but *we* preach Christ crucified, to Jews an offence, and to nations foolishness;
Paul preached to two audiences with opposite demands. The Jews wanted a Messiah in power. The Greeks wanted wisdom. He gave both the same message, and it satisfied neither. The very thing God uses to save is the thing that offends the religious and insults the clever.
Is the folly in the act of preaching, or in what is preached? One writer answers from the wording of the passage:
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.
Paul names Christ by what men did to Him. That hits hardest at people who prize the world's approval:
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!
Paul writes "crucified," not just "died," and the word choice matters:
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.
Their problem was not who the Messiah was, but how He came. Behind that lay something deeper:
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.
For people who judged everything by reason, this message tied life to a dying Man and power to weakness:
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.
Both reactions share one root. God designed the cross to leave no room for human greatness:
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.
Paul gave the same message to two groups with opposite instincts. He did not adjust it for either, and he did not lean on his own skill:
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.
- Content — The message is not a style of speaking but a subject: a Person, and that Person crucified.
- Offence — The Jews wanted a Messiah on a throne; a cross meant nothing to people with no sense of their need as sinners.
- Folly — The Greeks wanted reasoning. Salvation through a dying Man sounded absurd, because it made nothing of man.
- Design — The cross offends both. It sweeps away everything the flesh could glory in: no dignity, no heroism, only shame.
- Confidence — Paul gave both groups the same message. He counted only on the power of God to lift the veil.
but to those that [are] called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ God's power and God's wisdom.
Paul has just said that the message of a crucified Christ offends the religious and amuses the educated. This verse names the one thing that changes the verdict: God's call. The called see no clever scheme, but a Person — God's own power and God's own wisdom.
One group wanted proof they could see. The other wanted ideas they could admire.
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.
The word "called" marks off a group. They look at the same crucified Christ and find in Him what everyone else was hunting for elsewhere.
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.
Paul does not say the called receive power and wisdom. He says they receive Christ, and the rest comes with Him.
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.
God showed His strength in the place of deepest shame. That is what silenced human cleverness.
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.
Set beside anything people can do, God's power and wisdom have no rival.
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 by reaching its goal. On that test the cross is God's masterpiece.
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.
This wisdom did not begin at the cross. The Old Testament already pointed to it, through a man famous for wisdom of his own.
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!
- Called — one message meets sign-hunters and idea-hunters. God's call turns the offence into treasure and opens eyes to see Christ as His power and His wisdom.
- Christ — the called receive a Person, not first a benefit. They "receive the Lord Himself" when they receive God's testimony, and the blessings come with Him.
- Power — power shows itself by what it does. Here it settles the soul in the lasting peace of God.
- Wisdom — wisdom proves itself by reaching its goal. God's goal is His own glory, and the cross reached it while emptying every human claim.
- Both — Paul names Jew and Greek alike. No background gives an edge, and none locks anyone out. The crucified One is the only Christ there is.
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
The world looked at the message of a crucified Christ and called it foolish and weak. Paul takes those two words and hands them straight back — but can God have folly or weakness at all?
Neither word describes anything true of God. They are man's language for the gospel — and God chose exactly what man despised.
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.
Paul does not weigh God's wisdom against man's wisdom. He sets what men call God's folly beside man's best work — and even then it wins.
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.
Paul could have written that Christ died. He wrote that Christ was crucified, and the difference matters.
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.
Measure the cross by what it achieved and the labels turn around. The moment that looked like total defeat is the moment Christ won everything.
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."
Commentators differ on what the cross shows most of all. Most read it as God's wisdom and power hidden under an appearance of folly. One writer sees love shining there instead, and places the display of power at the resurrection.
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.
The same test sorts what is of God from what is only of man. One writer applies it to how churches are run: what happens when God is left out?
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!"
- Seeming, not real. God has no folly and no weakness. Paul takes the world's insult and repeats it at full volume to make the contrast unanswerable.
- Seeming folly outthinks men. The contrast is not God's wisdom against man's wisdom. It is what men call God's folly against man's finest work — and God's folly wins.
- Seeming weakness is the cross. Crucifixion was the extreme of shame. God chose it as the way of salvation.
- Seeming defeat is the victory. Satan's apparent win became his defeat, and Christ's apparent overthrow became His triumph.
- Seeming strength is the danger. Anything that runs well without God stands condemned by that fact. Anything that cannot go on without Him is His.