God’s Power and Wisdom in Christ Jesus

The teaching about the cross seems foolish to those who are lost. But to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

As the Scriptures say, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. I will confuse the understanding of the intelligent.”

So what does this say about the philosopher, the law expert, or anyone in this world who is skilled in making clever arguments? God has made the wisdom of the world look foolish.

This is what God in his wisdom decided: Since the world did not find him through its own wisdom, he used the message that sounds foolish to save those who believe it.

The Jews ask for miraculous signs, and the Greeks want wisdom.

But Christ is God’s power and wisdom to the people God has chosen, both Jews and Greeks.

Even the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom. Even the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Brothers and sisters, God chose you to be his. Think about that! Not many of you were wise in the way the world judges wisdom. Not many of you had great influence, and not many of you came from important families.

It is God who has made you part of Christ Jesus. And Christ has become for us wisdom from God. He is the reason we are right with God and pure enough to be in his presence. Christ is the one who set us free from sin.

My Message: Jesus Christ on the Cross

Dear brothers and sisters, when I came to you, I told you the secret truth of God. But I did not use fancy words or great wisdom.

I did this so that your faith would be in God’s power, not in human wisdom.

God’s Wisdom

We teach wisdom to people who are mature, but the wisdom we teach is not from this world. It is not the wisdom of the rulers of this world, who are losing their power.

But we speak God’s secret wisdom that has been hidden from everyone until now. God planned this wisdom for our glory. He planned it before the world began.

None of the rulers of this world understood this wisdom. If they had understood it, they would not have killed our great and glorious Lord on a cross.

When we say this, we don’t use words taught to us by human wisdom. We use words taught to us by the Spirit. We use the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths.

I say this because the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say, “He catches those who think they are wise in their own clever traps.”

The Spirit gives one person the ability to speak with wisdom. And the same Spirit gives another person the ability to speak with knowledge.