Reflections on 1 Corinthians 1:22–25
“Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified… For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” (1 Corinthians 1:22–25, NIV)
By demanding a sign, the Jews rejected all the miracles Christ had done while He was with them. They refused the truth because it did not come the way they had decided it should. The demand for a sign was a self-focused attempt to pull Christ down to their level of thinking. Instead of looking at the facts and reasoning out whether it was truth or a lie, they rejected it.
Unrenewed minds and hearts run from the light, just as they will one day beg the rocks to fall on them and hide them (Revelation 6:16). The Fires of Love and Truth have been shining out from God through all time. Truth burns through all the lies we wrap around our hearts and minds to keep ourselves comfortable in self-deception: the stories we tell ourselves to feel okay about our poor choices. Anyone or anything that challenges those stories will be resisted with anger and the full force of the person being disturbed.
But to those who answer God’s call, Christ is “the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1:24). In the life of Jesus we can know God, because He is God. The Love, power, and wisdom of God were lived out in the life of Christ. The world has seen our God and Creator.
God’s wisdom and strength are bound up in His Love. Christ was filled with that light and Love all His life; His connection with heaven was never broken, until the Cross. At His weakest moment, crying “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46), He took hold by faith of the strength flowing from God, the knowledge of who His Father is. Speaking that faith into the darkness, He claimed the victory: “It is finished.” This is the power of God at His weakest moment, enough power to catch and restore a fallen, terminal, dying race. Alone on the Cross, our God in Christ loved us so much that He allowed those with no understanding to murder Him. He did it all for a humanity who did not even realize they needed saving.
We are like a helpless newborn in a mother’s arms. We don’t know what we need, and a good mother prepares in advance for our every want and need. As we grow, we are surrounded by her love and watch care. She catches us up and smooths away our tears when our own choices have caused us pain. “As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you” (Isaiah 66:13). We learn to love by being loved. God teaches us to love Him by loving us well, with wisdom: letting us learn from bad choices, keeping us from destroying ourselves while we mature enough to understand the difference between good and bad.
The step that lets us do good for ourselves is self-control. The strength to keep doing the good comes daily from Christ; we receive strength each day for that day. The wisdom of God is too wise to fix us before we are ready and willing to be healed. His power is governed by His Love and wisdom, and that is good news.
Some never reach that step in this life. I work with many people I cannot help, because they do not have the self-control to do good for themselves. They are not evil, only broken beyond the point where they can follow a healing program. I do all in my power to connect them to Christ, who can heal their hearts. But often the disease is further along than the time they have left for spiritual and emotional healing. I do not believe they are lost, only that the good they could have done here is ended. Like the thief on the cross beside Christ, their life is over, but they can still cling to a dying Savior, and He has the strength to hold them fast. “To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).
Perfection is not required for salvation. What is required is a heart willing to learn, a desire for something better, and a will surrendered to the Love of Christ. The Cross looked like weakness, yet it is strong enough to hold every one of us fast. “The weakness of God is stronger than human strength.”
