Lessons #21 and 22
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual exposition not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GWT = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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Message of the Cross (1 Cor 1:18–25)
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” 20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.
There is a sense that the preceding verse, that is, 1 Corinthians 1:17 is a transitional verse leading to the section that we are about to consider. This is because, the apostle in dealing with the division in the church of Corinth reminded them that they were not baptized referencing any human being but Jesus Christ so that they should not be involved in partisanship. As he ended the section of 1 Corinthians 1:10-17, he introduced two concepts of wisdom and the cross of Christ in the last clause of verse 17 not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. Because our present section is concerned with these concepts, of wisdom and the cross of Christ, it is fitting to consider verse 17 as a transition or introduction to our present section.
The apostle conveys to us that the section we are about to consider is related to the last clause of verse 17 because he began verse 18 with a Greek conjunction (gar) that may be used as a marker of cause in which case it is translated “for” or for clarification with the meaning “you see, for” or for inference, leading to the translation “so, then.” In our passage, it is used to continue the topic introduced in the last verse but with emphasis on the fact that an important point is being considered so that it may be translated “you see.” In effect, the apostle is not merely continuing the concepts he introduced in the last clause of verse 17 but intended to convey that the concept of the cross of Christ is an important part of his peaching. It is the core of his commission to preach that he mentioned in verse 17. Thus, the conjunction “for” that begins verse 18 is to be understood not merely used to introduce a connection between our present section and verse 17 but a further elaboration of what the cross of Christ entails.
It is true that the apostle mentioned the concepts of “wisdom” and “the cross of Christ” in verse 17, but his primary focus in the section we are considering is the cross of Christ, specifically, the preaching of the cross, since that is the first thing that he mentioned in the phrase the message of the cross that we will consider later. Of course, he could not discourse on the cross of Christ without referring to wisdom that he introduced in verse 17. That aside, this section is concerned with the preaching of the cross of Christ. Therefore, the apostle in it tells us that the message of the cross has signification, is superior to world’s wisdom, is assessed differently by Jews and Greeks; nevertheless, that it reveals descriptions of Christ and superiority of God. To get a hold of the facts the apostle intended to convey to us regarding the message of the cross of Christ, we will consider four propositions that are contained in our section, so we may elaborate on what the apostle asserted regarding the cross of Christ. Our first proposition concerns the signification of the message of the cross of Christ.
Message of the cross has signification (1 Cor 1:18)
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
As we have indicated, the first proposition concerning the message of the cross is that it has signification, that is, there is quality or understanding that it conveys. This understanding that we will consider is either positive or negative. Nonetheless, it is a message that is significant that it can be characterized, depending on the one who hears it, negatively or positively. The reason for describing the message of the cross as having signification will become clearer as we consider the verse. Meanwhile, we should consider what the apostle meant in the phrase the message of the cross.
To understand what the apostle means in the phrase the message of the cross, we should first deal with the translation of the Greek phrase translated in the NIV and many of our English versions as the message of the cross. This is because the Greek phrase is translated differently in some of our English versions. For example, the more literal English translations, such as the ESV or the NASB, read the word of the cross while the NCV reads teaching about the cross and the NEB reads doctrine of the cross. Of course, these various translations say essential the same thing because of the meanings of the Greek word used.
So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.
It may mean “proclamation, instruction, teaching, message”, as it is used to refer to the preaching of Peter on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:41:
Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
It may mean a subject under consideration hence “matter” as that is the sense of the word when it is used to describe the subject considered by the apostles and elders in the first church council in Jerusalem, as we read in Acts 15:6:
The apostles and elders met to consider this question.
The verbal phrase to consider this question may be translated to look into this matter. It may mean “speech, assertion” in the sense of what comes out of a person’s mouth, as that is the sense of the word in the prohibition given to believers regarding what they declare in Ephesians 4:29:
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
The phrase unwholesome talk is literally corrupt word. The word may mean “preaching” as it is used in 1 Timothy 5:17:
The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.
The clause those whose work is preaching and teaching is more literally those laboring in word and teaching. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 1:18, the word has either the meaning “message, proclamation” or “preaching”
There is another matter of translation in the phrase the message of the cross that concerns the relationship between the word “message” and the word “cross”; that is, how is the phrase to be expanded or unpacked in the English. There are at least three possibilities. The phrase may be read as the message that is characterized by the cross or a message about the cross or even a message that references the cross. Any of these interpretations makes sense in the passage. However, it is probably the meaning of the message about the cross that the apostle used it because of what the cross refers in our context.
The word “cross” is translated from a Greek word (stauros) that refers to a pole stuck into the ground in an upright position with a crosspiece attached to its upper part so that it was shaped like a T or like cross bars (+) used for capital punishment hence means “cross.” So, it is used to describe Jesus’ cross that Simon the Cyrene helped Him to carry, as recorded in Matthew 27:32:
As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross.
The word may be used for the suffering or death which believers endure in following the Lord Jesus Christ, as it is used in Mark 8:34:
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
The verbal phrase take up his cross means to be prepared to endure suffering even to the point of death. The Greek word when used of Jesus Christ, “the cross” is one of the most important elements in Christian faith and proclamation that involves His death and resurrection. It is in this sense that the Greek word is used in our passage. With this understanding, we return to our original concern of what the apostle meant in 1 Corinthians 1:18 in the phrase the message of the cross or the preaching of the cross.
We ask: what is the message of the cross? Simply, it is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that the apostle later elaborated in the fifteenth chapter of this epistle that deals with the person and the work of Christ on the cross. Nonetheless, it is important to recognize that it is a message that has certain details we should examine at this point in the study of the epistle. The message of the cross is a message that says that Jesus Christ died on the cross for sinful humans and was resurrected. It is the core message of the Christian faith; therefore, to comprehend what it is, we can look to the writing of another apostle that conveyed what this message is. Apostle Peter who first preached the gospel message on the day of Pentecost where he focused on death and resurrection of Jesus Christ summarized this message in his epistle in 1 Peter 3:18:
For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,
We will focus on this passage for our explanation of what the message of the cross is since Peter’s summary of the message of the cross contains several facts that explain it. First, the message of the cross reveals that Christ died for our sins. By the way, there is a textual problem with the word “died.” Some Greek NT manuscripts contain the Greek word that translates into the English as “to die,” while others contain the word that is translated into English with the word “to suffer.” This problem seems to be important to some, but the truth is that whichever reading one takes, in the end, it would not alter significantly the meaning of what the apostle intended to communicate here. The reason being that “to suffer” when applied to Christ also means to die. For we see this indicated in Luke 24:46:
He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,
Clearly, to suffer here in Luke 24:46 means to die. For Christ would not go from ordinary suffering to resurrection. Therefore, in certain passages, suffering with reference to Christ also carries the sense of death on the cross. Hence, we realize that whether we translate 1 Peter 3:18 with the word “to die” or “to suffer,” it really does not matter since the meaning eventually is the fact that Christ died for sins. It is sin that made necessary Christ’s death on the cross for us. Hence, the message of the cross is concerned with sin which the spiritually dead does not want to hear because we humans do not want to hear we are sinners.
Second, the message of the cross as Peter summarized it indicates that the matter of sin has been taken care of once and for all by Christ’s death. The phrase once for all in 1 Peter 3:18 calls attention to the finality of the work of Christ regarding sin. This is saying that there is no more sacrifice for sin. There is nothing anyone can do about sin. Christ has taken care of it once and for all. No one who has trusted in Christ should worry about the eternal consequence of sin, which is separation from God forever. The apostle is saying that Christ is the answer so that the only concern of anyone should be the individual’s attitude towards Jesus Christ. When anyone worries about what to do with sins, the person either does not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ or, if the person does, it is because the individual has not understood that Christ has paid completely for the person’s sins. You see, saying that Christ died once for all for sins is as strong a statement as possible that can be made in connection with sin. Anyone who thinks he must appease God by what he does because of his sins is blaspheming because he would be ignoring the once and for all settlement of the debt with regards to sin that was carried out by our Lord Jesus Christ. It is very refreshing and at the same time very mind-boggling that Christ died once for all for sins. This says to us that our problem is not so much with sins as much as it is with understanding what it means that Christ has paid for our sins once for all. The implication is that if we understand that sin is a dead matter, we ourselves will avoid dealing with that which is dead, that is, we will strive to avoid sin.
It is important, however, for us to realize that Apostle Peter by using the phrase once for all is saying that suffering or the death of Christ on the cross is not repeatable. It is a onetime action without any reference to the continuation of this action. It is similar to what the author of Hebrews describes in Hebrews 9:24-28:
24 For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence. 25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
In the OT, the high priests offered yearly sacrifices for the atonement of the sins of the Israelites, indicating that what God was teaching them was that they were involved in a shadow of the real thing. These yearly sacrifices were enough, according to God’s plan, to stave off His displeasure towards sins until the true sin bearer would come and take away the penalty of sins forever. The yearly priestly sacrifices for sins staved off God’s anger towards sin. For one thing the people, in offering sacrifices, obeyed God. Additionally, because in the mind of God the sacrifice of Christ is a reality that would eventually be manifested in the due time, so those yearly sacrifices were sufficient to stave off His wrath against sins. However, it is the permanent removal of the penalty of sin and the efficacy of the death of Christ that Peter is emphasizing. For if we judge from the Hebrews passage cited above, we realize that if the death of Christ was not efficacious and if it did not produce permanent results, it means that Christ would have to die every year and resurrect every year. But because the death of Christ is powerful it took care of all sins of all time. Not just present sins, but all sins. This means the sins of Adam, the sins of people at the present, and for the future generations before Christ’s Second Coming have been taken care of. Here is one action of the God-man, Jesus Christ, that was so powerful to deal with what was in the past. No one could have atoned completely for the sins of the past except the Lord Jesus Christ. Humans can attempt to remedy past mistakes in the present time, but they cannot do anything to affect the outcome of the past. In other words, there is nothing that humans can do to completely undo the damage of the past on the persons that the damage was done. Humans can only live in the present. But Christ died to take care of the past and present as well as the future. This is the One whom we have trusted for our eternal salvation. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords. He is that mighty that all He had to do was to pay for the penalty for sins once and every matter concerning sin in terms of eternal consequences is closed. No one will ever go to the lake of fire because of his sins. People will spend eternity in the lake of fire because they have rejected the One who is so powerful to die once to close the book on sins, so to speak. People who are ignorant of this fact are worrying themselves sick trying to appease God because of their sins. But that is a useless effort for they are dealing with a dead issue. Christ has already died for sins once and for all, hence there is nothing left but to believe in the One who offered the ultimate sacrifice. Satan does not like man to understand this fact. It is for this reason that he works hard to eclipse the message of the cross. Humans also, because of arrogance, do not like to hear that there is nothing they can do about sin but to trust on the work of Christ. Hence, many religions focus on human’s effort in this matter of sin, but such efforts are worthless.
Third, the message of the cross contains the fact that Jesus Christ’s death is substitutionary since the righteous died for the unrighteous. That Christ is righteous is an admission of His divinity since no human is righteous by nature. Furthermore, the message of the cross reveals that Christ’s death on the cross is for sinful mankind, as in the second phrase in 1 Peter 3:18, the righteous for the unrighteous. The phrase the righteous for the unrighteous defines the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross. Christ died for our benefit and on our behalf. We are the ones who are supposed to be judged for our sins, but Christ stepped in on our behalf and received every judgment due to sin. For a person who has no sin to die for the sins of the sinners is truly suffering unjustly. Christ’s death on the cross would have been called the highest form of injustice except that God appointed this to take place. Since God is just, we cannot accuse Him of being unjust in sending His Son to the cross to die for our sins no more than we can accuse Him of being unjust in condemning mankind to eternal destruction. Our God in His wisdom has made this arrangement. The righteous has suffered for the unrighteous ones. So, next time you are tempted to complain of unfair treatment or unfair suffering just remember that Christ is the One who suffered unjustly in the uttermost sense without even complaining.
Fourth, the message of the cross contains the fact that mankind has been granted access to God through Christ, as in the last expression of the first sentence of 1 Peter 3:18, to bring you to God. There is a textual problem with this expression; some Greek NT manuscripts read “us” instead of “you.” Again, let me comment that it would be immaterial whichever way we read this since the believer is in view. The only difference would be that if Apostle Peter used “us,” he would include himself while in using “you” would only be addressing the recipients. But this is really no problem since both senses are correct. So, we get the idea that textual variations do not often change the intended meaning that God has given us in His word. The fact that the purpose of the death of Christ on the cross is to bring us to God is a reality in that the work of Christ has reconciled mankind to God. However, access to God or salvation is only potential with reference to an individual, since salvation or access to God is not automatic. Faith in Christ is still required of the elect to benefit truly from the finished work of Christ. The death of Christ on the cross has served to introduce us, so to say, to God. We have been granted an audience with God through the work of Christ on the cross, having access to the throne of grace. There is a sense in which we can say that the death of Christ on the cross has secured for us an eternal advocate with God. For whenever we are brought into judgment by Satan in the court of heaven in absentia, we can count that we have One who is there in heaven to answer satisfactorily all the charges brought against us. That One is our Savior, Lord Jesus Christ, as stated in 1 John 2:1–2:
1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
So, we can see that we are forever delivered from the wrath of God on mankind because of the death of Christ on the cross. In connection with this work of Christ on the cross, we must remember that we have been provided the power to live victoriously in the world in which we find ourselves. This requires, of course, you utilize God’s word in dealing with life’s problems.
Fifth, the message of the cross contains the fact that Christ died bodily, as in the first part of the last sentence of 1 Peter 3:18, He was put to death in the body. The word “body” is literally “flesh.” In using the word “body” or “flesh” Apostle Peter wants to communicate that the death of Christ on the cross was bodily. This is because there were some who rejected that Christ indeed died on the cross at the time Peter wrote and that there are those who would later deny that. Therefore, by using the word “body” or “flesh” Peter is asserting the reality of the death of Christ on the cross. There is another implication of the use of the word “body” or “flesh,” and it is that there is such a thing as virgin birth. For, unless there was a virgin birth, Christ would not have a body that is not corrupted by sin. So, in effect, the message of the cross also touches on the issue of virgin pregnancy and virgin birth although these are not focused in presentation of the gospel message.
Sixth, the message of the cross contains the fact that Christ resurrected from the dead, as in the expression but made alive by the Spirit of 1 Peter 3:18. The phrase by the Spirit could also be translated in the Spirit as in the NASB. The translation in the spirit has given rise to several interpretations but we would mention three of these. The first interpretation says that it is the human spirit of Christ that has been made alive. Of course, there are several problems with this view but perhaps the most obvious is that there is the implication that this is an attempt to separate the person of Christ into two modes of existence – bodily and spiritually. Besides, this assumes that the spirit of Christ died. The second interpretation says that “flesh” refers to Christ in His human sphere of life and “spirit” refers to Christ in His resurrected sphere of life. This view, while it makes better sense, still implies that there is no body associated with the resurrection life of Christ. A third interpretation is the whole verbal phrase made alive by the Spirit means that Christ was raised from the dead not as a spirit but bodily and in a sphere where the Spirit and power of God are displayed without hindrance or human limitation.
A part of the problem in interpreting this verbal phrase made alive by the Spirit is that commentators tried to match the contrasts “death” to “life”, “flesh” to “spirit”. The apostle is only concerned in making the contrast between death and resurrection and is not concerned with pressing every little detail of contrast as many exegetes have tried to do. Bearing in mind that the apostle was concerned with the contrast of death and life and the concept of suffering in 1 Peter 3:17, it is best to take the verbal phrase as translated in the NIV, that is, made alive by the Spirit. The point being that the apostle is recognizing that the resurrection of Christ took place in a bodily form just as His death, but he was interested in stating how that resurrection took place by putting emphasis on the work of God the Holy Spirit. The emphasis on the Holy Spirit makes it easy to explain 1 Peter 3:19. It is my conviction then that it is better to take “the Spirit” as the agent, implying that the Holy Spirit is the agent of resurrection. This makes better sense for several reasons. First, this will supply the agent of resurrection in our passage of 1 Peter 3:18. For the word “made alive” is the passive voice of the Greek verb (zōopoieō) which means “to cause to live, to make alive, to give life.” The passive voice demands that we supply the agent producing the action. In the case of putting to death of Christ in the body, the agent is clear; that is, the Jews and the Romans. However, for His resurrection the agent is not clear. Consequently, the translation by the Spirit instead of in the Spirit to reflect agency supplies the missing agent of resurrection. Second, there is no indication anywhere in the Scripture that the “spirit” of Christ is made alive. We know that at death Christ dismissed His spirit into the presence of the Father, so there is no basis to suggest that His spirit died. Third, the Holy Spirit has been referred to as the agent of resurrection in Romans 8:11:
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
It is for these reasons that it is better to translate our phrase as by the Spirit’ instead of in the spirit. We should note that grammatically either reading is correct, but grammar alone is not always sufficient to interpret or convey the sense in a passage. The apostle’s concern is that we understand that the message of the cross would not be complete without the resurrection of Christ.
In effect, the summary of Peter’s message of the cross implies that the message of the cross must contain information about Jesus Christ as the Son of God, sin of mankind, death of Christ for sinners, and His resurrection. These are the central facts that constitute the message of the cross. These facts are invariant if that message is to be considered the message of the cross of Christ. That the content of the message of the cross is invariant is also reflected in Apostle Paul’s summary of the gospel given in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4:
1 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
We have considered the primary message of the cross; however, it is important to recognize that this primary message leads to an emphasis on the lifestyle that the message of the cross is expected to produce. Since Christ died for our sins then the message of the cross extends to the requirement that believers must in their experiences reject sin. The various epistles of the NT are written primarily to underscore the importance of living our lives to reflect the fact that Christ died for our sins. As an example, we should note what Apostle Paul wrote in two passages:
Romans 6:19
I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.
2 Timothy 1:9
who has saved us and called us to a holy life — not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,
The point we seek to stress is that an extension of the message of the cross is a life of sanctification. So, an understanding of the message of the cross should lead to a life of experiential sanctification. If we believe that Christ died for our sins, then we would live in such a way as to demonstrate that Christ has freed us from the condemnation of sin.
We have stated that the first proposition concerning the message of the cross is that it has signification, that is, there is quality or understanding that it conveys. Our use of the word “signification” is due to our interpretation of the word “is” in the sentence the message of the cross is foolishness.
The word “is” is translated from a Greek verb (eimi) that may mean “to be, to exist.” However, it has several other meanings. It may mean “is” when the word connects a subject to its predicate. It may be used in explanations. So, it may be used to show how something is to be understood hence means “is a presentation of, is the equivalent of, to mean.” It may be used in the sense of “to be of relative significance, be of moment or importance, to amount to something.” It is this later meaning that we believe the apostle had in mind in that he used the Greek verb twice. In the first occurrence there is the meaning that something is of no importance but in the second there is the meaning that something is significant. Therefore, we contend that the message of the cross has signification.
The first signification of the message of the cross that is given in negative manner is that of making no sense to those who are spiritually lost as in the sentence the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. The sentence indicates that the message of the cross is seen to be of no significance by those who are perishing because to them it is foolishness or makes no sense.
It is our assertion that those to whom the preaching of the message of the cross makes no sense are those who are spiritually lost, that is, those who will spend eternity in the lake of fire. This is because of the word “perishing.” It is translated from a Greek verb (apollymi) that may mean “to perish, die”, as the word is used in the prophetic words of Caiaphas to describe the necessity of the death of Christ than for the nation to perish, as we read in John 11:50:
You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”
It may mean “to destroy, ruin” as it is used in the caution about ruining or destroying a fellow believer because of food in Romans 14:15:
If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died.
It may mean to fail to obtain what one expects or anticipates, that is, “to lose out on, to lose” as it is used to caution believer of losing reward in 2 John 8:
Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 1:18 the sense is “to perish” spiritually so that it is used to describe those without spiritual life and so are under God’s condemnation. Hence, the apostle described those who are lost spiritually. The Greek construction that involves a present participle suggests that the apostle described a class of people that are spiritually dead with the implication that their state does not change so that when they die, they go to the lake of fire. We say this because all humans are spiritually dead but those who are of the elect respond differently to the preaching of the gospel as we will note shortly.
It is to those who are lost spiritually that the message of the cross makes no sense as to come to believe. We say that the message of the cross makes no sense to such individuals because of the word “foolishness” in the sentence the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. The word “foolishness” is translated from a Greek word (mōria) that no doubt means “foolishness” but it can be used to describe worldly wisdom as in 1 Corinthians 3:19:
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”;
The sense of the word in 1 Corinthians 1:18 is that of making no sense or ridiculous or mistaken. In effect, the message of the cross appears ridiculous or makes no sense to those who are lost spiritually. It does not make sense or sounds ridiculous to these individuals that Jesus Christ portrayed as the Son of God died, and resurrected, especially as the Greeks believed that the gods could not be defeated by humans let alone be crucified as a common criminal. That to them, it does not make sense that Jesus Christ died and resurrected is evident in the response of the Stoic philosophers Apostle Paul encountered in Athens, as we read in Acts 17:18:
A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.
The idea of resurrection is one that was ridiculed by some of those who heard the apostle preaching resurrection of Jesus Christ, as we read in Acts 17:32:
When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.”
Those who were lost ridiculed the idea of resurrection but some of the elect did not since some of those who heard the apostle were saved, as indicated in Acts 17:33–34:
33 At that, Paul left the Council. 34 A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.
Anyway, the preaching of the message of the cross makes no sense to those who are lost, which is the first signification of the message of the cross we stated.
On the contrary, to those who are saved, the message of the cross has a second signification in that it signifies the demonstration of God’s power to save. It is this second signification that is given in the last clause of 1 Corinthians 1:18 but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
We stated that the message of the cross signifies to those who are saved the power of God in their salvation. This is because of the clause who are being saved that may also be translated those who are to be saved. The second translation implies the elect who have not been saved but will be. While this is possible, but it is more likely that the apostle described those who have already been saved, especially as he included himself as those being saved. Being saved refers to preservation from eternal death or destruction. That the apostle used the clause who are being saved does not mean that salvation is uncertain. When a person believes in Christ, the individual is saved. It is for this that the apostle could speak of salvation as that which has been accomplished as in 2 Timothy 1:9:
who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,
Of course, the fact that the apostle indicates salvation is that which is already accomplished raises the question as to how we should understand the clause who are being saved. The apostle in this clause primarily conveyed that he was concerned with the class of individuals who are assured of deliverance from eternal death. However, he was also concerned to show that there is an ongoing work of God to those who are saved in the sense that they are being delivered from corruption of sin. Thus, the apostle probably intended for us to recognize that there is a past, a present and a future reality of salvation. We are assured of heaven, but we are also at this point being delivered from condemnation of sin because of the work of Christ as our high priest who continuously pleads with the father about our sins. Our ultimate salvation takes place when Christ returns, and we receive our resurrection bodies.
Be that as it may, those who are saved recognize the miracle of the message of the cross or the display of God’s power as it relates to the message of the cross. The phrase the power of God refers to the transcendent power God possesses to bring about our salvation so that the message of the cross is the display of His power to save us. Thus, the apostle’s declaration in our passage is similar to his description of the gospel in Romans 1:16:
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
Here the apostle equates the gospel to the power of God for salvation, implying the gospel is the means through which God’s power of salvation is shown. Hence, the message of the cross is God’s demonstration of His power to save us. It is not only that the message of the cross is a demonstration of God’s power or the means of saving us, but it is also a display of His transcendent power in terms of miracles. In effect, those who are saved recognize that the message of the cross of Christ involved God’s miraculous display of His power. For it is a demonstration of God’s power that is evident in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, as recorded in Ephesians 1:19–20:
19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,
The point is that those who are saved recognize the miracle of the resurrection as part of the message of the cross as well as recognizing the power of God to save them.
In any case, it is our assertion that message of the cross has signification. It is its signification that determines on what side you are with respect to God. If the message of the cross does not make sense to you then you are still spiritually dead but if it makes sense to you that you recognize the miracle of the resurrection, then you are saved. So, you must determine where you are. Are you spiritually dead or alive? You should answer this question truthfully because it is a matter of eternal death or life.
02/09/18