1 Corinthians: A 9-Day Devotional For WomenSample

The Wisdom of God

1 Corinthians 1:18–31 

In 1 Corinthians, Paul works to correct the pride and divisive spirit that characterized the church in Corinth. Christians are to set their gaze firmly on Jesus and find unity in the gospel. Instead, the Corinthians had formed antagonistic parties, and they justified their dissension by claiming that they followed one hero or another (1 Cor. 1:10–17). The Corinthians had trouble separating themselves from the “gods” of human power and human wisdom, just as we do. A right understanding of the cross should terminate such nonsense. 

Jesus was an enigma to Jews and Greeks alike. The Jews loved signs of power, but Jesus came in weakness. The Greeks loved wisdom (v. 22), but Jesus was unschooled in what they considered wisdom. Power and wisdom have always been revered, but they are not gracious gods. Take wisdom, for example. The god of human wisdom rewards only the educated elite. But these “wise” ones have never found God through their intellect. Instead, they fashion gods that resemble themselves (vv. 19–21; Rom. 1:21–22). Both wisdom and power are gods of human self-sufficiency. 

The gospel is the opposite. It presents Jesus, slain in weakness, raised in power. He is a state criminal who, by his humiliating death, defeated death, the Devil, and sin. This defies wisdom. It is a doctrine that no human would conceive. Thus “the cross is folly to those who are perishing,” but it is the power of God for the saved (1 Cor. 1:18). The gospel of salvation by faith in Jesus, crucified and risen, is “a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles” (v. 23). 

To the Jew, a crucified Messiah was a contradiction. The Messiah, they thought, would be triumphant and blessed, but the crucified were cursed and humiliated. To the mighty Romans, a crucified man was evil and weak. To Greeks, the hope of resurrection was absurd, for they viewed the body as something to be shed and left behind upon death. But “the foolishness of God is wiser than men” (v. 25), for the crucified Lord atones for our sin and the risen Lord gives us the richest hope. 

The church reflects the gospel’s inversion of worldly values. Few Corinthians were wise, powerful, or noble when God called them. He chose the foolish “to shame the wise” and the weak “to shame the strong” (vv. 26–27). In some places today, the elite are less religious, while in other places the educated and prosperous are attracted to the church. But in all places, the outcast and marginalized warm to the message of creation in the image of God and re-creation in the image of Christ. The gospel says the only thing we contribute to our redemption is the sin that made it necessary. So no one, however mighty, “might boast in the presence of God” (v. 29). The gospel levels humanity and exalts God. —Dan Doriani