1 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 2
The Preaching of the Cross. 1 Cor. 2, 1—16.
The Gospel itself true wisdom: V. 6. Howbeit, we speak wisdom among them that are perfect; yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to naught; v. 7. but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory.
The apostle had said that his Gospel is foolishness according to the standard of this world, but all the while he makes it felt that it is wisdom, God's wisdom: Yet wisdom it is that we speak of among the full-grown, among the mature, that are qualified to understand it, the believers.
Let other people decry and condemn the preaching of the Cross as unreasonable, utter nonsense, those whose hearts and minds the Spirit has prepared through faith are able to comprehend its unspeakable wisdom.
But it is not a wisdom of this transitory world nor of the rulers of this world that pass away. The wisdom of the Gospel has nothing in common with the results of philosophic study and research, as they are so widely heralded. All the greatness of man's intellectual achievements will share the fate of the secular rulers of this world: they will vanish, their wisdom and power will come to naught.
It is rather so that we, Paul and all true preachers of the Gospel, speak the wisdom of God in a mystery; the message of God is a divine secret which only the Spirit of God can reveal, Eph. 3, 3, which remains hidden and incomprehensible for human reason until God opens up its glories and its power.
It is this wisdom which God predetermined before the ages, before the foundation of the world and the beginning of time unto our glory. The entire plan of salvation was determined upon by God from eternity, and its final aim and object, as put into execution by Jesus Christ, is the final glory which shall be revealed to the believers in heaven. Of that glory we have a foretaste and guarantee in the blessings of the Gospel at the present time.