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October 16, 2011 |
| Crucifixion and the World | ||
17 For The Messiah sent me […] to preach The Good News, not in wisdom of words, lest the crucifixion of The Messiah would be rejected.
Paul makes an interesting point here. If the gospel message was presented as an argument for men to consider in their wisdom they might disregard the message because it didn't appeal to their wisdom. Even wise men have different ideas about what is wise.
18 The message of the crucifixion is insanity to the lost, but to those of us who have life it is the power of God.
By definition, the gods of the world are immortal. They also did not have much to do with people and when they did, people were their playthings. To the world it is a crazy idea that a God would come to his people and allow them to kill him in the worst manner possible. But it is this crucifixion that empowers us and makes it possible for us to be closer to God. How crazy is it that the evil done by man to God should bring life to man.
19 For it is written: "I shall destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I shall take away the opinions of the intelligent."1
20 Where is the wise or where is the Scribe or where is the debater of this world? Behold, has not God shown the wisdom of this world to be insane?
The wisdom of the wise means nothing to God and he has purposely made it of no value in salvation.
21 And because, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God by wisdom, God was willing that by the insanity of preaching he would give life to those who believe.
It is the wisdom of God that man cannot know God through human wisdom. Instead God decided to make himself known to man through the preaching and hearing of the gospel message. In this way the wisdom of the wise plays no part. It is only necessary to believe that message in order to have eternal life.
22 Because the Jews ask for signs and the Aramaeans2 seek philosophy.
The Gentile world at that time was strongly influenced by Greek philosophy therefore they were trying to find God through the human wisdom of philosophy. The great Greek philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle had been dead for 400 to 600 years when Paul wrote this epistle to the Corinthians.3 But philosophy remained a central part of Greek thinking for another 500 years.
The Jews on the other hand were constantly insisting that the Messiah prove that he was the Messiah through great signs, especially signs in the sky.
So one group was trying to find God in its own way and the other was trying to get God to prove that he was God. But the gospel message would not be delivered in either of these ways.
23 But we preach The Messiah as crucified - a scandal to the Judeans and madness to the Aramaeans.
To the Jews, hearing the preaching of the message that they had killed their own Messiah, for whom they had waited for 1300 years, was a huge scandal. And to those who searched for and prized understanding through human reason it was madness that reason was useless.
24 But to those who are called, Jews and Aramaeans, The Messiah is the power of God and the wisdom of God,
25 Because the madness of God is wiser than humans and the weakness of God is stronger than humans.
For those who are called by God and prepared to accept the Messiah on his own terms, life, power and wisdom are available. And this is not the wisdom and power of man but that of God.
26 For you see also your calling my brethren, that not many among you are wise in the flesh, neither are many among you mighty, neither are many among you children of a great family line.
Paul tells them to look around at their brothers called by God and see that the thing that they have in common is not that they all are wise, or strong, or came from an important family or a chosen people. What they have in common is that they believed the message.
27 For God has chosen the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and he has chosen the weak of the world to shame the mighty.
28 And he has chosen those of low descent in the world and the rejects and those who are nothing, to nullify those who are,
29 That no one will boast before him.
Among the brothers in Christ there are some who are foolish and weak, yet they inherit the kingdom of Heaven. In doing so they shame the wise and the mighty who do not. Similarly those who have no special ancestry enter in the gates thus bringing shame on those who are God's chosen people and do not enter. Many of the first will be last and of the last will be first.
Because God chose to deliver the gospel message by preaching and hearing no man can boast that he achieved salvation through his own means, whether by wisdom or ancestry. If the gospel message was one that required wisdom to find it, those who found it could boast about themselves and their wisdom. If that message required any human skill or ability to attain it, those who attained it would have reason to boast. But the message is available to those who are nothing and thus to everyone.
30 But you also are from him in Yeshua The Messiah, he who has become for us the wisdom of God and the righteousness and the holiness and the redemption,
31 According to what is written: "Whoever boasts, let him boast of the Lord Yahweh."4
But Paul says that we have all these things and more. We have a greater lineage that traces back to being God's chosen people because that lineage comes through Jesus the Messiah. And we have the wisdom and power of God that lead to righteousness, holiness, and redemption to everlasting life.
Is Paul saying that those who are wise, or strong, or from a particular lineage cannot enter the kingdom of Heaven?
1 Isaiah 29:14
2 Aramaean is used here but the meaning is "Gentile". In this passage it refers to the strong Greek cultural influence.
3 http://www.iep.utm.edu/greekphi/
4 Jeremiah 9:24