1 Corinthians 1:18–19

1 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 1.

The Wisdom of God and the Foolishness of Men. 1 Cor. 1, 17–31.

The foolishness of the Gospel-message: V. 18. For the preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. V. 19. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

This assertion Paul now supports by a fact from experience: For the Word of the Cross is to them that are lost foolishness, but to us who are saved it is the power of God. The Word of the Cross includes the account of all that was done for the entire world on the cross, the message of reconciliation through the work performed on the cross by the Redeemer.

And this Word, this Gospel, is to them that perish, that are on the way to perdition, folly; their con sidering it so is the cause of their being lost; their reason, their wisdom, their entire sinful nature, rises in opposition to a message which is so utterly at variance with the pride of man, and therefore they do not receive the benefit of its assurance.

But on the other hand, that same Word is to them that are saved, that is, to us believers, the power of God unto salvation. The believers of all time know that the Cross of Christ, the message of the crucified Christ, is a saving power. In the statement of the facts of the redemption of the world lies the power of the Gospel, not in any man's way of presenting them. And the very fact that we have experienced the power of the Word in our own hearts is to us a testimony of our salvation.

For the fact that the wisdom of this world, in regarding the Gospel-preaching folly, paves the way for its own damnation, Paul adduces a Scripture-passage: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the understanding of the prudent I will frustrate, Is. 29, 14.

Just as the wisdom of the Jews, which relied upon shallow cunning, was brought to naught in the days of the prophet, just as their hypocrisy and lip-service resulted in their rejection, so the wisdom of him that believes himself to be exceptionally rich in understanding according to the standard of this world, and with supercilious haughtiness despises the message of the Cross, will be frustrated.

"Gentile and Jewish wisdom, united in the rejection of the Gospel, are coming to a like breakdown; and Paul draws a powerful warning from sacred history" (Expositor's Greek Testament, 2, 767). And the warning must be sounded to-day as strongly as it ever was in the history of the world.