is

“foolishness” (μωρός) = English word moron; Paul is saying that for the unbeliever the Gospel is moronic—silly, stupid, foolish

Interesting how Paul refers to the unbeliever: “those who are perishing” (ἀπόλλῡμι), i.e, lit. to those who are being destroyed. To be an unbeliever is to be outside of Christ, and to be outside of Christ is to be perishing. This is something present and continual (and only to get worse with time).

But what is the Gospel—message of the cross—to believers?

For the Believer, It is Powerful (v.18b)

“. . . but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

“Power” = δύνᾰμις, where we get our word dynamite

When we looked at Who is God we saw that God is all powerful (omnipotent). God is intrinsically powerful. Remember the kind of power God’s words have: to create the universe out of nothing.

Now we see that God’s power is not just about creating, but RE-creating. That’s what the message of the Gospel ultimately is: recreating us, rebirth

Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

How to illustrate the power of the Gospel? The message of salvation in Jesus Christ?

How can a message—just words—so powerful as to turn the whole direction of a person’s life?

Jesus in John 3:7-8:

New American Standard Bible (1995): Paragraph Version Chapter 3

7 Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

What Does This Mean for Us?

Preaching the Gospel is the most important thing we can do in this life.

It must take priority over everything else. Paul, the Scriptures, and even Jesus himself never attribute anything else with divine power—ONLY the Gospel and God’s words (Scriptures) (and obviously God himself). Nothing else is said to have divine (God’s) power.

Do a survey sometime of the word “power” in the Bible: you will always find it in connection with God and/or his message.

It is not until the churches of America and in the world make God’s word and the Gospel the most important that there will be anything different in this life and the life to come. It is not until Christians make God’s Word the most important that the church will be actually fulfilling what Jesus has given it to do.

We can have all sorts of programs and activities or what-have-you, but if the Gospel and God’s Word is not woven into them, then we have done practically nothing.

The Gospel is still divinely powerful to change lives.

For salvation:

Romans 10:13–15 “for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 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? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!’”

The Gospel, and all the words of God are still powerful to change us to be more like Jesus:

Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

2 Timothy 3:16–17 “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”

I think it’s easy for many of us who have been Christians a long time to forget or be mindful of the fact that the message of the Gospel is divinely power, that all of God’s Words (the Bible) are divinely powerful.

Because the Gospel is the power of God, it follows that it outperforms so-called worldly wisdom:

2. The Gospel Triumphs over the World’s “Wisdom” (1:19-21)

God destroys Worldly “Wisdom” (v.19-20)

1 Corinthians 1:19–20 NASB95

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?

Note interchangeability between “God” and “Gospel.” Paul has just said that “the WORD of the CROSS is . . . the power of God,” but now he switches the subject by quoting an OT text: “I [God] will destroy the wisdom of the wise. . . .”

There is not a clear distinction made between the “The message of the Cross” and God himself; the two are intimately intertwined. We’ve run across this before where God and his word are used interchangeably in Scripture.

What the Word of God does, or the message of the Gospel, is destroy what the world calls “wisdom.” What the world considers wise is the opposite of God considers wise, and what the world considers foolish is the opposite of what God considers foolish.

Paul makes this point emphatically by asking rhetorical questions: “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?”

From a God point of view, the cross is not only divinely powerful but wise. I.e., the foolishness of the world is that which is actually powerful. The reason: bc that which is foolishness to the world is that which saves.

God/Gospel saves Through “Foolishness” (v.21)

1 Corinthians 1:21 NASB95

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.

Amp Version: “For when the world with all its earthly wisdom failed to perceive and recognize and know God by means of its own philosophy, God in His wisdom was pleased through the foolishness of preaching [salvation, procured by Christ and to be had through Him], to save those who believed (who clung to and trusted in and relied on Him).”

What Paul is saying:

First, God determines how people will come to know him. It is not through their own wisdom, but through the preaching of the word of God, i.e., “through the foolishness of the message preached.”

Worldly wisdom says that humans can contrive ways to know the true God and what he would and would not do. But Scripture and God say otherwise. God determines how people come to know him: it is through the Gospel preached.

Gordon Fee, biblical commentator:

1 Corinthians (1) The Wisdom of God and a Crucified Messiah (1:18–25)

“A God discovered by human wisdom will be both a projection of human fallenness and a source of human pride, and this constitutes the worship of the creature, not the Creator.”

Illustration of contrasts of divine wisdom v. worldly wisdom

"Let's Call the Whole Thing Off” sung by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers (1937)

Things have come to a pretty pass Our romance is growing flat 'Cause you like this and the other While I go for this and that Goodness knows what the end will be Oh, I don't know where I'm at It's plain to see we two will never make one Something must be done

You say eether and I say eyether You say neether, I say nyther Eether, eyether, neether, nyther Let's call the whole thing off

But the differences is the wisdom of God and wisdom of the world is much more drastic than liking opposite things or saying things differently. There is a RADICAL difference between the wisdom of God and the world’s wisdom. It is the difference between what brings life and what brings death.

What Does This Mean for Us?

God’s wisdom (esp as in his Word, the Bible) still sounds foolish to the world

The Gospel: Steve Chalke, British pastor, writer, and social activist refers to the message of the cross as “cosmic child abuse.”

Richard Dawkins in The God Delusion: “"I have described atonement, the central doctrine of Christianity, as vicious, sado-masochistic and repellent. We should also dismiss it as barking mad, but for its ubiquitous familiarity which has dulled our objectivity. If God wanted to forgive our sins, why not just forgive them, without having himself tortured and executed in payment – thereby, incidentally, condemning remote future generations of Jews to pogroms and persecution as 'Christ-killers'" (253).

The message of the cross/Gospel is not just foolish but abhorrent to many today.

As Solomon wrote years ago in Ecclesiastes: there is nothing new under the sun. The world still sees the message of the cross as foolish, moronic, and abhorrent.

When we come across verbal persecution for the Gospel, remember that it is foolish to the world because they are perishing. They are wise in their own eyes, which is not wisdom at all.

Also remember to glory in the fact that we are ridiculed for believing in Christ our savior and his cross. We have come to true wisdom: divine wisdom.

We also need to remember:

God still saves people through the preaching of Word of God, not through human contrivances

It is interesting to note sometimes the things churches have come up with throughout the years to attempt to make coming to Christ more attractive:

Some have discarded the idea that the cross was a substitutionary atonement: a necessary sacrifice to pay the penalty for sinners, God’s wrath.

Some have done away with preaching the cross entirely and replaced it with another Gospel: one that ignores the cross and says Jesus was about giving to you your best life now on this earth with health and wealth.

Others have built McDonald’s and Starbuck’s in their church buildings to make the Gospel more palatable. Please do not misunderstand: there is nothing inherently wrong/sinful about having a McDonald’s or Starbucks in a church building, but if we think it will somehow make the Gospel more appealing, we are gravely mistaken.

And we ought not be too harsh on others either. We need to ask ourselves if we have ever attempted to make the Gospel more appealing through our own wisdom. It is an easy temptation to fall into. No one likes to stick out like a sore thumb; everyone desires to be liked, and it can be easy to downplay the cross or even some teachings in the Word of God because they make us uncomfortable in our society.

But we must preach the cross and Christ crucified; it is was saves.

Another way to think of this:

3. God’s “Foolishness” is Wisdom (1:22-25)

The “Wisdom” of the World (v.22)

1 Corinthians 1:22 NASB95

For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom;

The wisdom of the world at the time:

Jews sought for signs (miracles) of the coming Messiah and God’s working in their nation. In the past God worked in Israel in miraculous ways: 10 Plagues, parting of the Red Sea, conquering of the Promised Land, numerous other ways.

Greeks (Gentiles and other nations) search for so-called wisdom: but it is human contrivance. For the world/universe to make sense, it much coincide with their rational way of seeing the universe. It all must make sense to their minds.

But the message of the cross does not make sense to them and the cross is not a sign from God at all. Paul explains:

The “Foolishness” of God (v.23-25)

1 Corinthians 1:23–25 NASB95

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.

The cross is a stumbling block to Jews because someone who hangs on a tree is not a sign of divine favor, but divine curse:

Deuteronomy 21:22–23 ““If a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is accursed of God), so that you do not defile your land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance.”

For Greeks, someone crucified is not divine honor, but a deplorable criminal.

Mark Taylor, Bible commentator:

1 Corinthians (1) The Wisdom of God and a Crucified Messiah (1:18–25)

The “stumbling block” and “foolishness” language ascribed to Christ in his crucifixion is difficult for the modern Christian to grasp, but we have to keep in mind how the proclamation of an executed criminal as “good news” would have played out in the first-century context to the Jew with fervent messianic expectations and to the Greek who coveted honor, esteem, and success

What Does This Mean for Us?

1 Corinthians 1:23–25 NASB95

The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

This is the summary—the main point—Paul is making. And it rings true for us still today as it did for the Corinthians in the first century.

Everything in the kingdom of God is upside down when compared to the world.

What the world thinks is wise is foolish in God’s Kingdom; What the world thinks is foolish is wise in God’s Kingdom.

What the world thinks is greatness is not great in God’s Kingdom.

Everything is the opposite in Christ’s Kingdom. It echoes the words of Jesus: “Whoever is first shall be last, and whoever is last shall be first.”

But let’s also remember the whole reason why Paul is explaining the nature of the Gospel as divinely powerful and wise: the Corinthian church was divided and they needed to be united (re-united) on the Gospel. And Paul is saying look how powerful the Gospel is: it has the power to save, something which human wisdom and ingenuity could never, ever obtain.

In short: “Corinthians, you are divided over who you follow and so many other things which are foolish, forgetting the very thing unites you: the Gospel, which is so great and powerful. Your quarrels and divisions are peanuts compared to the Gospel. They are nothing.”

Conclusion

CK Barrett:

The First Epistle to the Corinthians 4. 1:18–31. The Word of the Cross

What God has done in Christ crucified is a direct contradiction of human ideas of wisdom and power, yet it achieved what human wisdom and power fail to achieve