1st Corinthians Series Part 2
The Wisdom of the Gospel
1st Corinthians 1:18-2:5
Introduction
If you remember last week as we began our study of the book of first Corinthians, we learned that the occasion of this letter was because of problems in the church at Corinth. If you remember last Sunday night we learned that as Paul opened up the letter he commended the Corinthians for some things that were right in the church, and then he went on to some things that were wrong in the church.
In the first part of this letter Paul stated that the Corinthians have the problem of rejecting authority, they had a problem of disunity, they had the problem of superior spirituality, they had the problem of cliques. Remember last week that I stated that all of the problems outlined further in the book could be related back to one of these problems stated here in the first chapter.
As we open up the second portion of chapter 1, and the very beginning of chapter 2, with also keeping in mind the context of the book, Paul then begins to refute these problems that he would call worldly wisdom in the church, by bringing their attention to the wisdom of the gospel.
Think about this question, what is the difference between a wise person in a wise guy? You could probably list a dozen or so things. But one thing is true in every case. Wise people know how to use their intelligence to serve others and to help those around them. Wise guys are out for themselves. They use their intelligence to destroy. In this passage Paul addresses those in the church at Corinth who claim to be wise. They use their wisdom to divide the church and to promote themselves.
Paul show these people that their so-called wisdom was worthless. It could not save anyone, nor could it further the cause of Christ. All it did was destroy, bring division, and was opposed to the gospel. As far as Paul was concerned these people were not wise truly, but world truly wise guys. Tonight from this passage I want us to learn what Paul has to say to refute the problems of the church with the wisdom of the gospel.
Read Scripture: 1st Corinthians 1:18-2:5
I. The Gospel Contradicts worldly wisdom
Vs. 18-25 “for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the dispute or of the world? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are 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 apostle Paul established in in this section of Scripture, that the worldly human wisdom cherished by unbelievers opposes the wisdom of God revealed in the gospel. By the Corinthians basing their divisions on human wisdom, the Corinthian Christians revealed that they had forgotten this basic truth that God opposes the wisdom of the world.
There are two things we need to know about human wisdom, and the wisdom of the gospel.
A. Human wisdom thinks the cross is foolishness.
Vs. 18 “for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness;”
Paul in this passage describes the standards of human wisdom which the Jews and the Gentiles endorsed: "Jews require a sign". If you remember in the gospel accounts the Jews were constantly requesting signs from Jesus to prove he was from God. Yet even the miracles he performed didn't satisfy them because he did not perform them according to their asking. They reasoned in their own minds that the true Messiah would provide whatever prove the Jews require. Because of that type of reasoning, the Jews rejected Jesus.
Paul also pointed out that "Greeks seek after wisdom", and by and large, many Corinthian believers were Greek. They did not demand miracles to believe the gospel, instead they exalted the standards of their pagan philosophies and poets. Ancient Greece was well-known as the seat of many influential philosophers. The Greeks took pride in their philosophical sophistication. They were loyal to rational thinking according to their own fall in standards of human wisdom.
You see the Jews understood the cross of Christ as a demonstration that Christ was cursed by God not blessed as they expected the Messiah to be. Many Gentiles could hardly believe or imagine a more ridiculous religion than one that proclaimed salvation through the death of one man on a Roman cross. The Greeks reasoned in their minds, they could not believe or trust for salvation in a God who could not overcome his human enemies and who died at their hands like a common thief.
You see not a lot has changed in today's society, there are some who still seek a sign, they want God to jump through their hoops before they believe. They believe that God has to somehow rescue them from every human ailment, including poverty and sickness. If God can do that for them, then they will not believe. There are still some today who believe that the cross is foolishness because they reasoned in their minds that they have to do something to earn salvation, the cross was not enough. They reasoned in their minds that there has to be some human effort involved in true salvation. You see human wisdom thinks the cross of Christ is foolishness.
B. The work of Christ is wise and powerful
Vs. 24 “but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God."
Paul explains that it was God's sovereign pleasure to choose something that the wives of the world would consider foolishness-the crucified Savior. By ordaining this seemingly foolish means of salvation, God made the world's so-called wisdom to be foolishness. Although the Jews and Gentiles rejected the true gospel because it did not meet their standards one group of people joyfully accepted the gospel of the cross "unto them which are called".
When God's grace touched their lives, their old standards of judgment fell away, whether it was seeking a sign, or rational thinking. They saw with new eyes and understood that the gospel of the crucified Christ was the power of God they could rescue them from the dominion of sin and darkness and bring them into the light of God's salvation. As believers we have come to recognize something about the gospel: is wiser than man's wisdom, and is stronger than man's strength.
We cannot rescue ourselves from the bondage of sin or its punishment. But by the power and the wisdom of God through Christ God made away for salvation by the blood of the Messiah.
II. The grace of the Gospel contradicts human pride
Vs. 26-31 “for you see your calling, brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, and not many noble, or called: but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, has God chosen, yes, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are: that no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that, according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”
The Corinthians needed to remember something about their status in the world when they were called. When they received the gospel, most of them were not wise by human standards. They were not influential nor of noble birth. When they were called, they had no basis to assert some superiority over another person or to boast that they had wisdom, or status, or power. When they were called, they believed in the simple gospel, that they were sinners in need of a Savior, and by the grace of God through the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross of Calvary, they received this salvation by the grace of God. Many of these in the church had forgotten this experience and they began to appeal the human wisdom to exalt themselves and to divide from one another.
You see this passage clearly teaches us as Paul explained to the Corinthians, that none of us are more superior than the other there should be no division among us, because we all came to the same cross cleansed by the same blood of Christ. All of us are sinners in need of a Savior. This passage is not meant to belittle us or was it meant to belittle the Corinthians, but to remind them and to remind us that there is no basis for boasting in our own selves.
In order to dispel any remaining pride in the Corinthians, Paul reminded them why they believe the gospel. It was not because they were wise are powerful enough to receive salvation. It was because of God that they were in Christ Jesus. God himself is the ultimate force behind the salvation of those who believe. You see no credit belongs to us as humans would come to Christ. All credit belongs to God.
We would do well to remember what Paul is telling the Corinthians that Christ is our righteousness, we have no righteousness apart from Christ, so when we want to boast about how good we are, and how we do so much good and how we're so spiritual as compared to others in the church, we need to remember that Christ is our righteousness if it were not for him and his righteousness we would all be doomed to hell. Christ is our holiness, there is nothing about ourselves that would set us apart and make us holy before a holy God. Christ is the source of our holiness, he is the strength that enables us to live holy or set apart from the world lives. Christ is also our redemption, all believers all of us who were believers were bought at a price. So when we want boast about how good we are or about how holy we are or about the salvation that we have, we should do as Paul told the Corinthians "let him that glory, or boast, let him glory of the Lord."
III. Human Wisdom Is Entirely Absent From The Gospel
1st Corinthians 2:1-5 “and I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God."
Paul's argument is, is that he did not present the gospel according to the world's wisdom. Instead of employing logic, are sophisticated speech, he had focused his attention on the central message of Christ's death. Paul is saying he didn't want to sway any of him with human ingenuity, our sophisticated speech, he wanted them to be swayed by the Holy Spirit and the preaching of the cross.
Paul says he made Jesus the center of his teaching while he was with them in Corinth. He had determined to teach them nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified. This true gospel message opposed human arrogance, and human wisdom, but it was simply a display of the power of God for salvation.
The Corinthian emphasis on human wisdom and the divisions which were evident in the church, which were caused by human wisdom were contrary to the gospel of Christ.
Conclusion
The Corinthians Had Fallen Into The Trap Of Being Wiseguys Rather Than Wise People. They relied on human wisdom and air gets to compete with fellow church members. Paul made it clear in this passage that this practice contradicted the gospel. The wisdom of God, which the Corinthians had placed their hopes of salvation, opposed the human wisdom that had crept into the church and began to destroy it.
When I was a child my friend and I were playing in his mother's room, and my friend decided to sit on a small table on the side of the bed, and when he did it broke one of the lakes on the table. We tried to prop up the table with a broken leg, but it still leaned. So we went to his room and got some little sticks from a toy said that he had and put it under the lake to help hold it up. From looking at it from the door and look pretty good to us, but when his mother came home and put some things on the table, it came crashing to the floor all of our problems were not able to hold up the table from the pressure of the stuff put on top of it.
This passage tells us that reliant on human wisdom will never hold up the table of our lives. When things go bad we begin to prop up our lives with human wisdom. We even try to prop up our church with human wisdom. Some try to seek their own ways rather than the glory of Christ by using intelligence or their own skills. Paul made it clear in this passage that reliant on human ingenuity and wisdom is like propping up a table in a way that will eventually send it crashing to the floor. In the body of Christ we are to rely solely on Christ's wisdom as revealed in the gospel. Human wisdom only divides us, but when we are sold out to the cause of Christ and understand the gospel that we believe in and conversion, then we understand they were all on equal footing at the cross, and we have a job to do, and that is to spread the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
