Latest / Reformed Thinking / Two Verdicts, One Cross: God’s Power and Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:18–24)

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Two Verdicts, One Cross: God’s Power and Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:18–24) · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reformed thinking. Today we're really going deep.
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We're planning to RIP the lid off a single incredibly
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concentrated and, let's be honest, challenging passage.
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It sits right at the theological center line of the gospel First
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Corinthians chapter 1, specifically verses 18 through
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24. It's potent stuff.
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It really is. And this isn't just, you know,
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an academic exercise looking back at ancient history.
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We want to systematically unpack why God actually designed
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salvation in a way way that seems, well, utterly scandalous
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to almost every human ambition and expectation.
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That's the core of it, isn't it? The scandal.
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Exactly. I mean, try to put yourself in
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the situation. Imagine you're Paul.
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You're walking into Corinth. Right, not exactly a quiet
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village. No, this is a city absolutely
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obsessed with status. Its whole culture, it seems,
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orbits around visible wealth. Really.
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Polish rhetoric, intellectual sophistication.
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You know, it's the kind of place where you earn respect by how
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eloquently you speak, how impressively you perform.
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Big on big on human achievement. Totally.
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Now your job is to introduce the greatest reality in the cosmos
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of these people. So what's your PR campaign?
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What's your corporate logo going to be?
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Yeah, what's the pitch? Any competent marketer today or
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back then would tell you lead with something grand, something
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impressive maybe, I don't know, a beautiful shining temple
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image, Something aspirational. But Paul doesn't do that.
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He leaves with an ancient execution device, a cross.
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A cursed tree. It's like marketing One O 1's
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biggest nightmare. And this, I think, is the
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central claim we really have to wrestle with today.
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The cross isn't some kind of public relations difficulty that
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maybe God wishes he could just sweep under the rug.
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No, it's presented as the exact opposite.
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Right. It is the deliberate, strategic
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display of God's wisdom and his saving might.
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It's the very point of collision between God's divine plan and
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all our human pride. And that really sets up our
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mission for this deep dive, doesn't it?
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Paul in these few verses is laying out God's strategic 3
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part architecture for rescuing centers.
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We need to analyze these three integrated elements really
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closely. OK, what are they?
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Well, first there's the cruciform message.
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That's the specific content, what is actually being said.
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Second, the cruciform means of delivery.
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That's how God has chosen to communicate this message.
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The method if you like. And 3rd, the sovereign grace
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that makes the whole structure effective for anyone.
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The the enabling reality behind it all.
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The why it works. Exactly.
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And taken together, what we're seeing is a design that seems
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well engineered to annihilate human boasting and ensure that
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all the glory, every last bit of it, returns to God alone.
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Solidao, Gloria. OK, let's start digging in.
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Section 1, then, seems to be about this dividing line Paul
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draws right away in verse 18. Paul kicks off this section with
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a phrase that, honestly, it acts like a sharp knife, just
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dividing humanity right down the middle.
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Who cost away the word of the cross?
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The message about the cross. Yes, and it's crucial we get
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this right. We aren't talking about some
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vague feeling or, you know, an abstract idea of suffering here.
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This is a content laden announcement.
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It's declared news. The Proclamation.
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It is about the crucified Christ securing salvation and
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specifically how he did it through substitutionary
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atonement. That's the core content.
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And this declaration, this logos, immediately provokes not
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one, but 2 completely contradictory ongoing verdicts.
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What's fascinating here, I think, is Paul's specific
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language. He uses these double present
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participles to describe the two groups hearing the message.
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OK, why is that significant? The present tense.
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It tells you about their spiritual status and their
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direction. It's not just about their
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momentary reaction, like oh, I don't like that.
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It's describing their permanent trajectory, the path they are
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already on. So who are these groups?
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Well, on one side we have toss aluminos.
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That literally translates to those who are perishing.
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For this group, the message of the cross, this specific
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announcement is received as a more folly, absurdity.
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It's a category mistake. Intellectually, it's seen as
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pointless weakness, just ridiculous.
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And that present participle of Puma noise indicates they're
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already in an ongoing process of destruction.
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They're already traveling a path under God's judgement.
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So hearing the message and calling it foolish, it just
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confirms the path they're already on.
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Precisely. Their reaction reveals their
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state. They don't just think it's
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foolish in a neutral, objective way.
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The message itself is acting as a judgment upon them, confirming
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their perishing state. Wow, OK, that's heavy.
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And the other side? What about them?
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On the other side are toss. So some of those, that's those
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who are being saved now, for them, the identical message,
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same content, same historical events, same often very plain
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preaching is received as dokna misa.
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The power of God. The saving might of God.
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They too are in an ongoing process indicated by the present
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participle, but their trajectory is towards salvation.
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So you have the single message, the word of the cross, acting as
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this great divider of all humanity.
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And absolutely no middle ground, no neutral assessment zone where
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you can just sort of weigh it dispassionately.
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None whatsoever. And this, I think, is where we
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hit a massive theological insight that should really stop
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us in our tracks. What Paul is doing here is
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effectively relocating epistemology inside soteriology.
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OK, break that down. Epistemology, how we know
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things. Soteriology.
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How we're saved. Right.
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Typically, the world operates on the assumption that we stand
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above revelation. We use our reason, our criteria,
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our feelings, and we weigh it. We decide if it measures up, if
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it's plausible to us. We're the judges.
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We think we are, but Paul completely flips the script.
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The cross doesn't come asking for your critique.
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It actually delivers a critique on you.
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How you perceive the cross, whether you see it as utter
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folly or as divine power, is fundamentally a reflection of
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how God has already acted upon you.
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It reflects whether you are known by God in a saving way.
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So when I'm sitting there thinking, I'm judging the
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gospel. The Gospel is simultaneously
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pronouncing a final binding verdict on you if you hear the
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message of Christ crucified and see only foolishness, Paul says.
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The reason isn't because the cross is inherently weak or
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illogical. The reason is because you are
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perishing. And if you see power.
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If you see God saving power in it, it's not because you're
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intellectually superior or more insightful.
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It's because you are being saved.
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God has already begun a work in you.
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Man, that just cuts the legs out from under all human
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self-reliance, doesn't it? Our ability to even see the
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truth is shown to be dependent on God's prior action.
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Completely. It grounds our knowledge of
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salvation entirely in God's initiative.
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OK, so let's nail down again, what is the actual theological
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substance, the core content revealed in that word of the
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cross that causes such a fence, such division?
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The content is non negotiable and it's highly specific.
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It centers on substitution and curse bearing.
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This is where we really need to bring in the Old Covenant
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background, which Paul absolutely assumes his readers
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know or should know. Like Deuteronomy 21.
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Exactly. Deuteronomy 21.23 cursed is
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everyone who was hanged on a tree.
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Paul later explicitly connects Christ's death to burying the
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specific covenant penalty in Galatians 3.02, where he says
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quite starkly, Christ became a curse for us.
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The message isn't just Jesus died, it's Jesus died as our
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substitute, bearing the divine curse we deserved under the law.
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So the message is fundamentally about atonement.
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Yes, atonement, propitiation, reconciliation, dealing with sin
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and God's righteous wrath against it.
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And notice how this core message refuses to merely entertain the
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kinds of philosophical or religious felt needs that human
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beings tend to prioritize. Right, it doesn't start with how
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can I live my best life now? What's the secret to enter
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peace? No, it doesn't directly answer
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questions like how do I maximize my potential?
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Or what's the most sophisticated path to moral self improvement?
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Instead, it interrogates those very questions, those often
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shallow perceptions of it insists, through the blood and
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the public shame of the cross, that humanity's deepest, most
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desperate need isn't self fulfillment, it's atonement.
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It's dealing with our fundamental problem before God.
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It's propitiation satisfying God's justice, it's a
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reconciliation restoring the broken relationship, and it's
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the public vindication of God's own righteousness.
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The cross is the sole unique means by which God demonstrates
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He can remain perfectly just while at the same time
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justifying the ungodly who trusts in Christ.
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That's the staggering wisdom embedded in the scandal.
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OK, so Paul has established this dividing line based on the
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message itself. Now in verse 19 he seems to
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pivot. He moves from the immediate
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reaction there in Corinth to explaining the eternal
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historical reason why God structured salvation this way in
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the first place. That's right.
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He connects this scandalous message, this word of the cross,
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to what he presents as God's settled policy.
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And he does this by quoting directly from the prophet
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Isaiah, chapter 29, verse 14. This quote acts like a prophetic
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banner waved over his entire argument here.
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It's the justification for why things are the way they are.
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What does the Isaiah quote say? God declares through Isaiah, I
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will destroy. The wisdom of the wise and the
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discernment of the discerning I will thwart.
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In the Greek Paul uses here the verbs are a pull, I will destroy
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and atesso I will thwart, nullify, set aside.
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Those sound pretty strong. Destroy and Swart.
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They are incredibly strong. Listen to the weight of those
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terms. These are judicial verbs.
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This isn't God making a suggestion or negotiating or
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trying out a temporary strategy. This is presented as God issuing
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A definitive sentence upon autonomous human reason when it
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sets itself up as the judge of divine things.
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So God isn't willing to kind of meet human wisdom halfway or
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share the glory. No, he doesn't negotiate with
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it. He pronounces judgement on it.
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He is not willing to share the credit for salvation with human
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cleverness or insight. This settled policy, established
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centuries before Christ, targets the entire structure of human
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intellectual capital of the age. It predicts the eventual
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demolition of any self appointed human criterion that presumes to
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sit in judgement over God's own revelation.
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Imagine how that landed in Corinth, the city that prides
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Sophia wisdom probably above everything else.
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Exactly. They built their reputations on
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it, but Paul is saying God centuries ago decreed that he
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would fundamentally mock that entire value system.
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This means God's long game, His consistent action throughout
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history, is this continuous war on proud, self-sufficient
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wisdom. It runs from Isaiah's time right
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through the 1st century and frankly, right up to our modern
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era, where we often prioritize human technique and worldly
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metrics over trusting God's decreed means.
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And we see the execution of that judgment, that policy, when Paul
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then unleashes those three absolutely devastating, almost
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sarcastic forensic taunt questions in verse 20.
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Yeah, they really sting, don't they?
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Where is the wise? Where is the scribe?
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Where is the debater of this age?
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Who are these figures representing?
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These three roles were like the pillars of intellectual and
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social esteem in Greco Romy society, especially in a place
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like Corinth. They symbolize the entire
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economy of human achievement and worldly wisdom to the wise.
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The Sophos, the wise person, was the philosopher, the supposed
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arbiter of deep truths about reality and ethics.
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The the Grammatius. The scribe represented the
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textual expert, maybe the religious scholar, the person
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who boasted in meticulous technique, legal knowledge,
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perhaps even tradition itself. They represent wisdom derived
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from careful study and interpretation, but still
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potentially within a human framework.
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And the debater, ah, the. Suzettis the debater of this
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age. This points directly at the
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Sophist, the professional rhetorician whose stock and
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trade was cleverness, speed of thought, persuasive arguments,
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often the ability to make the worst argument sound better
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through sheer skill. Their capital was performance
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and persuasion. And Paul asks, where are they in
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the face of the cross? They're summoned to a divine
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court, metaphorically speaking, and they have nothing to say.
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They cannot even appear. Their expertise, their status,
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their criteria for judgment, it has all expired.
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It has no jurisdiction. When confronted with God's act
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in the crucified Christ, they have no answer.
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Their wisdom is shown to be bankrupt.
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That's exactly the verdict Paul says God made foolish.
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The verb is a rone. He made foolish the wisdom of
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the world. Now we need to be careful here.
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This is not some kind of anti intellectual rant telling people
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not to think or learn. It's not a call to ignorance.
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Absolutely not. Paul himself was highly
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educated. Rather, it's an act of divine
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judgement, specifically against self originating wisdom.
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That is wisdom that operates under its own lordship, sets its
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own rules, and refuses to submit to divine revelation as the
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ultimate standard. So education isn't bad, but
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relying on human wisdom alone for salvation or as the ultimate
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judge of God's ways. That's precisely it.
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Paul isn't saying learning is bad.
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He's saying the world's wisdom left to itself, cannot save
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itself, let alone save anyone else.
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It's utter inability to comprehend or accept the wisdom
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of God displayed in the cross reveals its fundamental
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foolishness before God. It's like, I don't know, a world
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renowned surgeon being completely baffled by how to
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treat a common splinter. It exposes a massive critical
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blind spot in their supposed expertise.
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OK, so how does God actually do this?
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What are the mechanics? How does he carry out this
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unmasking, this making foolish of the world's wisdom?
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The mechanism Paul points to is profoundly Christological.
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God made the world's wisdom foolish by accomplishing the
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ultimate act, salvation, through the most unlikely, most
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scandalous means imaginable, A crucified Messiah publicly
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heralded. It's the combination that does
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it. Yes, the combination is
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absolutely key. Think about the sheer public
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shame associated with crucifixion.
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In the Roman world. It was reserved for the lowest
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of the low rebels, slaves. It was a symbol of utter
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degradation, weakness, failure and curse.
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God takes that shameful event, which the world views as the
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ultimate evidence of defeat and foolishness.
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And makes it the very instrument of righteousness and salvation.
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Exactly. And then how is this news
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delivered? Not through the spectacular
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rhetorical flourishes or complex philosophical arguments.
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The Corinthians admired the methods of the sophist.
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But through the plain method of preaching, yeah, just heralding
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the facts. Yes, Karigma, the plain
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proclamation. So you have the shameful event,
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the cross, and the plain unimpressive method preaching
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working together, and this combination effectively mocks
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human pretension. How so?
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Well, think if salvation came through, say, the grandest
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philosophical insight achieved by human genius, or through the
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most spectacular, undeniable miracle performed on demand, and
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then humanity could still find a way to boast.
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We could say, ah, we figured it out, or our demands forced God's
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hand, or our sophistication allowed us to appreciate this.
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Right, we'd still claim some credit.
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But when salvation comes through something that looks like the
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absolute lowest rung, ashamed, cursed man dying on a cross
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announced through simple proclamation, then all human
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boasting is just cut off at the root.
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There's no room left for pride. God designed it that way.
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OK, so God's policy is to overturn human wisdom via the
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cross. Now Paul seems to zoom in in
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verses 21 to Tuppy 3 on the 2 main ways the world,
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particularly in his context, attempts to measure truth and
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credibility. He shows exactly why the cross
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is offensive to both of these approaches.
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That's right, he identifies these two major cultural
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roadblocks. These you could call them the
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world's prevailing plausibility structures, how people decided
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what was believable or acceptable.
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And the first group. First, the Jews.
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Paul says they demand sign Samia and notice the verb he uses.
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Again, it's the present tense Atuzan.
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This signifies A habitual persistent posture.
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It's not a one off request, it's their characteristic approach.
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They are continually insisting that God must meet their preset
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terms for validation. What kind of signs are they
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looking? For they're demanding
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observable, undeniable, large scale displays of God's might
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delittered on cue. Think back to the Exodus
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pattern. That seems to be the template
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they want Bread from heaven, fire on the mountain, plagues
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against enemies of visible conquering power.
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They expect God, and particularly the Messiah, to
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demonstrate his legitimacy according to their criteria for
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what a deliverer should look like and do.
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They want God to prove Himself on their terms.
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Precisely, they want Sinai scale wonders repeated.
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And when God answers that persistent demand, not with
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continuous, controllable fireworks, but with a Messiah
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who is crucified, the result is inevitable.
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The cross becomes a stumbling block, a scandal on.
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What's the nature of that stumbling block?
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Why is it so offensive to them? The offense here is profoundly
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theological and messianic. It hits right at the core of
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their expectations, derived, they believed, from the Torah
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itself. How can the promised Liberator,
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the son of David, the one who is supposed to bring justice and
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restore Israel's fortunes, possibly be the one who ends up
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hanged on a tree, suffering the very cursed Deuteronomy warned
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about? It just didn't with their
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picture of the Messiah. It was a contradiction in terms
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for many. This demand for signs, Paul
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implies, actually identifies A rival throne of authority.
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By dictating the terms on which they will accept God's
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intervention, they are effectively trying to hold the
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gavel, not God. They want a God they can manage
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through predictable displays of power.
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And God's response isn't to provide the endless spectacle
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they demanded. No, his response is to deliver
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the ultimate good atonement through the ultimate scandal.
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From their perspective, he meets their deepest need, not their
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superficial demand. OK, so that's the Jewish
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reaction. Demanding signs met with a
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stumbling block. What about the other major group
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Paul addresses, the Greeks? The Greeks, reflecting their
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highly sophisticated philosophical and rhetorical
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culture, seek wisdom. Sophia again.
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Paul uses an ongoing verb, zutozen.
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They're continually hunting for it.
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They're searching for polished, elegant systems of thought,
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systems that flatter the intellect, that satisfy the
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established canons of reason and rhetoric.
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This was especially true in the era of the Second Sophistic,
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where eloquent speech and philosophical finesse were
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highly prized. They want something that appeals
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to their reason, something aesthetically pleasing,
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intellectually satisfying. Exactly.
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They desire a message, a worldview that feels
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proportionate to human grandeur, human intellectual skill.
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It should be logical, coherent, perhaps even beautiful in its
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structure. And so to them, the message of a
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crucified Savior is. It's folly, Maria.
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Utter foolishness. Why?
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Because crucifixion, representing the ultimate public
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shame reserved for the lowest criminals and rebellious slaves,
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is seen as a grotesque mismatch between means and end.
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How could something so low achieve something so high?
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That's the question they couldn't get past.
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How can salvation, the reconciliation of the cosmos,
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the ultimate wisdom, be achieved through something so brutal, so
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based, so apparently irrational and degrading?
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It just seemed absurd, counterintuitive to the highest
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degree. So the cross assaults their
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philosophical autonomy just as much as it assaults the Jewish
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expectation for science. Absolutely.
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It refuses to be domesticated. You can't easily fit the cross
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into a neat noble ethic or an elegant metaphysical system
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without stripping it of its core meaning, the substitutionary
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death under divine curse. It demands that God saving plan
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necessarily passes through the deepest shame of the cursed
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tree. This forces the Greeks to
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confront the reality that the cleverest human mind could never
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have conceived of this rescue plan.
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If they had designed salvation. Oh, it would have been
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beautiful. Logical by human standards,
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probably complex, and certainly credible to the human genius
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that understood and articulated it.
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But God's way bypasses all that. Which brings us, then, to
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perhaps the most shocking pivot in the entire text.
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Right after listing all the reasons the world rejects the
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message, stumbling block to Jews, folly to Greeks, Paul
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declared something astonishing about God's perspective.
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Yes. In verse 21 he says it pleased
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God. The verb is uticosin.
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It pleased God to save those who believe through the folly of
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what we preach. It pleased God he wasn't just
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stuck with this method. No, the Greek verb uticosin is
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strong. It signals sovereign delight,
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good pleasure, a deliberate choice rooted in his own
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character and purpose. God didn't choose this method
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reluctantly because he lacked better, more marketable options.
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He chose it by design. He chose it precisely because it
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was the one method that ensured all the glory for salvation
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would be entirely his, not shared with human wisdom or
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human demands. Wow, so God's pleasure is found
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in using what the world despises.
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Yes, and this deliberate choice, this divine pleasure,
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establishes the primacy of ordinary preaching, the karigma,
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the plain, lucid heralding of the message as God's normative,
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ongoing instrument for conversion and spiritual growth
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in this age between Christ's ascension and return.
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He's not constantly changing the method to suit the audience.
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No, God refuses to chase the market, so to speak.
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He refuses to provide perpetual miracle on demand to satisfy the
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Jews craving for signs, nor does he cater to the Greeks desire
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for elite, sophisticated dialectic or rhetoric.
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The saving efficacy, the dunamis, rests entirely in the
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message itself, as God the Spirit chooses to wield it
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through the preacher, not in the messenger's personal flair,
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charisma, or intellectual sophistication.
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Paul seems really serious about this connection between the
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method and the message's integrity.
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He is deadly serious, he warns later in the letter, and implies
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here that if we resort to using the wisdom of discourse, clever
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worldly techniques designed primarily to win human approval
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or make the message less offensive, we actually risk
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emptying the cross of its saving power.
21:50
The verb is cannot to empty out, to nullify.
21:53
How does that happen? How can our method empty the
21:56
cross? Because if people are persuaded
21:58
primarily by our cleverness, our rhetorical skill, our production
22:01
values, or our ability to make the message aligned with their
22:04
pre-existing desires, then their faith might inadvertently rest
22:08
on us and our abilities rather than on the naked power of God
22:12
demonstrated in the crucified Christ announced.
22:13
Plainly, we inadvertently take the glory that belongs to God
22:18
invested in our own persuasive skill or presentation.
22:21
The offense is removed, but so is the power.
22:24
So the Apostolic method, the method Paul champions and
22:26
follows, is therefore defined by what?
22:29
It's defined by fidelity and clarity over cleverness.
22:32
The command the Commission remains simply to preach Christ
22:35
crucified. That's the phrase in verse 23.
22:37
Christian Astaramanon. Christ crucified.
22:40
There's something about the grammar there too, isn't there?
22:42
Yes, that perfect passive participle astoramanon is
22:46
absolutely crucial. It points to a past completed
22:49
event, the Crucifixion, with ongoing abiding results and
22:53
significance. The cross isn't just a
22:55
historical footnote. It's not some preliminary hurdle
22:58
that we mentioned once at Conversion and then quickly move
23:01
past two more advanced topics. It's the permanent center.
23:04
It is the permanent center from which all genuine Christian
23:07
truth, ethics and life must radiate.
23:11
Therefore, our task, as those called, to proclaim this message
23:14
today is not to try and sand down the scandal to make it more
23:17
palatable or acceptable to the prevailing culture.
23:20
We shouldn't try to make it less offensive, no.
23:22
Our task is fidelity. It's let the clarity of the
23:25
message actually serve the scandal.
23:27
We present Christ crucified plainly, accurately, urgently,
23:30
and let the offense remain the offense of the cross itself.
23:33
Because that offense, that stumbling block, that
23:35
foolishness, is the precise point at which God Himself
23:38
chooses to slay human pride and sovereignly saved sinners by His
23:41
grace alone. OK, we've established the
23:43
message is fixed, Christ crucified.
23:46
The means are fixed, ordinary plain preaching which the world
23:50
deems foolish. But the reaction is divided
23:54
folly and scandal for most, yet saving power for others.
23:58
So the question remains, how does an individual actually move
24:02
from that first category to the second?
24:04
How does someone go from seeing this unchangeable message as
24:07
foolishness or an offense to seeing it as God's saving might
24:10
and profound wisdom? Right, We've seen the message
24:13
itself is rejected by the world's default settings.
24:16
What changes the internal reality for the person hearing
24:19
it? It's not a different message or
24:20
a slicker presentation. So what is it?
24:22
The shift happens when Paul introduces the final decisive
24:25
element in verse 24. He contrasts the negative
24:28
reactions of Jews and Greeks with the positive reception to
24:31
those who are called tua clutua. Be called clutua, yes.
24:34
This is the pivot point. It moves from the general
24:37
external proclamation of the gospel to the specific internal
24:40
reality of salvation. Paul identifies the ultimate
24:44
reason for the difference in reception.
24:46
It's the monarchistic action of God himself in effectual
24:49
calling. This is the inward effective
24:51
call of the Holy Spirit. Monarchistic, meaning God alone
24:54
works. Yes, God's work alone is
24:57
decisive. This call is the variable that
25:00
makes the difference. It defines a people, the Church,
25:02
who are constituted not by their superior intellect compared to
25:06
the Greeks, not by their greater religious seal compared to the
25:09
Jews, not by their inherent moral goodness, but purely and
25:13
solely by God's sovereign initiating action and calling
25:16
them to Himself. So this call isn't just like a
25:18
general invitation that anyone can accept or reject based on
25:21
their own free will. No.
25:22
That's the crucial distinction often made in Reformed theology
25:25
between the general external call of the gospel, which goes
25:28
out to everyone who hears preaching, and this specific
25:31
internal effectual call. The effectual call is the
25:35
effective summons by the Holy Spirit that actually brings the
25:38
spiritual dead center to life. It creates the positive response
25:42
it demands. It has to happen first.
25:44
It must precede the individual's ability to truly recognize
25:48
Christ's power and wisdom in the cross.
25:50
Otherwise, if our coming to faith depended ultimately on our
25:53
own insight or decision, then the credit, or at least part of
25:56
it, would inevitably go back to us.
25:58
We could boast I was smart enough to see it, or I was
26:01
willing when others weren't. But Paul is closing that door.
26:05
This means the call is not simply an invitation.
26:08
It's a divine intervention. A resurrection, really.
26:11
This sounds very much like the Westminster Confessions
26:13
understanding of salvation, where God works in us not only
26:17
to will but also to do was a good pleasure.
26:19
How should we picture this call? What does it actually do?
26:22
The sources often describe this call using the analogy of
26:25
creation. It's like creative speech that
26:27
produces what it commands. Think back to Genesis 1.
26:32
God said let there be light, and light was.
26:35
He didn't invite darkness to become light, He commanded light
26:38
into existence. And Paul makes that connection.
26:41
He does, explicitly in 2nd Corinthians 4.6.
26:44
He says the same God who commanded light to shine out of
26:46
darkness has now shined in our hearts to give us the light of
26:50
the knowledge of the glory of God, specifically as it's seen
26:53
in the face of Jesus Christ. The external preaching is like
26:56
the seed being scattered, but the inward effectual Paul is the
27:00
work of the Spirit making the dead soil fertile, causing
27:03
germination and life. So it creates the ability to see
27:06
and believe. Exactly.
27:07
This action completely eliminates all grounds for human
27:10
boasting in the initiation of salvation.
27:12
If Jesus says in John 6.44 no one can come to me unless the
27:16
Father who sent me draws him, then our very ability to respond
27:20
positively to the Gospel is itself a gift initiated by the
27:24
Father's drawing, which is synonymous with this effectual
27:26
call. The call removes the spiritual
27:28
blindness. Yes, it removes the veil over
27:31
the heart that Paul talks about elsewhere 10 quarter 3, so that
27:34
the offense of the cross, which naturally repels the proud human
27:37
heart, is no longer seen as an insult to our autonomy or
27:41
intelligence, but is suddenly, miraculously recognized as God's
27:45
wisdom and our only hope of salvation.
27:47
So the reason? The Cle toy, the called ones see
27:50
power and wisdom in the crucified Christ isn't because
27:53
they are inherently smarter than the Greeks or more spiritually
27:56
attuned than the Jews seeking signs.
27:58
Not at all. They see it because the veil has
28:00
been lifted by the Spirit through the call, allowing them
28:03
to finally behold Christ Himself as the glorious answer to both
28:07
the quest for power and the quest for wisdom.
28:10
Which means we don't seek power or wisdom as abstract concepts.
28:13
Precisely, we are called to behold Christ as the personal
28:16
embodiment, the concentration of all of God's saving attributes,
28:20
Paul says. For the called Christ is 2
28:22
things specifically. Power and wisdom.
28:25
First, Christ is the power of God, Theo Dunemin.
28:28
But again, we have to qualify this.
28:30
This is not just raw explosive power, the kind of spectacle the
28:34
Jews were demanding. It is specifically saving
28:37
efficacy. It's the power demonstrated in
28:39
the apparent weakness of the cross.
28:41
The power to do what? In him, through his death and
28:44
resurrection, God powerfully accomplished propitiation,
28:48
satisfying his own righteous wrath against sin.
28:51
He accomplished reconciliation, restoring fellowship between God
28:54
and humanity, and he accomplished the public
28:56
vindication of his own righteousness.
28:58
This is the genius of the cross. It's the mechanism by which God
29:02
demonstrates simultaneously that he is perfectly righteous and
29:05
just himself, and also that he is the justifier of sinful
29:08
people who place their trust in Jesus.
29:10
That takes incredible power, but a very specific kind.
29:13
And second, for the called Christ is also.
29:16
Christ is the wisdom of God, Theosophian.
29:18
This assures US, against the Greek objection, that the cross
29:22
was not some divine improvisation, not a mistake,
29:25
not Plan B after plan A failed. No, it was the wise plan of
29:29
redemption conceived and eternity past concentrated
29:32
entirely in the person and work of the crucified and risen Lord.
29:36
He doesn't just teach wisdom, He's the wisdom of God.
29:39
We find wisdom by finding Him. So wisdom isn't a philosophy we
29:43
master, it's a person we embrace.
29:45
Beautifully put, and the ultimate doxological result, the
29:49
outcome that leads to worship of this entire structure,
29:52
especially the necessity of the effectual call.
29:54
It's absolutely crucial for our daily Christian lives and for
29:57
how we approach ministry. What's the result?
30:00
Because salvation from first to last is shown to be utterly
30:02
dependent on God's sovereign initiative in the call, all
30:05
boasting is decisively and permanently transferred away
30:08
from the human will, away from human cleverness, away from
30:12
human performance or insight. It all goes to God.
30:14
So the necessity of the call guarantees.
30:16
It guarantees that salvation must terminate in boasting in
30:19
the Lord alone, as Paul will conclude just a few verses
30:22
later. We didn't figure out the gospel.
30:25
The light dawned on us. We didn't achieve salvation.
30:28
We received it. We weren't seeking God.
30:31
Fundamentally, we were found by the shepherd's effective voice
30:34
calling his sheep. And realizing that removes so
30:38
much pressure, doesn't it? The burden of self
30:40
justification, of having to be smart enough or good enough is
30:43
lifted. OK, this transition feels really
30:46
vital now. We've seen the doctrine laid
30:47
out, the message, the means, the call.
30:51
If the cross truly is this permanent, fixed center from
30:54
which all Christian truth and life radiate, as you said, then
30:57
it follows that our ministry, the church's actual life, its
31:01
leadership priorities, its goals, how we measure success,
31:04
all of it must look cruciform. It has to reflect the shape of
31:06
the cross. Absolutely.
31:07
It's not just abstract theology. It has direct practical
31:10
implications and it means we need to be constantly engaging
31:13
in self correction, resisting the powerful gravitational pull
31:16
to adopt the world's standards for success and validation
31:19
within the Church itself. Because the world's standards
31:22
are still based on those same 2 principles Paul identified.
31:25
Right Spectacle and sophistication.
31:27
Exactly. We must actively, intentionally
31:30
resist the temptation to conform our church practices, our
31:33
worship styles, our outreach methods to the criteria of
31:36
spectacle and sophistication. Because Paul identifies these as
31:39
the world's default settings for evaluation, they haven't gone
31:42
away. So let's break down that
31:44
resistance first, thinking about spectacle.
31:46
If the world around us is still implicitly asking for a
31:49
spectacular sign for impressive displays, how should the Church
31:54
resist that? Well, if we respond by trying to
31:56
make our church services feel more like entertainment
31:59
experiences, focusing on emotional highs, dramatic
32:01
productions, or trying to replicate perceived miracle
32:05
crusades on demand, we risk answering the world's demand for
32:08
signs rather than obeying God's command to preach the cross.
32:12
So we need to be careful not to recenter ministry on perpetual
32:15
dramatic events or chasing the next big spiritual experience.
32:19
Precisely the normative means for church life and growth in
32:23
this age, according to Paul here, is the public proclamation
32:26
of Christ crucified. We have to be careful not to
32:29
confuse the unique foundational sign gifts that attested the
32:33
apostles and the inauguration of the New Covenant, those
32:35
foundations setting miracles with the permanent norm for the
32:39
ongoing life of the Church today.
32:41
Our standard isn't who can generate the most impressive
32:44
visible show. OK, that's resisting spectacle.
32:46
What about the second temptation?
32:48
Sophistication. This one might be even more
32:51
subtle. Especially in educated or
32:53
affluent contexts, the ministry must avoid adopting the world's
32:56
common badges of esteem as signs of God's blessing or
32:59
effectiveness. Things like prioritizing
33:02
extremely high production value above clear content, a
33:05
relentless pursuit of novelty and relevance for its own sake,
33:08
or measuring success primarily by platform size, social media
33:12
influence, or the sheer impressiveness of our facilities
33:14
or budgets. So if we start measuring A
33:16
sermon success by the number of laughs it gets, or how polished
33:20
the delivery was, or ministries impact by the size of its real
33:23
estate portfolio or its online following.
33:26
Then we are implicitly prioritizing worldly
33:29
sophistication, worldly metrics over the simple faithful
33:32
heralding of the cross and its implications.
33:35
We have to scrutinize the language we use too.
33:37
How so? If we find ourselves feeling
33:39
compelled to use techniques drawn primarily from secular
33:42
leadership books that emphasize charisma, personal branding,
33:45
motivational speech, or self help rhetoric instead of
33:48
centering on sin, grace, atonement, and repentance, then
33:52
we might be unconsciously replacing the gospel scandalous
33:55
particularity with a more palatable form of human wisdom.
33:59
And that risks, as Paul warned, emptying the cross of its saving
34:02
power. It's a real danger.
34:04
Our methods must always be servants of the message, never
34:07
its masters. We can't let the desire for
34:09
acceptance or effectiveness by worldly standards lead us to
34:12
subtly change the message or its emphasis.
34:14
This really means, then, that the cross comes to crucify our
34:17
metrics. That's a powerful idea.
34:20
The world measures success by virality, by applause, by
34:23
platform size, by visible influence, by numbers, by
34:26
budgets. Yes, all those external markers.
34:30
But if we are to be faithful to Paul's teaching here, the church
34:32
must adopt A radically different scorecard.
34:35
We must primarily measure success by fidelity to the
34:38
message, its clarity, its theological accuracy, its
34:41
consistency and proclamation and application, even if the
34:44
results, judged by worldly standards, look small, slow, or
34:48
unimpressive. This must have huge implications
34:51
for church leadership as well. Huge.
34:53
If the cross is central, it must dethrone the cult of celebrity
34:56
that can so easily creep into ministry.
34:59
Remember the sophist Paul critiqued?
35:01
They were famous for their charisma, their eloquence, their
35:04
personal brand. If church leaders today begin to
35:07
embody that same kind of celebrity culture, focusing
35:10
attention on their personal gifts, their visibility, their
35:12
platform, rather than consistently pointing away from
35:15
themselves to the content of Christ crucified, and they are
35:19
subtly shifting the criterion for success away from the
35:21
message and back onto the messenger.
35:24
So leadership should be about. Leadership must be about
35:28
enthroning the ordinary means of grace, chiefly the faithful
35:31
preaching of Christ crucified, not about building up the
35:34
personality on the stage or the brand of the organization.
35:37
The Practical Council seems straightforward, but probably
35:40
incredibly hard to implement consistently.
35:43
Prefer slow, deep, faithful fruit over fast, hyped
35:47
superficial growth. That's a good way to put it if
35:49
we find. Ourselves using metrics that the
35:51
world already worships. Metrics like sheer attendance
35:54
numbers without any regard to doctrinal understanding or
35:57
genuine conversion, or hitting massive fundraising goals
36:00
primarily through emotional manipulation or human pressure
36:03
tactics. We're essentially just
36:04
rebranding the wisdom of this age with Christian labels.
36:08
The cross demands A radically new standard, Christ and him
36:10
crucified as the sole measure of true fidelity and therefore true
36:14
success in God's eyes. How does this apply to areas
36:16
like apologetics? Or cultural engagement.
36:19
It means we must constantly identify.
36:20
The culture's current idols of plausibility, which still often
36:24
boil down to forms of spectacle, demanding overwhelming proof,
36:28
emotional experience and sophistication, demanding
36:32
philosophical coherence on human terms, alignment with current
36:35
academic or social trends. And we must refuse to grant
36:39
these idols ultimate authority in our discussions.
36:42
We don't try to meet the world entirely.
36:44
On its own terms, we engage, yes, but we?
36:46
Are not trying to negotiate the Gospels core claims to make them
36:50
fit the world's expectations. We are offering a fundamentally
36:53
different cruciform epistemology where the truth of God is
36:56
ultimately received as a gift through the spirits of factual
36:59
call upon the preaching of the cross, not captured as a trophy
37:02
by superior human reason or validated by conformity to
37:06
worldly standards, finally within the life of the Church
37:08
itself. Where does ordinary preaching
37:10
sit among the other means of grace God has given?
37:12
This passage strongly reinforces.
37:14
The Reformation principle of the primacy of preaching, ordinary
37:18
faithful preaching is presented here as the engine of conversion
37:21
and continuing growth because, as Paul says elsewhere, faith
37:24
comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ being
37:27
preached. What about sacraments and
37:29
prayer? The sacraments, Baptism and the
37:31
Lord's. Supper are absolutely essential,
37:34
divinely appointed means of grace.
37:37
They visibly confirm and seal the same promises offered in the
37:40
preached word. They're like visible sermons,
37:43
and prayer is utterly essential as our response to independence
37:47
upon that word. However, according to the
37:50
emphasis here, neither sacraments nor prayer should be
37:52
seen as displacing or supplanting the central role of
37:55
the heralded Gospel message. The Church must prioritize
37:58
public faithful proclamation, as the primary appointed means God
38:01
uses to gather and build up his people, and we trust the Holy
38:04
Spirit to work through that. Means yes, we trust that the
38:07
caller. The Holy Spirit will open eyes
38:09
and hearts through the Word He inspired and illuminates,
38:13
precisely as He is promised in passages like this one.
38:16
And understanding that regeneration, the new birth, is
38:19
entirely the caller's work, well, it fundamentally changes
38:23
the minister. 'S burden, doesn't it?
38:24
How so? It reduces the pastor score
38:26
responsibility thankfully down the two main things regarding
38:30
conversion, preaching the Word plainly, accurately and
38:33
fervently, and praying continually for the Spirit to
38:36
make that Word effective. We know that humans skill, human
38:40
eloquence, human strategy cannot affect spiritual regeneration.
38:44
That frees the minister from the impossible.
38:46
Task of trying to manufacture, revival or guarantee results
38:49
through techniques. Exactly.
38:50
It places the responsibility. For results squarely on God
38:53
where it belongs, freeing the preacher to focus on fidelity to
38:56
the message. Hashtag had outro.
38:58
Well, this has been quite a deep dive into.
39:00
Just a few verses, First Corinthians 1.1824, but it feels
39:04
like we've uncovered God's comprehensive and intentionally
39:06
anti pride strategy for salvation.
39:09
The design seems fixed. In those three integrated parts.
39:12
We talked about the message Christ crucified, specifically
39:17
focusing on substitutionary atonement as the core content,
39:21
the means ordinary. Proclamation, what Paul calls
39:24
the folly or foolishness of preaching as God's chosen method
39:28
and the saving might or power. Behind it all, the effectual
39:31
calling of the Holy Spirit, that sovereign internal summons that
39:34
brings spiritual life and enables faith, and this whole
39:37
design, as you said. Is God's deliberate, settled
39:40
policy, revealed way back in Isaiah, designed to save sinners
39:44
while simultaneously executing judgement on all forms of human
39:47
pride and self-reliance? That's right, the cross stands
39:50
as. The sole non negotiable center
39:52
from which all saving truth radiates.
39:54
And the way God designed it ensures that, as Paul says
39:57
later, no human being might boast in God's presence.
40:00
All the glory goes to Him. So as we wrap up, we want to.
40:03
Leave you, our listeners, with a final, maybe provocative thought
40:06
to consider flowing directly from this passage.
40:09
The cross, as we've seen, doesn't just judge the wisdom of
40:12
the outside world, its demands for spectacle and
40:14
sophistication. It also acts continually as an
40:17
internal pastoral dividing line within the church itself.
40:20
It constantly corrects those of us inside the church who are
40:23
tempted to measure God's favor, or our own spiritual maturity,
40:27
or our ministry's success using the world's credentials,
40:30
intellectual status, visible results, popularity, eloquence,
40:34
etcetera. That's a searching thought.
40:37
So perhaps the question to reflect on is this what specific
40:40
worldly standards, What metrics are you personally tempted to
40:43
adopt, maybe unconsciously, to measure God's approval or your
40:47
own siritual standing or your ministry's effectiveness?
40:50
Is it intellectual achievement? Is it outward visible success?
40:54
Is it how well you articulate things?
40:56
Is it the size of your group or budget?
40:58
And then how does Paul's radical?
41:00
Insistence here that God intentionally shames the world's
41:03
self confident criteria by saving the apparently
41:05
unimpressive through an apparently unimpressive means,
41:08
preaching Christ crucified. How does that force all your
41:11
boasting, all your confidence, to relocate entirely away from
41:14
yourself and find its soul resting place in the Lord Jesus
41:17
Christ alone? There's profound spiritual
41:19
freedom. Isn't there?
41:20
And knowing that it actually pleased God to save us by what
41:23
the world naturally calls foolishness.
41:25
Indeed. Go now.
41:27
And boast only in the Lord.