The Foolishness of God

“For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”

All of the Corinthian problems can be resolved if they comprehend the superiority of the wisdom of God over human wisdom. In fact, the wisdom of man is truly foolish in comparison to God’s wisdom. According to Paul, God has made foolish the wisdom of the world (vs. 20). The central feature of 1 Corinthians 1:18–31 is that our Lord is the wisdom and power of God (vv. 24, 30). Not only does this passage focus on the Lord Jesus Christ, but it is through the Cross that God’s wisdom and power are displayed.

This is foolishness to the world. It cannot accept that the Cross was wisdom on display. This is why Paul says in verse 18 that the “word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing…” The Corinthians knew all about wisdom. They were soaked in Greek philosophy. The central feature of Greek wisdom was man and his wisdom. It was about the ability of man to control and direct his affairs. Granted the gods were out there, but it was up to men to make their way. Modern day philosophy is exactly the same. Just ask anyone today if they think the Cross is wisdom. They think it is absolute folly.

The remarkable thing is that God demonstrates that without the Cross no one can know God (vs. 21). The greatest wisdom that man can come up with would be the least of God’s foolishness. God, of course, is not foolish which only shows how foolish man’s wisdom is. It is through what the world considers folly that God saves sinners (vs. 21). This is the preaching of the cross (vs. 18). Paul also has a word to say about the Jews. They are always looking for signs (vs. 22; Matt. 16:1–4; John 2:23; 4:48; 6:2, 26; 7:31; 9:16; 11:47; 12:37). They demand proof before they believe. The proof, however, that God provides, is not what they want. They want something spectacular. Christ crucified is a stumbling block to the Jews (vs. 23; Rom. 9:32, 33; 11:9; 1 Pet. 2:8).

Their desire for signs reflected their Messianic anticipation. For the Jews, Messiah was going to come in power and great glory, overcoming all his foes, and ushering in the kingdom of God. It was going to be a glorious and visible manifestation of God among men. This was why they demanded that Jesus show them a sign (Matt. 11:38, 39; Mark 8:11; John 6:30). If Jesus could show them a sign, then that would validate his authenticity. Yet our Lord showed many signs and they did not believe. They were not looking for a man as our Lord appeared to them to be. They wanted a mighty deliverer. And when our Lord died on the Cross, that was the proof they needed that Jesus could not be the Messiah. At the Cross, they demanded that he come down and then they would “see and believe” (Mark 15:32).

Both the Jews and the Gentiles demonstrate the ultimate idolatry; namely, the incessant demand for power and the arrogant self-proclamation of wisdom. But what does God do in view of this idolatry? He gives the divine contradiction—Christ crucified. Messiah means power, glory, triumph; crucified means weakness, humiliation and defeat. This was why the Jews and Gentiles were scandalized by the Cross. This is the foolishness of God. God uses what we cannot accept to save sinners. Tacitus, the Roman senator and historian wrote in his Annals (15:44) that Christianity was a “most mischievous superstition.” It didn’t match his idea of wisdom, and as far as Tacitus was concerned, Jesus (Chrestus), he says, was crucified under Pontius Pilate. Who would follow a dead man? Pliny the Younger, who served the emperor Trajan, wrote in his Epistulae (Book 10.96.8) that what Christians believed was a “perverse and extravagant superstition.” This is the reason why today so many refuse to believe the Gospel. They are looking for something dramatic and exceptional, not death on a cross. This explains, by the way, our predilection for Hollywood. It is glitzy, showy, tangible, and exudes success and power.

The Cross is about shame and sin. The Cross is God’s masterpiece. In the Cross, God overpowers his enemies with his love and grace. He removes their strength from them. He smashes their wisdom and power. In a scandalous and contradictory move, God demolishes all arguments. If God had left salvation up to us, we would have focused on wisdom and power. God’s wisdom and power is Christ (vs. 24). It is only the “called”who grasp this (vs. 24). The unbeliever cannot believe this or see it. Man is left with the awful risk of trusting God or himself. Abandon your own wisdom and trust the foolish wisdom of God or perish. To the perishing the preaching of the Cross is folly (vs. 18). Man always wants to have a hand in his salvation. He always wants to aid God. It is not enough to believe and trust. We have to interfere, and by so doing, we exclude God. We cannot accept God’s scandalous way of saving us.

One of the things we constantly struggle with is the need to help God in saving others. We all want our loved ones to know Christ. We might even delude ourselves into thinking that if we can get a confession out of them that then they are saved. All of this demonstrates that we really don’t believe that God can save. He needs our help. This is pernicious thinking. God does not need our help.

It is clear in verse 18 that Paul views us as being saved. We are saved, but we are still being saved. Why does he speak in this way? We must understand that salvation is a work of God continually in us. We have been brought to Christ by the powerful working of the Spirit in regeneration, and he continues to work in us. We have been “called” (vs. 24), and we “believe” (vs. 21), and we are “being saved” (vs. 18). These verses demonstrate that it is either God who saves us or we are not saved. And God saves us by the preaching of the Cross. God brings human self-sufficiency to nothing in the Cross. He reduces our wisdom and power to nothing. He does so by what Paul calls “foolishness.” And notice that it is by “preaching” or by the “word of the cross.” It is not merely the act of preaching, but rather the content of preaching. The content is about Jesus. Not Jesus as a teacher or good man or moral example, but Jesus as crucified. In this way, our Lord Jesus Christ is seen as the wisdom and power of God. Believing does not mean just agreeing with the Gospel, but the total trust of myself to Jesus Christ as Lord. This means not trusting myself or my wisdom. It is the receiving and believing of what God has demonstrated and revealed in Jesus’ death on the Cross.

It is even more remarkable that God does not save predominantly those who are powerful, noble or wise. He saves the weak, the lowly and the foolish (vs. 26–28). Why does God save these kinds of people? First, it was to shame the strong, the wise and the noble. Second, it was to show that it is not by our power; and third, it was to show that we have nothing to boast in before God (vv.28, 29). The only one that matters is Christ (vs. 30). It is because of God’s saving that we are in Christ (vs. 30). The fruit of belonging to Christ is that he is our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption (vs. 30).

It is always hard to trust God. We feel more in control when we take things into our own hands. As a result of this sense of power, we try to manipulate God. We cajole him in our prayers. We use our strength to accomplish what we think is God’s will. Simple submission is not something we do easily, but that is how we all came to Christ. Our power was broken and our wisdom was smashed. God must reduce us in order to conform us. We could never become what God intends by our smarts. God is too foolish for that, and that’s the wisest thing of all.