Stephen Hawking, the world’s most famous scientist, was welcomed last Sunday to a new research position in Waterloo by the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. "You could say he is drawing a picture of god," said Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty in his introduction of Prof. Hawking. He compared him to Newton and Galileo as people who radically moved our understanding of the universe, and to Thomas More as "a man for all seasons." Another individual described Prof. Hawking as an "entrepreneur" in the tradition of Einstein, whose research unleashed a flood of "value creation." "We are at the point where new ideas are needed if we are to secure our future," he said. (Joseph Brean, National Post • Monday, Jun. 21, 2010)
Without exception, Human wisdom elevates the self and lowers God. It always, no matter how seemingly sincere and objective and scholarly, caters to human self–will, pride, fleshly inclinations, and independence. Those are the basic characteristics of the unredeemed, and they always direct and determine the unredeemed’s thinking, desires, and conclusions. The reason people love complex, elaborate philosophies and religions is because these appeal to human ego. They offer the challenge of understanding and doing something complex and difficult. For the same reason some people scoff at the gospel. It calls on them to do nothing—it allows them to do nothing—but accept in simple faith what God has done. The cross crushes human sin and crushes human pride. It also offers deliverance from sin and deliverance from pride.
Many of the Corinthian converts carried their spirit of philosophical factionalism into the church. Some of them still held onto beliefs of their former pagan philosophy. They were divided regarding philosophical viewpoints. They could not get over their love for human wisdom. Although they had trusted in Christ and recognized their redemption by grace through the cross, but they wanted to add human wisdom to what He had done for them.
Becoming a Christian does not give us all the answers to everything—certainly not in the areas of science, electronics, math, or any other field of strictly human learning. Many nonbelievers are more educated, brilliant, talented, and experienced than many believers. If we want our car fixed we go to the best mechanic we can find, even if he is not a Christian. If we need an operation we go to the best surgeon. If we want to get an education we try to go the school that has the best faculty in the field in which we want to study. As long as they are used properly and wisely, medicine and technology and science and all such fields of human learning and achievement can be of great value. Christians should thank God for them.
But if we want answers to what life is about—answers about where we came from, where we are going, and why we are here, about what is right and what is wrong—then human learning cannot help us. If we want to know the ultimate meaning and purpose of human life, and the source of happiness, joy, fulfillment, and peace, we have to look beyond what even the best human minds can discover. Human attempts to find such answers apart from God’s revelation, are doomed to fail.
We do not have the resources even to find the answers about ourselves, much less about God. In regard to the most important truths—those about human nature, sin, God, morality and ethics, the spirit world, the transformation and future of human life—philosophy is bankrupt.
In 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5 we see: 1) The Preeminence of God’s Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:18) 2) The Permanence of God’s Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:19–20) 3) The Power of God’s Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:21-25) 4) The Paradox of God’s Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:26-28) and finally: 5) The Purpose of God’s Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:29-31).
1) The Preeminence of God’s Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:18)
1 Corinthians 1:18 [18]For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (ESV)
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 (confuses) 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. (The Shame of a Death on the cross, the penalty reserved for the lowest criminal), 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. 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) (Garland, D. E. (2003). 1 Corinthians. Baker exegetical commentary on the New Testament (63). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic.)
This word of the cross is folly/folishness (moria, from which we get moron). It is moronic, absolute nonsense, to unbelievers who rely on their own wisdom—to those who are perishing. That phrase is a graphic description of Christ rejectors, who are in the process of being destroyed in eternal judgment.
Word in verse 18 is from the same Greek term (logos) as “speech” in verse 17. Paul is contrasting human speech, which reflects human wisdom, and God’s Word, which reflects God’s wisdom. Consequently the word of the cross includes the entire gospel message and work, God’s plan and provision for redemption. Because Christ’s work on the cross is the pinnacle of God’s revealed Word and work, to reject the cross is to reject His revelation, and to perish.
When Paul first came to Corinth he continued to face the maelstrom of philosophies with which he had contended in Athens (Acts 17:18–21). The response of some in Corinth was the same as that of some in Athens:
Acts 17:32 [32]Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, "We will hear you again about this." (ESV)
• But Paul did not change his message to suit his hearers. The Corinthians, like the Athenians and most other Greeks, had more than enough philosophy. They did not need Paul’s opinions added to their own.
• The apostle was determined not to give them his opinions but the word of the cross. He would give them nothing but God’s profoundly simple, but historical and objective, truth—not another man’s complex and subjective speculations.
• Perhaps sometimes we wonder if this is the way to evangelize. We consider if we can package or market the gospel to be less offensive. If we do this then we discard the very power to bring people from death to life. It may sell, but it won’t save.
To the natural mind, whether Jewish or Gentile, the cross is offensive and unacceptable. This group is described as those who are perishing. The present participle are perishing denotes action that is in the process of occurring. This expression has both a subjective and an objective element: subjectively, the people repudiating Paul’s message regard it as folly; objectively, the effect of the rejection is irrevocable doom (II Cor. 2:15; 4:3; II Thess. 2:10). They are not on the verge of perishing but in actuality are perishing (Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953-2001). Vol. 18: New Testament commentary : Exposition of the First Epistle to the Corinthians. New Testament Commentary (54).).
But to us who are being saved it is the power of God. Everyone in the process of being saved (salvation present is not complete until the redemption of the body—Rom. 8:23; 13:11) or of being destroyed. One’s view of the cross is a clear indicator of which.
Illustration: ("The Cause")
A university physics professor testified that he came to the university believing he had all the answers. “An avowed evolutionist, I knew all about cause and effect. I could begin with the present and work back. Behind every natural effect I found a natural cause.
“One day I was studying a specimen under a microscope. Suddenly I noticed a particle of dust on the lens. I asked whence came that dust. That dust was an effect for which I could find no natural cause. I had to admit that behind the dust was not a cause but the Cause. A speck of dust led me to God!” (Hobbs, H. H. (1990). My favorite illustrations (118–119). Nashville, TN: Broadman Press.)
We have seen: 1) The Preeminence of God’s Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:18) and now:
2) The Permanence of God’s Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:19–20)
1 Corinthians 1:19-20 [19]For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart."[20]Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? (ESV)
Paul uses a quotation from Isaiah 29:14 to emphasize that human wisdom will be destroyed. Isaiah mocks the failed machinations of the worldly-wise Jerusalem politicians who sought to ensure Israel’s safety. Their clever statecraft came to nought because their alliance with Egypt so alarmed Assyria that it sparked the invasion they sought to avoid. The prophet reminds them that God is the creator and humans are mere creations, and that God will turn things upside down (Isa. 29:16). God’s rescue strategy opts for what appears to be weakness in this situation by allowing Jerusalem to become besieged and crushed before rescuing it.
The defeat becomes a new beginning in which the people are “chastened, transformed” (Garland, D. E. (2003). 1 Corinthians. Baker exegetical commentary on the New Testament (64). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic.)
• Isaiah’s teaching will have its ultimate fulfillment in the last days, when all human wisdom and objections to the gospel will be swept away. Christ will reign unopposed and unobstructed as Lord of lords and King of kings (Rev. 17:14), and all of human wisdom will become ashes.
1 Corinthians 1:20 specifically teaches that human wisdom not only is unreliable but impermanent. To continue that thought, Paul asks several questions, really one question in three parts. In slightly different form they each ask, “Where are all the smart people that have the answers?” How much closer to peace is man than he was a century ago—or a millennium ago? How much closer are we to eliminating poverty, hunger, ignorance, crime, and immorality than men were in Paul’s day? Our advances in knowledge and technology and communication have not really advanced us. It is from among those who are intelligent and clever that the worst exploiters, deceivers, and oppressors come. We are more educated than our forefathers but we are not more moral. We have more means of helping each other but we are not less selfish. We have more means of communication but we do not understand each other any better. We have more psychology and education, and more crime and more war. We have not changed, except in finding more ways to express and excuse our human nature. Throughout history human wisdom has never basically changed and has never solved the basic problems of man.
In asking about the wise Paul paraphrased Isaiah, who wrote, “Well then, where are your wise men?” (Isa. 19:12). The prophet was referring to the wise men of Egypt—
Isaiah 19:12-14 [12]Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you that they might know what the LORD of hosts has purposed against Egypt. [13]The princes of Zoan have become fools, and the princes of Memphis are deluded; those who are the cornerstones of her tribes have made Egypt stagger. [14]The LORD has mingled within her a spirit of confusion, and they will make Egypt stagger in all its deeds, as a drunken man staggers in his vomit. (ESV)
In 1 Corinthians 1:20, The scribe probably referred to the Assyrians, who sent scribes along with their soldiers to record the booty taken in battle. But God would see to it that they had nothing to record, nothing to count or to weigh (Isa. 33:18).
The debater of this age does not seem to have a counterpart in the Old Testament. Debater was a very Greek word (suzçtçtçs) and referred to arguing about philosophy, of which Greeks were so fond. “Where is the debater now?” Paul asks almost sarcastically. “Where have all the clever arguments and impressive rhetoric brought you? Are you better off because of them—or simply more self–satisfied and complacent? Don’t you see that all the wisdom of your wise men, your scribes, and your debaters is folly?” Nothing really changes. Life has the same problems; people have the same struggles.
Human wisdom sometimes sees the immediate cause of a problem but it does not see the root, which always is sin. It may see that selfishness is a cause of injustice, but it has no way to remove selfishness. It may see that hatred causes misery and pain and destruction, but it has no cure for hatred. It can see plainly that people do not get along with one another, but does not see that the real cause is that people do not get along with God. Human wisdom cannot see because it will not see.
As long as it looks on God’s wisdom as foolishness, its own wisdom will be foolish. In other words, human wisdom itself is a basic part of the problem.
Illustration: Our world has plenty of knowledge and education, but it didn’t necessarily bring along much wisdom. In fact, wisdom can often be learned from the fairly uneducated. Take children for instance.
• Patrick, age 10, says, “Never trust a dog to watch your food.”
• Michael, age 14, says, “When your dad is mad and asks you, ‘Do I look stupid?’ don’t answer him.” Wise man that Michael is, he also said, “Never tell your mom her diet’s not working.”
• Randy, 9 years of age said, “Stay away from prunes.” One has to wonder how poor Randy discovered that bit of wisdom.
• Lauren, age 9 says, “Felt markers are not good to use as lipstick.” Noami can tell you from experience with her son that finger nail polish does not make good lip stick either.
• Joel, 10 years old, says, “Don’t pick on your sister when she’s holding a baseball bat.” and
• Eileen, age 8 says, “Never try to baptize a cat.”
We have seen: 1) The Preeminence of God’s Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:18) 2) The Permanence of God’s Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:19–20) and now:
3) The Power of God’s Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:21-25)
1 Corinthians 1:21-25 [21]For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. [22]For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, [23]but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, [24]but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. [25]For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (ESV)
The kosmos (“world”) is now personified and represents the whole human order of things in its fallenness. On their own, especially through the “wisdom” that belongs to them in their creaturely, fallen existence, human beings failed to know God altogether. Again, this is an assertion based on what for Paul is a self-evident reality. As he will elaborate in Rom. 1:18–31, left to themselves mere creatures cannot find out the living God. The best they can do is to create gods in the likeness of created things, or, as so often happens, in their own distorted likenesses. The true knowledge of God, meaning not so much a proper apprehension of God’s being and character as a correct understanding of what God is doing in the world, can come only by revelation—through the Spirit (Fee, G. D. (1987). The First Epistle to the Corinthians. The New International Commentary on the New Testament (72). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.).
God does not expect people to come to Him through their own wisdom; He knows they cannot. The world did not know God through wisdom. But they can come to Him through His wisdom. It pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. The phrase what we preach is one word in the Greek (kçrygma /kçrugmatos) and can also be translated “proclamation.” It does not refer to the act of declaring a message but to the content of the message. The content of God’s message is the gospel, “the word of the cross” and “the power of God” (v. 18). Believing implies complete assent to all the truth of the saving gospel.
Unbelief is always the basic reason for not accepting God’s will and God’s way, but unbelief is expressed in various ways. We see in 1 Corinthians 1:22, that the Jews wanted supernatural signs before they would believe the gospel. The Gentiles, represented by Greeks, wanted proof through human wisdom, through ideas they could propound and could debate.
Please turn to Matthew 12
Desire for proof most frequently is an evasion, an excuse for not believing. Jesus performed miracle after miracle in the heartland of Judaism, most of them in public. Yet most of those who witnessed the miracles, the supernatural signs, did not believe in Him. (John 9:9).
A group of scribes and Pharisees came to Jesus, demanding a sign from Him to prove He was of God. Knowing their insincerity and hypocrisy, Jesus refused to give them a sign—at least of the kind they wanted. He told them,
Matthew 12:38-40 [38]Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, "Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you." [39]But he answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. [40]For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (ESV)
As events proved, most of the Jews did not believe even that greatest of all signs when it was given. A crucified Messiah who was dead for three days and three nights, like this sign of Jonah, was a stumbling block to them (cf. Rom. 9:31–33).
In 1 Corinthians 1:24, Paul makes clear that he had been using the terms Jews and Greeks in a general way to represent unbelieving Jews and Gentiles. God’s called people also include both Jews and Greeks. For those who believe in His Son, the crucified Christ is both the power of God and the wisdom of God. He who is a stumbling block to the unbelieving Jew is Savior of the believing, and the One who is folly/foolishness to the unbelieving Gentile is Redeemer to the believing.
In mentioning God’s foolishness and weakness the apostle is, of course, speaking from the unbeliever’s point of view. Ironically, and tragically, the very part of God’s plan and work that seems most ridiculous and useless from man’s natural standpoint actually exhibits His greatest power and greatest wisdom.
Paul is also saying that, even if God could possess any sort of foolishness, it would be wiser than humanity’s greatest wisdom. And if God were able to have any weakness, it would be stronger than the greatest strength humanity could muster.
God’s power is real power, power that means something and accomplishes something. It is the power of salvation from sin, of deliverance from Satan, of life in God’s very presence for all eternity.
Illustration: In Ontario, this week we experienced an earthquake and a tornado. If you consult government websites on dealing with emergencies, they list specific precautions and preparations of what to do before a storm hits…
Make plans to secure your property. Permanent storm shutters offer the best protection for windows. A second option is to board up windows with 5/8” marine plywood, cut to fit and ready to install. Securely fasten your roof to the frame structure. This will reduce roof damage.
Be sure trees and shrubs around your home are well trimmed.
Clear loose and clogged rain gutters and downspouts.
Consider building a safe room.
There are many things we can try to do, yet God’s power will prevail.
We have seen: 1) The Preeminence of God’s Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:18) 2) The Permanence of God’s Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:19–20) 3) The Power of God’s Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:21-25) and now:
4) The Paradox of God’s Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:26-28)
1 Corinthians 1:26-28 [26]For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. [27]But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; [28]God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, (ESV)
Paul possibly went over the membership of the Corinthian church in his mind as he wrote verse 26. He reminded them that they had very few who were famous, wealthy, highly educated, powerful, or influential when they believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is likely that, when they became Christians, they lost a great deal of the prestige, influence, and income they did have. Consider your calling, brothers/brethren, he says. Paul always uses the term calling to refer to the saving call of God, the effectual call that results in redemption. “You know what sort of persons you were when God called you out of darkness. You know that He did not accept you as His child because you were brilliant or wealthy or intelligent or powerful. If you were any of these things,” he says, “you were saved in spite of them not because of them. If anything they were stumbling blocks that hindered you, obstacles between you and God’s grace.” He implies that they should be glad that not many were wise according to worldly standards or powerful/mighty or noble. Such things often keep people from the sense of need that leads to salvation. If more of them had been wise, powerful/mighty, or noble, from a human perspective, it is likely that fewer of them would have been saved.
Matthew 11:25 [25]At that time Jesus declared, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; (ESV)
• We are often tempted to think that it would be wonderful if such–and–such a great athlete—or brilliant scientist, popular entertainer, or world leader—would become a Christian.
• But Jesus did not think this way when He chose His disciples. He did not choose them for their wealth or influence, and in His training of them He did not try to capitalize on any such things. None of them had anything so great that he was not ready to leave it to follow Christ.
In 1 Corinthians 1:27, Paul shows God’s work in redemption; he does so by the literary techniques of contrast and repetition. First, God rules sovereignly by choosing the foolish things of the world. For instance, according to the Roman author Seneca, God’s people did a foolish thing by keeping the Sabbath; the Gentile world had no concept of a week and thus regarded resting on the Sabbath utter foolishness and a waste of time. But God uses the things which the world calls foolish to shame the men who are reputed to be wise.
Next, God chooses those things which the world considers weak to shame the strong. To illustrate, the Beatitudes teach that the meek will inherit the earth (Matt. 5:5), even though to the world meekness is the equivalent of weakness.
Third, in 1 Corinthians 1:28, Paul states that the low/insignificant things and the despised things are chosen by God. For him, the noun things in the neuter plural “indicate[s] a mass in which the individuals have so little value that they are not counted as distinct personalities.” But those persons whom are despised in the world, God chose as his own. God works out his purpose by honoring that which is common and by abolishing things that are important (Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953-2001). Vol. 18: New Testament commentary : Exposition of the First Epistle to the Corinthians. New Testament Commentary (62–63). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.).
It is interesting to note that in verses 28, the despised, in the root form, means “to be considered as nothing.” The Greek is in the perfect tense here, indicating that what was once despised will continue to be despised. So people who were thought to be nobodies in society would continue to be thought of as nobodies. The phrase things that are not translates the most contemptible expression in the Greek language. “Being” was everything to the Greeks, and to be called a nothing was the worst insult. The phrase may have been used of slaves.
• The world measures greatness by many standards. At the top are intelligence, wealth, prestige, and position—things which God has determined to put at the bottom. God reveals the greatness of His power by demonstrating that it is the world’s nobodies that are His somebodies.
According to God, the greatest man who ever lived, apart from Jesus Himself, was John the Baptist. He had no formal education, no training in a trade or profession, no money, no military rank, no political position, no social pedigree, no prestige, no impressive appearance or oratory. Yet Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist” (Matt. 11:11). This man fit none of the world’s standards but all of God’s. And what he became was all to the credit of God’s power.
Illustration: John Wesley was often helped by Lady Huntington, of English nobility. This gracious woman who gave so much of her time, talent, and treasure to Christ would often testify: “I am only going to heaven through the letter M. How thankful I am that Paul did not say that not any noble are called. Therefore, I am only going to heaven through the letter M.”
• Not many of the rich, powerful or elite are chosen for the kingdom of God. But of those who are, God highlights the paradox of His wisdom.
We have seen: 1) The Preeminence of God’s Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:18) 2) The Permanence of God’s Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:19–20) 3) The Power of God’s Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:21-25) 4) The Paradox of God’s Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:26-28) and finally:
5) The Purpose of God’s Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:29-31)
1 Corinthians 1:29-31 [29]so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. [30]And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, [31]so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." (ESV)
The first and primary purpose of the wisdom of God that produces salvation is that He be glorified. No human being will ever have a reason to boast in the presence of God. .
Ephesians 2:8-9 [8]For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, [9]not a result of works, so that no one may boast.. (ESV)
God also has a purpose for those who are saved. His purpose for His redeemed has many aspects, four of which are mentioned in verse 30. Because they are in Christ Jesus, they receive God’s wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
First, believers are given God’s wisdom.
John 8:31-32 [31]So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, [32]and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (ESV)
Second, believers receive God’s righteousness. They are made right with God and they participate in His righteousness, His rightness.
Romans 4:5 [5]And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, (ESV)
Third, believers receive God’s sanctification. In Christ we are set apart, made holy.
Continuing where we left off in Ephesians 2:
Ephesians 2:10 [10]For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (ESV)
Fourth, believers receive God’s redemption. The term “redemption” is a metaphor from slavery, and had a rich history among the Jews to express their own deliverance from the bondage of Egypt. The emphasis is more on the deliverance of captives unto freedom than it is on the concept of “ransom” by payment; in Pauline usage (e.g., Rom. 3:24; Col. 1:14) it usually refers to deliverance from the bondage of sin (Fee, G. D. (1987). The First Epistle to the Corinthians. The New International Commentary on the New Testament (86–87). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.).
1 Peter 1:18-19 [18]knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, [19]but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. (ESV)
Although in Christ we have received God’s wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, we have no grounds for pride or boasting, because we did not deserve, earn, or produce any of them. Human wisdom can produce none of those things. It can only produce pride, misunderstanding, strife, and division. As Jeremiah had written hundreds of years before Paul quoted him in 1 Corinthians 1:31, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
As is his custom, Paul bases his teaching on Scripture. He quotes from Jeremiah 9:24–25 and presents a one-line summary. Jeremiah records a word from the Lord that instructs the people of Israel not to boast of human wisdom or earthly riches. Boasting, says the Lord, should be in understanding and knowing God, who shows kindness, justice, and righteousness to his people. Let a person boast in intimately knowing God. Paul uses this passage in summary form to tell the Corinthians to know God personally in Jesus Christ and to boast in him alone (Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953-2001). Vol. 18: New Testament commentary : Exposition of the First Epistle to the Corinthians. New Testament Commentary (65–66). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.).
Hymn: Isaac Watts (1748) understood Paul’s teaching when he wrote the great hymn “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”:
When I survey the wondrous Cross
on which the Prince of glory died,
my richest gain I count but loss,
and pour contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast
save in the death of Christ, my God;
all the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.
(Format Note: Outline & Some base commentary from MacArthur, J. (1996). 1 Corinthians (54–59). Chicago: Moody Press.)
