Jim Silva
"The foolishness of man perverteth his way: and his heart fretteth against the LORD. ( Proverbs 19:3)
We find the embodiment of this principle in 1 Corinthians 1:18,19. Foolishness there indicates that which the world deems to be ridiculous, absurd, nonsense. And just as there are those today who disparage the Gospel and belittle its believers,so do we find the first century church with its detractors.In other words, time has not changed the folly of man to distort his mind and turn his heart against the Lord Jesus."
As simple as the gospel was,to the worldly minded this was foolishness. The very idea of a crucified Savior was ridiculous to the Greek philosopher and the Jewish scribe, The very fact that Jesus was crucified as a common criminal was sufficient proof that He wasn't divine. Lost in this thought process,however,was the fact that Gospel recognizes two groups,- the unsaved and the saved. To the unsaved the Gospel of Jesus Christ is foolishness. To them it is proof that Jesus was a failure and therefore,not God. To the saved,the Gospel of the Crucified Jesus,is proof of the Power and Wisdom of God. (verses 18 and 24)
What the foolish fail to see is that God saves by the very things that they perceive to be foolishness. For,it is neither by the wisdom of man nor their worldly knowledge that God saves. The Greek philosopher, while wise in the art of worldly logic,eloquence of speech,and deftness in argument lost sight of the fact that all their knowledge and understanding was excluded from God's plan of salvation. Likewise,the scribes, the learned Jewish class, sought heavenly signs and an earthly salvation from their Roman oppressors. Miracles were insufficient proof of God's presence among them. Thus, the idea of Christ crucified was a stumbling block to them and,just as it was to the Greek, so it also was foolishness to accept a Savior who had died so shameful a death. It was obvious,by their reasoning,that such a One could not be Divine. What each did not understand was that neither worldly knowledge nor wisdom were necessary to search out the true God. As we are told in 1 Cor.3:18 and 19: "Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God."
Therefore,we see that it was God's intent that Divine wisdom rather than worldly knowledge was to be sought out through the foolishness of the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus. This fact is borne out by verse 21 that tells us specifically that salvation is promised to those who would believe and obey the call of the Gospel. " 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."
Following this the writer tells us that the foolishness of God is greater than that of all
the learning and wisdom of man: "Because the foolishness of God
is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men." (v. 25) As the writer say, "God
hath chosen the foolish things of the worlds to shame the wise." (v. 27) The very Gospel message which the world deems foolishness,
God has chosen to confound the wise and blunt the world's philosophy.(v. 28)
The call of the Gospel, then, is to those who wish
to seek out the true God; to those, who in the eyes of the world, are lowly,those who are
counted as nothing,those who are considered nobodies. To all of these God has promised
true wisdom,righteousness, sanctification and redemption through His Son,Christ Jesus.(v. 30) To each individual is given the choice to seek the truth,
not that of man but that which ids spiritual and can only be discerned spiritually." But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God:
for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned."
In Isaiah 1:18 we notice that, in spite of all the
foolishness of man, God's hand is always stretched out: "Come
now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they
shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
So it is never too late to accept and obey God's invitation. It is an open invitation,
offered to all men regardless of their knowledge or status in the world. Both the lowly
and mighty are equally acceptable and important to God because it is their immortal soul
that God desires to save.
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Page last updated: March 03, 2003