Week 45 Corinthians
1 Corinthians 1:18-20. I notice two things Paul says…
The first thing is: I know very well how foolish the message of the cross sounds to those who are on the road to destruction. Then he adds: but we who are being saved recognize this message as the very power of God.
I’d have thought Paul would contrast foolishness with wisdom… Foolishness (disguised as Natural Intellectual Savvy) vs. Supra-Natural Spiritual Wisdom. But he doesn’t. He sets foolishness up against power.
So I’m left wondering not only how More-Smart & Less-Smart relate to Foolishness & Wisdom…but also to Weakness & Power.
I notice a second thing…
Paul starts by asking: so where does that leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters?
And he answers: God has made them look foolish and has shown their wisdom to be useless nonsense.
I’m reading a book on the universe and black holes. The guy is a good writer and is writing fairly simply but I’m still out of my conceptual depth. So it makes me wonder…when Paul says that natural intellect is basically useless-nonsense what do I make of that?
What I figure right now is that Paul might be saying two things. That a) in the natural-intellectual domain of astrophysics (for example) guys can be super-smart. But b) when you move into the dynamic power-domain of the gospel then Natural Savvy – comparatively speaking & impressive as it is – is roughly equivalent to foolishness.
Note: quotes from 1 Corinthians 1:18 & 20 (NLT)