Godly Wisdom vs. Worldly Wisdom
“Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” I Corinthians 1:20-21
Paul called on those who thought they were the wisest of men, the philosophers, writers of great secular thought, debaters, and the professors of vast knowledge to display their perceived wisdom against the true wisdom of God, the Creator. “Climate change” or “wokeism” would be examples of the current world’s “wisdom”. Proponents of climate change believe that man has influence over the weather and have made this trend into a religion, basing it on the ancient religion of Baal worship, the god of storms and weather. Baal worship also included child sacrifice, and I would guess that nearly all the proponents of climate change are also proponents of abortion and infanticide. When folks fall for the “wisdom” of the world, there’s no limit as to what they will support in violation of the standards of which God has set forth. That’s why Paul called the world’s “wisdom” foolish. God made the world and gave man dominion over much of it, but He did not relinquish control over His creation to man.
Worldly “wisdom” has deluded people into believing that they have the answers to all the problems without the Lord’s help. If this was true, how did the world get in such a mess as it has been for centuries and continue to spiral down that slippery slope into an inevitable end? A thinking mind would wonder why these folks don’t wake up and realize the futility of ignoring God, repent, and submit to His authority. A closed mind keeps them living by their pride which keeps them in ignorance much to their inevitable destruction.
What the secular and unbelieving world calls foolish, i.e., the gospel of Jesus Christ, those who believe and are saved from God’s wrath and eternal misery into a life of peace and joy forevermore call it wonderful, marvelous, glorious, and a multitude of other adjectives of gratitude and love. It pleased God to make the gospel in a way that everyone can understand if they listen with their heart and examine their lives, allowing the Holy Spirit to do His work in convicting and then leading them to repentance. Before Christ came and made the ultimate sacrifice, in order to be in right standing with God, people had to go through a long and constant process of sacrificing animals and obeying the law. I can only imagine what a tedious and messy process that was, and it was only a temporary fix. There would not have been the same assurance of being at peace with God as there is for those who have trusted Christ and are living for Him. Some folks may call preaching foolish, but it sure seems a much better and confident way to receive God’s forgiveness.
The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were like the people of Missouri in one respect. Show me a sign was their constant demand of Jesus. How many times had He healed people, cast out demons, and spoke with such eloquence and authority as proof that He had come from God? Apparently, those signs weren’t good enough for them because their hearts were hardened against Jesus. The Greeks didn’t care about signs or miracles because they thought all of this talk about Jesus was foolishness. They prided themselves on their knowledge and spent their time in debates and conversations which only served to bolster their pride. It appears that the Jewish religious leaders and the Greek philosophers had one thing in common–neither cared for the common folks.
The Jews believed that their Messiah would come as a conquering hero and set up a utopia in Israel. They likely assumed that they would rule alongside the Messiah in this new nation. However, they didn’t see Jesus as anyone with whom they would desire to co-rule over the common folks. In their quest for a hero, they let their prejudices and pre-conceived ideas cause them to trip up and completely miss the true Messiah. When Paul came on the scene and began to preach Christ to them, they were offended that such a commoner could be the One of whom they would worship. The Greeks saw the gospel account as a joke. Even if the Greeks believed in a coming Savior, it certainly wasn’t Jesus.
Neither the Jew’s offense at Christ and the gospel nor the mockery by the Greeks could dissuade some from both their populations from believing in Jesus. Those who rejected Christ did not understand that they were separated from their Creator and would be held accountable by Him. The Jews believed that they were good enough on their own to stand in righteousness before a holy God, and the Greeks worshiped lifeless idols out of superstition. Who was the more intelligent and stronger? These folks or God who created the world and hung the stars in place?