The Stumbling Block at the Center of the World Text: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Introduction: The War for Wisdom
We live in an age that is drowning in information and starving for wisdom. Our universities are full of clever men, our think tanks are full of scribes, and our media is full of debaters. And yet, our civilization has lost its mind. We are like a man who has meticulously studied the engineering of a car but has forgotten where he is supposed to be driving. The modern world is a high-speed collision in slow motion, precisely because it has rejected the only wisdom that can make sense of the journey.
The church in Corinth had a similar problem. They were a gifted church, but they were also a carnal and proud church. They were enamored with the rhetorical flair and philosophical sophistication of the Greek world around them. They wanted a respectable faith, an intelligent faith, a faith that would get a standing ovation at the Areopagus. They were trying to baptize the wisdom of the world and make it a member in good standing. But Paul will have none of it. He does not come to them with an apology for the gospel. He comes with a declaration of war.
In this passage, Paul explains that the central message of Christianity, the cross of Jesus Christ, is not just one option among many in the marketplace of ideas. It is a divine assault on every other system of thought. The cross is God's chosen instrument to demolish human pride. It is designed to offend the sensibilities of the religious and the secular alike. It is a message that creates a great chasm in humanity. On one side are those who see it as utter foolishness and are perishing. On the other are those who, by God's grace, see it as the very power and wisdom of God, and are being saved. There is no neutral ground here. The cross forces a choice, and in that choice, our eternal destiny is revealed.
The Text
For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, "I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE." Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased, through the foolishness of the message preached, to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
(1 Corinthians 1:18-25 LSB)
The Great Divide (v. 18)
Paul begins by drawing a line in the sand. There are only two kinds of people in the world, and they are defined by their reaction to one thing: the word of the cross.
"For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1:18)
The "word of the cross" is the logos of the cross. It is the logic, the reason, the message of a crucified God. And this message acts as a spiritual litmus test. To one group, the "perishing," this message is moria, from which we get our word "moron." It is moronic. It is absurd. The idea that salvation for all humanity hangs on the ignominious execution of a Jewish carpenter in a backwater province of the Roman Empire is, to the natural mind, the height of absurdity.
But to the other group, "us who are being saved," this same message is the dunamis, the dynamite of God. It is the explosive, world-altering power of God. Notice the tenses. The perishing are in a state of perishing; the saved are in a state of being saved. This is an ongoing reality. The cross is not a neutral piece of historical data. It is an active agent in the world, either hardening men in their unbelief as they mock it, or saving men as they embrace it.
You cannot be neutral about the cross. You either see it as the ultimate foolishness or the ultimate power. There is no third way. Your reaction to this message does not determine your destiny; it reveals it.
God the Divine Vandal (vv. 19-21)
Paul then explains that this is not an accident. God has designed salvation this way on purpose. He quotes Isaiah to show that this has always been God's plan.
"For it is written, 'I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE.' Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?" (1 Corinthians 1:19-20 LSB)
God is an iconoclast. He takes a sledgehammer to the idols of human intellect. The "wise man" is the Greek philosopher. The "scribe" is the Jewish scholar. The "debater of this age" is the professional rhetorician. These were the intellectual heavyweights of the ancient world. And Paul, standing on the authority of Scripture, taunts them. He asks, "Where are they?" It is a victory cry. God, through the cross, has rendered their life's work obsolete. He has turned their proud wisdom into a cosmic joke.
Why would God do this? Verse 21 gives us the reason.
"For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased, through the foolishness of the message preached, to save those who believe." (1 Corinthians 1:21 LSB)
This is a profound statement. "In the wisdom of God," He allowed human history to be a great experiment. He let the philosophers philosophize and the scholars scrutinize. He gave them centuries to figure it out. And the result of the experiment was total failure. The world, through its own wisdom, did not find God. It found idolatry, immorality, and intellectual dead ends. So, God was "well-pleased" to introduce a new method. Not a method that appeals to human wisdom, but one that tramples on it. He chose to save people through the "foolishness" of the kerygma, the simple, bold proclamation of Christ crucified. Salvation comes not through human discovery, but through divine revelation.
The Universal Offense (vv. 22-23)
Paul now identifies the two main focus groups of his day and explains precisely why the cross offends both of them.
"For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness," (1 Corinthians 1:22-23 LSB)
The Jews wanted signs. They wanted raw power. They were looking for a Messiah who would throw off the Roman yoke with displays of supernatural might. They wanted a political savior, a conquering king. To them, a Messiah who ends up nailed to a Roman cross was not just a disappointment; it was a skandalon, a scandal, a stumbling block. It was a contradiction in terms. The law itself said that he who is hanged on a tree is cursed by God (Deut. 21:23). So for them, the cross was a sign of God's curse, not His blessing.
The Greeks, on the other hand, searched for wisdom. They wanted a coherent, elegant, philosophical system. They valued reason, logic, and beauty. To them, the message of a God who becomes a man, suffers a humiliating death, and then rises from the grave was moria, utter foolishness. It was a crude, barbaric, and philosophically absurd story. Their gods were impassive and detached, not bleeding and dying. The cross offended their intellectual and aesthetic sensibilities.
And we have these same two groups today. We have the Jews who demand signs: the pragmatists, the prosperity gospel preachers, the activists who demand that Christianity produce political results now. They want a faith that "works" according to their metrics. And we have the Greeks who search for wisdom: the academics, the sophisticated theologians, the artists who are embarrassed by the blood and guts of the gospel and try to pretty it up into a system of ethics or a program for social justice. The cross offends them both.
The Divine Reversal (vv. 24-25)
The message of the cross is an offense. But not to everyone.
"but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." (1 Corinthians 1:24 LSB)
What makes the difference? It is not the intelligence or moral sincerity of the hearer. The difference is the effectual call of God. For "the called," God performs a miracle. He opens their eyes. And the very thing that was a stumbling block to the Jew is now seen as the ultimate display of God's power, the power to defeat sin, death, and Satan. And the very thing that was foolishness to the Greek is now seen as the ultimate display of God's wisdom, a plan that perfectly satisfies both His justice and His mercy.
The message does not change. The heart of the hearer is changed by a sovereign act of God. The cross remains what it is, but for the called, the scales fall from their eyes, and they see it for what it truly is: the centerpiece of all history and the only hope for mankind.
Paul concludes with a stunning paradox that summarizes his entire argument.
"Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." (1 Corinthians 1:25 LSB)
The cross is what the world considers God's foolishness and God's weakness. A plan to save the world through a crucified man seems like a foolish plan. A God who allows Himself to be executed seems like a weak God. But this apparent foolishness outwits all the libraries and philosophies of men. And this apparent weakness overpowers all the empires and armies of men. God's lowest is infinitely higher than man's highest. He wins by losing. He triumphs through apparent defeat. This is the logic of the gospel, and it turns the world's values completely upside down.
Conclusion: Glorying in the Scandal
The message for us is clear. We are not called to make the gospel respectable. We are not called to negotiate with the wisdom of the age. We are called to preach Christ crucified. We must not be ashamed of the stumbling block. We must not try to sand down the sharp edges of the cross to make it more palatable to a world that is perishing.
The power is in the foolishness. The wisdom is in the scandal. God has chosen this method to ensure that no man can boast in His presence. Salvation is of the Lord, from beginning to end, and He has accomplished it in a way that demolishes our pride and leaves us with nothing to cling to but the crucified and risen Christ.
So, the question is not whether the gospel is powerful enough to save you. The question is whether you have been called. If you see the cross as foolishness, a relic of a bygone era, then you are still in your sins and on the road to destruction. But if, by the grace of God, you have been enabled to see in that bloody cross the very power and wisdom of God, then rejoice. For you are being saved, and you have a share in a wisdom that will outlast the stars and a power that has already conquered the world.