The Wisdom and Power of God

1 Corinthians 1: 18-31

Christ the Wisdom and Power of God

How was King David anointed? God told prophet Samuel to go to Jesse’s place and anoint one of his sons to be the king of Israel, who would replace King Saul. This was because Saul was disobedient to God’s instructions and that had saddened the heart of God.

When Samuel saw Eliab, the eldest son of Jesse, he thought that God would be pleased with him. But God said, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Sam 16:7)

Jesse arranged all the sons to meet up with Samuel, but God did not instruct Samuel to anoint any one of them. God’s intention is always beyond our imagination.

Finally, they remembered the youngest son, David who was tending to sheep in the field. So, they called him to return home. God chose David instead, and he was the youngest sons of Jesse, one who looked rather plain in the eyes of men!

God’s intention is always beyond what we can imagine, and it is exactly what we are told in 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, that God chose the cross, and He chose those who were lowly as a demonstration of His power and a revelation of His wisdom!

Many people do not believe in the redemptive power of the cross because they think that it is a foolish saying. They do not know that the message that seems foolish to men is indeed the wisdom of God, and it brings salvation to those who put their trust in it.

The cross becomes a stumbling block to those who reject its redemptive power.

The message of the cross is the demonstration of God’s power (vv. 18-25)

The Apostle Paul had made it clear at the beginning of this scripture that it was absolutely impossible for the Savior of the world to die on the cross in accordance to the Greco-Roman culture. It would be something unthinkable and even a foolish saying!

Hence, the message of the cross, the preaching or proclamation of the cross, sounds foolish to those who do not believe and are perishing. However, to us who are being saved it is the power of God!

We have to relook at the message of the cross carefully. In the first place, the preaching of the message of the cross is foremost, our priority, for it is the intention as well as instruction of God.

Paul also testified that, “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1 Cor 2:2)

Paul preached the message of the cross faithfully with the power and authority of God.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” (Rom1:16)

The world perceives itself to be very wise and understanding, but true wisdom only comes from God, because God is definitely the Wise. Paul recited the essence found in the message of Isaiah 29:14, and he said, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” (1 Cor 1:19)

The wisdom and understanding of the world are only temporal, worldly and unspiritual, and in opposition to God’s. The scripture in the Old Testament recorded God’s judgment against worldly wisdom. Hence, there is a contrast between God’s wisdom and men’s wisdom throughout centuries and ages. God will disrupt the wisdom of men.

Paul continued asking his questions, “Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” (1 Cor 1:20)

The apostle did not mean that there is no wisdom on earth, but he pointed out the fact that when God’s true wisdom, i.e. the cross of Jesus, is preached and made known, no worldly wisdom will be able to stand against it.

How does God display His power?

“For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.” (1 Cor 1:21)

Now, people still seek God through all kinds of religious means and with their own approaches. But they can only find false gods, and they fail to meet the true God. It will be impossible for men to find God if God does not first reveal Himself.

Hence, Christianity is best known as “a religion of revelation”. It is a religion that focuses on the relationship building between God and men.

Since the world does not know God, God is pleased to make use of the message of foolishness to be preached to them. The message includes God’s sending of His One and Only Son, Jesus Christ, where He became flesh and lived in the world for thirty-three and a half years and was finally crucified on the cross!

We have to understand that the punishment of the cross was a brutal torture used to deal with the worst of the sinners who had death sentences. Yet Jesus was crucified on a cross! It was something humiliating and foolish, but it was the demonstration of God’s wisdom and power!

It was on the cross that the righteousness of God (for the wages of sin is death) and the mercy of God (God is willing to save the world) were fulfilled!

Paul went further to explain that, the world by its own wisdom cannot understand God’s wisdom (1 Cor 1:22-24).

Jews went all out to seek after signs, and they asked Jesus to give them a sign, but later refused to believe that Jesus indeed was resurrected. What the Greeks looked for was wisdom in philosophy, and they rejected God’s wisdom altogether (1 Cor 1:22)!

For this Paul emphasized that, “we preach Christ crucified.” (1 Cor 1:23). Jews stumbled over the message of Jesus. The pagans thought that they have their own philosophies and they rejected Jesus (1 Cor 1:24). Yet to those who are called and moved by God’s love, Jesus Christ is God’s power and wisdom.

Since then, we have come to realize that the wisdom exalted by those who belong to God is entirely different from the wisdom championed by the world. This is the counter culture element of Christianity.

Let’s lift up the cross of Jesus, for the message of the cross is the demonstration of God’s power!

God’s election is the revelation of God’s wisdom (vv.26-31)

The apostle Paul had made it clear in this passage that the purpose of God’s call and election is “so that no one may boast before him “and, hence it served as a means to reveal the wisdom of God.

In fact, we do not possess any wisdom and power, and we do not come by noble birth according to our original human standards and values. Yet God has called us and He has chosen us, the foolish and the weak, in order to shame those who think that they are wise and strong.

Nobody in the world have wisdom, power and honor in the eyes of God or anywhere near to the standards of God. Only those who are in Christ Jesus, those who have been called and chosen by God, God had made Christ to become “our wisdom, righteousness, holiness and redemption.” (1 Cor 1:30)

As a conclusion, we should seek to glory in God. “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord” (v.31). We should boast in the Lord for whatever wisdom, power, wealth, talents that we have. It is because of the Lord that we possess all these. Therefore, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.

Thanks be to the Father, for the Cross represents His heart for us! God’s love, His call and His election of us are the demonstration of His power and the revelation of His wisdom!