There is no way to understand the Cross with the wisdom of the world (1:21). This is because the Kingdom of God is on a completely opposite dimension to the kingdom of the world – both can never coexist. …Read More
The root of the problem is dualism, which is the exaltation of ‘wise men’, ‘teachers of the law’ and ‘philosophers’ (1:20). While it is not wrong to have wisdom or knowledge, it is only human, and can never lead us to the Cross. The wisdom of man will directly conflict the wisdom of God: e.g. human wisdom says that believing in Jesus will lead to a good life, but this is not what the Cross says. The Cross relates to eternal things, not earthly; so for those who live in eternity (even on earth), any problems they might have in life are no longer problems.
This is because God only sees the world through the Cross. However rich, poor, weak or strong, if one does not have the Cross (even as a Christian), God sees them as ‘perishing’; whereas the one who has the Cross is ‘being saved’ (1:18). The word ‘being’ tells us that salvation is an ongoing process. Therefore, the moment we do not choose the Cross (i.e. we choose human wisdom), we are already in the state of judgement – for God will destroy the wisdom of the wise (1:19).
Dualism gives us the illusion that a person with credentials, reputation or influence is one who speaks the truth, rather than one who depends entirely on the wisdom of God. Thus we are naturally attracted to ministers who possess good rhetoric, experience & credentials, rather than demonstrate the Spirit’s power (as Paul in 2:4). We love a simple message that sounds nice, makes sense, is easily applicable – i.e. appeals to our human wisdom.
We often think that it is good enough to be able to quote Scriptures or give ‘sound’ advice, based on experience & know-how. But using human wisdom to serve God will not just nullify the power of the Cross, but lead to deception.
The word ‘preaching’ in Greek, kerygma (1:21, 2:4, 15:14), does not refer to the act of preaching but the content of what is preached. Thus, evangelism is to preach the absoluteness of the Gospel – Christ crucified (his death, resurrection & coming; 1:23). How can we preach the Cross while not manifesting the Cross in our life? In other words, how can we tell the world about Christ’s crucifixion when many things in us (our worldly pursuits & possessions) have not died?
We cannot preach the Gospel through the world’s wisdom, because the Gospel itself is ‘foolishness’ to this world. We can try to use persuasion, rationality, or eloquence to ‘convince’ people about the Gospel, but it will never make them believe it, because the worldly wisdom can never know God (1:21).
God has nothing to do with the wisdom of the world, hence He would never use it. On the contrary, He will choose the ‘foolish’ things of the world (us, His church) for His purposes. Just as He did not call us based on our intelligence, influence or background, but purely by His grace, we should therefore not rely on these things. Instead, we should boast only in Christ, who is the wisdom & power of God (1:30).
Ultimately, the wisdom of God, power of God, and message of the Cross are one and the same thing. Thus if there is no Cross in the church, it will have no wisdom & power, vice versa. We will only end up building a Corinthian church if we use human/worldly wisdom.
