1 Corinthians 1:18-31. It Doesn't Make Sense

Paul starts with the church at Corinth divided up into little groups, acting like Paul, Apollos, Peter, or even a proud version of “Jesus” could be used as team names. Paul pushes all of that back to the same place, the cross of Christ. The power is not in fancy words, not in the preacher’s style, not in human cleverness, but in Jesus crucified.

The word of the cross sounds like folly to people who are perishing, because on the surface it really does look absurd. The gospel says the Son of God was executed on a Roman cross, a tool made for shame, punishment, and death. The Roman cross was not jewelry, decoration, or a religious symbol to those people. The Roman cross was disgusting, public, embarrassing, and brutal, yet God used that very thing as the tool of salvation.

Paul says Jews demanded signs and Greeks chased wisdom, but Christ crucified offended both groups. The Jews were looking for a conquering Messiah to throw off Rome, not a man hanging on a tree. The Greeks could not make sense of worshiping a God who looked defeated. Human understanding looks at the cross and says, “Why would anybody worship that?” God looks at the cross and shows power, wisdom, salvation, and glory.

Paul is not attacking learning, science, study, or education. Knowledge is not the problem. The problem comes when human understanding becomes the measuring stick for faith, just like money becomes dangerous when love for it takes over the heart. God’s world can be studied and appreciated, but created things cannot replace trust in the Creator.

God chose what looked weak, low, and foolish to shame what looked strong, noble, and wise. Jesus called fishermen, tax collectors, and ordinary people, and the early church turned social rankings upside down. Masters served slaves, Jews and Greeks worshiped together, and everyone stood on equal ground as children of God. That kind of backwards kingdom made no sense to the world, but it told the truth about grace.

The gospel leaves no room for boasting. Salvation is not earned by volunteering, checking boxes, saying magic words, or doing enough good things. Good works flow because salvation has already been received, not so salvation can be earned. Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, and by grace through faith, sinners are forgiven, sealed by the Spirit, and given the hope of eternity with a holy and awesome God.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. The cross looked completely absurd The cross was not clean, safe, or respectable in the first century. The Roman cross meant shame, public humiliation, and death, yet God chose that very tool to display salvation. The gospel does not ask human wisdom to approve God’s method before God uses it. [33:00]
• 2. Knowledge must not become lord Paul does not make education the enemy, and the love of science or study is not treated like a sin. The danger begins when human understanding becomes the standard by which everything else is judged. Created things can help a person wonder at God’s design, but they cannot carry the soul into eternity. [36:36]
• 3. God chose the low things God’s way of working runs against the grain of social rank, status, and human impressiveness. The early church made this visible when slaves and masters stood on equal ground and worshiped as one family. The kingdom of God turns the world upside down because grace removes the ladder people keep trying to climb. [44:31]
• 4. Grace leaves no room for boasting Salvation does not come because a person volunteers enough, serves enough, or finally feels like enough. Good works matter, but they come because salvation has already been given, not because salvation is being purchased. The only honest boast is that God saved in spite of sin, through the death and resurrection of Christ. [55:01]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [25:19] - Children Dismissed and Passage Introduced
• [25:55] - Wednesday Night Questions and Discussion
• [27:19] - Remembering Corinth’s Divisions
• [28:46] - The Cross, Not Fancy Words
• [29:33] - The Word of the Cross
• [32:02] - The Gospel Sounds Absurd
• [33:00] - The Shame of the Roman Cross
• [35:38] - Lip Service Without the Heart
• [36:36] - Knowledge Is Not the Problem
• [39:00] - Jews, Greeks, and Christ Crucified
• [43:03] - God Uses Ordinary People
• [44:31] - The Church Turns Rank Upside Down
• [48:49] - The Backwardness of the Gospel
• [52:06] - Jesus Is the Only Way
• [54:45] - Saved by Grace Through Faith
• [57:24] - Praying for Gospel Boldness

Bible Reading

1 Corinthians 1:18-31
“For the word of the cross is folly 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 discernment of the discerning I will thwart.' Where is the one who is wise? 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 did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, 'Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.'” [29:33]

Ephesians 2:8-9
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” [54:48]

John 14:6
“Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'” [52:25]

Romans 6:23
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” [54:07]

Observation questions

1. In 1 Corinthians 1, what different reactions does Paul describe people having toward the message of the cross? [39:00]
2. What kinds of people does Paul say God chose in verses 26-29, and what result does that produce in the presence of God?
3. What are some concrete pictures of the cross that help show why it sounded offensive or absurd in the first century? [33:00]
4. According to Ephesians 2:8-9 and Romans 6:23, what words or phrases show that salvation is a gift rather than something earned? [54:48]

Interpretation questions

1. Paul says Jews demanded signs and Greeks sought wisdom, yet the answer for both was still “Christ crucified.” Why does God so often confront people at the very point of what they expect most? [39:00]
2. If the cross looked like weakness and defeat to the world, what does that reveal about the difference between human judgment and God’s wisdom? [40:37]
3. Paul says God chose what is low, weak, and despised so that no one may boast. How does that shape the way a church should think about status, talent, education, and influence? [44:31]
4. Ephesians 2:8-9 says salvation is not a result of works. How should that change the way a believer thinks about serving, volunteering, obedience, and spiritual effort? [51:24]

Application questions

1. It is easy to form little camps around personalities, preferences, or styles. Where is there a temptation right now to think in terms of “my group,” “my people,” or “my kind of Christian” instead of simply belonging to Christ? [27:59]
2. Human understanding is a good tool but a poor lord. Where is there a temptation to let intelligence, research, career success, or personal reasoning become the standard by which faith is judged? [36:36]
3. The gospel leaves no room for boasting. What does boasting tend to look like in a church setting or in personal faith: moral pride, theological pride, busyness, family background, or something else? Which one feels closest to home? [55:01]
4. Good works flow from salvation, not toward it. Is there any place where serving God has quietly started to feel like a way of proving worth, easing guilt, or earning favor? [51:37]
5. Jesus said He is the only way to the Father. When does that truth feel hardest to say out loud or hardest to live with in everyday conversations? [52:25]
6. The early church put masters and slaves on equal ground as children of God. Who might be easy to overlook, rank beneath, or keep at a distance, and what would it look like to treat that person like family in Christ? [44:31]
7. The message of Christ crucified still sounds strange to many people, yet it is the power of God. Who in everyday life may already be in reach for an honest gospel conversation, and what fear or hesitation needs to be faced in order to speak? [57:43]