Our meditation is from 1 Corinthians 1:20–24, the heart of next week’s epistle reading.
[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? [21] For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. [22] For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, [23] but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, [24] but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
It’s amazing. Almost two millennia have passed since the Apostle Paul was inspired by God to record these words. Yet these words remain as searingly insightful today as when they were first written.
There remain today unbelieving Jews and Gentiles. Some of these unbelievers call six-day creation a myth, mock God becoming man and ridicule Jesus’ death and resurrection. Since we are constantly subjected to such “worldly wisdom,” it can wear away at our faith.
In response, God in his mercy explains why the faith faces such opposition. In 1 Corinthians chapter 2 we are told:
[11] For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. [12] Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.
This explains why the “world did not know God through wisdom.” (v. 21) The world can only know God’s wisdom through faith in Christ. As believers, the Holy Spirit plays a key role in our understanding the things of God. When people mock and ridicule our beliefs, it is out of ignorance. They simply cannot comprehend the things of God.
Thus, as long as the world tenaciously holds onto its own wisdom, Christ will remain a stumbling block and a folly. Yet Christ was crucified and raised for all people, including those who mock and ridicule God. Christ crucified will only remain a stumbling block and a folly until these same people are brought to faith in Christ. At that point, through the power of the Holy Spirit, they will understand the wisdom of God.
Kevin Wilson 360 