by Hollis Miller

Some important lessons for modern times can be learned from Paul's words recorded in 1 Corinthians 1:28-2:16. What the apostle wrote by inspiration certainly ranks among the most instructive verses in the Bible. In them he declared that the message of the cross of Christ is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to all who are being saved.

The philosophers known to the Corinthians had been unable through their wisdom to deliver men from enslavement to moral and spiritual darkness. They had been unable to do so because their philosophic eyes were incapable of penetrating beyond the boundaries of human thought.

Had philosophy been able to deliver men from the realm of darkness into the realm of light surely the Greeks would have supplied the bridge. They could boast of some of the greatest thinkers ever to walk the earth. Yet their genius had utterly failed to provide men with the truth that sets them free.

In the scripture cited above, Paul declared that the cross of Christ is God's wisdom, the wisdom which the wise of this world think is foolishness. The apostle's statement is by no means limited to the first century world. Many today rejoice when the faith of Christians is attacked by theorists of various descriptions, slandered, or laughingly ridiculed. Yet Paul declared that it is these very people who are themselves acting foolishly.

What should the church today learn from 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:16? One obvious lesson is that when the Gospel is rejected, nothing can be gained either for God or for men by turning to human wisdom for a substitute message. Another is that worldly wisdom and heavenly wisdom do not equal each other. It is therefore a dangerous thing to assume that worldly learning within itself will better equip one to either proclaim the Gospel or to lead the church. Unless the wisdom gleaned from the wise of this world is supervised by heavenly wisdom one is poorly prepared to lead others into total faith in the sufficiency of the cross of Christ.

At Corinth the Gospel made its greatest appeal to those who were not enthralled by their own wisdom, power, and riches. Paul stated it thusly: "For see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called." Just how this stated fact applies to different societies in different times may be a flexible matter, but experience seems to teach us that even today biased worldly wisdom, power, and wealth do not equip many for reception of the Gospel. God's ways are not worldly man's way, and it still remains true that the cross of Christ is foolishness to those who think more highly of their own wisdom than they do of God's wisdom.

Thanks to The Voice of Truth International, Vol 20, pgs. 13-14.