Paul reminds the church the gospel does not appeal to
human pride; it cannot even co-exist with it. The gospel
informs us that there is only one thing to do with pride,
crucify it. The “word of the cross,” that is the message of
the cross, the gospel of the cross to unbelievers is
foolishness. For those of us who “are being saved,” the
message of the cross, the gospel of the cross is the power
of God (see also Romans 1:16). For the unbeliever, the cross
is a shame; for the Christian, the cross is glorious.
The conflict between divine wisdom and power and the
secular world’s view of these matters should come as no
surprise. Throughout history, God has worked in ways
that the world would never have imagined or believed. God’s
purpose in history is not to glorify man but to glorify
Himself by demonstrating the foolishness of man’s wisdom.
The text that Paul cites in verse 19 is but one indication
of God’s intention of proving man’s wisdom to be folly. He
refers to Isaiah 29:14 to show that God has always worked in
a way that is contrary to human wisdom.
Would human wisdom have chosen an insignificant people
like the Jews to be the nation among whom God would dwell?
Would human wisdom have chosen the land of Canaan over other
places on earth? Would human wisdom have led the Israelites
into a trap between the Red Sea and the on-coming Egyptian
army? Would human wisdom have instructed the people of God
to use their power to help the weak, rather than to use
their power to take advantage of the weak? Would human
wisdom have purposed to save Gentiles through the rejection
and failure of the Jews, rather than through their triumph?
Would human wisdom have declared that the coming Messiah was
to be born of a virgin?
In verse 20, Paul asks a series of questions. Where is
the wise man, the scribe, the debater of this age? Where are
they in the church, in the outworking of God’s plans and
purposes? Paul would have the Corinthians look around them
to see where the intellectual and scholarly giants are.
Mostly, those so highly esteemed in the world are absent
from the church and absent so far as the outworking of God’s
purposes in human history. In addition, even when God may
draw one of the “greats,” He first humbles them.
Does the world think that God’s wisdom is foolish? God
has set about a course that will prove man’s wisdom to be
foolish. God will use foolishness to prove the ungodly to be
fools. Since the world has not come to know God through its
wisdom, God will make Himself known to some through means
that the world regards as foolish. God has chosen the cross
of Christ as the means to save sinners.
Jews and Gentiles may agree on few things, but they
mutually hold that the cross of Christ is foolish. The Jews
are into power through signs and wonders. All through our
Lord’s life, they wanted to see signs and wonders. They
expected their Messiah to be a wonder worker, here to do
their bidding. Even the disciples bought into this frame of
mind, so that Peter rebuked the Lord for speaking of His
cross (Matthew 16). The Gentiles were into a different kind
of power, mind power, human wisdom. They took pride in
following great intellectual thinkers or powerful orators.
The message of a humble carpenter’s son, who died as a
common criminal on a Roman cross, was not popular among the
Jews and Gentiles.
To the saved, the preaching of the cross of Christ is a
manifestation of the wisdom and the power of God. Beginning
with verse 26 Paul directs our attention toward the church;
Paul wants the Corinthians to give thought to who is present
in the church. Granting the possibility of a few exceptions,
Paul reminds the Corinthians the church is not composed of
the wise, the mighty, or the noble, when judged by fleshly
standards. Instead, God has chosen to save the foolish, the
weak, and the base and despised, the “nobodies.”
The word “chosen” in verse 27 is very significant,
because it underscores that God chose those on the lowest
rung of the social ladder. Following the principle set down
in verse 19, Paul explains why God selected the undesirables
of this world for salvation. God has purposed to nullify the
wisdom of the wise and to humble the proud. He has chosen to
do so by employing means and people that the world rejects
as weak, foolish, and worthless.
God chose the foolish things of this world to shame the
wise, the weak things of this world to shame the strong, the
base and despised things to humble that which is highly
esteemed (vv 27-28). If God were to achieve His purposes
through the worldly wise and powerful, we would be inclined
to give the praise and glory to the men He has used rather
than to God. However, God chooses the opposite, those whom
we expect to fail that when His wisdom and power are
evident, and there are no wise and powerful men to take
their bows before men. Instead, men must bow before God,
giving all the glory to Him. To God be the glory, great
things He has done.
Obviously, there are just as many divisions in the church
today as there were in Paul’s day. Some of us might argue
that there are more divisions today than in his day. The
amazing thing is the difference in the way we deal with
those divisions and strife. In the church and in Christendom
in general, we deal psychologically with the divisions in
the church and in Christendom, turning to God and His Word
is the last resort.
Psychologically the root of divisions and evil in the
secular world, and in the church and in Christendom is poor
self-esteem. It should come as no surprise that Paul
identifies pride as the source of divisions and evil in the
church and Christendom. It is not that the professing
believers in the church think too little of themselves; they
think too much of themselves. The root of the problem is not
“poor self-esteem” but “inflated self-esteem.”
Why are the church and Christendom embracing secular
cures for the sickness in the church and Christendom? Why
when we seek to heal conflicts and strife, do we turn to a
psychology book rather than to the Word of God? When Paul
deals with strife in the church, he begins at the beginning,
the gospel of Jesus Christ and His sufficient provisions for
salvation and godly living.
In his letter to the Corinthians Paul sets a standard of
Christian unity rejected in the majority of the twenty-first
century churches and Christendom. If we are a
Christ-centered people and not a man-centered people, why do
we let Satan plant the seeds of pride in the church?
Paul seeks to correct the ungodly divisions in the church
by turning immediately to the gospel. We were saved in the
name of Jesus Christ; how is it that we now take pride in
the names of the men we follow? The Bible teaches us many
truths, but the one truth that overshadows all truths is the
message of the cross. If any other truth begins to
overshadow the gospel, something is wrong.
Paul identified pride as the root problem among the
Corinthians. He does not advocate months or years of
therapy. He does not see the need to know the childhood, the
background, or the individual struggles of each Christian.
All they need to know is the gospel. It is by means of the
gospel that God removed the conflict, the enmity, between
sinners and Himself. It is also by means to remove enmity
between men because the gospel is incompatible with human
pride.
When Christians strive with other Christians out of pride,
the cure is not to enhance their pride, to improve their
“self-esteem”; it is to crucify pride. Do you wonder why our
Lord instructed His church to remember His suffering and
death by the observance of the Lord’s Table? Communion is
the commemoration of the work of Christ, the gospel.
Communion is not simply a remembrance of an act that our
Lord accomplished in the past; it is a way of life that we
are to emulate every day of our lives.
The gospel that saves is the gospel that humbles, and
that humbling gospel is the basis for Christian unity and
harmony. If you have never accepted the gospel message, and
the gift of salvation in Christ of which the gospel speaks,
I urge you to do so this very moment.
