One of my favorite Michael Card songs begins with him saying, concerning Jesus, “Seems I’ve imagined him all of my life as the wisest of all of mankind. But if God’s holy wisdom is foolish to man, he must have seemed out of his mind.” Later in the song, Card adds, “So come lose your life for a carpenter’s son, for a mad man who died for a dream, and you’ll have the faith his first followers had, and you’ll feel the weight of the beam.”
It’s true that it’s easy for us to forget how foolish Jesus Christ must have appeared. It’s easy for us to forget how foolish the cross must have appeared (and still appears) to many. Several unbelievers throughout the ages have wondered how a God who took on flesh only to get himself crucified by his enemies is worthy of our worship. A people who devote their lives to a God they haven’t seen, who calls them to give in order to know true riches, to serve in order to know true greatness, and to lay down our lives in order to find them in the end doesn’t exactly resonate with the ways of the world around us. Moreover, calling people to repentance when they’re walking in sin instead of acceptance of their sin only leads to louder shouts of bigotry, hatred, and intolerance. Christianity simply doesn’t seem set up to garner the praises of those around us.
Therefore, throughout history, some have sought to make the Christian faith more palatable to those around them. Whether philosophers trying to make the Christian faith fit the autonomous reason of the Enlightenment period, professing liberals trying to give Jesus an agenda that fit their own, or those in our day saying the church must change on its stance of marriage if it is to survive, there is a constant voice in our culture that says to the church that we must change Christianity or it will die – finding itself utterly out of touch with the world and values around us. Yet every empty cathedral in Europe bears witness that trying to change Christianity so that it becomes palatable to the culture around us is an empty and fruitless task.
So what do we do? Do we imagine that perhaps we can do better than some of our predecessors at making the Christian faith palatable to our culture, and see if that works? Of course not. We must preach the faith once delivered to the saints. Then what do we do about the fact that we ourselves and the gospel message we preach is deemed foolish? What do we do about the many responses by people we desperately see come to faith saying that the message we preach is senseless, inapplicable to their lives, or sheer folly?
I think Paul answers this question in 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5. And he answers it by showing that what the world perceives as a weakness in the gospel message is part of the intentional design of God to fulfill his purposes and plans. You see, we aren’t the first people who may have felt temptation to be found acceptable to the world around us. The Corinthians, it seems, were tempted with the values of the world themselves. This may well have been what led to their lack of unity, as they perhaps divided behind men based on certain giftings which they valued in these men as these things were valued in the culture around them – things like wisdom, boldness, or eloquence.
Paul began to speak against that at the end of our text in 1:10-17 as he noted that Christ had not sent him to preach the gospel with “words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power” (1:17), but in our text today he seeks to further shatter the appeal of earthly wisdom, power, and eloquence that the Corinthians may have been feeling by diving into God’s very design, purposes, and goals as he crafted the work and means of salvation in our lives. It is this argument that I want us to see this morning, hoping that this text will bring about the same results in our lives that Paul intended for his original hearers.
First, Paul shows them in verses 18-25 that:
That is, God had an intentional goal in mind when he developed the way and manner in which he would bring salvation to his people, and part of that goal involved destroying and overturning the wisdom of this world. Let me show this to you in the text. First, in verse 18 Paul shows that there are two ways the message of the cross is received. He writes, “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.”
So, this message that God the Son took on flesh, lived a perfect life, died for our sins, was raised on the third day, and if we repent and trust in him then we are justified through faith in his redeeming work for us is heard two different ways, depending on which camp you’re in. If you’re being saved, as Paul says, then the message of the gospel is glorious. We sing about the power of the cross or the Lamb hanging on that cross in victory, as he is there drowning in his own blood. That image of redemption is powerful and glorious. On the other hand, if you’re perishing, Paul says, then it is simply folly. As Gordon Fee has noted, “A God who [gets] himself crucified by his enemies” just doesn’t come across as divine wisdom in this world.1 Moreover, the idea that we’re declared righteous before God by faith alone and not based on any one thing that we have done is utterly contradictory to how mankind would design things. So, it seems foolish.
So, why did God design a means of salvation – hearing this message of Christ’s life, sin-bearing death, and justifying resurrection and believing in him – that he knew would seem so utterly foolish to the world? Well, Paul answers in verse 19. He writes, “For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’”
Now, that’s a quote from Isaiah 29:14, where God is warning his people not to think they’re wise when they try to hide their sin or think they are doing themselves good when they defy God’s commands. The Lord tells these in Isaiah’s times that he is about to destroy them and their wisdom. So, note then, how Paul is using this text here. He’s saying that just as God showed the utterly folly of what these men thought was wise when he came and destroyed them in judgment, so that is what he was doing when he designed salvation.
When God designed how he was going to save his people, through hearing and responding in faith to the message of a crucified and risen Christ, he did that knowing that it would be heard as foolishness to most. The response that this is foolish wasn’t a response that God simply couldn’t foresee. In fact, he designed the gospel not to line up with the wisdom of rebellious mankind because he had a goal to destroy the wisdom of this age and thwart the discernment of this world.
All of man’s wisdom, apart from what God has revealed in his Word, will only leave men condemned and hopeless. This is why Paul continues in verse 20, asking, “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?” And here’s how God is destroying the wisdom of this world. He’s destroying it and laid the groundwork for its destruction when he determined that people would not know him through earthly wisdom but simply through the folly of what we preach. This is what Paul confirms in verse 21, saying, “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.” God made that determination to save people through the folly of what we preach and not through the wisdom of this world because he had a goal to destroy the wisdom that comes from man alone.
So, in verses 22-24, Paul lays out how this is played out in the world. He writes, “For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
We go out preaching this message of Christ crucified, and for the most part the response is that of mockery and disdain, Paul tells us. Jews see it as a stumbling block. “Messiah meant power, splendor, triumph; crucifixion meant weakness, humiliation, defeat.” Therefore, “one may have a Messiah, or one may have a crucifixion; but one may not have both—at least not from the perspective of merely human understanding.”2 To Jews, this message is a stumbling block.
To Gentiles, it is utterly foolish. God the Son had to take on flesh, become the God man, so that he could live the perfect life we couldn’t, die on the cross to bear divine wrath for our sin, and be raised on the third day, and all of that so that we could merely trust in him and be forgiven of our sins and credited with his perfect righteousness before God? That sounds foolish.
So, those are the two responses that we mainly get. However, as we preach this message that most deem foolish, God will call some to himself through our preaching, and they, who will be both Jews and Greeks, will respond differently because of the powerful and always effective call of God on their hearts. And instead of it being a stumbling block or folly, they will hear that seemingly foolish message and they will see our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, crucified and raised, as the power of God and the wisdom of God. And they will be saved.
Thus, Paul concludes that the fact that men are saved through this preached message shows that God’s [seeming] foolishness is wiser than men’s wisdom and God’s [seeming] weakness is stronger than men (v. 25). Why can Paul draw this conclusion? The answer is that God does something through the preaching of this seemingly foolish gospel that the wisest and strongest of men could never accomplish in their wisdom and strength – know God and be reconciled to him.
So, do you see how misguided we are if we see that the gospel message does not resonate with the world as men spout their wisdom and power and judge our message as foolish and we try to make it adjust to fit their wisdom or more palatable to them? If we do that, we completely miss that God’s very design was that he would save men through a message that most would deem foolish because his aim is to destroy the wisdom of rebellious sinful mankind even as he brings his people to himself. This is part of his intentional design in salvation.
But Paul wants the Corinthians to see that it’s not just the message that is contrary to the wisdom of this age, but even those whom God calls to himself turns our worldly values upside down. In verses 26-31, we see that:
Starting in verse 26 through the end of chapter 1, Paul begins to show another element to confirm this as part of God’s design. He asks the Corinthians to consider themselves as those whom God effectually called to himself through the preaching of the gospel so that they were saved, and note that they don’t line up with what the world values. He writes, “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” (v. 26).” According to worldly standards, they weren’t the best of the best. In fact, they were on the opposite end of the scale for the most part.
Well, Paul says, your choosing was part of God’s intentional design and plan as well. They were chosen because God had an aim in mind, a purpose. Paul continues, “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; God chosen what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God” (vv. 27-29).
By choosing individuals for salvation who lacked those things valued by the world – earthly wisdom, strength, nobility – God had an aim. He wanted to shame those in the world who think themselves wise, shame those in the world who think themselves strong and powerful, bring to nothing those who consider others as nothing and nobodies, bringing such arrogant men to nothing.
And this was part of God’s design because he wanted no human being to boast in his presence. Therefore, if you’re a believer and you read this text, considering your own calling or your own salvation, and you think to yourself, “Well, he said not many were wise, and not many were strong, and not many of you were nobodies, so obviously that means some of us were wise, strong, and somebody,” then you’re missing the point. Sure, some portion of believers throughout the ages have been valued by the world and came to faith, but that’s the exception. For the most part, it’s been lowly people like you and me. God did that so that you might not even think that you can boast.
And if you begin to think, “Well, the reason I am right with God and will be with Christ for an eternity is because I am obviously wiser, stronger, or greater than my neighbor,” then you’re missing that you’re right with God because he chose you and called you through the foolishness of the proclamation of the gospel. You’re an object of God’s work.
What happened is that because of God’s gracious choice and through his effectual call through the preaching of the gospel, God took you and placed you in union with his Son so that through that union by faith, you might receive salvation. This is why Paul continues in verse 30, “And because of him [that is, God] you are in Christ Jesus [that is, in union with Christ so that what is true of him is true of you and what comes to him comes to you], who become to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.”
God has saved us. God has saved us as we brought little earthly value to the table. And he did that by calling us so that we saw Christ (he who most deemed foolish and a stumbling block) as wisdom from God and our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. And when God opened our eyes to see that, giving us saving faith, he united us with Christ, in whom we receive all the blessings of salvation. And because this is solely the work of God and because all of our righteousness is wrapped up in Christ and his work and nothing that we have done, we can boast solely in the Lord, as Paul ends this section, letting us know that God designed our salvation this way and chose us for salvation, “So that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord’” (v. 31).
Therefore, what the Corinthians needed to see and what we need to see, lest we find ourselves tempted to change the gospel message or God’s Word to be palatable to the world and adjust to fit what they’re telling us we must preach and believe, is that God’s design was intentional with specific aims. We can’t change the gospel to try to be palatable with man’s wisdom because part of God’s very design in the gospel was to use it as the means for salvation so that man’s wisdom might be destroyed. And if we respond by saying, “But, Lord, the wise will mostly mock us if we take this message to them,” then his response is, “My design is to call those for the most part who lack worldly wisdom, lack worldly strong, lack worldly meaningfulness so that all can see that no man will boast in my presence, but those who boast will boast solely in the Lord.”
And if that’s God’s design, then Paul wants us to see that this has an impact on our preaching. In 2:1-5, Paul shows us that:
This design of God for salvation and the aims he had in crafting his saving plan this way has an impact on what and how we preach. Paul writes in 2:1-2, “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”
Paul didn’t approach the Corinthians, thinking, “They’re just going to mock this message if I come to them preaching the gospel and speaking of a Messiah who was crucified and raised from the dead.” He didn’t think, “They’re going to laugh at the resurrection. They’re going to mock the idea that they need to follow and obey one whom they’ve never seen, devoting every arena of their lives to his Lordship, believing and obeying what he says on what must be our business practices, where sexual intimacy is appropriate, etc. I’ve got to somewhat make this message more acceptable or the Christian faith is going to die out in this age.” No. He came with a decided commitment to preach Christ and him crucified.
Even his presentation of the gospel wasn’t impressive. Paul writes in verses 3-4, “And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom . . .” Paul wasn’t impressive. His message didn’t win over people because they heard him and thought, “He’s answering all of our questions.”
But Paul wasn’t without power as he preached this foolish message in weakness and trembling. Paul finishes verse 4 saying that his message was not “in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,” and he adds, “So that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of man but in the power of God” (vv. 4-5).
When these believing Corinthians heard Paul’s preaching and most around them were mocking and talking about how foolish what Paul was saying was, and others were speaking of how much he obviously lacked wisdom, some were seeing for the first time Jesus Christ as the power of God and wisdom of God. They were believing, and Paul wants them to know that their faith had nothing to do with his eloquence or wisdom. No, their faith cannot be said to rest in him. There was no earthly wisdom about him. Their faith could only rest in the power of God, which was demonstrated amidst the wise of this age mocking, as God was calling some to salvation as a demonstration of the power of the Spirit of God. Isn’t that glorious?
And this has some implications for us:
Those of you going to college, for example, you’re about to enter a realm where most are going to mock your faith. You’re going to be called foolish, bigoted, and the like. You’re going to have people challenge and mock the Christian faith perhaps in rigor and passion and with arguments that you’ve never seen or heard.
And there might even be a temptation to want to back off of what you’ve believed. There might be a temptation to want to alter what you preach to make it a little more acceptable to those who mock you. But in those moments just remember that the Lord designed the gospel so that most would see it as foolish and most would see it as weak. And he did that because he has an aim to overturn the wisdom of this world and destroy it.
And when those who seem so impressive walk away from the faith and the majority of people the gospel seems to be reaching aren’t esteemed by the world, know that that’s okay. It’s part of God’s design. He wants no man to boast in his presence and everyone to know that we can only boast in the Lord.
It was never part of God’s design to save people through you being able to give amazing presentations and answering someone’s every question. Even the questions people have that they present as being the reason they can’t believe the gospel aren’t what’s holding them up from believing. What’s keeping them from believing is that they’re suppressing the truth of God in their unrighteousness, according to Romans 1. And if they’re saved it’ll simply be because as you preached the gospel, God called that person to himself, opening his or her eyes to see Christ as power, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. And God designed it this way so that the person who is saved through your preaching of the gospel can’t even boast in you, but only in Christ.
So, let us stand strong in the gospel message, unshakeable though the world deems it foolish. And let us preach the gospel, knowing that because God’s design is to destroy the wisdom of the world, leave no one able to boast in man, and make it so that our faith rests in his power alone, this is our great privilege and task as a church. Let us go out, deemed as foolish men preaching what is deemed a foolish message so that the power and wisdom of God might be on display. Amen.