◄ What Does 1 Corinthians 1:22 Mean? ►

The theme of this chapter is the doctrine of the Cross and the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and Paul writes a critique of this glorious gospel of God as it relates to those that are perishing; who consider the Cross of Christ to be foolishness. But he also gives an evaluation of those that are saved by grace through faith in Christ; who recognise the message of the Cross as the power of God for salvation, to God's eternal glory and praise.

The wisdom of the world has rejected the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and in so doing have identified themselves as wise in their own understanding but not according to true wisdom, for God has made the wisdom of the wise and those that denigrated the gospel of God to become fools. The fool has said in their heart there is no God, and so the fool has proclaimed in his wisdom that the gospel of God is foolishness, identifying himself as the fool!

Isaiah warned of such judicial blindness, where truth is clearly taught but wilfully rejected. He warned that this results in God giving the 'wise' over to their own foolishness: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise," is God's warning judgement, "and the discernment of the discerning will I bring to nothing." Such blindness is a journey from the truth of salvation offered to the message of the Cross rejected. Judicial blindness is God's eventual judgement on all who reject the message of the Cross.

When human 'wisdom' rejects the doctrine of the Cross (whether it be Jewish wisdom or Gentile wisdom), then human wisdom has rejected truth, thus human wisdom becomes foolishness. Whether they are Jew or Gentile, if they fail to believe the message of the Cross they reject true wisdom, and in their foolishness and arrogance we discover that: "The Jews asks for a sign while the Gentile searches for wisdom," but God is pleased through the foolishness of the message preached, to save those who DO believe, for faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And the Word of God proclaims the gospel of Christ, the message of the Cross, which is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

The arrogant Jews demanded a sign from God if they were to believe in the message of the Cross! And yet it was clearly taught in the Jewish Scriptures that the just shall live by faith. Indeed, Abraham believed God without any sign and his faith was credited to him as righteousness.

Similarly, the brazen Gentiles searched for wisdom through philosophical reasoning, human rationale, educational discovery, mystical illumination, mathematical calculations, worldly intelligence, and their own enlightened insight, insisting that God must satisfy their own flawed intellectual reasoning. But unbelief in the message of the Cross leads to judicial blindness and the condemnation of God.

Both unsaved Jews and unsaved Gentiles continue to rely on their own particular criteria, which demands that God must fulfil their peculiar specification and meet their own required conditions if they are to believe God's Word. What brazen arrogance! Shall the vessel make such demands of the Potter? May it never be!

Whether it is Jewish insistence for a sign or the Gentile demands for intellectual proof, God has set His own criteria. The wisdom of God is clearly laid out in the written Word of God for all who have eyes to see: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ; trust in the message of the Cross; have faith in the sacrificial death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.

Heavenly Father, thank You that in Your goodness and grace, You sent the Lord Jesus Christ to die on the Cross to save my soul. Thank You that You communicated the message of salvation to all who will believe the written Word of truth and trust in the incarnate Word of God, by believing the message of the Cross. Thank You that Jesus became the sin-sacrifice for all who will simply believe on His name. Thank You for dying for my sins and for rising again, to give Your eternal life to all who will believe in the message of the Cross. In Jesus' name, AMEN.