1 Corinthians 1:17–2:16

There is plainly a double warning here. The first is putting baptism, which is an ordinance (or, as some now claim, a means of sacramental grace), in the place of preaching the word by the demonstration of the Spirit, in saving power to the one who believes. The other is pulpit oratory, as though the cross of Christ could gain anything in its effect on the conscience by excellence of speech.

It is not that the apostle Paul slights baptism: who could, that accepts it as Christ's institution? He could not have spoken like this if baptism were the means of life to the soul, as so many wrongly teach. Yet we can hardly imagine any of the twelve speaking as he does here... The others were expressly sent to baptize, and they did it themselves or through others. Paul himself was baptized, and he baptized others. No apostle opens up its meaning more deeply than he does in Romans 6, Galatians 3, and Colossians 2.

He worked with great care at Corinth. He baptised very few, so that no one could say he had baptised in his own name. His work was to preach the gospel, not to baptise. He called people to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He did not make disciples who would take his name. John the Baptist had disciples called after him. Paul avoided all that for himself, for what was right in John's day would have been wrong in Paul's day.

He seems to be condemning philosophic speculation, and not rhetoric only. Philosophy leaves no room for divine love on the one side, or for man's utter ruin on the other. The cross of Christ upholds both to the fullest degree.

Fluency of speech is a natural gift. It may be present or absent without harming how effective an evangelist is as a minister of God. Apollos was "eloquent," while Paul was "unskilled in speaking." No human persuasiveness, natural or skilfully crafted, can achieve the purposes of God. His appeal is not to the imagination, and not only to the mind. It is to the hearts and consciences of sinful men.

Mere words cannot set the gospel out. The Cross sets it out. Here is a principle of the highest importance: God makes Himself known to us by His actions, and not simply by descriptions or statements about Himself. Philosophy and theology try to describe God. But description needs the wisdom of words, and the wisdom of words demands human learning to frame and understand them. God is too great for words to describe, and we are too small to take in mere descriptions.

People seek out preachers for their eloquence, their logic and their talents, and not for the faithfulness with which they present the truth of God... But God's word is clear. The cross of Christ and the wisdom of man cannot go together. Exalt the cross of Christ, and man's wisdom must come down. Magnify man's wisdom, and the cross of Christ is emptied of its power.

The cross speaks of the lowest extreme of human shame and suffering. It was the harshest penalty for a slave. The Son of God stooped not only to the nature of man but to the death of the cross. This was atonement for man to God, and it was also man's rejection of God. To those who are ignorant of their own sinfulness and of God's holiness, that seems the depth of folly. They must perish, living and dying as they are. That He had to suffer in order to save assumes the hopeless ruin of the race.

The wise of this world do not see the glory of the Person nailed to the cross. So they miss the love of God that gave Him to suffer. They miss the holiness of God that demanded such a sacrifice. They miss the utter ruin of man that the cross sets out. All they see is a Man nailed to a cross between two thieves. So the preaching of salvation through the cross seems to them utter folly.

The cross stands as "the great divide" among men whenever it is faithfully preached. On one side of it stand those who are perishing, on the other those of us who are saved. You can tell which group a person belongs to by watching how that person treats the preaching of the cross. To the one it is only foolishness, because they hold to the world and its wisdom. To the other it is the power of God, and that to salvation.

The point of this remark in verse 21 is not that preaching seems a foolish method, compared with working, for instance. The point is the message preached. The word of the cross is foolishness by human standards, yet it is wisdom and power by God's.

The preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. To us who are being saved it is the power of God. It saves us from the guilt of sins, from the power of sin itself, and before long from the presence of sin when we go home.

To those who are saved the cross is the power of God to save, because through it God can righteously save the vilest sinner.

To man the word of the cross is the deepest offence and the sheerest foolishness. But to believers it is God's power — not wisdom only — "to us who are to be saved." Here the apostle treats it as a personal fact instead of continuing his general statement. That brings it home more closely. In this letter, salvation is not complete until the Lord comes. It takes in the whole work of bringing us through, until we are made like Christ in resurrection glory.

The cross of Christ and the wisdom of man cannot go together. If the cross of Christ is to be exalted, man's wisdom must be brought low. If man's wisdom is to be magnified, the cross of Christ must "be made of none effect."

In English, the difference between wisdom and understanding in verse 19 is this: wisdom is the effort to use what a man has learned. In Greek you could hardly call it that. We may say that the understanding of the prudent has more the character of discernment, while wisdom is more the knowledge of truth. Hebrew uses far more words for wisdom than English has.

Looking for thoughts and words that please the world shows a mind at odds with God. He had already declared that the world's best wisdom is folly in the things of God. Notice that the apostle quotes as proof God's sentence on Israel through the prophet Isaiah (Isa. 29:14). Some do not see how fitting this testimony is, and I cannot agree with them. Many scriptures declare that human resources are not enough, but none suits the apostle's purpose better, and so none serves better to warn the believers at Corinth.

Three times this scripture, or part of it, is quoted in the New Testament — twice by our Lord, and once by the apostle Paul. Looking back at Isaiah, we learn that hiding these things from the wise and prudent was not an act of arbitrary power. It was the judicial result of formality and hypocrisy in holy things, and of taking the rules of men in place of the word of God.

The cross was judgment indeed. But it was the judgment of this world. It was shame, indeed. But it was the wisdom of this world that was "made foolish" there. It was death — death dropping like a curtain and closing the story. But though the rulers aimed to "destroy Jesus" (Matt. 27:20), Jesus was not the one destroyed. Instead the cross fulfilled what had been written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart" (1 Cor. 1:19).

Christians do not need the help of the wise men of this world, for God has said, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart" (1 Cor. 1:19). All wisdom for the Christian is in Him, in whom "the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily," and we "have been filled in Him, who is the head of all rule and authority" (Col. 2:9-10).

He would strip fallen man of all glory, so that He may make Christ Jesus to be to the believer "wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption." How worse than useless, then, to bring the thing God has discredited into the preaching of the gospel, the teaching of God's truth, or the ordering of His Church. Brought into the preaching of the gospel, it empties the cross of Christ of its power. Brought into the teaching of God's truth, it breeds quarrels and sects.

Not only does the discernment of the discerning come to nothing (1 Cor. 1:19); the rulers of this age themselves come to nothing. The final result, the sum total, of all the clever doings is NOTHING. The clever men themselves come to NOTHING. In contrast, the Apostle John tells us that "whoever does the will of God abides forever"... The believer, and the believer only, has power to work at what will last for eternity.

I cannot agree with those who fail to see how fitting this testimony is. Many scriptures declare how far human resources fall short. Out of them all, it would be impossible to find one better suited to the apostle's purpose, and so one better able to warn the Corinthian saints... The last words are no more than an illustration drawn from Isaiah 33. There we hear a burst of surprise at the rescue from the scornful power of the enemy. Here we hear a triumphant challenge over the failure of its proud claims against God.

They valued those who were wise, scribes, or debaters of this world. They were used to the schools of their age and country. Christianity did such great things while those who had it were poor and simple. So what might it do, they imagined, with the ability, the learning and the philosophy of men behind it! How it must ride triumphantly to victory! How the great must bow, and the wise be brought in!

No doubt these are prominent men in the world's eyes. But in the light of God's revelation they become like the magicians of Egypt when the plague of boils struck them. They could not stand before Moses (Ex. 9:11). Indeed, this matchless revelation actually renders foolish the wisdom of this world.

Worldly wisdom and strategy may have its day, but sooner or later it will fail completely. Faith already sees its folly and its moral overthrow at the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. "Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified," said the apostle — "to the nations foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, God's power and God's wisdom."

Christ is revealed to the humble soul. Intellectual attainment is not in question here; it is no matter of great learning or of philosophy... The most brilliant mind could never discover the ways of God. We get effort, but never success. The simplest Christian already knows what such a mind cannot reach — things "hidden from the wise and prudent" but "revealed to babes." How painful are man's efforts to arrive at darkness! "What is truth?" asked Pilate, and crucified Christ.

Here lies the great moral secret of the whole matter. Man has to find out that he is simply a fool, and that all the wisdom of the world is foolishness. Humbling, but wholesome truth! Humbling, because it puts man in his right place. Wholesome, yes, most precious, because it brings in the wisdom of God.

They have turned their backs on everything that makes much of man, everything that men boast in and trust by nature... Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Not in the Christian assembly where the presence of the Lord is.

It was in the wisdom of God, says the apostle, that the world by wisdom did not know God. This is an inspired declaration. Thinkers of the highest natural intelligence and the widest learning had used their powers to the full and reached their final results. It was all a vain attempt to find out God by searching. In other words, God's wisdom held back the announcement of saving grace in the name of the Son of God on purpose. He waited until man's natural ability had every opportunity to reach its highest point.

God never left Himself without witness. He never meant to leave man to the blind gropings of a darkened intellect... So, in the darkness they chose for themselves, their wisdom ripened. In Greece, the nation that stood for all the peoples outside Israel, among people who claimed to seek wisdom, it produced its finest blossoms and its ripest fruits. God's wisdom gladly gave ample time for this development. Israel under law had to show that man was without strength and ungodly. In the same way, the nations had to show that the world by wisdom did not know God.

It was not that the world by its ignorance or stupidity did not know God, but by wisdom it did not know God. All the wisdom of the ages, the combined efforts of the keenest minds in the world, ends in one result. It leaves man in complete ignorance of God, and in complete ignorance of himself.

What did the philosophy of Greece do for its disciples? It made them the ignorant worshippers of "AN UNKNOWN GOD." The words carved on their altar announced their ignorance and their shame to the whole universe. And may we not rightly ask whether philosophy has done better for the Christian world than it did for Greece? Has it given the knowledge of the true God? Who would dare to say Yes?

The apostle here speaks not exactly of preaching as a mere instrument, but of the thing preached... This the Jews derided, as well as the Greeks. It was foolishness to them. That is no surprise, if they did not see the glory of the person of Christ, given to die in God's love to sinners. To the natural mind, what could seem less reasonable than a crucified man as the only Saviour from sins and the wrath of God?

This great wisdom comes in words so simple and clear that a child can understand it. That is why men who pride themselves on their superior wisdom are arrogant enough to despise it and call it foolishness. It is of course not the fact of preaching that is despised, but the subject matter.

Note this too: men owe their ruin to themselves, but salvation is from God alone. It pleases Him to save. As to the means, it is "the foolishness of preaching." To do the mightiest of works, He uses what the natural mind judges the most inadequate of means. In this way He displays both His wisdom and His power.

In this Christianity stands in sharp contrast with every human system of wisdom. Philosophy wants philosophers, science needs scientists, astronomy must have astronomers. Unless a man has the brains and ability their demands call for, he cannot claim to be their disciple. Not so with the grace that saves. The "wise and prudent" are set aside, and "babes" are put in their place.

The Jews had a background and training in the public knowledge of a God who showed Himself in visible miracles and signs. So they held that only striking visible signs could prove that a thing was from God. The Greeks, on the other hand, took pride in intellectual achievement. They looked for the kind of wisdom that would exalt the most philosophical minds.

In verse 22 we have a summary of the wisdom of this world, measured against the higher longings of mankind. It shows two features, and only two: unbelief that is still gullible, and investigation that relies on itself.

The world is busy with other things, or turns elsewhere. God gave visible signs when He sent the Lord Jesus to the land of Israel. Never since the world began had there been such a cloud of witnesses of this kind. But what can satisfy the heart when everything in it is turned away from God? The Jews overlooked all He gave and asked for a sign as if none had appeared. The Greeks expected nothing from God. But if what they were looking for was wisdom, they never learned its first lesson: the fear of the Lord.

Power and wisdom are the two things man admires. But they must be power and wisdom that suit his own thoughts. The Jews looked for a Messiah dressed in worldly majesty and glory. The Greeks looked for a god that fitted their own philosophical ideas. How then could either one recognize or receive a Saviour who came clothed with humility and weakness?

The demand for a sign gets no answer, and the questions of philosophy lead only to emptiness and hopeless doubt. Man has confessed his own failure, whether Jew or Gentile. He cannot rescue himself. Nor can he find the way of peace by the flickering light of his own intelligence. On that ground God now speaks to both alike through His ambassadors.

The Jew was waiting for the Christ, but He had to be a splendid figure, spectacular, matching what they expected. The Greek would have welcomed a new philosopher to bring their ideas to a triumphant climax. Christ crucified outraged them both. Such a Christ was a hopeless stumbling block to the Jew, and He looked ridiculous beyond words to the Greek. But there is no other Christ than the Christ who was crucified.

The merely religious man looks for a sign, while the man who trusts reason wants wisdom. The Sign God gives is also His Wisdom... He is that hidden wisdom which God planned beforehand for our glory. But the rulers of this age crucified the Lord of glory, because they did not know Him. In killing Him they showed their own folly.

What kind of sign was this? the Jews would ask. Had not many others been crucified? Yes, but not another like Him. Here is the one Man without sin, the One who is more than man, the eternal God revealed in human flesh... But on His side it was a sacrifice of infinite value — how much more than a sign!

An angel told Zacharias that his elderly wife, who had never had children, would bear a son. Even so, he asked for some sign to back up the plain Word of God. In this he showed himself to be an "unbelieving believer," though very true to type, for "Jews demand signs."

As a translator's note points out, "the foolishness of preaching" points not to the act of preaching, but to what is preached. So in verse 23 the apostle says, "we preach Christ crucified … folly to Gentiles" (older translations read "foolishness"). To those cultured, intellectual men it seemed complete folly to preach salvation through One who died a shameful death on a cross. It offended their pride, because it made nothing of man. By this means God made foolish the wisdom of this world.

The Christ whom the apostle preached was the One whom the world crucified. He was a rejected, outcast Christ — one assigned by the world to a criminal's gallows. What a fact for the poor Corinthians, so full of vanity and love for this world's wisdom!

Here it is not simply the blood shed that makes atonement. To say "crucified" says more than to say "dead." Both words declare the end of man in the flesh. But the cross carries a shame and weakness beyond anything else. God saved by means of the cross, where the world saw the worst of human suffering and humiliation. That silenced the world's wisdom. It proved that wisdom to be folly, for daring to think and speak in that way about His wisdom. … The cross of Christ is the fullest display of God's judgment of sin and of His love to the sinner.

The Jews looked for a Messiah reigning in power from a throne. He would revive the kingdom, put down their enemies, and set Israel at the head of the nations. Christ reigning on a throne they could understand; Christ crucified on a cross was an offence to them. Having no sense of their need as sinners, they could see no meaning in the cross. To them in their unbelief it became a stumbling block.

The Gentiles looked for something that appealed to reason — some new thing, some scheme of philosophy. Tell them that salvation comes through a crucified Man, life through a dying Man, power through a Man crucified in weakness, and in their sight you were talking utter foolishness. Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is God's power and God's wisdom.

The cross sweeps away the whole of man in the flesh. It puts an end to everything the flesh could glory in. There is no glory for the flesh in the cross at all. It was God's wisdom to do this: no dignity, no heroism, but shame, reproach, disgrace, and death. It brings all of man down to a place where nothing could be found. There is not even a stone to put his foot on to keep it out of the water. Only slaves ever hung on a cross, and this is what God takes up to bring the world to nothing.

On one side stood the wise Greek, on the other the devout Jew, who testified that God is one. But Paul's testimony was the same to both, though they stood opposed to one another: "a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles." The veil lay on the heart of the one as much as on the other. Both stood opposed to the teaching of grace. The apostle counted only on the power of God to remove the veil and to open the way for people to receive His testimony.

The Jews demanded signs, because God had stepped into their history with miracles again and again. But the sign had to be of a certain kind to satisfy them. The Greeks almost worshipped the human mind, and wanted nothing that did not fit the popular ideas of the day... The Jew was waiting for a Christ who had to be splendid and spectacular, just as they expected. The Greek would have welcomed a new philosopher to bring their theories to a triumphant finish. Both were outraged by Christ crucified. But there is no other Christ than the Christ who was crucified.

To tell the Greeks there was salvation through a crucified Man, life through a dying Man, power through One who was crucified in weakness, was to say what in their eyes was utter foolishness. Still, to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. In Him they discover God's power to save, and God's wisdom in carrying out all His purposes.

The first and special effect of this preaching on "the called" is to set the person of the Saviour clearly and firmly before their souls. To such, the apostle says, "it is Christ." The news of Him reached their ears just as it reached everyone else's. But in their happy case it was mixed with faith, so His Name becomes to them the proof and assurance of His saving grace. They receive the Lord Himself when they receive God's testimony. Next, the Christ they have received is to them the power and wisdom of God. Power shows itself by what it does... And when a soul receives Christ crucified by faith, the effect is to settle it in the lasting peace of God.

The point here is not simply the blood shed that makes atonement. To say "crucified" says more than to say "dead." Both declare the end of man in the flesh, but the cross carries a shame and weakness beyond anything else. So when God saved by means of the cross, where the world saw the worst of human suffering and humiliation, He silenced human wisdom. He proved it to be folly, since it dared to think and speak that way about His wisdom.

What power can anyone show next to the "immeasurable greatness" of God's power, "that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places"? What wisdom can anyone show, after all their research, to match what God revealed when He turned the shameful cross of Calvary into the means of salvation and blessing for countless millions? Men refused His beloved Son even the small honour of kingship over the Jews, and God has made Him head over the universe.

Wisdom shows itself when the means chosen actually reach the goal. God's goal must be His own glory. So Christ crucified must be owned as His wisdom. For the cross of the Son of God empties every claim the creature could make, and at the same time shows the rich glory of His grace in the triumphant display of His own righteousness.

How fitting that the man once given wisdom beyond anyone else should be the one to reveal, in the Old Testament, the One who is that Wisdom in His own eternal Person!

The expressions "foolishness of God" and "weakness of God" just put the thing in the strongest way. Take death as an example. Death is weakness — "crucified in weakness". Yet death set aside everything of man, and in that sense it is the weakness of God. It establishes God completely. The weakness of God was the gospel, that is, as man would speak of it; and foolishness as man looks at it. And God chose that. He took it on purpose. To man it was only someone hanging on a gallows, yet it glorified God.

Men may wish to call this the foolishness of God, as in verse 25. It is still infinitely wiser than man's highest wisdom. And if they count it weakness on God's part, there is a power in it far above the greatest strength of men. It achieves such lasting results that it puts to shame the things men boast of as their greatest accomplishments.

It is not simply the blood shed that makes atonement here; and it says more to say "crucified" than to say dead. Though both declare the end of man in the flesh, the cross holds an extreme of shame and weakness found nowhere else. In the cross the world saw the worst of human suffering and humiliation. That God should save by that very cross silenced the world's wisdom. It proved that wisdom to be folly, for daring to think and speak that way about His wisdom.

Where was there ever a victory so complete and so far-reaching? It came when this Man of sorrows bowed His head and died. ... There the cunning and craft of Satan ended in his own confusion. His seeming victory became defeat, and Christ's seeming overthrow became triumph. From that lowest depth Christ went up on high. He led captivity captive and gave gifts to men. For truly "the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men."

We speak of the cross of Christ as the strongest expression of love, and of His resurrection as the brightest display of power... It was not the display of wisdom, though it certainly was the wisdom of God. To the wise of this world the cross is foolishness, and to the self-righteous it is a stumbling block. Nor was it the display of power — "He was crucified in weakness" — but it was the showing of love. If to the worldly-wise it looks like weakness and foolishness, to admiring faith it is the highest expression of love enduring.

What a human system boasts of as its glory is really its condemnation: it can run on smoothly without God. That system points to open ministry, carried on in dependence on the Holy Spirit, as proof of folly. But that is its real excellence: it cannot go on without God. If it were of man alone it would collapse in a moment. How true it is here, as in everything else: "The foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men!"

The apostle tells the Corinthians to consider their calling, for they had not yet given up their old admiration of man's wisdom, power and rank. In the assembly of God before their eyes was the clearest evidence that not many were wise by worldly standards, not many powerful, not many of noble birth… But the apostle goes further. He shows that this is not only a fact among men (v. 26) but a purpose on God's part (vv. 27-29)… So plainly does God judge what so often captivates the heart of Christians. They love to count up the wise and the great of the world in their own ranks, as if anything of the sort could add glory to Christ.

It is God Himself who calls His saints. So why were there not many wise men, not many mighty, not many noble among them? Did God unfairly shut these people out? No indeed; at least some of them did believe the gospel… God does not condemn intelligence or human ability. But by the preaching of the cross He strikes the death-blow to man's pride and confidence in these things. Some refuse it for one reason only: it wounds their pride. They will not come down and admit that God is greater than themselves.

This world honours the wise according to the flesh, the mighty and the noble. But "God chose what is foolish in the world … what is weak … what is low and despised … even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God" (1 Cor. 1:27-29). The few of the great in this world whom God has called take their place among the despised — not because of their greatness, but despite it.

High birth, wide education and wealth all work to strengthen and develop what is natural in man. So it is true, and a sad truth, that these things stand against the gaining of divine knowledge. That knowledge must begin by bringing man to complete dependence on God. But on the other hand, poverty and ignorance are no natural introduction to a state of grace. "Wicked men of the rabble" are as ready to deny the truth as philosophic pride is to ignore it. At heart, man is the same at every level of culture or social position.

God chooses to take up whomever He likes to do His work, and in fact He very often takes up very simple people… God will have a wonderful witness go out. But He will have that witness carried by His own witnesses, and His witnesses are for the most part the poor and feeble of this world. So in Acts 2 we read, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?" Galileans were the simple country folk of the day, and their leader Peter was an "uneducated, common" man. God may sometimes take up a rich man or a nobleman for some special work. But generally, as of old, so today, God's witnesses are chosen from the despised of this world.

Yet such a negative conclusion, important as it may be, is not enough for the Spirit of God. He would lead the heart away from the emptiness of man's vanity or pride. He would lead it to real moral worth, to the provision of divine grace and holiness, and to a glory that will never pass away… "And because of Him you are in Christ Jesus." What a vast change of nature, position and relationships for anyone! How blessed for those whose wretched state in the world and in the flesh the apostle had just described plainly!

The Corinthians still clung to their old admiration of man's wisdom and power and rank. So the apostle tells them to consider their calling. The assembly of God in front of them was the clearest evidence: not many of them were wise by human standards, not many powerful, not many high-born... But the apostle goes further and shows that it is not only a fact among men (v. 26) but a purpose on God's part (vv. 27-29)... His judgment is clear on the thing that always tends to capture the hearts of Christians. They love to count up the wise and the world's grandeur in their own ranks, as if anything of the sort could add glory to Christ. Did not God choose the lowly and despised things of the world... so that no flesh might boast in the sight of God?

The apostle has set aside the religious flesh of the Jew and the intellectual flesh of the non-Jew. He did it by presenting the cross and the preaching of the cross. Now he sets aside the pride of the flesh by presenting the calling of God... So a blind beggar put the wise Pharisees to shame. Simple fishermen shamed the wise rulers of Israel so completely that they had to say, "What shall we do?"

The world despises the cross; and God meant it to be a despicable thing — a gallows... There, on the basest thing in the world, He has hung salvation.

Did God shut such people out for no reason? No. At least some of them did believe the gospel... God does not condemn intelligence or human ability. But by the preaching of the cross He strikes the death-blow to man's pride and confidence in these things. Some refuse the cross because it hurts their pride. They will not come down and admit that God is really greater than they are.

God used something foolish to bring down the walls of Jericho: rams' horns, blown round a powerful fortress. The people marched round it for seven days, and the walls fell. God used weak things to rescue Israel and turn back the enemy armies: Shamgar's ox-goad, Gideon's three hundred men, Samson's jawbone.

God uses two kinds of instruments to do His work. First, those who have no value in themselves... But He also takes up instruments which are of great value in the eyes of men and to themselves. People looked up to Saul of Tarsus. He was learned, religious, energetic and careful to do right. To all appearance he lacked nothing that God could use. Yet God lays hold of him, strikes him to the ground on the way to Damascus, and, so to speak, breaks the vessel to pieces. Then He says, Now I can use him.

The very passage that tells us "God chose what is foolish in the world" at once adds, "because of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God" (1 Cor. 1:27, 30). Sadly, our own imagined wisdom often stops us from benefiting from the wisdom from above — the wisdom of our Head. It is good for us to admit our foolishness and cast ourselves on the wisdom that is in Christ our Head. Then, however unintelligent we are by nature, He will give us wisdom for every detail of our life and service.

The apostle goes further and shows that it is not only a fact among men (v. 26) but a purpose on God's part. He chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise men. He chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong things. This is how clearly He passes judgment on what always tends to capture the heart of Christians. They love to count the wise and the great people of the world in their own ranks, as if anything of that sort could add glory to Christ.

As to "things which are not" (v. 28) … the apostle takes it as an extreme case in the whole scene of God in Christendom. God has brought to nothing all of heathenism and Judaism.

He "calls the things that are not as though they were" (Rom. 4:17). He chooses "things which are not" (1 Cor. 1:28). Things which are not to us, exist for Him.

They perceived that they were ignorant and unlearned men. But, though they despised them from the heart, they could not deny the plain evidence of miraculous power that backed their teaching. "Things which are not" began to shake the throne of present power. Pilate was afraid before the words of One who admitted that He was indeed a King, yet said His kingdom was not now of this world. And Felix trembled and Agrippa felt ashamed before Paul, a chosen servant and a minister of things unseen. For a time he broke down the stubborn wickedness of men who, if they thought of God at all, thought of Him only as someone like themselves. It belongs to God to "call the things that are not as though they were." In the same way, through the effective power of the heavenly calling, He makes present things nothing in the eyes of those who live on His word.

In truth, all five of these descriptions belong first and chiefly to Christ. Though He was God's chosen and holy One, He was "despised and rejected by men."… "He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to Him?" "As for this man, we do not know where He comes from." These sayings show what worldly judgment thought of God's wisdom in human form, in its day of opportunity.… The "chosen of God and precious" was, and still is, the One rejected by the builders of this world.

Not only has God chosen such to be His saints, but also in His work He chooses such as His servants.

The flesh must glory in something — birth, riches, or intellect. But in the presence of God neither believer nor unbeliever can glory in these things. Sadly, in the presence of one another we may try to lift ourselves up by birth, riches, wisdom, or achievements. But in the presence of Christ we are ashamed of the very things we glory in before one another.

But the apostle goes further and shows that it is not only a fact among men (v. 26) but a purpose on God's part (vv. 27-29). He chose the foolish things of the world to put the wise men to shame. He chose the weak things of the world to put the strong things to shame. His judgment is clear on the very thing that always tends to capture the heart of Christians. They love to count up the wise and the grand people of the world in their own ranks, as if anything like that could add glory to Christ.

No flesh shall glory in the presence of God. It may boast outside. It may make its claims, glory in its resources and be proud of what it does, as long as no one thinks about God. But bring Him in, and in a moment it all withers — the boasting, the empty glory, the high claims, the self-satisfaction and the self-conceit.

The flesh must glory in something — either birth or riches or intellect. But in the presence of God, neither believer nor unbeliever can glory in these things. Sadly, in front of one another we may try to lift ourselves up by birth, riches, wisdom or achievements. But in the presence of Christ we are ashamed of the very things we glory in before one another. We dare not mention them in His presence, except to condemn ourselves for glorying in them. To glory in them only shows how little we are in His presence.

Verse 29 gives us one specific goal of God's sovereign calling and choosing. Boasting cannot live with grace. The cross withers nature to its very root, and leaves nothing for the flesh to boast about.

The elder son has a natural claim; and religious people in every age have considered themselves in this position in relation to God — to a greater or lesser degree. But for this very reason God rejects them, "so that no human being might boast in the presence of God" (1 Cor. 1:29). It is surely no accident that Scripture always shows the elder son outside God's blessing. It is the sinner who admits his guilt, who has nothing to plead but what he finds in God Himself, who gets the blessing.

Such was the man that God visited and chose as His servant — a man who realised his utter weakness, and who said, "O my Lord, how can I save Israel?" This gives us a first great principle about the work of God in this world. God never asks what man can offer Him. The instruments He takes up to glorify Himself are the weak ones, who know their weakness (1 Cor. 1:27-29; 2 Cor. 12:9-10).

Flesh is completely set aside, and its wisdom is now written down as folly. No flesh is to boast in His presence: "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." Flesh cannot boast before Him. We are to boast in Him. But then the whole being of man in the flesh, morally speaking, has ended for the Christian. We are in Christ Jesus because of God, and Christ Jesus is made wisdom from God to us. That is the great subject here — and then righteousness, sanctification and final deliverance.

"Of him," that is of God, "are you in Christ Jesus." I am of God. And I have my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption from God, all in Christ. It comes from Him; it is not my thinking about Him. And so man is totally set aside, flesh is put down.

Wisdom naturally comes first, because it is the point under discussion. We need it, for sin has plunged us into ignorance and folly. But sin has just as surely plunged us into guilt and condemnation, so we need righteousness. It has plunged us into contamination and corruption, so we need sanctification. And into bondage and slavery, so we need redemption. Redemption comes last, because it includes the final thing — the redemption of our bodies at the coming of the Lord.

We may have very little wisdom of our own. Still, Christ is made to us wisdom. We need not turn for wisdom to philosophy, to wise men, or to our own imagined wisdom, for we have Christ. Christ, on the cross, has fully shown us our ruin and made God known in His love.

God has made Christ to the believer "wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" (1 Cor. 1:30). And if Christ is made righteousness to the believer, that righteousness is absolute and permanent, for Christ never changes.

Every true believer is sanctified. To each one it can be said, "because of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption." So if you are truly converted and "in Christ Jesus," you may call yourself sanctified as confidently as you call yourself redeemed.

There is a practical work in us which is progressive. And this is the work of the Holy Spirit. Scriptures like this one have progressive sanctification in view.

Christ's holiness is not imputed. The only passage that can appear to resemble this teaching is 1 Corinthians 1:30, but imputation is not spoken of there. It is not possible to impute redemption. It is in Christ, and through Christ, that these are according to the will of God.

Last of all, Christ is made to us redemption — "the complete deliverance from the effects of sin in our bodies." We are still waiting for it. We see this redemption already set forth in Christ; we have it now in Christ our Head; we wait for it to appear in ourselves.

We have everything in Christ, and nothing in man as such. So, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." The cross, the preaching of the cross, the call of God, and our position in Christ before God shut out the flesh completely.

The flesh must boast in something — birth, or riches, or intelligence. But in God's presence neither believer nor unbeliever can boast in these things. In front of one another we may try to lift ourselves up by birth, riches, wisdom or achievements. But in the presence of Christ we feel ashamed of the very things we boast about to each other. We dare not mention them in His presence, except to condemn ourselves for boasting in them. To boast in them only shows how little we are in His presence.

We have seen, in verse 29, that the work of God silences boasting in the flesh. Now the lips open again for those who willingly bow the knee to Jesus, according to the faith of God's chosen people. For those who in Christ are already more than conquerors may boast. The revelation of God's glory as a Saviour leaves His true worshippers with little but praise. But their boast is Jesus.

How complete the blessing Christ has been made to us! And what a joy that we not only may but ought to boast in Him who has so ordered and given to us! Do devout souls call on us to beware of presumption? It is the apostle himself, on the strength of Jeremiah the prophet, who calls on the one who boasts to boast in the LORD. It is therefore not rash nor wrong, but a hallowed boast. We owe it to Him, and He deserves it of us.

God has made Him everything to us, therefore our boasting is to be in Him. This quotation is from Jeremiah. Speaking of the sad state of Israel and its leaders, he said, "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD" (9:23-24).

In what does this scripture ask us to boast? Certainly not in the state of the world! The state it is in now has made large numbers drop their old boasts about its progress. Nor do the inspired words quoted above encourage us to boast in the churches. The Spirit has pictured their declining state for us in Revelation 2 and 3, just as we see it today. Much less are we told to glory in ourselves, either naturally or spiritually.

So he says, "Let no one boast in men" (1 Cor. 3:21). Why? Because we have the Lord Himself whom men crucified to boast in; and we belong to Him.

Grace brought them all to glory in the Lord — to boast in Him! They had nothing in themselves to boast in. The heart needs something — or rather someone — a worthy object. So He is the One provided for that purpose. Anyone who boasts in people is not wise; and anyone who boasts in himself is a fool. The word boast sounds a little out of place at first. But this is the word the Spirit of Truth has used to build us up, and we do well to take hold of its force: "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." We have good reason to do so. We were once far from God, but now in Christ Jesus we have been brought near. Christ carried our sins and their judgment away on the cross, and has secured an eternal redemption and an eternal inheritance in glory for us.

They were his witnesses as to how he first came to them. They knew he had come among them at the start, not as a clever speaker looking for an admiring audience, but as a man burdened with a message from the living God. Nor, when he spoke to them of Jesus, had he cleverly tried to make his teaching fit their existing notions or ideas. They were full of speculative thought, and quick both to take up and to debate new ideas of any kind. Even so, nothing in their earlier training or habit of thought was a stock ready for his teaching to be grafted onto. He brought them a testimony, not a theory.

What 1 Corinthians 1 calls the testimony of Christ, Paul calls "the testimony of God" in the next chapter. Christ was the subject of the testimony, but God was its source. It was what God sent to men about His Son. And what God sent did not need dressing up with human eloquence, or an appeal to human wisdom.

When Paul visited Corinth, he knew he was dealing with people who were easily won over by well-turned sentences or stirring speeches. It made no difference to them whether what was said was true or false. Dress up some hazy speculation or fine-spun "thought" in a philosophical manner, and you soon had attentive, admiring hearers. Here, then, were the means both to draw the Corinthians to his preaching and to make the gospel easy to accept and popular.

The Corinthian believers, being carnal, thought far too much of man and of his qualifications and powers. Eloquence and wisdom had a strong pull on them. The Apostle Paul openly disclaimed such things. To him they were only a hindrance, as Saul's armour was to David. He knew that only the power of God is enough to do the work of God. And God does not change the basic principles of how He works. His way of working is just the same today.

The apostle did not come with lofty speech or wisdom when he announced the testimony of God at Corinth. God was calling them, as He calls all men, to repent. To that end He was testifying of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Paul judged it right to limit himself to this at the beginning of the gospel in that pleasure-loving city. More mature souls need Christ in every way — risen, at God's right hand, and coming again in glory. Here he presented His person, and especially Him crucified. It is not a philosophy but a divine person and work. Those who are full-grown need much more, and God keeps nothing back from them. The difference is not reserve on His part. It is the state of souls: some need milk, as babies do; others solid food, as those settled in Christ.

The means we use will largely show the spirit we are of. Paul did not come among the Corinthians "proclaiming ... the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom." This was not mere human weakness. It was his definite purpose that their faith should rest not in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. All supplements to spiritual power always make the result a fleshly one. Even where God is working, the true result will show itself in the end, though perhaps only after many days.

His speech drew no attraction from the fleshly persuasiveness of a manufactured eloquence. It was the expression of the presence and action of the Spirit, and of the power that came with that presence. So their faith rested on the power of God, not on the fine words of a man. Someone more eloquent or more subtle can always overturn fine words. God's power is a solid foundation for our feeble souls.

Corinth was a city of learning, luxury and immorality, and all three affected the assembly there. The apostle put it on record that when he first came among them he held back from anything like "lofty speech or wisdom." He spoke "wisdom" elsewhere, "among the mature," but he had not done so at Corinth.

For his theme he had Christ and His cross only. Fix in your mind the two words, "among you." He knew the tendencies of the Corinthians, with their great ideas about philosophy and human intellect. He would not meet them on their ground, or let them draw him into philosophical discussions of their choosing. The truth of a crucified Christ laid all their pride and glory in the dust. Until a man comes down into the dust he cannot begin with God.

People often use the apostle's resolve "to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified" as if he limited his preaching to Christ's death for sinners. That is very far from the truth. We know for certain that he preached much more than this. The truth is that in Corinth, people praised human wisdom and Jews argued hard for human righteousness. The apostle determined to pay attention to neither. He would keep a crucified Saviour before him at all times and minister Him. For he saw in the rejected and crucified Son of God the worthlessness of both human wisdom and human righteousness. He saw in the cross the divine estimate of man in the flesh.

It is not exactly the cross of Christ, but Jesus Christ — the plain fact of preaching Christ. Then he takes Christ in what men would think the lowest and most degraded way — "Christ, and Him crucified." We are used to looking on the cross as redemption, so it is hard for us to feel the effect on a group of philosophers. Think of going and saying, "There was a man hanged in Belfast; trust him." To man it was the grossest folly possible. And notice, it is Jesus Christ — His Person here — and Him crucified.

People use it again and again as an objection to studying what the word reveals. This comes from two causes. One is a very fruitful source of error: quoting a passage without looking at its context. The other, sad to say, comes from some degree of dishonesty — a desire, perhaps unrecognised in our own deceitful hearts, to stand still in the ways of the Lord by learning as little of them as possible. It is not true that we are to limit ourselves to the knowledge of Jesus Christ crucified. We must also know Jesus Christ glorified, Jesus Christ at the right hand of God; we must know Him as High Priest, as Advocate with the Father. We ought to know Jesus Christ as much as possible.

The speaker may have eloquence, and everything that attracts the natural mind. But when it comes to "Christ," hungry souls often starve for lack of food. Happy the man, then, who could say, "I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." He preached a crucified Christ, and he himself knew from experience what it was to be crucified with Him. Christ in glory had become the object of the apostle's heart, and was also the subject of his preaching. It would have been hard for his hearers to ask, "Where was Christ in all we heard him say?" It would have been far easier to ask, "Where was Paul?"

The preacher himself was among them in a condition that was humiliating to the pride of man. He did not come as a self-confident orator. He knew his own weakness. He saw the deep need of the people he preached to, and how serious his message was. So he was among them in fear and much trembling.

I would point to Philippians 2, 1 Corinthians 2, and other passages. They show that we should not lower "with fear and trembling" to mere dread of punishment. We should see it instead as a sense of weakness joined with solemn responsibility before God.

He did not arrive among them with a great flourish of trumpets. He did not announce himself as "Palestine's most powerful Preacher," or something of that sort, as people do today. The very reverse. Weakness, fear, trembling are the things he mentions. He was keenly aware that the flesh was still in him. It might draw him away from undivided faithfulness to his Master, and betray him into something that was not of God. He knew the mighty power of the devil, entrenched in Corinthian hearts. So he feared and trembled. And so there was room for the Spirit of God to show His power.

Paul did not want the Corinthians to lean on him; in fact, he "trembled" in case they should be tempted to do so. He would have done them a serious wrong if he had come between their souls and the true source of all authority. That source is the true foundation of confidence and peace. Had he led them to build on himself, he would have robbed them of God, and that would have been a serious wrong indeed.

Paul's labours at this time were of no ordinary kind. He who saw from the mountain-top His disciples struggling at the oars also saw His servant's need of encouragement. So He spoke to Paul in the night by a vision: "Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city." The opposition was rising. If Paul had only weighed his own ability to meet it, he might well have lost heart, or even been driven from his post. So the Lord showed him in a special way that it was not a question of himself, but of the Lord against the enemy.

So when we are weak we are strong. Weakness that we feel leads to dependence, and only as we depend on Him are we strong with His strength. And we shall not always be conscious of the power, even though we are dependent. So Paul writes to the Corinthians, "I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling." Yet the letter and the account of his stay in Corinth in Acts 18 show something else. At this very time he was, in a special way, the channel of extraordinary power in his ministry of the Word. It will often be the same with the Lord's servants. Often they pass through a season when they feel weak and unfit to preach the Word. Later they learn that this was the very time when the Lord used them most in the blessing of souls.

He refused every artificial method, both in the thought and in the words that clothed it. He wanted the truth of God to speak straight to a person's heart. In the same way he was with the Corinthians in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. This is not the picture people imagine of the great apostle! But that deep sense of weakness was, by grace, his strength. The Corinthians' straining after power was their weakness. His one desire was to exalt God, admitting the nothingness and the guilt of man. He dreaded that any word of his might cloud God's true glory. He wanted his preaching to be God's testimony to and in Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. So his word and his preaching — the thing preached, not merely his manner in it — was not the rhetoric of the schools, but preaching that gave room to God's Spirit.

He would not sweeten his teaching with flattery to please his hearers. He would not commend it by tricks of rhetoric either. In both manner and substance his ministry was to be "of God"... This broad phrase probably points to the outward miracles. God gave them so freely at the start of the gospel, as a visible sign to everyone of where the testimony came from. But if so, they hold only a secondary place in this description of his work at Corinth. What he insists on is that his ministry was spiritual through and through, and that it reached the hearts and consciences of those who received it.

Paul refused all human means, and all appeal to human nature. That left room for the Spirit to work in mighty power. Suppose faith appears under such preaching. Suppose someone believes a message so humbling to man, a message that ends man in judgment. Then it is not human wisdom that leads them to believe, but the power of the Spirit of God working with them... It is not only a question of the truth they believed, but of the way in which they received it. They received it not from a man, even though that man was an apostle, but from God.

Weakness, fear and trembling marked the man who carried the message. But the message came with the wonderful demonstration of the Holy Spirit and the power of God. If persuasive words of man's wisdom win a person, another display of the same can overturn it. But what the Spirit's power gives stands in the power of God.

We measure power by work done, not by the show made. A man may be an eloquent preacher. He may draw thousands to hear him. Large numbers may even claim to be saved under his ministry. But the only test of his power is whether souls are truly saved. That is how we know the Holy Spirit has been at work. New birth is His work by the word of truth, whatever instrument He uses.

How common the mistake, even in the Church of God! Christians themselves want eloquence, and give it a place above the power of God... Even the saints who know the truth in theory are charmed and drawn by splendid gifts. They take pleasure in the display of those gifts, apart from the truth the gifts pass on. How different was Paul's thought... This is why God often uses those who are "slow of speech" far more than the eloquent. Then no one is tempted to lean on the wisdom of men, and everyone sees that it is the power of God.

His speech was not attractive with the artificial persuasiveness of manufactured eloquence. It was the expression of the presence and action of the Spirit, and of the power that came with that presence. So their faith did not rest on the fine words of a man. A more eloquent or more subtle speaker could overturn words like that. Their faith rested on the power of God — a solid foundation for our feeble souls. Blessed be His name for it!

How unassailable must be the faith that stands in the power of God! This was not a question of the truth itself — of their getting it. The question was how they got it: from God Himself, by dealing with Him directly about it, or merely from a man, even though the man was an apostle.

If the gospel is God's wisdom, then the faith that embraces it is also a token and a witness of His power. People may believe the teachings of men. Human wisdom has its followers, because our nature responds easily to what is natural. But the faith that justifies discerns the Person of its object. That faith is itself the gift of Him who sent His only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. Its quality matches its origin.

The ground or authority on which we must rest our souls is the same for us as it was for Abraham and all true believers in every age. It is the Word of God, the holy Scriptures. There is no other foundation of faith, and the faith that rests on any other is not true faith at all. Some rest their faith on human tradition, on the authority of the Church, on so-called general councils, on the clergy, or on learned men. That is not divine faith but mere superstition.

Should evangelists adopt the pleasant things of man, the novelties of the age, or anything else, to make the gospel of God attractive to the world? The gospel is indeed called powerful — the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Rom. 1:16) — but is it ever to be made "attractive"? The heart of man rejected the words and works of Christ. It rejected moral goodness and divine glory in His Person. That same heart is not one bit more willing today to accept the grace and truth of God in the story of His love and shame on the cross.

We measure power by work done, not by the show made. A man may be an eloquent preacher. He may draw thousands to hear him. Large numbers may even claim to be saved under his ministry. But the only test of his power is whether souls have truly been saved. That is how we know the Holy Spirit has been at work. New birth is His work by the word of truth, whatever instrument He may use.

Some people are merely following men. They accept what a preacher says because he says it. They cling to certain preachers or teachers because of something in their style and manner, or because those men seem very holy, very separated, or very devoted. All this will come to nothing. Those human links will soon be snapped. The faith that stands, in any measure, in the wisdom of men will prove hollow and worthless. Nothing will prove permanent, nothing will last, except the faith that rests on the testimony and in the power of the only true God.

It is not that "wisdom" is missing from the Christian scheme. It could not be missing. Christ, who is everything in it, is God's wisdom, and that wisdom has a character, height, depth, and extent proper to God. So it suits His children — at least those weaned from the first man and from the world where he seeks activity and importance. In a word, it suits "the perfect" or full-grown. It does not suit the babes. They are wrapped up in their own needs, and at best they want milk, not the meat that a riper condition needs for its nourishment.

A perfect man is one who is full grown. He has passed out of infancy. He knows what the cross has accomplished, and new creation in Christ has opened up before his eyes. The Corinthians should have reached this, but they had become stunted in growth; they stayed small. The apostle blames them for it. He had to feed them with milk.

We may be believers. But we may still be unsure how we stand before God. We may still be caught up in ourselves over questions of deliverance from the power of sin. While that lasts, we have neither the heart nor the leisure to learn the wisdom of God. That wisdom is expressed in His counsels and purposes, which were once a secret but are now made known.

"See," replies the apostle, "I will tell you why I did not say much more about these secrets of wisdom. You are far too involved with the wisdom of this world. That is why I could not speak of it." ... The more time we spend in the wisdom of this world, the less able we will be to understand these hidden things of wisdom. That was the trouble with the Corinthians.

The word "world" in verse 6 is really "age." In another Scripture Satan is called "the god of this age." The god of this age uses the princes of this age to put forward the wisdom of this age. At the same time he blinds their minds, so that they have no knowledge of God's wisdom — the wisdom God ordained before all the ages. When the Lord of glory was here, he so blinded their minds that they crucified Him.

First, he tells us it is not the wisdom of this age. It is not even the wisdom of the few intellectual giants who shape the thinking of the world. These intellectual princes, for all their wisdom, "come to nothing." The believer is the opposite: he comes to "glory" (verse 7), in the company of "the Lord of glory" (verse 8). Those who shine in the glory of this world come to nothing, while those who are nothing in this world come to glory.

All the combined wisdom of the chiefs of this world is worth nothing before God. The chiefs themselves turn the world upside down and do more harm than good. Then they disappear from the scene and come to nothing. Napoleon himself regretted that one day his exploits would fill only half a page of general history. And where are Julius Caesar and Alexander now?

It is no perfecting of the race of Adam ... It is the perfection of the glorified Christ, the centre of all God's glorious and eternal counsels. That is perfection, and there is no other.

It is God's wisdom "in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom". Those words do not mean it is unclear or puzzling. They mean no human cleverness could ever have discovered it. What is more, all through the ages it has been "hidden", so you will not find it in the Old Testament Scriptures.

It was hidden from the minds of men. They could not understand it until Christ Himself appeared to take away our sins. God's wisdom came long before the wisdom of men. It is simple in its greatness and great in its simplicity, yet man's highest wisdom could never find it.

The first thing we learn is that these counsels of God were before the world. I am not speaking of election here, but of the plans and thoughts of God before the world was. That is the contrast in this verse: God's thoughts and counsels, ordained for our glory, set before the world we now live in with all its responsibilities. These counsels, which were before the world, came out as a result of the death of Christ.

We ourselves were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. More than that, God's wisdom had our glory in view before the ages began, and He ordained it all then. And what God ordains always comes to completion when His hour arrives. So our glory is certain. It is tied to Christ's glory and serves it. Christ's glory comes first, but ours is as sure as His, and God ordained it just as truly.

So far as I know, this is the only thing the New Testament ever calls ordained for our glory. We read of what God ordained for His glory and for the glory of Christ, and by grace He brings us into that. But here it says He ordained this hidden wisdom for our glory. Oh, that we valued it more!

This wisdom held God's secret counsel, settled before the ages, for the glory of His people. We might have expected the Apostle to say for the glory of God and of Christ. It will indeed be for the glory of Christ. But here the Apostle presses this on us: our calling shows that believers are the weak and despised of the world, and yet they are marked out beforehand for glory. We may not be wise, or mighty, or noble in this world, but we are called to glory.

So this points to God's eternal counsels in Christ (see Ephesians 1:3-6). They were kept secret until now, but the Spirit has made them known through Paul's ministry (vv. 9, 10). In this light the words "our glory" become clear. They cover the full carrying out of God's purposes in Christ for His people, and so their likeness to Christ and their place with Him in glory.

This was not only to display the superior wisdom of God. It was designed "for our glory" — to bring sinful mankind into a place of dignity and glory never imagined before.

How often we hear a Christian quote the words "no eye has seen, nor ear heard," to excuse an ignorance that the Spirit of God takes pains to show is no longer excusable. What God has prepared for those who love Him is now made known.

Romans 12 tells us not to be conformed to this age, and 1 Corinthians 2:8 speaks of "the princes of this age." The first means we are not to be shaped by the influences of the moment we live in, whether literary, scientific, philosophic, political, or social. They are, in fact, the sum of everything that forms the life of men as men at any time. The princes of the age are the world's, or the nation's, leaders. They are wise, as men count wisdom, in their own generation, but completely blind about the things of God.

They condemned the supreme Lord of glory to a death of supreme degradation and shame — and not so much the ignorant crowd as the princes of this age. They wrote the notice on His cross in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. The Greeks were beyond dispute the intellectual princes of the age. The Romans were the princes in military strength and in the art of government. The Hebrews were princes without a rival in matters of religion. Yet all shared in the crucifixion of the Lord of glory.

It does not say they did not know Him, but rather they did not know the first thing about the wisdom of God, and the result is they crucified Him.

Why did they crucify the Lord of glory? Because they did not know Him. Well, if their wisdom did not enable them to recognize their Creator when they saw Him, it stands condemned.

This glory goes beyond the glory of Christ as the Messiah, reigning over the earth in connection with Israel. That earthly reign is no mystery. The prophets are full of glorious predictions about the kingdom glories. "The Lord of glory" speaks of a wider scene than this earth. It speaks of a rule over the whole universe, taking in every created thing and being, with the crucified One as Lord.

They have given the place of the greatest shame and disgrace to the One to whom all glory belongs, the One in whom "the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily" (Colossians 2:9).

He adds that none of the princes of this world knew, for they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Because He was that, you get His Person, and not just the fact of the cross. It is a very strong thing to put before man. It is what wrote folly on their wisdom and on the grandeur of this world.

None of them knew it when Jesus was here, yet they too served as instruments in laying a basis for it. For the cross of Christ on earth answers to the glory of God in heaven, and that glory answers to the cross. Wonderful fact — a man exalted over the whole universe, risen and glorified, with all things put under His feet at God's right hand!

They had no idea that what they considered their victory over Christ was their actual defeat.

This is an application of Isaiah 64:4, but not as a direct illustration. It is used for full contrast. God inspired the Jewish prophet to stop at one point: man cannot see through the veil that hides the future blessing God has prepared for the one who waits for Him. The Christian apostle does not stop there. The veil has been torn, and the blood of Jesus gives us courage to come near now... There is no use saying that these things are hidden from man. They were hidden, but God has now revealed them to His children.

"What no eye has seen": human observation could find nothing here. This was what Eliphaz appealed to when he rebuked Job (Job 4:8), and he was wrong. "Nor ear heard": the ear had never received this from all the gathered wisdom of past ages — the tradition Bildad appealed to when he judged Job (Job 8:8–10). He was just as wrong. "Nor the heart of man imagined": no one's own insight could have imagined wisdom like God's.

With powerful instruments his eye can see far into space and into the tiny wonders of nature. His ear can be trained to hear and enjoy beautiful music. His mind can hold great thoughts and deep feelings. But God has prepared things for those who love Him that the natural man has never seen and never heard. They lie beyond the reach of his highest imagination.

And there people usually stop. But the apostle goes on, to show the difference between that state and ours: "these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit"... Is it not a strange thing? People quote the passage that says the heart of man has not imagined the things God has prepared for those who love Him. Then they pass over the statement that follows, the one that puts the position of Christians in contrast: God had revealed those things to them, and given them the Spirit so they could understand them.

Scripture always contrasts the things of the world with the things of God, but that is not the special teaching here. Nor is the point that the things God reveals are so much greater than our present state that we cannot take them in... The apostle is contrasting believers who lived before Christ came with believers now. In the time of Isaiah their hearts could not enter into the things God had prepared for those who love Him. We are in a different position.

These wonderful things do not belong to earth or to time. They were in the mind and heart of God before time began. They were meant to enrich the very people the great men of this world think nothing of... How wonderful that He planned to bring the weak things He had chosen, the lowly and the despised of the world, into the brightest glory with Christ, His own beloved Son.

For now, those who love God have all the care of a loving Father. For the future, God promises them wonderful blessings together with His own Son. The natural man has no ability to understand these things.

How often we hear a member of the body of Christ quoting the words, "no eye has seen, nor ear heard," to justify an ignorance that the Spirit of God takes pains to show us is no longer excusable. The things God has prepared for those who love Him are now made known. Our position is the opposite of the one the Jews had.

The wisdom of God lies outside what the natural man can understand. That does not mean the things of that wisdom cannot be seen, heard, or known. The Apostle says at once, "God has revealed them"... Only the Spirit can reveal these things, for nothing is beyond the range of His divine knowledge and power... We may try to excuse our lack of spiritual energy by saying these things are too deep for us. But let us remember they are not too deep for the Spirit.

We might ask with surprise, how can the Spirit of God need to "search" the things of God? Does He not share with the Father and the Son in all divine knowledge? Yes, He does, fully; but these words describe the Spirit in us... He works in the working of our minds as He leads them, and so He brings us into ever fuller communion with the Father and the Son.

Could any passage tell us of the depths of God like Ephesians 1:17-23? There is Christ, the centre of all His thoughts, the Christ who is the centre of His heart. God has given Him to be the centre of His affections, so that we might think of things as the Father thinks of them, in the circle of divine affection. God's deepest thoughts and His eternal counsel are centred in His beloved Son.

These relations are "the depths of God" that the apostle speaks of. He adds that "no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God." But God's Spirit has revealed this eternal relationship of the Father and the Son to us, through these words of the Son Himself.

The natural man can't receive these things. They are all completely foreign to his powers and his way of thought... The natural man means the unconverted man. There is the spiritual man (v. 15)... And there is a third kind of person, called in verse 3 the "carnal" man. Because these Corinthians were carnal, the matter cannot be explained to them any further.

What is in a man's mind is not known to anyone but the spirit of the man himself who has the thoughts. No one knows the unspoken thought of my mind except my own spirit. In the same way, no one knows the unspoken thoughts and plans of God except the Spirit of God.

The Spirit of God penetrates the deep things of God, as no creature could ever do. So He is the one who can reveal them. Verse 11 illustrates this with the spirit of a man. It is a man's spirit that knows the things of a man. Knowledge, intellect and understanding are connected with the spirit, not with the soul. The soul is marked more by desire and feeling.

No one knows what is in another's mind. He may guess more or less accurately. But no one can inwardly know what is in another's mind unless that person tells him. The spirit of the man himself knows, and no one else. It is shut out not only from animals lower than man in the scale of creation, but from his fellow men. The same is true of God, but with far greater force. No one can come to know the things of God unless they are revealed. Only the Spirit of God knows them.

"The Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God… no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God" (1 Cor. 2:10-11). Omniscience, another attribute belonging to Deity alone, is before us here as belonging to the Spirit. He knows and searches all things, knows the end from the beginning, for He is God.

The root error of all this departure from the truth is surely the refusal to accept God's verdict that "those who are in the flesh cannot please God," and the acceptance instead of the false idea that man is competent to judge the things of God, ignoring our fall through Adam's disobedience. In matters of this life men certainly have natural abilities; but Scripture plainly tells us that "no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God" (1 Cor. 2:11). Even the apostles… used to say, "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as coming from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God."

Only the spirit of a man can understand the things of a man. No man would give anyone else his own spirit, even if he had the power to do so. He does not want another person to know the deep secrets of his heart. But God has given us His Spirit so that we might know the wonderful secrets of His heart — things revealed by the Spirit that God has given to us.

There are three things. The Spirit unfolds and reveals the things; by words given by the Holy Spirit we communicate them; and by the Holy Spirit too they are received.

The Spirit of God and the spirit of the world are always in contrast… We have to say, "no eye has seen"; these things are so great we cannot conceive them, but God has revealed them by His Spirit. Believers in Old Testament times could not find out or know these things, but with us it is the opposite. We do know them, and He has given us His Spirit "that we might know the things."

The spirit of the world is restless. It is always active and always searching, either to find something new or to invent some cure for the many-sided misery of man. It may turn to theory or to practice, but it never finds the remedy that satisfies… The spirit of the world always advances, but never reaches its end. It leads on to what is coming, but what has never yet come. The Spirit which is of God is the very opposite.

If a man could hand over his own spirit, the one who received it would know all about him. Every secret of his heart and mind would lie open. No man would ever let anyone know the deepest secrets of his heart. But this is exactly what God has done. So that we might know His secrets, He has given us His Spirit.

It is the same with God, only with far greater force. No one can come to know the things of God unless God reveals them. Only the Spirit of God knows them. But here is the priceless privilege of the Christian. We did not receive the spirit of the world. We received the Spirit that is from God, and for this very purpose: that we might know — inwardly know — the things freely given to us by God.

Here God throws open to us the full treasure-house of His gifts of love. As we gaze in wonder at one gift and then another, the Spirit assures us they are all ours.

Where the blood has been put, the oil can follow. That is the anointing from the Holy One, by which the very babe in Christ knows all things. God's grace has freely given him everything along with God's own Son. That same grace would bring him into the conscious knowledge of it all, and into the joy of communion. This can only be by the Holy Spirit of God.

Your minds are not able to take in the truth, but the Spirit of God stoops to work in man. In what believers? The apostles or the early disciples only? God forbid we should be so unbelieving! The very thing that has preserved the church of God all through the ages has been the possession of the Spirit. This is a cardinal truth of Scripture.

This does not mean that all believers have the same conscious knowledge. But all have the same Spirit, who is able to communicate the things of God. We come to know them as far as we are willing to be taught and led by the Spirit.

Dullness of affection may keep us from profiting by what God has revealed. Or the activity of our own minds may carry us beyond what is written. So let us take care. Let us seek, with awakened affections and minds controlled by the Spirit, to enter more fully into all that has been revealed…

By the "natural man" the apostle means man as he is born and grows up, without being born of God or the Holy Spirit given to him. He may be very learned, scientific, intellectual and refined. Still, until the Spirit gives him life, he is the natural man. He does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for to him they are folly. Nor can he learn them and make them his own, grasping their truth, because they are spiritually discerned. He does not have the Spirit of God, since he does not believe in Christ.

The adjective ψυχικός, animal, appears in 1 Corinthians 2:14; 15:44, 46; and James 3:15. Its meaning may present some difficulty when applied either to a man's moral condition or to his body. We think it well, then, to note what the word points to in these passages. It points to that which, like the first Adam, lives by having a soul, and not by the mighty energy of the Holy Spirit.

A blind man does not know for himself what the beautiful colours of a flower are. He has no sense of sight to perceive this loveliness of God's handiwork. Our power for discerning divine things lies in having the Spirit of God within us, who is like eyes to our souls. … The simplest believer on earth, with the Spirit of God within him, knows more of God's things than the wisest of men without the Spirit. The natural man may sit in judgment on God's Word and God's character. But to the Christian his pride is like that of a council of deaf men giving their opinion on harmony.

He is not speaking of any special class of men. He means man in his unconverted state, man without the Spirit of God… it is man in nature, whether he is a learned philosopher or an ignorant clown. He cannot know the things of the Spirit of God. How then can he form or give a judgement about the word of God?

In the Spirit's estimate there is no place for the large group who in practice waver between two opinions. Not to receive the witness of God is to reject it. … Knowing the gospel, and even agreeing with its truth in the mind, is not the same thing as receiving it. … A religious profession may be quite sincere, and yet the person making it is still a natural man.

Man's thoughts differ so far from God's that man can see nothing but foolishness — even in the most wonderful display of God's saving power. No wonder. If man is to know God at all, he must know Him morally. But men's consciences shrink from looking at God in His moral character… We must know God, not as fallen man can understand Him, but as He has revealed Himself. Only the soul taught by the Spirit can grasp this.

We do well to remember that it is the "spiritual", not simply the one who has the Spirit, who discerns all things. A man must, of course, have the Spirit to be spiritual. But being spiritual means a condition in which a man is under the control of the Spirit. Such people discern all things, yet they themselves are discerned by no one.

The word "judges," occurring twice in verse 15, is just the word "discerns," as the margin of a reference bible shows. Read discerns and the sense is clearer. It is only the spiritual believer who has spiritual eyesight to see all things clearly.

The simple form of the word means "to judge." Anakrisis was the technical term for the inquiry or preliminary investigation that comes first.

"The spiritual person" does not describe every believer, for some believers are "of the flesh," even though they have the Spirit of God (ch. 3:1). It refers to those who in practice depend upon the leading of the Spirit, as every believer ought to. A believer who is of the flesh will not discern all things. Some of his thoughts may be spiritual, but the flesh is so mixed in with them that his outlook will be confused. But the one who is spiritual discerns all things… He is a puzzle to men, for he thinks and acts on a different level, not driven by self-centeredness, but by a genuine regard for the glory of God.

The Holy Spirit in man is a real and divine power. But He also works morally, and in the understanding of the person in whom He lives. The spiritual man discerns all things. All means are at his disposal. He judges all things. He takes notice of all things when needed, according to the Spirit and by His direction. It is not his reason which judges; he judges spiritually of all things. He judges himself instead of pretending to judge God, as if he had a capacity independent of Him.

If a man is spiritual, he judges all things, and he must be spiritual to judge. If he is not spiritual, he cannot judge; but if he is spiritual, he first judges himself.

The power of the Spirit in him makes his judgment true and just. But it also gives him motives and a way of life that make no sense to anyone who does not have the Spirit.

It is because of the Spirit of God that the believer now stands in such an astonishing place. He can discern all things, yet no man can discern him. How foolish, then, for any believer in Corinth or anywhere else to long for human wisdom! What makes it even more striking is what the apostle adds from Isaiah 40:13. There the prophet insists on the supremacy of the Lord's understanding. He is unsearchable Himself, yet He searches everything. The Christian is just as independent of man's measuring and teaching in divine things, and this comes through the Spirit of God dwelling in him.

He applies the judgment of the Spirit in him to circumstances of the most domestic character. This is how he judges all things. He is only a looker-on, so he can calmly see what those caught up in it cannot… A great principle may be at stake in a very small matter.

The Lord does not blame spiritual discernment of people or things at all. It is a clear and weighty privilege of the Christian, for his own guidance and for the help or warning of others… What the Lord warned the disciples against is the bad habit of fault-finding. It so often leads people to suspect evil motives without grounds, against the holy instincts of love.

What makes it even more striking is the quotation the apostle adds from Isaiah 40:13. There the prophet insists that the Lord's understanding is supreme, as he had already insisted on His endless goodness and power. No one can search Him out, yet He searches everything: "who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, and who, as His counsellor, will teach Him?" In divine things the Christian is just as free from man's measuring and teaching, and this comes through the Spirit of God living in him.

In verse 15 the Apostle tells us that "the spiritual discerns all things". This does not mean that they know the mind of the Lord by nature, or that they can instruct Him. But the Lord has given believers His Spirit and teaches them. So they can say, "We have the mind of Christ."

When it comes to thinking as God thinks, Paul uses a very strong word: "But we have the mind of Christ." Others have pointed out that the word for "mind" here means "the same thinking capacity". The marvel is that we have the thinking capacity "of Christ." We can understand divine things with the same kind of mind as Christ. We have this by having the Spirit Who searches the depths of God.

So Paul writes — not to the Ephesians or the Philippians, but even to the Corinthians — "We have the mind of Christ." He means the intelligence of Christ, the capacity of spiritual understanding. Of course we do not have it in the same measure as the Lord. He had, and was Himself, the wisdom of God, and that without limit. We have nothing except in Him and by Him, and so only in dependence on Him.

In the last verse we have the same contrast with the Old Testament: "For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" The prophet's challenge gets its answer: "But we have the mind of Christ." If I have Christ's mind, I have the thoughts that are in it and all that they include. We do not have the divine mind in the abstract. We have the Holy Spirit living in us, and then comes all the revelation of the mystery.

The mind of Christ is more than the works or the ways of God in judgment. It is all His counsels in Christ… So we have the mind of Christ — as Joseph, before he was exalted, was the interpreter of God's revelations… But it is never said that Israel has the mind of Christ. They will see the displays of His power, and will recognise and celebrate them. But is that having the mind of Christ as we have it? The Egyptians knew what Joseph knew when the things came. But did they have the mind of Joseph?

Do you value such a gift? Do you value your right to bring every person and everything to be judged by the mind of Christ that is in you? Religion that comes from the flesh tells you that judging this way takes too much upon yourself. Religion that comes from faith tells you that this is exactly your proper place.

"But we have the mind of Christ." Marvellous, precious declaration of fact! Having the Spirit of God, this is the revelation of the mind of Christ. The believer has this. Then he should certainly seek to make use of it in daily experience. If not, he is not "spiritual."