BIG IDEA:
THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS IS ONLY FOOLISHNESS TO THOSE WHO DON’T UNDERSTAND GOD’S REDEMPTIVE PROGRAM
INTRODUCTION:
Even though God is in the business of revealing truth to His chosen ones; never forget that the unsaved have no capacity to understand spiritual truth. This should actually be a tremendous encouragement to believers. We appreciate our privileged position of having been predestined to be blessed with an understanding of God’s program for salvation. We also have a better perspective on the blindness and opposition of the rulers of this age.
This section is part of the overall emphasis on the need for Christian unity. The Corinthian believers had been aligning themselves with different preachers on the basis of human wisdom criteria (who sounds most impressive, who speaks most eloquently, etc.) rather than focusing on the message of the gospel and the person of Christ. They needed insight into the true wisdom of God and how it operates.
James Boyer: The contentious spirit which was being manifested in the church at Corinth was due to a wrong conception of the gospel. Evidently, they were thinking of the gospel as another of the philosophical movements of the day and were comparing it and its advocates with others as a type of rival philosophy. Paul has made clear that the gospel is far from being another philosophy. It is, in fact, foolishness. Now, however, he changes his approach. Actually, the gospel is not foolish at all. It is wisdom, but an entirely different kind of wisdom. He goes on to show in what sense the gospel is wisdom.
Gordon Fee: The gospel of the crucified Messiah is wisdom all right, he affirms, but not of the kind they are now pursuing. True wisdom is indeed for those who are “spiritual,” meaning for those who have the Spirit, who has revealed what God has really accomplished in Christ. Because they do have the Spirit, and thus the mind of Christ, they should have seen the cross for what it is — God’s wisdom — and thereby have been able to make true judgments. But by pursuing sophia, they are acting just like those without the Spirit, who are likewise pursuing wisdom but see the cross as foolishness. The net result—and the irony—is that they are “spiritual,” yet “unspiritual”; they are pursuing “wisdom,” yet missing the very wisdom of God.
Mark Taylor: Even though the interpretation of this section hinges on a number of factors, Paul’s overall intent becomes clear in the strong rebuke in 3:1–4 of the Corinthians’ factious behavior, recalling the whole reason for the lengthy discussion of God’s wisdom in the first place (cf. 3:4; 1:12). Paul affirms that he (and others) do indeed speak wisdom but not as the Corinthians suppose.
- First, there are important questions raised by key terms in 2:6–3:4. Who are the “mature” (2:6), the “spiritual,” and the “natural” man (2:14–15; 3:1), the “worldly” (3:1), and the “infants” (3:1)? Are these Pauline terms, Corinthian terms, or both in the sense that the Corinthians have taken up but misconstrued Paul’s language? To what extent, if at all, does Paul employ irony?
- Second, what is the content of the “wisdom” that Paul and others speak? Is it the gospel, something different from the gospel, or something different yet related, such as the fuller implication of or application of the gospel?
- Third, how do the “mature” and the “infants” (2:6; 3:1), along with the metaphors of “milk” and “solid food” (3:2), relate to this wisdom?
- Fourth, what is the relation of this passage to analogous passages in Ephesians and Colossians that employ similar language regarding wisdom?
- Fifth, what does this passage have to say about spiritual maturity, that is, what constitutes a “spiritual” person in Paul’s view? While the Corinthians may have defined maturity in terms of knowledge, Paul is far more interested in defining maturity according to behavior in community. The passage aims at defining who is mature/wise and who is not. At the present time, based on their internal rivalries, the Corinthians are not.
Robert Hughes: “Among those who are mature” (2:6) equaled those who were spiritual and did not walk like “men” (3:1, 3). Notice the development of the identity of the mature. They were called mature (2:6); spiritual ones (2:13); not “natural,” or carnal (2:14); and again, spiritual ones (2:15; 3:1). The mature person’s knowledge was the wisdom of God’s ways in Christ, especially the cross. The truly spiritual and mature person was rooted in the word of the cross. But God had predestined that wisdom to result in “our glory” (2:7). That was the glory that came from receiving the “Lord of glory” (2:8). God had provided a way of true glory. Why did the Corinthians insist on the path of human glory and boasting?
The rulers, by contrast, heard the message of wisdom (2:8) but did not “accept the things of the Spirit of God” (2:14). Paul pointed out that the rulers of his age had no share in true wisdom because it was embodied in a mystery from which the rulers were excluded.
Andrew Noselli: God has revealed his wisdom only to persons with the Spirit. ‘After explaining why he did not speak “a message of wisdom” to the Corinthians when he entered Corinth (vv. 1-5), Paul qualifies that he actually does impart a different kind of wisdom to believers. Instead of imparting a worldly wisdom that seeks power and prestige, Paul imparts God’s wisdom of a crucified Messiah. That is a “mystery” – something God had hidden but now has revealed. God did not reveal his wisdom to this age’s rulers; he revealed it to his people through the Spirit (not through clever human rhetoric). God’s people do not have the spirit of worldly wisdom but have God’s Spirit of true wisdom.
David Garland: The wisdom he speaks among the mature, then is not a more sophisticated instruction for the gifted few. It is the same wisdom he speaks to all concerning God’s redemptive purposes for humankind revealed in the cross (1:18; 2:2). It is spoken to beginning and advanced Christians alike. . . He is still remonstrating with them about their divisions and is making the case that they disclose a spiritual immaturity that fails to grasp the deep things of God embodied in the cross. Their behavior reveals that they are influenced more by human wisdom than by God’s wisdom. Since Paul does not divulge who among them is “mature,” the readers must decide for themselves whether they qualify or not.
SIX INSIGHTS INTO THE WISDOM OF GOD AND ITS MYSTERY ASPECT
I. (:6A) GOD’S WISDOM IS ONLY APPRECIATED BY THOSE WHO ARE RECEPTIVE TO THE TEACHING MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
“Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature”
Richard Hays: At 2:6, Paul pivots sharply on the word “wisdom,” which is highlighted by the word order of Paul’s Greek: “Sophia, however, we do speak among the mature….” Is it wisdom you want? All right, he says, let’s talk wisdom. This strategy of ironic reversal, abruptly coopting a term which has been previously the opposition’s keynote, is a characteristic Pauline argumentative move.
Anthony Thiselton: There is one kind of so-called wisdom that is pretentious, self-affirming, and seeks to operate by means of human achievements; and there is a God-given, received, revealed wisdom that nurtures and directs the life of the people of God, and (in sometimes hidden ways) also the world as God’s creation.
A. Wisdom – emphasized by position in the text (direct object of the verb placed first in the Greek sentence); this is what we speak – not the type of human wisdom that has no power (described in 2:1-5), but God’s Wisdom.
B. Telios – the perfected ones; having reached their end; Not perfect people;
Difficult issue to precisely pin down who comprises this group – obviously the unsaved Jews and Gentiles who regard the wisdom of God as foolishness are excluded;
Richard Hays: For Paul, being teleios, being a spiritual grown-up, is defined
- in terms of concern for upbuilding the community (1 Cor. 14:20),
- in terms of submission to God’s will for service in community (Rom. 12:2 — see the context), and
- in terms of pressing on toward conformity to the example of Jesus (Phil. 3:15; cf. Col. 1:28; Eph. 4:13).
Options:
1) are all the elect included here (since the context of the message preached is the cross of Christ – not some esoteric doctrines) cf. Charles Hodge, MacArthur, etc. or
2) some subset of telios believers (in contrast with those spoken of at the beginning of chap 3 — cf. 1 Cor. 14:20; Eph. 4:13; Phil. 3:15) = those who are submitted to the Spirit of God and thus able to receive the spiritual teaching which the Spirit of God seeks to communicate; in this context it would include all who are actively growing – even if they are fairly young in the faith – it has more to do with their heart attitude of allowing God’s Word to accomplish its intended goal in transforming their lives –
I would favor this view in light of the direct context of Chap. 3. It should include all believers – but Paul is making the point that some believers are not responding to the Spirit like they should and therefore do not recognize the wisdom of God for what it is.
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John Piper: I think verse 13 gives the answer, but there is a translation problem here. The Revised Standard Version says, “We impart this (divine wisdom) in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who possess the Spirit,” or more literally “to those who are spiritual.” If this is correct then the “mature” of verse 6 are explained as the “spiritual” of verse 13. We speak a wisdom among the mature, that is, we interpret the wisdom revealed by the Spirit to spiritual people. . .
A second reason I think v13 refers to spiritual people who are the same as the mature in v6 who receive God’s wisdom, is that in 3:1 “spiritual people” are contrasted with babes in Christ. “And I, brothers, was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as to fleshly (or carnal), as to babes in Christ.” It is clear that being a babe is the opposite of being “mature.” But in 3:1 the opposite of being a babe is being “spiritual.” Therefore being mature and being spiritual are probably the same. So one answer to the question, Who can receive the wisdom of God which we speak? is the mature, that is, the spiritual. . .
He means a person who is led by the Spirit of God and bears the fruit of the Spirit. We know this from Galatians 5:16 – 6:1 . . .
This was a surprising discovery for me, namely, that the prerequisite for grasping the wisdom of God is not a certain level of intelligence, or education, or experience. The prerequisite is moral, not intellectual. It has as much to do with what you love as with what you think. Not education but sanctification is what makes one receptive to the wisdom we speak. Not natural ability but spiritual humility opens a person to the wisdom of God.
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The Apostle Paul proclaimed the exact same message of God’s Wisdom to everyone – the unsaved, the saved; the immature believer, the mature believer. He might have had a different emphasis – but it was always God’s Wisdom. But only the spiritually receptive believers could appreciate God’s wisdom. The same message can have different levels of meaning to different levels of maturity: a milk level and a solid food level.
There are many obstacles to receiving the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit:
- – Pride
- – Sectarianism
- – Fleshly and rebellious living
- – Attraction to the things of this world which are enmity to God
- – Failure to confess and turn away from sin
- – Being hearers only of the Word of God and not doers
David Garland: Paul’s use of the terms “mature” and “infants” shows that gradations do exist among Christians (Oster 1995:81). But the distinction is between juvenile Christians who fail to incarnate the cross by nursing jealousies and stoking rivalries, and the “mature” who accept God’s foolishness as wisdom and the world’s wisdom as foolishness. Being spiritually adult means recognizing and embracing God’s wisdom in the cross and knowing that it invalidates the wisdom of this age. Paul rejects any esoteric wisdom that would sever some believers from other believers who lack this wisdom. The wisdom of this age creates a stratified society of elites and inferiors. By contrast, the wisdom of the cross emphasizes human solidarity. Under the cross, all must stand together.
Mark Taylor: The Corinthians may have considered themselves mature and wise, and, as those who had believed the message of the cross and received the Spirit, they were mature and wise. The term itself, in principle, can refer to all believers, who have received the message of the cross, but the Corinthians’ behavior was not in keeping with who they were in Christ as the letter so ably demonstrates. While Paul does not advocate a two-tiered gospel, a distinction in different “classes” of believers, he does recognize stages of growth in Christlikeness as manifested in the fruit of the Spirit.240 Paul does not advocate a wisdom beyond the cross, but he does urge the Corinthians to embody the message of the cross. The Corinthians’ failure to live out the reality of the cross in their relations to one another deemed them as mere “infants” in Christ. Maturity is related to behavior, living out the paradigm of the cross in love, rather than knowledge.
II. (:6B) GOD’S ETERNAL WISDOM BEARS NO CONNECTION TO THE TRANSITORY HUMAN WISDOM OF THIS TEMPORARY AGE
“a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age,
who are passing away”
God’s Wisdom did not originate or develop from human wisdom; in fact it is not compatible at all with this age or world system. Therefore, you cannot expect to study philosophy or psychology or religion from the best intellectual thinkers of this age and thereby come to an understanding of God’s wisdom.
Doug Goins: In verses 6-10a Paul lists four aspects of this wisdom of God. First, verses 6-7 say that the wisdom of God is eternal, not transitory. It doesn’t originate in this passing world, with the rulers of this age. It originated before time began in the mind of God. Human wisdom is transitory because, Paul says, its creators are passing away. One of the consistent characteristics of worldly wisdom is that it has a very short shelf life. The current thinking in psychology and sociology will soon be set aside for newer theories.
Steve Zeisler: To begin, what is the nature of the wisdom that is from God? God’s wisdom, says Paul in verse 6, is distinct in that it is unlike the wisdom of the “rulers of this age who are passing away.” The wisdom of the world is short-lived; it does not have any staying power. God’s wisdom, on the other hand, will never pass away, is the inference here. It is eternal; its truth will never fade but will grow more and more impressive with time.
Robert Gundry: “The wisdom of this age” means the wisdom which thinks 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, wisdom that’s short-sighted and therefore inferior to God’s foolishness (compare 1:20, 25). “The rulers belonging to this age” likewise means rulers who are ruling only temporarily. Paul mentions them here to make a contrast between their political power and “God’s power” in “the speech about the cross” (1:18). “Who are being incapacitated” indicates their growing loss of power — despite their having crucified Christ — through the effective proclamation of God’s wisdom, and also looks forward to their complete loss of power at “the revelation of our Lord, Jesus Christ . . . in the Day of our Lord, Jesus Christ” (1:7–8).
Craig Blomberg: The “rulers” refer at least to the religious and political authorities of the day, comparable to Caiaphas and Pilate, who crucified our glorious Lord (v. 8). But they may also refer to demonic powers behind the opposition to the gospel (cf. Eph. 2:2, in which Satan is the “ruler of the kingdom of the air”). “Coming to nothing” at the end of verse 6 thus refers to the ultimate transience of this age and its powers (cf. NRSV: “doomed to perish”).
III. (:7A) GOD’S WISDOM IS SOURCED ONLY IN GOD (AND MUST BE REVEALED BY HIM – as we will see later)
“but we speak God’s wisdom”
A. Preachers are a Channel for the Ongoing Communication of God’s Eternal Wisdom
B. But it is God’s Wisdom . . . not the Preacher’s
Emphatic placement of “God” before “wisdom” in the Greek here
Gordon Fee: (:7-8) – In these two sentences Paul elaborates the two sides of the preceding sentence (v. 6). The first (v. 7) explains the nature of God’s wisdom that made it impossible for the wise of this age to grasp it; the second (v. 8) repeats the failure of the “rulers” in terms of their responsibility for the crucifixion.
IV. (:7B) GOD’S WISDOM HAS A BUILT-IN, TIME-DELAY MYSTERY COMPONENT
A. Mystery Aspect of God’s Wisdom
“in a mystery”
John MacArthur: This term does not refer to something puzzling, but to truth known to God before time, that He has kept secret until the appropriate time for Him to reveal it.
Craig Blomberg: The word mystery in the New Testament most commonly refers to components of the gospel once hidden but now revealed. The concept of a crucified Messiah was not clearly understood in Old Testament times and was still not grasped in Paul’s day by those who rejected Jesus (v. 8). But this should not cause surprise; Isaiah himself had prophesied unexpected wonders surrounding God’s coming salvation for his people (Isa. 64:4; 52:15, quoted and paraphrased in v. 9). And all along God had planned these wondrous events for the benefit of those who would respond positively (v. 7b). The Holy Spirit who brings people to Christ now reveals to them what once was unknown (v. 10a).
Charles Hodge: The word always means something into which men must be initiated; something undiscoverable by human reason. Whether its being undiscoverable arises from its lying in the future, or because hid in the unrevealed purposes of God, or from its own nature as beyond our comprehension, is not determined by the signification of the word, but is to be learned from the context.
Richard Hays: Paul’s language is indigenous to Jewish apocalyptic thought, where the “mysteries” concern the concealed will of God, which is to play itself out in the historical unfolding of the eschatological events of judgment and salvation. These mysteries are revealed to the elect though the mediation of the prophet or seer. (See, for example, Dan. 2:27–28: “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or diviners can show to the king the mystery that the king is asking, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has disclosed [through Daniel] to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen at the end of days.”) In the case of Paul’s specifically Christian apocalyptic, God’s purpose in decreeing this mysterious salvation through the cross was “for our glory” (2:7). Thus, the concealed wisdom of the cross points, in a way that Paul does not explain here, to the future eschatological redemption, God’s gracious bestowal of glory upon the elect people (cf. Rom. 8:17, 29–30; 2 Cor. 3:18; 4:17; Phil. 3:20–21).
B. Hidden Aspect of God’s Wisdom
“the hidden wisdom”
No longer hidden to God’s elect, but still hidden to those under the dominion of Satan for the god of this age has blinded their minds and hearts.
C. Eternal and Sovereign Aspect of God’s Wisdom
“which God predestined before the ages”
How can someone say they don’t believe in predestination?
This word stresses the plan of God and the sovereignty of God.
David Garland: One of Paul’s firm convictions is that the cross was not plan B; it was decided on beforehand (προώρισεν, proōrisen). Paul sweeps across the range of God’s plan for human redemption through Christ, moving from “before the ages” to the end of the ages with his reference to “our glory” (Matt. 25:34; 1 Pet. 1:4). “For our glory” points to the Christian’s resurrection (15:40–42) and participation in God’s end-time salvation, eternal life (Rom. 2:7). Jesus is already the Lord of glory (Phil. 2:9–11), and those who are in Christ are destined to share in his glory. But Paul makes clear in Rom. 8:17 that those who expect to be glorified with Christ (cf. Rom. 8:18, 21; 9:23; 2 Cor. 4:17; 1 Thess. 2:12) must suffer with him. They are “to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Rom. 8:29), which includes “always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies” (2 Cor. 4:10; cf. Phil. 3:10–11). This transformation process has already begun as the Christian is made new (2 Cor. 3:18). Christians already experience the glory to come, and will do so in an ever increasing way until they come to the final glory (Fee 1994: 319).
D. Glorification Aspect of God’s Wisdom
“to our glory”
Dan Nighswander: Paul is not here making a point about the contrast between glory that accrues to God and that which is granted to humans. Rather, he is contrasting the glory that God grants to all believers over against the individual glory that some of the Corinthian Christians were claiming for themselves in comparison with other Christians (including Paul) based on their presumed spiritual maturity and wisdom.
Charles Ellicott: “The Lord, whose essential attribute is glory”
God’s wisdom will ultimately conform us completely to the image of His Son – in love, in purity, in holiness.
Robert Grosheide: The glory of the believers is an essential part of God’s decree. Not only did God fix His wisdom, He also ordained that this wisdom would bring glory to us who are Christians. The rulers of the world, on the contrary, will perish.
Doug Goins: The wisdom of God is for our glorification, our personal benefit. Glorification means to make us just like Jesus, to completely finish the process of sanctification. God’s wisdom was given to define for us who we were created to be. No matter what we feel like right now, finally, by the end of our lives, we will be the kind of people we want to be. We’ll be just as loving, merciful, patient, kind, strong, and self-controlled as Jesus. We’ll become glorified men and women, filled with the grace and beauty of Jesus Christ. That is the ultimate goal of salvation.
V. (:8A) GOD’S WISDOM CANNOT BE COMPREHENDED BY HUMAN WISDOM (OR POWER OR WEALTH)
“the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood”
David Garland: The wisdom of this world is not simply the skillful marshaling of arguments to persuade others. It is malevolent. It opposes God, and it crucified Christ. N. Wright (1986: 116) observes, “The ‘rulers and authorities’ of Rome and of Israel—as Caird points out, the best government and the highest religion the world at that time had ever known—conspired to put Jesus on the cross.” These rulers did not recognize him to be “the Lord of glory.” They also did not even know that the wisdom of God exists as something radically distinct from their own wisdom (Reiling 1988: 203). Their ignorance is nothing new. Those who claim to be in the know have always been clueless about God’s ways (cf. Dan. 2:27–28) and always resist any move to oust them from their thrones. But the crucifixion was not an unfortunate case of mistaken identity. Their knee-jerk reaction is to kill, and the rulers knew full well what they were doing. They did not know, however, that they were playing into the hands of God and that their evil butchery would lead to their undoing and humanity’s salvation. Evil always bungles things in the end, and the cross exposes its futility and folly.
VI. (:8B) GOD’S WISDOM WILL BE VINDICATED BY THE RETURN OF THE LORD OF GLORY
“for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory”
Steve Zeisler: The wisdom of this world does not make good judgments about life. The wisdom of God, on the other hand, attributes worth to that which is truly worthy.
Johnson: Paul linked glory with the crucified Lord, an utter paradox to both Jews and Gentiles (1 Cor. 1:23) who nonetheless unwittingly (Luke 23:34) took part in that central act of God’s plan of salvation.
Gordon Fee: As Paul will develop more fully in Colossians and Ephesians, in the singular the term “mystery” ordinarily refers to something formerly hidden in God from all human eyes but now revealed in history through Christ and made understandable to his people through the Spirit. The seeds of this idea are sown here for the first time in Paul; in particular it embraces the ultimate paradox—the crucifixion of “the Lord of glory” (v. 8).
Robert Gromacki: The title for Christ, “the Lord of glory,” is a proof of His deity. God is depicted as “the God of glory” (Acts 7:2) and “the Father of Glory” (Eph. 1:17). The “King of glory” (Ps. 24) is none other than Christ. The fact that He was crucified demonstrates His human nature. Thus, the perception of divine wisdom involves the recognition of the hypostatic union, the union of two natures (divine and human) within the single person of Christ.