There was no shortage of wisdom at Corinth! Their philosophers, poets, statesmen, and orators were brimming over with it. There was the wisdom of their gods. Corinth was a seaport and only fifty miles from Athens so like them, they would have had a god for every occasion and just to be safe—they probably also had an altar to an unknown god . . . Weren’t they wise?
They certainly thought so.
The problem with their wisdom was the problem with any culture’s wisdom. It was speculative because it was restricted by human limitations. (Twelve of the fifteen times Paul uses the word “human” in 1 Corinthians are clustered in the first four chapters). By nature human beings can’t speak definitively about life after death, creation, eternity, the existence of God—or a host of other subjects. Perhaps this was what Socrates was thinking about when he lamented, “The only true wisdom is knowing that you know nothing.” We simply don’t have the necessary knowledge base to speak definitively on spiritual matters.
Yet we can’t resist the temptation to do so. That’s how the Greeks and Romans ended up with so many gods. It’s why almost every culture has their own religion. But like a leaky boat, such wisdom is not dependable and it won’t get us where we need to go!
After denouncing the subversive, worldly wisdom the Corinthians prized, Paul lets them know in 2:6 that they (Paul, Apollos, and Cephas) did speak “a message of wisdom among the mature.” Just what is this wisdom and how is it different than the world’s?
True wisdom isn’t based on speculation, it’s based on revelation that comes from God.
No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written:
“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”—
the things God has prepared for those who love him—
these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. (1 Corinthians 2:7-10)
True wisdom is centered in Jesus. In 1:25 Paul speaks of Him as “the wisdom of God.” He would tell the disciples at Colosse (who were also struggling with pseudo-wisdom (2:8), that in Christ “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (2:3).
But we know that, don’t we? All you have to do is listen to His words or look at His life and you know that He is the epitome of wisdom. But Paul has something else to say.
It is the wisdom God has destined for our glory (v. 7). Paul tells us that God’s wisdom in Christ is “a mystery that has been hidden” (i.e., it was not fully disclosed or understood by people until the coming of Jesus). But the bigger truth he goes on to share is that God’s wisdom in Christ is something that “God destined to our glory before time began.”
That should get our attention. Before our Father brought everything into existence, He had it in mind not only to create us, but to send Jesus to bring us fullness of life. In an anxious world with everything to live with and nothing to live for, we need to know there is deep purpose and meaning to life. To embrace Jesus is to embrace the glory that God intended for us to have through Him.
Let’s see, our choices are a leaky boat or glory. That sounds like an easy decision, doesn’t it?
I marvel at the wisdom of my God!
A Taste of Grace with Bruce Green 