God is … All Wise

Save

God is … All Wise

Christ crucified is God’s power and wisdom.
¹⁸For 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. ¹⁹For it is written:
‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.’
²⁰Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. ²²Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, ²³but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
1 Corinthians 1:18-25 New International Version – UK (NIVUK) Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

God is … All Wise

Alexanemos worships his god – early Roman mockery. What sort of god is this? What sort of person would worship a god like this? Seems foolishness.

The Great Division – verse 18. Greater than any division of race, status or wealth.

Humanity’s Weak and Foolish Wisdom – verses 19 to 21. Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.’ (Isaiah 29:14) Human wisdom alone is a cul-de-sac, leading nowhere. If wisdom were the way, what of the children, or those with dementia? No hope for them.

God’s Strong and Wise Foolishness – verses 22-25. Jesus’ death is a stumbling-block to the Jews, who wanted displays of power befitting their idea of the promised Messiah. It was foolishness to the Greeks; Socrates, Plato and Aristotle are all synonymous with wisdom. “The demand for power and the insistence on wisdom … are still the basic idolatries of the world.” (Gordon Fee, commentary on 1 Corinthians, p75).