Summary of 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:16:
Christ is the power and wisdom of God. Man is foolish for man did not know God (which God allowed). The foolishness of God (which is non-existent) is wider than man’s wisdom. The weakness of God (which is non-existent) is stronger than man’s strength. God is that much higher than man.
God chose those deemed foolish by human standards (we’re all foolish in comparison to God) to shame the wise and the weak to shame the strong. chose the lowly so that no one will boast before him. It is because of God that we are in Jesus who had become for us wisdom from God. So if you boast boast in the Lord.
1 Corinthians 2: Paul says he came to the people in weakness and fear. Paul’s message of wise and persuasive words were from the Spirit’s power so your faith could rest on God’s power.
Now, they speak of God’s secret wisdom (Jesus). One that has been destined since before time began. God has revealed it to us by His Spirit. No one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God so we have received the Spirit of God so that we man understand God’s gift (Jesus and grace). This is the message Paul speaks.
The man without the Spirit does not understand things that come from the Spirit of God. The spiritual man is not subject to man’s judgments. But we have the mind of Christ.
BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 21, Day 3: 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:16
6) It seems foolish to those who are perishing (unbelievers). God has purposely destroyed the wisdom of the wise and frustrated them. God has made the wisdom of the world foolish.
7a) The foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom. The foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom. God has made foolish man’s wisdom when man did not know Him. God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise–to prove they were foolish. The Spirit–or God–that indwells in man is what makes him wise. Otherwise, he’s a fool.
b) To shame the world and the strong. In this way, no one can boast before Him.
8a) Personal Question. My answer: The Spirit allows us to understand what God has given us — eternal life, wisdom, grace, and mercy. We have the mind of Christ.
b) Personal Question. My answer: In all things, specifically in the balance in my life.
Conclusions BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 21, Day 3: 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:16
We often think we are wise when so often we are foolish because we are not acting out of the Spirit. We are blind to the Spirit within due to pride and every other fault/sin of mankind. We only have a glimpse of wisdom, which God has given us through His grace.
End Notes BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 21, Day 3: 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:16
In 1 Corinthians 1:17, Paul declared the idea that the cross could be made of no effect if it were presented with the wisdom of words. Paul now will show why this is true of the cross and the message of the gospel.
To those who reject the salvation of the cross, the idea of being saved through the work of a crucified man is foolish.
The hearing and trusting of the true gospel will bring the power of God into your life.
In this quotation from Isaiah 29:14, Paul shows that in spiritual matters, God opposes the wisdom of man.
Human “wisdom” is constantly rejecting God and opposing Him, and ultimately showing itself foolish and perishing in doing so.
In Paul’s day, the Jewish world was looking for a sign. Specifically, they wanted the sign of a miraculous Messianic deliverance. They were not looking for the message of the cross.
Instead of giving the Jews and Greeks what they demanded in deliverance and wisdom, God gave them something unexpected: a crucified Messiah.
Christ (Messiah) meant power, splendor, and triumph. Crucified meant weakness, defeat, and humiliation. Christ crucified was the ultimate oxymoron, and this was what Paul preached!
ii. If the cross doesn’t seem strange to you, then you either don’t understand how the cross was seen in Jesus’ day, or you don’t understand who Jesus is. You don’t understand the tension between Christ and crucified.
But our expectations of what God should do keep us from receiving that power and wisdom.
many of the Corinthian Christians were beginning to think of themselves in high terms because of God’s work in them. Paul will not allow this. They have not been chosen because they are so great, but because God is so great.
God has called the weak and ignorant first, but not exclusively; shepherds first, then wise men; fishermen first, then the educated (like Paul, who was himself an educated man).
iii. “The ancient Christians were for the most part slaves and men of low station; the whole history of the expansion of the church is in reality a progressive victory of the ignorant over the learned, the lowly over the lofty,
Jesus is our wisdom.
Paul uses this reference to Jeremiah 9:23-24 to show that God did it all this way so that God would get the glory. The path for God’s glory is Christ crucified; the evidence of God’s glory is His choice of the lowly.
1 Corinthians 2:
Paul came as a witness. If a preacher is not careful, he will get in the way of the gospel instead of being a servant of the gospel. They can obscure Jesus by their preaching, either in the presentation or the message
Paul is rejecting any reliance on the preacher’s ability to persuade with human wisdom.
there is a vast wealth of wisdom sealed off to everyone except the Christian.
1 Corinthians 2:10 tells us God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. This glorious thing has been revealed by the gospel.
Paul is communicating much the same message as Ephesians 3:1-7, where he writes about the mystery of the church, and how the church in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets. (Ephesians 3:5)
Only the Holy Spirit can tell us about God and His wisdom. This knowledge is unattainable by human wisdom or investigation.
Every believer can understand the basics of the Christian message, which is unattainable (and undesirable) by human wisdom.
The natural man doesn’t want the things of God because he regards them as foolishness. What is more, he can’t understand the things of God (even if he wanted to) because they are spiritually discerned. It would be wrong to expect the natural man to see and value spiritual things, just as it would be wrong to expect a corpse to see the material world.
Isaiah 40:13 refers to the mind of Yahweh (translated here as LORD); but Paul has no trouble inserting mind of Christ for mind of the LORD, because Jesus is Yahweh!