Here is the text, For Christ
sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom
of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness
or folly, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God,
for it is written. I will destroy the wisdom of
the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where the
scribe? Where the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews
require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach
Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the
Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom
of God, Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and
the weakness of God is stronger than men. Now, we'd kind of like
to work around that statement that we have in the end of verse
21, that it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save
those that believe. You know, as one reads the Corinthian
epistles, and sees what Paul says unto them, they are immediately
aware that the church at Corinth had a lot of warts. In fact,
there were many faults that marred the church at Corinth from which
letter we have read this evening. There were many things of which
they were wrong, of which they were guilty, and for which they
were to be blamed. So much confusion and so much
strife and so much division was there in that particular church. So much so, that I venture to
say, if someone today, in our particular day, should see a
congregation in the state that this one at Corinth was, one
might question whether or not it had a right to even be called
a church of the Lord or a church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
yet, as Paul writes to them, he fully speaks to them as being
a church, as being the saints of God, and there was great schism
over their ministers. And they tolerated a fornicator
in the assembly, if you come to verse 5. They sued one another
before the heathen courts of men, if you read there in verse
6. And they lacked the proper view
of marriage and such things as that, if you read chapter 7.
And they partook of the pagan festivals in a way that could
be very dangerous to some of the believers. They abused the
spiritual gifts that were there in the church, And some even
denied that there was such a thing as the resurrection of the dead. Now, the introductory notes in
the New Geneva Bible, the King James Version, point out this
point, that this letter or epistle reveals that the Corinthian church
had developed a number of serious problems, such as division, abuse
of the Lord's Supper, disorder in the worship, theological problems,
moral laxity, and unhealthy asceticism." We see all of this as we read
through the Corinthian epistle, particularly the first one. Now
this seems remarkable when we remember that none other than
the apostle Paul himself had gone to Corinth preaching the
gospel, and that Paul had spent 18 months there instructing them. You'll see that in the 18th chapter
of the book of Acts. A year and a half Paul had labored
there among them, and yet these errors at last sprung up. One more point to consider. before
we wade in, and that is how Paul learned of the situations that
were prevalent there at Corinth. How did he learn? How did he
know? How did he find out about all
of these problems? Well, as we look at it, there
seems to be possibly two sources from which Paul got information
that let him know the condition of the church there at Corinth. Number one, he says very clearly
here in chapter 1 that a report from the household of Chloe had
clued him in on many of the things that were there. Now, Chloe was
a woman who was a member, we believe, of that church there. Chapter 1 and verse 11, For it
hath been declared unto me by you, my brethren, by them of
Chloe, that there are contentions among you." And some believe
that these matters go all the way to the end of chapter 6.
That all that he deals with in the first six chapters is based
upon what he heard from the house of Cloy. But then there is a
second mean by which Paul learned of some of the problems that
were there at Corinth. And that is, 1 Corinthians 7
and verse 1, they had written him asking him his opinion on
particular matters. We read there, "...now concerning
the things whereunto ye wrote me." And the first one was whether
or not it was good and right to marry. Now, I cannot tell
you why Paul is led to address the matter of the schism about
their ministers as the first problem that he would deal with.
With all of those others that might seem greater, yet Paul
is led by the Spirit to address the schism and the division and
the friction that was among them in view of their division over
their minister. Did he consider it the most disruptive? Did he consider that this is
very needful for them to be brought into unity, that other things
might fall more easily in their place. It is his idea that unity
ought to be at the forefront of this church, and so he takes
this up first. At any rate, the first situation
that he confronts is their division over the ministers of the gospel
that labored among them there. Some of them were saying, I am
a Paulite. Others were saying, I am an Apollosite. Some said, I am a Cephasite,
and they divided themselves up. Even some of them claim to be
non-denominational. They said, we are of Christ. We are not after any man. I have learned that non-denominationalism
is actually a denomination whether they say so or not. Now Paul
strongly disavows any idea of him being at the head of a faction
or at the head of a party, telling them in chapter 1 and verse 13,
neither was Paul put to death for you, Paul was not crucified
in your stead, you were not baptized in his name, and you were not
baptized under him at all. He says, I have only baptized
a very few there that are among you. Some I can remember, and
others I don't remember. For after all, He had come among
them not chiefly as a baptizer, but He had come among them as
a preacher of the gospel, and He abhorred their fractious polarization
which had taken place there in the church. Yet there is something
else to consider, for it seems that those that opposed Paul,
and that spoke against him, and that tried to turn the people
against him there, did so upon two grounds. It seems that there
are two issues that they tried to use against the Apostle. Number one was his want of We'll
call it philosophy and rhetorical refinement as a preacher. Paul was not a great rhetorical
preacher. He did not come with great embellished
words and speak to them in that manner. Secondly, that he gave
neither place nor honor to human wisdom. Paul gave it no credit
at all. Yea, he did even denigrate human
wisdom when it was put in the place of the wisdom of God. Yea, we see that Paul did so
not to put down learning or to champion ignorance. Paul would
not have them to be ignorant, but to show that human or worldly
wisdom, as it is mentioned so frequently in this chapter, is
ineffectual to bring one to salvation. Now it might help man put up
a great building, or build a great bridge, or build a machine, or
put a man on the moon. But the wisdom of the world never
has, never can, and never will bring one to a saving knowledge
of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But in response to the
attack that they had brought against Paul, He leaves off temporarily,
for the time being, he leaves off their divisions over preacher,
and he responds to the charges that they have lodged against
him. Now, Paul freely concedes that he was not a great orator. He said his speech was weak and
contemptible and such like. He freely granted that he was
not the greatest orator that ever came among them. He freely
granted that He did not preach human wisdom as He preached unto
them. And in chapter 2 and verse 1,
I came not unto you with excellence of speech, with superior speech. I came unto you, no, not according
to the excellent speech of words or wisdom of this world, declaring
Christ unto you. I did not couch the testimony
of Christ in any kind of fancy, claiming rhetoric for you. And
in chapter 2 and verse 4, he said, My preaching was not with
enticing words. The margin has as an alternate
persuasive. And the reason for that is in
chapter 2 and verse 5, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom
of man, but in the power of God. He did not want to give them
any cause to think or to claim that their belief and the gospel
had anything to do with the human wisdom. Gil noted to the force
of human eloquence and oratory. He didn't want them to ascribe
any power unto that as making them believers in Christ. Let
them know that their belief in Christ was wrought in them by
the power of the Spirit of God as it drove home the message
of the gospel of Christ whenever the preacher stood and preached
the Word unto them. Now we can sum up Paul's explanation
of why he did avoid human wisdom and why he avoided eloquent,
flaming, oratorical speech. Because in chapter 1 and verse
19, God had declared human wisdom to be folly. And God will show
it or prove it to be nothing as to the saving of sinners. It had for centuries, says Paul,
been shown to be inefficient to enlighten the mind to the
way of salvation. And in this sense, God vowed
to destroy human wisdom by showing that it had nothing, no power
or effect to convert. Besides, Paul could demonstrate
to them that it is not generally the wise that espouse the gospel
and that espouse Christ. In chapter 1 and verse 26, See
who they are, he says to them who are called. Look out among
you, brethren. Consider those that profess in
your myth. Not many wise are called, even
today. There seems to prevail among
many professing Christians in many places the false and erroneous
idea that those with the best education, that those that have
been taught the most of worldly wisdom that are the best trained
in the matters of the world, that have the brightest and the
sharpest mind, should be the first to understand and believe
and receive the message of the gospel. In other words, it is
the idea of many today that what we might call intellectuals should
flock to Christ and the gospel and the church. That the mind
trained in medicine, or trained in physics, or the science, or
chemistry, or a matter of energy, that one that is knowledgeable
in all of those things might lead the way. That one that is
a math whiz might be the first one to get in line to understand
the gospel and believe. In other words, it's the idea
of the belief of many that these well-trained and highly educated
minds, that that suits them for an understanding of the gospel. It has even been said, we have
heard it, that God covets the talent of such people, that their
abilities, He looks on with great covetousness, that they could
be a great boon and a great blessing to the work of God, to the churches,
and the kingdom of our Savior. As we said earlier, Paul leaves
off temporarily the matter of their division over ministers
that he might refute their charges. And it seems to me that he resumes
that subject of their divisions again, not until chapter 3 and
verse 4, by showing how the work of the ministry meshes together. He uses that metaphor from agriculture. one soweth another watereth,
but God it is that giveth the increase." Now in the interim,
from chapter 1 verse 17 down to chapter 3 and verse 3, the
apostle sets forth and defends the manner and the motive of
his preaching of the gospel. And he makes a contrast between
the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God displayed in the
gospel and the way of saving sinners. And how in chapter 1
and verse 21, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. Now in this section, in 1 Corinthians
chapter 1, Paul uses the word foolishness six or perhaps seven
times, and in at least two forms. Does the apostle use the word? It is the word morea in 1.18,
1.21, and 1.23. And in chapter 2 and 14, and
3 and 19, meaning silliness or silly talk or absurdity, dull
or stupid, and the word moros is used a couple of times. In
chapter 1, verse 25, And then in verse 27, and it means heedless
or absurd, what Paul means by the foolishness of preaching. He does not say foolish preaching. There is a great difference between
foolish preaching and the foolishness of preaching. Though God knows
there is much so-called preaching today that would just have to
be called foolishness. It's folly. It is absurd. And Paul calls it folly or foolishness. Now, in looking over the context,
the question, I think, is easily answered. Chapter 1 and verse
18, the preaching of the cross, that is, the proclamation of
Christ, or the proclamation of the gospel, the word of the cross,
as he calls it, is foolishness or folly to them who are the
ones that are perishing. And in the end of the verse,
he says to the ones being saved, that very same proclamation of
Christ and of the gospel, the same word of the cross, the same
message of Christ, is the power of God unto salvation to them
that are being saved. Again, in chapter 1, And verse
23, the proclamation of Christ crucified is foolishness unto
the Greeks because they love and seek worldly wisdom. And this they do. There is a
larger contrast even in verse 22 through verse 24, if you would
tolerate while I read it again. For the Jews require a sign and
the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified
under the Jews a stumbling block, under the Greeks foolishness,
but under them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ,
the power of God and the wisdom of God. Turning to 1 Peter, further
over in our New Testament, 1 Peter and chapter 2 is the place that
I want to read from. 1 Peter chapter 2. And verse
7 and verse 8 makes a like comparison here, much alike I think. 1 Peter
2, verse 7 and 8, speaking again of Christ and such like, Unto
you therefore which believe he is precious, but unto them which
be disobedient the stone which the builders disallowed the same
is made the head of the corner. And watch, a stone of stumbling
a rock of offense, even to them that stumbled at the word, being
disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed." My, the sovereignty
of God is taking a hand in all of this. Now, we noted something
else back in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, and that is the different
effects which the doctrine of Christ crucified had upon the
Jew and had upon the Greek. In verse 22, Jews ask signs,
Greeks seek after or require wisdom. Actually, these things
might become clearer in our mind if we were to consider verse
21 and verse 24 together, which first answer the question in
the end of verse 20. Has not God made foolish the
wisdom of the world? Has it not been condemned? Has
it not been shown to be useless? Has it not been condemned and
proven unworthy? Just this in verse 21, the world
by wisdom knew not God. With all of its learning, in
fact, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge
of the truth. As Paul said in 2 Timothy 3 and
verse 7 of Psalm, ever learning, but never coming to the knowledge
of the truth. Worldly wisdom, you see, human
education, whatever we call it, never leads one to Christ. It never discovers the way of
salvation. Never brings one to the knowledge
the saving knowledge of God and of Christ. And that in large
part is because, number one, the Jews ask or require a sign. Now the Jews had been accustomed
in their history to great signs and miracles and wonders from
their prophets and from their men of God. They asked signs
from the Lord before He died upon the cross. Matthew 12.39,
their generation sought signs. Mark 8.11, the Pharisees sought
a sign of Him from heaven. John 6.30, what sign do you show
us that we may believe, they asked. Let us not forget something. And that is in Acts 2.22 and
verse 23, Jesus says to the apostle Peter, was approved of God among
you by signs and miracles and wonders which he did in your
midst, as ye yourselves also know." He was a man approved
among them by signs and miracles and wonders. Many great wonders
were also done by the apostles that followed after our Lord. And yet, because they had rejected
the person of Christ, as being their Messiah, they also set
aside His mighty works and said, He doeth this by the Prince of
Beelzebub. The Lord once called them a sinful
and adulterous generation and said to them, No sign shall be
given it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah. You'll find that
in Matthew 12, 39 and 40. And of course, the Lord spoke
of his death and resurrection, the sign of Noah. Secondly, there's
another group here to look at, and that is the Greeks sought
wisdom. The Greeks were big on human
rationalization. They only received that which
could be rationally explained to them and understood by them. They could only receive that
which they thought had a plausible explanation behind it, and which
squared with human intelligence. This is what they looked for.
Now the result of that was, since it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching, to save the believing ones, and what they preached
was Christ and Him crucified upon the cross, it did not fill
the expectation of either the Jew or the Greek. For a. Christ crucified was a stumbling
block unto the Jew, as in 1 Peter 2 and 8, a stone of stumbling,
a rock of offense. exactly as Isaiah 8.14 had predicted
that Messiah would be. The Jews' expectation was that
of a mighty temporal prince who would assume throne and power
and deliver them from the Roman yoke and establish them again
at the head of the nation, Christ Messiah, upon a cross dying a
shameful death at the hands of the Romans was an offense unto
the Jews. They wanted him a prince upon
a throne. While on the other hand be, the
Greeks counted it foolishness when they heard the gospel, when
they heard of a man who died an awful, awful bloody death
upon a cross. To the Greeks who loved wisdom,
the preaching of one crucified as a Savior. Well, this they
reckon to be foolishness, silly, or folly. It was the sin of some
who having heard Christ's claims of saving sinners, Christ promised
eternal life to those that came unto Him, and then they saw Him
put to death in shame upon the cross, and they come and they
mock our Lord's claim to be a Savior. They say in Matthew 27-42, He
saved others, Himself He cannot save. They said if He be the
King of the Jews, let Him come down from the cross and we will
believe Him. They said in Mark 15-31, He saved
others, Himself He cannot save. Even one of the thieves, on one
side of our Lord at the cross said in Luke 23 and verse 39,
save thyself and us if you be the Christ. Here we are at the
point of death. Save thyself. Save yourself and
also save us if you are the Christ. Now what does Paul mean in 1
Corinthians 1? By the foolishness of preaching. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Certainly He does not
put it in the same class or in the same category as the foolishness
of the world that He had mentioned. Why then does He refer to it
as the foolishness of preaching? And as I said, He does not have
in mind foolish preaching. It seems the question is answered
here for us in harmony with the context. Paul describes it in
the light of the way that it is viewed by what Calvin called,
quote, foolish wise men, unquote. Paul is describing it from their
standpoint. Foolish wise men. Now, as we have two very clear
statements here in our context. First of all, again in verse
18, For the preaching of the cross, or the word, is to them
that perish foolishness. Second, we see in verse 23, and
the last part, that this message of the gospel is to the Greeks
foolishness, as they hear of one to be saved by one who died
such a painful and seemingly weak death upon the cross. Thus
notice what Paul said, it pleased God to save sinners by what so-called
wise men term foolishness. It pleased God to use that which
men consider to be absolutely foolish and to bring them to
a saving knowledge of Christ. It is not restricted to oral
speaking. but includes the thing proclaimed
as well. It is not simply the oral sound
that is made, but it is the message that is proclaimed. It is the
proclamation of Jesus Christ. It's the proclamation of Christ
crucified upon a cross. We preach Christ crucified. That is, we preach Christ as
the one who bore our sin in His own body. unto the tree the sins
of His people He took. For God hath laid upon Him the
sins of us all, Isaiah says in chapter 53. He was made sin for
us. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse
21. He was made sin, but He was not
made sinful. And Paul himself holds himself
to have been co-crucified with Christ. Galatians 2.20. Yea,
I am crucified with Christ. Consider that great passage in
Romans chapter 7 and verse 4. You are become dead to the law
by the body of Christ. So that the heart, the soul,
the essence of the gospel is Christ crucified upon the cross. The good news is this. Christ
has died for our sins according to the Scripture. He was buried
according to the Scripture. And He rose again according to
the Scripture, as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15, verses
3 and 4. Now, just to show, just to demonstrate,
just as an example of the besotted thinking of the world, and what
it is, what they consider foolishness. What the world looks on and says,
well, that's silly, that's absurd, that's foolishness. The preaching
of Christ is death upon the cross. What they look upon and call
foolishness to us is bursting with the power and the wisdom
of Almighty God. Conversely, what they have pronounced
foolish, God makes to redound to the saving of sinners, as
in verse 24, to such as have been called to the crucified. This one is the power and the
wisdom of God, the crucified one. Now, we cannot conceive
of either foolishness or weakness on the part of God. But look
at verse 25 again. How are we to understand it?
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness
of God is stronger than men." How can we conceive of God having
any ignorance or any weakness? Paul may still be speaking as
to how the unregenerate and the self-professed wise men of the
world view the preaching of the cross and Christ crucified. They look at it and it is absurd. It is a weakness. It is foolishness. It is silly. It is irrational
to them that one can be saved by another who himself couldn't
save himself and died upon the cross. That what to men had the
appearance of folly and of weakness is really a display of the wisdom
and the power of God. And if the questions were put
to the Jews of Paul's time, or to the professed wise in any
time of the world, this question, how shall God save sinners? What if that question were put
to Jews of His time and wise men of our time? I think hardly
one of them would be sending His own Son to the cross as the
answer. I doubt a one of them would choose.
This is the way that God will save sinners. His Son becoming
incarnate, bearing our sin, being condemned by men, hanged to a
cross, and there until He has bled and died. Yet, this is what
God has done. And this is what God has done
to save sinners. And behold, it saves sinners. Christ crucified upon the cross. That's why we say with Paul,
how wise is this foolish thing! How powerful is this weak thing! As men look upon it and see it.
We can only quickly consider something running over into chapter
2, for Paul carries the discussion on over into the second chapter
and tells us that the things of God are spiritually discerned. And in chapter 2 and verse 14,
that the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God,
neither can he know them, for they are foolishness unto him,
because they are only spiritually discerned. One must be regenerate. One must have a hearing ear.
One must have their heart open. One must have their understanding
enlightened and quickened to hear with discernment. They must
have a hearing ear and hear the gospel and believe that in it
is the power and the wisdom of God. What therefore do we preach? What do we preach to men? We
preach Christ crucified. We preach Christ and we preach
Him crucified. We preach Him as dead and buried
and raised again and sitting at the right hand of God. We
do not preach philosophy. We do not preach psychology.
We do not preach self-esteem. We preach Christ crucified, the
power of God unto them that are saved. And by this which men
count to be a great foolishness and a high absurdity. The foolishness
of Christ crucified and the preaching of salvation in Him. is a foolish
thing to this day unto many. But it is the pleasure of God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. And so He has and He
does. We preach Christ crucified. All right, let's bow our heads
for a word of prayer before we leave today.