1 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 1:13-30, “The Power And Wisdom Of God”

By

Jim Bomkamp

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1. INTRO

1.1. In our last study we looked at the background information for the book of 1 Corinthians, written to the church in Corinth of Asia Minor

1.1.1. We saw that the book was written to the church that Paul had originally planted in that city during his second missionary journey

1.1.2. We saw that the city was the fourth largest city in the world and that because it was directly on the shipping route for commerce between northern and southern Greece on the Mediterranean that the city had grown very large and was also a melting pot for every culture and religion in the ancient world

1.1.3. We saw also how that it was a very corrupt city with 1,000 prostitutes which worked in the temples and drunkenness was seen everywhere

1.1.4. Corinth was a city which lived for pleasure

1.1.5. Much of the worldly lifestyle of the people in Corinth had come into the church because there were many new Christians in it, plus there were those older in the faith struggling with areas of their flesh life

1.1.6. The letter written to the church in Corinth was a corrective epistle written to exhort the people concerning how to deal with some issues of ungodliness in the church as well as to answer some questions that the church had written to Paul about

1.1.7. Finally, we began to get into the letter itself

1.1.7.1.We saw Paul immediately expressed his authority as an apostle of Christ

1.1.7.2.Paul gave his salutation and thanked God for the grace that He had worked in the lives of those in the church in Corinth

1.1.7.3.Finally, we saw that Paul began to exhort them about the schisms that they were divided up into: each one considered himself as a disciple of Paul, Apollos, Peter, or even Jesus

1.1.7.3.1.The people were being fleshly and not led of Christ, and thus they had this party spirit among them

1.1.7.3.2.We saw that today in America we are the “Me Generation” and that the heart of the party spirit in Corinth is alive with us today, for it is selfishness and self-centeredness

1.1.7.3.3.We talked about how when we walk in the Holy Spirit there is no way that we can be divided, for the Holy Spirit is not divided

1.2. In our study today we are going to finish our look at Paul’s words to the church concerning the schisms they had formed and then we are going to look at the theme that Paul develops concerning Christ being the power and wisdom of God

2. VS 1:13-16 - “13 Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 that no man should say you were baptized in my name. 16 Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other.” - Paul points the Corinthians to look to Christ as their head not their leaders

2.1. First of all, let me point out that we can see something of how God inspired this writing of this epistle by the apostle Paul. God worked in Paul’s mind and inspired his thoughts and thus the words that he wrote down, however his writing was not primarily written by mechanical dictation.

2.1.1. Paul first says that he baptized only Crispus the converted leader of the synagogue and Gaius, however then he recalls that he also baptized a few others.

2.1.2. In another place Paul gives some advice that he said came from him, not by the Lord’s direct revelation (1 Cor. 7:12).

2.1.3. So, Paul’s writing was inspired by the Lord however it did not come about by his going into a trance and mechanical dictation but rather by the Holy Spirit guiding his mind and thoughts.

2.2. Paul was glad that he had not baptized hardly anyone, therefore people could not claim that they were legitimate disciples for after all they had been baptized by the apostle Paul himself.

2.3. Paul tells the Corinthians that they should not be divided in schisms within the church based upon who they considered their teacher or who led them to Christ, whether Paul, Apollos, Peter, etc., for after all it was Jesus who died upon the cross of Calvary for them, not their favorite teacher.

2.3.1. Jesus told His disciples in Matt. 23:8-10 that He should be every disciple’s leader and teacher, “8 “But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers.9 “And do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.10 “And do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ.”

3. VS 1:17 - “1:17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, that the cross of Christ should not be made void.” - Paul tells the Corinthians that God did not call him to baptize people in water but rather to preach the gospel.

3.1. We can see here something about water baptism in these verses as well as the two before them. If Paul believed as some churches and Christian groups do today that you have to be baptized in water in order to be saved, then surely he would have baptized every convert he made as soon as possible, as those groups who believe that about baptism do today.

3.1.1. Baptism, as I have mentioned many times before, is only a symbol, a symbol of what God has already done in the life of a believer. It is not the means of salvation or necessary for salvation, or even for being really spiritual.

3.1.2. Baptism is important for the believer however because Christ commanded it and because it is an awesome testimony to the world of a Christian’s commitment to Christ.

3.2. Again Paul was like Jesus Himself in that he was careful not to baptize too many people himself, for if he did, then some who had not been baptized by Paul might think that their baptism did not count.

3.3. Paul’s description of his preaching to the Corinthians was that it was ‘not in cleverness of speech’, rather he kept to the simple gospel message, and to the main and the plain of scripture. Thus, his preaching was powerful and effective, being anointed by the Holy Spirit.

4. VS 1:18 - “1:18 For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” - Paul tells the Corinthians that the world of the cross is the power of God to us

4.1. This next section from this verse to the end of the chapter deals with opposing perspectives. Man in his wisdom rejects God, yet it is God who is truly wise, and likewise it is man’s wisdom which is foolishness.

4.1.1. Those of this evil and rebellious world who do not know Christ as their Lord and Savior (and thus they will perish for all eternity unless they repent) think that the cross is foolishness, and therefore they reject it.

4.1.2. However, those who have come into a saving faith in Christ realize that the message of the gospel is the power and wisdom of God because through that saving message men and women are able to receive eternal salvation.

4.2. The people in Corinth as well as the people of this world in rebellion against God are constantly trying to explain everything that happens with their worldly philosophies.

4.2.1. When Paul was at Athens during his second missionary journey he found out that the people of that Greek city were constantly meeting to discuss any new theory or philosophy. Paul had a new philosophy for them to consider in the gospel, however he didn’t have too good of a reception with those people at that time.

4.2.2. Today there are supposed experts in every field who are constantly handing out their philosophical viewpoints, and it seems that any oddball philosophy is accepted by many people, however usually the gospel is slowly received and that by just a few people.

4.2.3. Psychology is a field which has hundreds of experts each with a different philosophy of how to explain the cause and cures for man’s ailments. However, since the world accepts no such thing as an absolute, those theories begin to contradict each other. One psychologist said that when a man or a woman graduates with a psychology degree of some type and then goes into practice, it is as if he reaches his hand into a hat a picks among the scores of schools of thought a theory or theories which to believe and subsequent cures to prescribe.

4.2.3.1.Philosophies are by their very nature speculative and subjective.

4.2.4. Philosophy is speculative because the world accepts no absolutes by which to determine truth from error and right from wrong. Everything is relative.

4.2.5. Philosophy is subjective because those supposed experts in their fields cannot help but look at the world from their own perspective and experience and assume that everyone else in the world has the same background and experience. Hence, all of their observations are interpreted subjectively.

4.2.5.1.Those from different cultures and life experiences think so differently in their philosophies.

4.2.6. Science is beneficial and a scientific career is rewarding, however science itself can often be subjectively manipulated and interpreted. This is particularly true in relation to that which scientific experts teach as fact things concerning the origin of matter and life as we know it.

4.2.6.1.When it teaches as fact that which is only theory, then it becomes not science but religion, as its conclusions are based upon faith alone.

4.2.7. Spurgeon once spoke about two men who went out to try and disprove the Bible and ended up being theologians, “We have two of the richest books of theology extant that were written by professed infidels—by men that were so, I mean, before they wrote the books. You may have heard the story of Lord Lyttleton and West. I believe they determined to refute Christianity; one of them took up the subject of Paul's conversion, and the other, the subject of the resurrection; they sat down, both of them, to write books to ridicule those two events, and the effect was, that in studying the subject, they, both of them, became Christians, and wrote books which are now bulwarks to the church they hoped to have overthrown. Every man who looks the gospel fairly in the face, and gives it the study it ought to have, will discover that it is no false gospel, but a gospel that is replete with wisdom, and full of the knowledge of Christ.”

4.3. To non-believers in this world it is important to explain the mysteries life and where we came from. However, having rejected the notion of a creator God to whom they might be accountable they attempt to explain everything by naturalistic means, however that is a very difficult thing to do.

4.3.1. Non-believers first have to explain where anything came from at all, and in doing so they are in a quandary. To them, matter in some form had to come about through one of two ways:

4.3.1.1.Spontaneous Generation - It just came out of nowhere.

4.3.1.1.1.However, science teaches us that everything that occurs in the universe has a prior cause.

4.3.1.2.Steady State – It always was.

4.3.1.2.1.These people have rejected the notion that God always existed since that is illogical, however using the same logic they believe that matter in some form always existed.

4.3.2. Having rejected that there is a creator God from whence everything came about, non-believers universally tend to hold to Darwin’s Theory of Evolution to explain how that life which began as a mere bacteria created under very fortunate circumstances has evolved one by one into the billions and billions of species of plants, animals, and creatures upon our planet. However, though this theory originally sounded plausible to Charles Darwin when first conceived, it has severe shortfalls that should be obvious to all but those who refuse to see the truth.

4.3.2.1.Charles Darwin said that if evolution was in fact true then there would be interspecies mutations found replete in the fossil record all over the world, however there is not in one museum in all of the world a single interspecies mutant found on display because none have been found.

4.3.2.2.Though it is true that species have experienced natural selection, and it has come about that, as Darwin observed, the birds of a species on one island might have longer beaks than the birds on another island. However, all of the birds are still the same species. We see the same things occurring with our human race. There are people living in Africa who tend to have darker skin than people living in North America, people in Asia tend to have slanted eyes, etc. However, we are all still of the same species, humans.

4.3.2.3.Modern science has shown us that each species has a unique DNA, regardless of the particular traits that might be accentuated with that species in different environments.

4.3.2.4.If a species does happen to mutate, as we know does happen, it’s not able to procreate with it’s species of origin so therefore with whom could it successfully mate? You see, it’s a which came first the chicken or the egg kind of thing. If a species did mutate to another species it could only mate with like species, therefore that mutation would die out.

4.3.2.5.Whenever we see order in our world we are aware that order comes about by the means of a designer. Orderly design of any sophistication in our world comes about through much hard and coordinated work. The sophistication of this created world should be a flashing Green Sign signaling to all who will listen to reason of a designer, or a master creator.

4.4. For the Christian, we see and know the wisdom of God and that God is the creator.

4.4.1. God in His incredible wisdom created everything from nothing. Those of us who have done very much design work can appreciate how difficult it is to create something that is very sophisticated and get it right the first time, with no prototype design work. But that is how God in His wisdom created everything.

4.4.2. Before the creation of the world God, who knows the end of everything from the beginning, was planning for the redemption of a mankind whom He would create but whom He knew would experience a terrible fall into sin and it’s consequences.

4.4.3. God is so wise that there is something which He cannot do, He cannot learn. He already knows all, for He is all-knowing or omniscient.

4.5. Man in his wisdom is always trying to find God and the meaning of life. This is what religion is. Man attempts to know God and be accepted by Him but he does so through his works. However, man can never reach God because man is sinful (all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, Rom. 3:23) and God is holy, and thus no matter how hard man tries to reach God through his own efforts he fails. God called a people to Himself through Abraham, and then through Moses His servant God gave His 10 commandments and set up a covenant between Himself and His people based upon the keeping of His law. However, God created the covenant of law to teach mankind that we cannot merit His favor by our works even though we try our hardest. This is because we are a sinful and fallen race and sin dwells within us. It was the wisdom of God giving to man the law to show man that by his own works he cannot be righteous in God’s eyes. God is holy and just, and man’s sin and rebellion had to be accounted and paid for if men would ever be able to know God. God is loving however, and so in His love and wisdom for all eternity He planned to send His only begotten Son to the earth at a point in time to be the lamb without spot or blemish whose holy life and blood would be worthy to atone for the sins of all mankind and thus provide for mankind to be able to know God. Now, through the foolishness of the gospel preaching (foolish according to the wisdom of this world) men are brought to know God by believing upon Jesus to have paid the sacrifice for their sins. This is called coming to salvation. Salvation is not earned by works but is a free gift through believing upon Jesus and His work upon the cross for our sins. God does require that we surrender our wills to Him in faith in order for us to come to know Him and have salvation, however it is not our works that save us.

5. VS 1:19 - “1:19 For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside’.” - Paul tells the Corinthians that God is in the business of showing up those who think they are clever in this world

5.1. God is committed to destroying the wisdom which is manmade and glorifies man’s intellect and pride. He in fact destroys it in various ways as He allows men to simply reap the consequences of following their reason.

5.2. When I went to college in 1972, I studied astronomy and learned much of what was considered man’s wisdom concerning the origin and nature of the universe. However, the professors taught as fact many things which were really just wild speculation. I know this because today most of what I learned in that class is no longer held to be true.

5.2.1. This is the nature of man’s wisdom, it is based upon speculation not upon knowing all of the facts since we cannot know all of the facts (and in fact scientists really know a very small amount about life and this creation), and therefore it eventually fails over time as men discover new things. This is one way which God destroys the wisdom of men.

5.2.2. Supposed experts in every field who advance theories concerning the origin and nature of life and the universe are constantly having their wisdom shown to be what it is in reality, foolishness.

5.2.3. One day, at the second coming of Jesus to earth, God is forever going to destroy the wisdom and cleverness of those so called wise men of this world that is in rebellion against God.

6. VS 1:20 - “1:20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” - Paul reminds the Corinthians that in their very day God had made foolish the wisdom of this world

6.1. Had not God shown the wisdom of the world in Paul’s day to be foolishness by sending Jesus, whom the religious experts did not accept and even tried to rid from the earth? Yet, after the religious experts had killed Jesus He rose victorious from the grave after 3 days, and this demonstrated that everything that had happened to Him upon the cross where they tried to get rid of Him once for all, happened all according to God’s foreordained plan and counsel.

6.2. What Paul is saying in this is also that if the wise men, respected leaders, and philosophers were wise why have they not solved the problems of this world?

6.2.1. Is the world any better because of the philosophers and leaders and their worldly speculative wisdom?

6.2.1.1.No, in spite of the popularity of these teachers, none of the real problems of mankind have really been solved!

6.2.2. This is such a relative passage for the people of this world today. In spite of all of the enormous group of supposed experts in every field in the world today, the problems of society just keep getting worse.

6.2.2.1.In America during my lifetime crime has continually increased in volume and the extent of violence, and to my horror the following are increasing exponentially: number of mass and serial murderers, gang involvement by kids, number of divorces and broken homes, etc.

6.2.2.2.The rest of the world is not better off either... This is seen especially in all of the wars and fighting that is constantly going on all over the world.

6.2.2.3.The only exceptions to this decline in societies is in areas where the gospel is rapidly spreading and reforming people.

7. VS 1:21 - “1:21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.” - Since the world in it’s wisdom did not find God, He was pleased to have people find Him through the foolishness of the gospel message

7.1. The wisdom of man has never been able to answer the ultimate questions concerning life such as:

7.1.1. Where did we come from?

7.1.2. Why are we here?

7.1.3. Is there a God?

7.1.4. If so, what is He like?

7.1.5. What are His plans for man and my life?

7.2. There is speculation in this world concerning these questions, however in this world there is no absolute to judge by so every man’s opinion is just as potentially valid or invalid as every other’s. Therefore man can only answer these questions if God should give a revelation of Himself to man, and this is what the Bible records, God’s revelation of Himself to man.

7.2.1. God was pleased to give man this revelation of Himself because He wants to reveal Himself to those who will humble themselves before Him as their creator and Lord. Through the preaching of the gospel message, men can believe in Christ as their Lord and Savior and be saved.

7.2.2. The message of the gospel is considered to be foolishness to unbelievers because it doesn’t fit their expectations and preconceptions, and because that message tells them that they cannot in their own wisdom and ingenuity come into a relationship with God. Jesus paid the price for men’s sins and He Himself has made the way available by simply repenting, yielding and believing upon Him for salvation. Therefore, to the unbelieving men and women of this world the gospel is foolishness.

7.2.2.1.C.S. Lewis once wrote that one of the reasons that he knew that the message of the Bible, the gospel, was true was because no one would ever have thought of it. It had to come from God.

7.2.3. Jesus said that unless a person receives the kingdom of heaven as a little child he shall not enter it at all (Luke 18:17). It is man’s intellect that gets him into trouble and keeps him from being able to understand the gospel and be saved.

8. VS 1:22 - “1:22 For indeed Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness,” - Paul tells the Corinthians that the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek for wisdom

8.1. The Jews as a whole would not believe in Christ because, first of all, they expected Him to be a political Messiah who would lead them to conquer all of their enemies.

8.1.1. They also wanted Him to perform signs so that they might believe. However, they did not accept the multitude of incredible signs which He did perform such as healing, raising the dead, saying the things that no man ever said, and resurrecting from the dead. Instead they wanted signs in the heavens. The Jews stumbled over Christ as a result...

8.2. On the other hand, the Greek culture was engrossed in philosophy and they as a whole rejected Christ because they wanted to be able to reason in their own fleshly minds why He might be the Messiah. The Greeks felt that the message of the gospel was foolishness because they could not rationalize the need for the cross in their fleshly natural minds.

9. VS 1:24 - “1:24 but to those who are the 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.” - Paul tells the Corinthians that Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God to all who are the called

9.1. To those who have been saved, and thus are the called, Christ works miraculous works of power, and all of God’s wisdom is revealed in Him.

9.2. Worldly wisdom is either not necessary or it will lead us astray. It is unnecessary when it is correct, because when it is correct God’s word already says what it says. Then, when it contradicts or goes against what God’s word says it is wrong and therefore it will lead us astray.

9.3. Paul wrote in Colossians 2:8-10 that we must be careful not to get carried away into the world’s philosophies, “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. For in Him all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority”.

9.4. In Christ we have all that we need to live an abundant and fruitful life, we do not need a manmade philosophy or wisdom. Paul wrote concerning Christ in Col. 2:3, “In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”.

9.5. I know that Christ is who He said He is and that the Bible is true because of the changed lives I have seen. There are so many others like myself who once were hardened sinners living lives that were so far from holiness and what would please God, and yet He has changed our lives. He has healed and restored alcoholics, drug addicts, thieves, you name it. Only God could do these things, only His power could regenerate such a sinner as myself and so many others I have personally known.

10. VS 1:26 - “1:26 For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God.” - Paul asks the Corinthians to consider where God had called them from, for they were for the most part not the elite that the world had to offer

10.1. In Paul’s day as in every generation since, God has not chosen to call to His service many of those who are respected in the world’s eyes. Not many great philosophers (‘wise according to the flesh’), not many mighty in strength and power, not many of those whom the world looks at as being of noble character, rather God has chosen mostly just ordinary men whom He has energized and empowered in a great way to follow and serve Him.

10.2. Jesus’ choice of the twelve disciples is the best case in pointing out how the people through whom God chooses to work do not need to have any natural abilities that are above average. Yet, these men truly turned the then known world right-side-up for Christ.

10.3. We need to learn the lesson that I learned early on in my Christian walk, “God does not need our ability, only our availability.” He will gift us and do the work through our lives that He is desiring to do. He uses ordinary individuals in an incredible way who are surrendered to Him.

10.4. The main reason that God chose the gospel message which He designed in Christ is because through the gospel God alone can get all of the glory for man’s salvation. Salvation is completely a gift to men which cannot be earned to any degree, Jesus gets all of the praise and glory.

11. VS 1:30 - “1:30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that, just as it is written, ‘Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord’.” - Paul tells us that now through God’s wisdom Jesus is our wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification

11.1. Christ is the believers righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, and thus no one will be able to boast in anything before the Lord on judgment day.

11.1.1. No one will appeal to God as being righteous in His sight based upon their good deeds.

11.2. The moment a person accepts Jesus as His Lord and Savior, Christ is all of these things to him.

11.3. In the gospel there is no room for the philosophy of men to take any credit for a man being saved from his sins, this is why the world that is in rebellion against God is offended by the gospel message and considers it foolishness.

11.4. If we will accept Christ’s death on our behalf and believe on Him for salvation, then He becomes our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. We are saved then by grace through faith as Eph. 2:8,9 states.

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