Scripture Reading(s)
1 Corinthians 1:18-24
1:18 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1:19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
1:20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
1:21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe.
1:22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom,
1:23 but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
1:24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Reflections
Believing in the all sufficient and powerful message of the gospel requires one major component: faith. Our faith dictates how we approach God in either accepting the plan of salvation or rejecting it.
God’s future reign is something that we ought to look forward to. There are moments in our lives in which sometimes we think that we are more wise then God and set up our own ideas on how our “kingdom” or our world should be run (vs19). However, in verse 19 we see how God is going to trump mans wisdom when Christ comes back to set up His own Kingdom. This is meant to give us encouragement and what our hope should be set on: a future kingdom with our heavenly Father.
Until that time comes, our role is to proclaim the Gospel of Christ and spread it to those who we come in contact with. Now the Gospel is available to all and is no longer limited to just the Jewish nation. Right now God is beckoning you to accept that Christ died for your sins and to recognize that it was in God’s infinitely wise and divine plan to rescue you.
“What a mercy it is that it is not your hold of Christ that saves you, but his hold of you! What a sweet fact that it is not how you grasp his hand, but his grasp of yours, that saves you. The Lord’s promise once given is never recalled.” -Charles Spurgeon
to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Cor 1:24)
To those who are not called to follow Christ, the cross is foolishness and a stumbling block. But for those who are called to Jesus the cross is power and wisdom, the opposite. But why?
The cross is not foolishness to those who are called because with the cross is also the resurrection. It was the wisdom and power of God that rose Jesus from the grave and conquered death and fear. For those who follow Christ we get to participate in this gift. That is why we have a drastically different view of the cross.
This is the same power that lives inside us through the Holy Spirit. We must always remember that the Spirit of God resides in us and that we can move mountains.