1 Corinthians 2:1–8
1 I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. 6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
1 Corinthians 1:18 says, “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
The message of the cross has been and is still being laughed at today. It is seen as foolishness to unbelievers. Why is that?
Well, there are a number of reasons.
Firstly it has to do with the weakness of human wisdom.
The problem lies in looking for answers to life’s big questions through the eyes of philosophy (man’s wisdom) The result? Man’s wisdom is not enough, because it is limited, partial wisdom.
T. S. Eliot said, “All our knowledge only brings us closer to our ignorance, and all our ignorance, closer to death. But closer to death, no closer to God. (And then he asks this haunting question): Where is the life we have lost in living?”
Now does this mean that there is no value in knowledge, or in education? No, of course not. There have been tremendous accomplishments over the past centuries, especially during the last 50 years.
And it is also true that once you become a Christian you don’t know all the answers to everything. We still take our cars to mechanics. We go to human doctors when we need medical help.
When used properly, the fields of medicine, technology, and science can be of great value.
But the problem comes when human philosophy tries to answer the big questions of life – where we come from, where we are going, why we are here, what’s right and what’s wrong. I think it was John MacArthur who said that human wisdom oversteps its bounds and bites off more than it can chew when it tries to tackle those questions.
If we want to know the ultimate meaning and purpose of life, the source of happiness, joy, fulfilment and peace – we have to look beyond human wisdom.
No matter how much “philosophising” is done, human wisdom falls short in giving us the answers to life.
Look what human philosophy and human wisdom, says about the cross: “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
The Greek word Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 1:18 for foolishness is moria, from which we get the word moron. To the unbeliever, the cross is moronic. It is absolute nonsense, and the reason is that it stands directly opposed to human intellect.
That God would become a man, be crucified on a cross, be raised to life in order to provide for our forgiveness of sin and entrance into heaven is such a simple idea that it appears too foolish for natural man to accept. The truth of what God has done for us because of His great love for us just makes no sense to the human mind.
That one man, the Son of God, would die a torturous death on an insignificant hill in a very common and ordinary city and as a result determine the destiny of every person who has ever lived seems stupid to the natural person.
Human wisdom cannot understand the cross. To the natural mind, it is offensive and unacceptable.
But, to those being saved - to Christians - it is the power of God. To the natural man it seems foolish. But to the Christian, we know that it shows the power of God, because it is how you view the cross that determines your eternal destiny.
It is natural for us to try to solve our own problems and fight our own battles in our own strength. To the world, those who don’t stand up for themselves are weak and without ambition. Christians are regarded as weak people who need someone to lean on. The irony is that they are exactly right. We have learned that there are many things we can’t do, and top of that list is the fact that I cannot make right the wrongs I have committed against this Holy God who created me. I need Jesus.
If the world sees that as an admission of weakness, then I’m the first to hold up my hand and say, “Yes. I am weak, and there is nothing I can do to fix the mess I’ve made of my life.”
God wants us to simply believe the message of the cross – the simple Gospel. Yet it’s so hard for some to believe, because they trust their own wisdom rather than God’s.
It’s been 2000 years since the cross of Jesus was first rejected, but if we’re so clever, how much closer are we to peace than a century ago – or a millennium ago? How much closer are we to eliminating poverty, hatred, hunger, ignorance, crime, and immorality?
We are more educated than our forefathers, but we are not more moral.
We have more means of helping each other, but we are more selfish.
We have more means of communication, but we do not understand each other any better.
We have more psychology and education, yet more crime and more war.
We have not changed, except to find more ways to express and excuse our own sinful nature. Look throughout history and you will find that human wisdom has never been able to solve the basic human problems.
With all the human wisdom and knowledge we have today, you’d think that most of our problems would be solved, right? Wrong!
Our increased knowledge simply increases problems – it doesn’t solve them. Hatred increases, misunderstandings increase, mental breakdowns increase, wars increase, drunkenness, crime, family problems - all of these increase. Not only in numbers, but also in seriousness. The more you try to depend on yourself and your knowledge, the more your problems increase.
Listen to what John MacArthur says about this:
“Human wisdom never solves anything. It’s nice to sit around and talk about it, but it can’t do anything. People don’t get changed lives from it, it doesn’t transform people, it doesn’t forgive sin, it doesn’t make new creatures, it doesn’t usher people into the presence of God, it doesn’t do anything like that. It gives people satisfaction by playing little intellectual games, and builds their ego by telling people what they know.”
When we are willing to recognise our own spiritual bankruptcy and turn to Christ by faith, He will exchange our poverty for His riches, our sin for His righteousness, our despair for hope, death for life. And that is good news.
It’s a simple message we preach isn’t it? It’s the message of the cross. It’s the message that Christ was crucified on the cross. That He took our sin on Himself. That He rose again on the third day to prove who He was. That’s the Gospel. It’s so simple, but so many stumble over it. So many see it as foolishness.
We dare not preach any other message than the cross. While it is a stumbling block to some and foolishness to others – it is the power of God to those who believe.
We preach Christ crucified. Paul warned Timothy to “pay attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching (1 Timothy 4:13) That was his job. That is every preacher’s job.
Charles Spurgeon wrote, “The power that is in the Gospel does not lie in the eloquence of the preacher, otherwise men would be the converters of souls; nor does it lie in the preacher’s learning, otherwise it would consist in the wisdom of men. We might preach until our tongues rotted, till we would exhaust our lungs and die, but never a soul would be converted unless the Holy Spirit be with the Word of God to give it the power to convert the soul.”
The message of the cross is a simple one. Christ was crucified on the cross for our sins and He rose from the dead in order to raise us to new life.
1 I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. 6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
1 Corinthians 1:18 says, “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
The message of the cross has been and is still being laughed at today. It is seen as foolishness to unbelievers. Why is that?
Well, there are a number of reasons.
Firstly it has to do with the weakness of human wisdom.
The problem lies in looking for answers to life’s big questions through the eyes of philosophy (man’s wisdom) The result? Man’s wisdom is not enough, because it is limited, partial wisdom.
T. S. Eliot said, “All our knowledge only brings us closer to our ignorance, and all our ignorance, closer to death. But closer to death, no closer to God. (And then he asks this haunting question): Where is the life we have lost in living?”
Now does this mean that there is no value in knowledge, or in education? No, of course not. There have been tremendous accomplishments over the past centuries, especially during the last 50 years.
And it is also true that once you become a Christian you don’t know all the answers to everything. We still take our cars to mechanics. We go to human doctors when we need medical help.
When used properly, the fields of medicine, technology, and science can be of great value.
But the problem comes when human philosophy tries to answer the big questions of life – where we come from, where we are going, why we are here, what’s right and what’s wrong. I think it was John MacArthur who said that human wisdom oversteps its bounds and bites off more than it can chew when it tries to tackle those questions.
If we want to know the ultimate meaning and purpose of life, the source of happiness, joy, fulfilment and peace – we have to look beyond human wisdom.
No matter how much “philosophising” is done, human wisdom falls short in giving us the answers to life.
Look what human philosophy and human wisdom, says about the cross: “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
The Greek word Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 1:18 for foolishness is moria, from which we get the word moron. To the unbeliever, the cross is moronic. It is absolute nonsense, and the reason is that it stands directly opposed to human intellect.
That God would become a man, be crucified on a cross, be raised to life in order to provide for our forgiveness of sin and entrance into heaven is such a simple idea that it appears too foolish for natural man to accept. The truth of what God has done for us because of His great love for us just makes no sense to the human mind.
That one man, the Son of God, would die a torturous death on an insignificant hill in a very common and ordinary city and as a result determine the destiny of every person who has ever lived seems stupid to the natural person.
Human wisdom cannot understand the cross. To the natural mind, it is offensive and unacceptable.
But, to those being saved - to Christians - it is the power of God. To the natural man it seems foolish. But to the Christian, we know that it shows the power of God, because it is how you view the cross that determines your eternal destiny.
It is natural for us to try to solve our own problems and fight our own battles in our own strength. To the world, those who don’t stand up for themselves are weak and without ambition. Christians are regarded as weak people who need someone to lean on. The irony is that they are exactly right. We have learned that there are many things we can’t do, and top of that list is the fact that I cannot make right the wrongs I have committed against this Holy God who created me. I need Jesus.
If the world sees that as an admission of weakness, then I’m the first to hold up my hand and say, “Yes. I am weak, and there is nothing I can do to fix the mess I’ve made of my life.”
God wants us to simply believe the message of the cross – the simple Gospel. Yet it’s so hard for some to believe, because they trust their own wisdom rather than God’s.
It’s been 2000 years since the cross of Jesus was first rejected, but if we’re so clever, how much closer are we to peace than a century ago – or a millennium ago? How much closer are we to eliminating poverty, hatred, hunger, ignorance, crime, and immorality?
We are more educated than our forefathers, but we are not more moral.
We have more means of helping each other, but we are more selfish.
We have more means of communication, but we do not understand each other any better.
We have more psychology and education, yet more crime and more war.
We have not changed, except to find more ways to express and excuse our own sinful nature. Look throughout history and you will find that human wisdom has never been able to solve the basic human problems.
With all the human wisdom and knowledge we have today, you’d think that most of our problems would be solved, right? Wrong!
Our increased knowledge simply increases problems – it doesn’t solve them. Hatred increases, misunderstandings increase, mental breakdowns increase, wars increase, drunkenness, crime, family problems - all of these increase. Not only in numbers, but also in seriousness. The more you try to depend on yourself and your knowledge, the more your problems increase.
Listen to what John MacArthur says about this:
“Human wisdom never solves anything. It’s nice to sit around and talk about it, but it can’t do anything. People don’t get changed lives from it, it doesn’t transform people, it doesn’t forgive sin, it doesn’t make new creatures, it doesn’t usher people into the presence of God, it doesn’t do anything like that. It gives people satisfaction by playing little intellectual games, and builds their ego by telling people what they know.”
When we are willing to recognise our own spiritual bankruptcy and turn to Christ by faith, He will exchange our poverty for His riches, our sin for His righteousness, our despair for hope, death for life. And that is good news.
It’s a simple message we preach isn’t it? It’s the message of the cross. It’s the message that Christ was crucified on the cross. That He took our sin on Himself. That He rose again on the third day to prove who He was. That’s the Gospel. It’s so simple, but so many stumble over it. So many see it as foolishness.
We dare not preach any other message than the cross. While it is a stumbling block to some and foolishness to others – it is the power of God to those who believe.
We preach Christ crucified. Paul warned Timothy to “pay attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching (1 Timothy 4:13) That was his job. That is every preacher’s job.
Charles Spurgeon wrote, “The power that is in the Gospel does not lie in the eloquence of the preacher, otherwise men would be the converters of souls; nor does it lie in the preacher’s learning, otherwise it would consist in the wisdom of men. We might preach until our tongues rotted, till we would exhaust our lungs and die, but never a soul would be converted unless the Holy Spirit be with the Word of God to give it the power to convert the soul.”
The message of the cross is a simple one. Christ was crucified on the cross for our sins and He rose from the dead in order to raise us to new life.