BIG IDEA:
ONLY THE MESSAGE OF CHRIST CRUCIFIED IMPACTS MAN WITH THE POWER AND WISDOM OF GOD
INTRODUCTION:
Man pridefully asserts his own supposed strength and exalts his own worldly wisdom. He tries to formulate a religion where he can call the shots and approach God on his own terms. He imagines that he can control his own destiny and he relies on sophisticated rhetoric to conceal the lack of substance in his philosophic argumentations. But the message of the cross – the simple historical truth of Christ crucified – is the only message that can deliver sinful man from his lost condition of alienation from a Holy God. The unsaved will continue to mock at the humiliation of the cross as symbolizing only weakness and foolishness. But to those who believe the message of Christ crucified speaks of the power and wisdom of God.
Gordon Fee: (1:18 – 2:5) — Having set up the contrast in the preceding sentence (v. 17) between the “wisdom of logos” and the preaching of the cross, Paul now moves to a series of arguments that will have this contrast as its point of reference. The Corinthians’ “boasting” in mere humans in the name of wisdom ultimately impacts the nature of the gospel itself. In a series of three paragraphs, therefore, Paul tries to get these believers to see that their own existence as Christians, especially with regard to their Christian beginnings, stands in total contradiction to their present “boasting.”
Each of the paragraphs is predicated on the same reality, namely that the message of the cross is not something to which one may add human wisdom, in any form, and thereby make it superior; rather, the cross stands in absolute, uncompromising contradiction to merely human wisdom. The cross in fact is folly to wisdom humanly conceived; but it is God’s folly, folly that is at the same time God’s wisdom and power.
Adewuya: In the immediately preceding section (1:10–17), Paul had appealed for unity in the church. He now moves on a different argumentative tack, launching into an extended discussion in which, on the one hand, he elucidates the significance and meaning of the cross and, on the other hand, shows that the prideful confidence of the Corinthians on human wisdom is contrary to the gospel. The basic theme of this section of the letter is the opposition between human/worldly wisdom and the “word of the cross” or “God’s wisdom.”
David Garland: In 1:18–25, he reproclaims the message of the cross. It is the power of God to absorb all the blind rage of humanity and to avert its deadly consequences, but humanity, Jew and Greek alike, fails to recognize that truth because it does not fit their categories. Six citations of Scripture appear in 1:18 – 3:23 (1:19, 31; 2:9, 16; 3:19, 20). All make the point that humans “cannot grasp God’s wisdom through their own wisdom” (cf. Gärtner 1967–68: 216).
Mark Taylor: Through careful repetition and parallelism, three main themes emerge in this unit:
(1) the proclamation of the cross,
(2) the two basic human responses to the gospel message, and
(3) the decisive triumph of God’s wisdom over the wisdom of the world.
All three themes appear in the first two verses (1:18–19), which are then restated in various ways with elaboration in the remainder of the paragraph.
Paul Gardner: Paul’s main thesis in this section is presented in v. 18, though the entire section (1:18 – 2:5) offers an extended development of v. 17. In vv. 18–21 the power of the gospel is regarded, as it were, from God’s perspective. The world regards the word of the cross as folly, but people divide into two classes as they respond in radically different ways. Paul writes that it is God’s intention, by means of the folly of the message of the cross, to thwart those who feel they might reach God by means of their own wisdom (vv. 19–21). He supports this by appeal to Scripture (v. 19) and an allusion to Scripture with three forceful rhetorical questions (v. 20). Verse 21 further develops the point (ἐπειδὴ γὰρ) that in God’s wisdom the world did not come to know him in its own way but that, in the same event of preaching, people who believe are saved. Despite these two responses purposed by God, the next subsection reveals that the gospel will be and must be preached to all (both Jew and Gentile; vv. 22–24). In a series of contrasts Paul shows that among Jews and Gentiles there will be a negative response. He carefully balances the negative reaction of some Jews to the negative reaction of some Gentiles (v. 23). Jews look for signs and to them a crucified king is a stumbling block. Gentiles look for wisdom and to them a crucified king is folly. In contrast, those who are called (κλητοί) will encounter the wisdom and power of God (v. 24). Verse 25 uses comparative clauses to summarize this section by showing that God’s way of salvation has revealed how much wiser and stronger he truly is than are human beings. This opens the way for Paul to turn to the example of how God’s wisdom has actually been put into effect among the Corinthians themselves (vv. 26–31).
Richard Hays: In this part of the letter, Paul makes no explicit reference to the problems at Corinth; the theme of divisions in the church does not reappear until 3.1–4. Nonetheless, he is artfully laying the theological groundwork for his critique of the Corinthians’ divisiveness. As we read through this section, we begin to see Paul’s diagnosis of the root causes of the Corinthian conflict. They are caught up in rivalries because they glory in the superficially impressive human wisdom of this age. They are boasting about their own possession of wisdom and rhetorical eloquence—or at least they are infatuated with leaders who manifest these skills. God, however, has revealed in Christ another kind of wisdom that radically subverts the wisdom of this world: God has chosen to save the world through the cross, through the shameful and powerless death of the crucified Messiah. If that shocking event is the revelation of the deepest truth about the character of God, then our whole way of seeing the world is turned upside down. Everything has to be reevaluated in light of the cross.
I. (:18) THE RESPONSE TO THE MESSAGE OF CHRIST CRUCIFIED DIVIDES ALL MEN INTO TWO OPPOSING CAMPS
A. Same Message for All Humanity = Christ Crucified
“For the word of the cross”
Gordon Fee: The “for” that begins this sentence ties it to what has immediately preceded (v. 17) as an explanation of the final clause in that sentence.
B. Two Opposing Responses – Only 2 Groups of People in the World
- Those Who are Perishing Mock the Message
“is foolishness to those who are perishing”
David Garland: Since the cross represents painful death and profound humiliation, it calls into question the conventional wisdom about power and the divine. The ancients took for granted that deities possessed power, and the degree of their power determined their ranking in the pyramid of gods. In the cross, that pyramid is turned upside down. The most powerful God appears to be the most powerless. The cross makes hash of all secular and religious attempts based on human wisdom to make sense of God and the world. Victory is won by giving up life, not taking it. Selfish domination of others is discredited. Shame is removed through divine identification with the shamed in a shameful death. God offers a new paradigm that makes the experience of shame the highest path to glory and honor (Stansbury 1990: 472). What makes the story of the cross even more offensive to humans is that it is not simply the foundation of human redemption but is also to become the way of life for believers. They, too, will endure the wounds from slander, mockery, and affliction as they live for others (4:8–10; 2 Cor. 4:7–12; 6:4–10; 11:24–29).
- Those Who are Being Saved Experience the Power of God
“but to those who are being saved it is the power of God”
Note Pres. Tense – ongoing process, pathway that these 2 groups are on
Anthony Thiselton: Hence what stands in contrast to God’s power is not merely weakness. Indeed, Paul will later talk of power-in-weakness. The contrast is with folly, because folly leads to striving that is ineffective, fruitless, and empty. That this characterizes those who are on their way to ruin (v. 18) logically fits with this. The ineffectiveness and emptiness of foolish journeying (on their way to renders Paul’s important choice of a present participle, in process of …) lead to the nothingness of an abyss in which the self is “lost.” Folly brings self-destruction. However, Christian believers for whom the proclamation of the cross becomes an effective reality (the power of God) are turned away from such a fate and find themselves by God’s grace on the way to salvation (another carefully chosen present participle that denotes a continuing process).
II. (:19-21) GOD STANDS OPPOSED TO THE WISDOM OF MEN
A. (:19) God Will Ultimately Destroy Human Wisdom – Prophecy from Isaiah
“For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.’”
Richard Hays: We will understand the full force of Paul’s meaning only if we note the wider context from which the Old Testament quotation comes. In Isaiah, the passage is a judgment oracle against Judah, whose political and religious leaders are trusting in their own wise and “realistic” plans to protect the kingdom by making a military alliance with Egypt, rather than listening to the word of the prophet and trusting in God.
Isaiah’s point is that God-talk is cheap and that God’s action will shut the mouths of the wise talkers.
Gordon Fee: Paul now moves on to argue that this folly of God, with its message of the cross, is in fact God’s way of doing what he said he would do: set aside and destroy human wisdom. For Paul to say “for it is written” is sufficient argument. Scripture has already spoken to this issue; God is now merely bringing it to pass. With these words the Corinthian believers are thus brought face to face with the first of six OT citations in the argumentation that follows, all of which appear to have been chosen to give scriptural support to Paul’s basic point throughout—the sheer folly of mere humans trying to “match wits with God,” as it were.
Anthony Thiselton: People are wrapped up in illusions of wisdom while living in folly. The cross now becomes a sifting criterion that exposes the difference between folly lived in an illusion of wisdom and a humble, realistic appropriation of the true wisdom of God, which is effective in leading to salvation. Through what is proclaimed concerning a crucified Christ (v. 23, not at this point a triumphalist Christ) God exposes the folly of the foolish and the effectiveness of true wisdom (vv. 20-21).
B. (:20A) Human Wisdom Cannot Refute the Wisdom of God
“Where is the wise man?
Where is the scribe?
Where is the debater of this age?”
David Garland: three types of tertiary scholars:
- the rationalistic scholar,
- the Jewish legal expert, and
- the rhetorician (Judge 1983: 11).
Mark Taylor: Paul probably does not have fine distinctions in mind with these three categories but employs a series of terms that are typically associated with the learned of this world, that is, the experts or professionals.
John MacArthur: Paul paraphrased Is 19:12 where the prophet was referring to the wise men of Egypt who promised, but never produced wisdom. Human wisdom always proves to be unreliable and impermanent (cf. v. 17; Pr 14:12; Is 29:14; Jer 8:9; Ro 1:18-23).
David Garland: What do these three categories of persons have in common? They are all perceived as professional experts. Paul skewers those who refract their search for truth through the lens of human wisdom and derive their status from their expertise. These who have made it their goal to search for “truth” greet with skepticism anything that does not match their own prejudgment of what truth is. God’s truth, revealed in the cross, fails to meet the intellectual elite’s criteria, so they reject it and settle for their own humbug. These questions parallel Jesus’ thanksgiving to God for hiding “these things” from the wise and learned and revealing them to “babes” (Matt. 11:25). Something about the mentality of those who regard themselves as wise and learned makes them liable to self-deception and inimical to God’s revelation. The humble, who count for nothing, on the other hand, are frequently more disposed to being helped and taught. Is this why Christ calls blessed those who are poor, meek, mourning, hungering, and persecuted while the world calls happy those who are rich, exalted, laughing, feasting, and domineering?
C. (:20B) God Has Exposed the Foolishness of Human Wisdom
“Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?”
David Garland: By contriving a means of salvation that is impenetrable to human wisdom and does not meet its criteria of solid evidence and sound reasoning, God made human wisdom useless.
Robert Gundry: “The wise [man]” is one who thinks a crucified Christ makes no logical sense. “The scholar” is one who thinks a crucified Christ makes no scriptural sense. “The debater” is one who thinks a crucified Christ makes no rhetorical sense. That is to say, such a Christ lacks appeal. “Belonging to this age” describes “the debater” as thinking in terms of the here and now rather than in terms of what’s coming at “the revelation of our Lord, Jesus Christ”—in other words, as short-sighted. By implication, “belonging to this age” probably applies also to “the wise” and “the scholar.” In effect, God’s having “made foolish the world’s wisdom” and having “delighted to save those who are believing” answer the three questions beginning with “Where?” The wise man, the scholar, and the debater fall into the category of the foolish and unsaved. “The world” consists of unbelieving human beings. “God has made foolish the world’s wisdom” by providing salvation through a means that seems like foolishness to them but is in fact his wisdom. And he did so not just because “the world didn’t know God through [their] wisdom,” but because it was “in God’s wisdom” that they didn’t know him that way. In other words, he wisely determined that they wouldn’t, lest they take to themselves credit for knowing God.
III. (:21-25) ONLY THE MESSAGE OF CHRIST CRUCIFIED IS THE POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION
A. (:21) Only the Mocked Message of the Cross Can Bring Salvation
- Method Ordained by the Wisdom of God
“For since in the wisdom of God”
- Failed Method of Human Wisdom
“the world through its wisdom did not come to know God”
- Method Pleasing to God = The Mocked Message of the Cross
“God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached
to save those who believe.”
David Garland: The message is God’s, and it is conveyed by means that look weak, foolish, and unimpressive to the world. Carrying a placard announcing the crucified Messiah as the glory of God (Gal. 3:1; 2 Cor. 4:6) in simple unadorned words makes the herald look foolish in the eyes of the world. But such “foolishness” reveals that God, not the messenger, is to be credited for saving those who believe that message.
B. (:22-24) Christ Crucified Is the Power of God and Wisdom of God – Despite What Mockers Might Say
Mark Taylor: Although Paul still distinguishes between Jew and Gentile in 1:22–24, the categories of real significance are “those who are perishing” and those “who are being saved” (1:18), or those who believe (1:21) and, by implication, those who do not, or those who deem the message of the cross to be a stumbling block or foolishness (1:23) and those who are “called,” for whom Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom (1:24).
- (:22) The World Seeks Different Solutions
Adewuya: Paul’s fundamental theological point is that if the cross is God’s saving event, all human standards and evaluation are overturned. Instead of being instruments of salvation, the signs demanded by the Jews and the wisdom sought after by them are stumbling blocks and foolishness respectively.
a. Jews Seek Power in Signs
“For indeed Jews ask for signs”
Gordon Fee: This reflects Jewish messianic expectations. God had acted powerfully in their behalf in history; the promised Messiah would restore the former glory by acting powerfully on their behalf once again. “Show us a sign,” they repeatedly demand of Jesus, “authenticate yourself; validate your messianic credentials with powerful displays.” And who can blame them? They had been down a long time and were looking for a mighty deliverer. They knew how God had acted in the past — with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Their idolatry was that they now had God completely figured out; he would simply repeat the exodus, in still greater splendor.
David Garland: Jews who demand signs expect God to verify religious claims with compelling proofs, as was done in Israel’s past history. The sign they wanted was something “apocalyptic in tone, triumphalistic in character, and the embodiment of one of the ‘mighty deeds of deliverance’ that God had worked on Israel’s behalf in rescuing it from slavery” (Gibson 1990: 53). They get a “sign from above in the cross,” but they defame it as blasphemy. The cross does not part the sea for the people to cross in safety and then drown the pursuing enemy. Instead, it splits the temple veil, and only those who see with faith can see the defeat of the enemy. Paul is not attacking Jews as such but a problem endemic to all those who expect God to provide to their satisfaction visible confirmation before they will risk faith. He attacks those who audaciously presume to demand proofs and “then maintain critical distance and draw whatever conclusions from the data that happened to suit their inclinations” (Geddert 1989: 68).
b. Gentiles Seek Wisdom in Powerful Oratory and Argumentation
“and Greeks search for wisdom”
John MacArthur: Gentiles wanted proof by means of human reason, through ideas they could set forth, discuss, and debate. Like the Athenian philosophers, they were not sincere, with no interest in divine truth, but merely wanting to argue intellectual novelty (Ac 17:21).
David Garland: It is more likely that Paul chooses this word because he regards the chief characteristic of Greek culture to be the search for wisdom. According to Aristotle (Eth. nic. 6.7.2 [1141a]), wisdom is the most perfect of the modes of knowledge. “Seeking” may allude to the groping search of the pagans for God (Acts 17:27; Wis. 13:6). But “wisdom here has more to do with social status and influence than it does with a particular theological position” (Pickett 1997: 54). Paul critiques the social values, honor and power, associated with “wisdom” and not its content (Pickett 1997: 55). To be sure, those riddled with pride will reach false conclusions about God, but Paul’s main point is that the message of the cross puts all human pretensions to shame and upends the traditions and cultural values of both Jews and Greeks—and, we might add, of the Romans as well. God’s work can be grasped only by faith (1:12; 2:5; 3:5).
- (:23a) We Preach Christ Crucified – There is only one solution
“but we preach Christ crucified”
- (:23b) The World Mocks the Message of the Cross
a. Mocked by the Jews
“to Jews a stumbling block”
David Garland: From a Jewish standpoint, a crucified Messiah was an oxymoron, which becomes a major stumbling block (σκάνδαλον, skandalon) because Scripture brands anyone hanged on a tree as accursed of God (Deut. 21:23). In Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho 31–32, Rabbi Trypho remains unpersuaded by Justin’s attempt to prove from Dan. 7 that Jesus was the Messiah and responds, “Sir, these and suchlike passages of scripture compel us to await One who is great and glorious, and takes the everlasting Kingdom from the Ancient of Days as Son of Man. But this your so-called Christ is without honour and glory, so that He has even fallen into the uttermost curse that is in the Law of God, for he was crucified.” For those who think that God must be mighty and strong, not weak, the cross is “an affront to God’s majesty” (Engberg-Pedersen 1987: 562). It is insulting “to link God with weakness” (P. Lampe 1990: 121).[16] The cross also dashes cherished hopes of temporal triumph and world supremacy.
b. Mocked by the Gentiles
“and to Gentiles foolishness”
Daniel Akin: 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. How could an ignorant Jew, crucified as a criminal, compare to their intellectual titans? What a joke, many no doubt thought. To such persons, the preaching of Christ crucified was not acceptable. Therefore, the cross was a “stumbling block” (Gk. skandalon), an offense to the Jews, and “foolishness [morian] to the Gentiles [ethnē].” It was utterly unimaginable to them. It was a message to be rejected and ridiculed for its lack of power and its foolishness.
- (:24) The Elect Experience Christ as Both the Power and Wisdom of God
“but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks,
Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God”
C. (:25) The Mocked Message of the Cross Far Exceeds Any Human Wisdom and Power
- The Wisdom of God – Mocked as Foolishness
“Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men,”
- The Power of God – Mocked as Weakness
“and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”
David Garland: The manifestation of God’s power and wisdom is to be seen in God’s crucified Christ, who dies to save the foolish and the weak (Schrage 1991: 189). Believers trust that the cross is something that God has done, and since it expresses God’s will, it must be an expression of God’s wisdom and power. That trust bridges the gap between Jew and Greek, who become one in Christ, and reveals that God’s so-called foolishness and weakness are wiser and stronger than the so-called human wisdom that drives wedges between people. The result of God’s wisdom does seem quite outlandish. Gentiles respond to the gospel of a crucified Jewish Messiah, preached by a battered and unimpressive Jewish apostle, creating a community in which Jews and Gentiles, slave and free, male and female stand together as equals before God.
Paul Gardner: The point of the verse is that what God is and what he does cannot be compared with what humans might be or do. In fact, God turns the ways of men and women on their head, for he is wiser than could ever be imagined or conceived, and he is stronger in bringing his plans into effect than could ever be envisioned. Nothing will thwart him, even when his plans incorporate the supposed weakness of the crucified king. This conclusion is arrived at by use of comparisons.
Mark Taylor: The final verse of this unit recaps Paul’s initial argument about God’s wisdom in the cross of Christ, and points forward to the next section with emphasis on God’s strength (power) in weakness. The phrase “foolishness of God” occurs for the first time, recapping the “foolish gospel” theme of the entire paragraph. This is also the first mention of the “weakness of God,” a key term in the next two units (1:26–31; 2:1–5), describing both the Corinthian believers and Paul. Although 1:25 functions as a summary of 1:18–24, grammatically, it most likely relates back directly to 1:23, “We preach Christ crucified.” In other words, Paul preaches a crucified Messiah because this supposed foolishness of God is wiser than men, and his apparent weakness is stronger than men. Barrett comments, “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.”
Daniel Akin: 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.