By Sally Ponce, financial aid counselor
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 (NRSV)
As believers, God is calling for a deep belief , so deep, the human mind can not comprehend it.
Verse 18 speaks about the cross being foolish to those who are perishing. God chose the cross to show God’s power and wisdom. One may ask why? The world sees the cross as something that was used to punish lowly criminals. It was viewed as a shameful, scornful thing. But as followers of Jesus, we see God’s power to defeat death. We see God’s power to save those who believe. We see hope and salvation.
Verse 20 speaks of God making foolish the wisdom of the world.
The cross exemplifies God’s power because it turns the wisdom of the world upside down. It destroys all human understanding. Our human knowledge can not understand or explain it logically. We can’t explain it or understand it with our human knowledge. God has pulled a fast one and we don’t get it. The cross turned from an instrument of death instead to the ultimate tool to show God’s power, our saving grace.
Verse 21, the world did not know God through wisdom. God does not require us to have a high intellect or to be able to explain a complex problem. What God desires is our deep belief. God delights in saving those who believe.
In my mind, I see the scene in Luke 23:32-43, Jesus is on the cross with two other criminals. One on his left and one on his right. Foolishly, one makes fun of him and tells him if he is the Savior, to save himself. The scoffer has the wisdom of the world and can’t see what the cross really represents. The other one has a deep belief in Jesus. He can see what cross truly is.. This man tells Jesus to remember him when he comes into his kingdom. I want to be the one who deeply believes in the cross. What one are you?
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 (NRSV)
For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 20Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. 22For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, 23but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.