In 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:16, Paul shows that the heart of his message is that God sent his Son into the world to die on the Cross to provide atonement for sin. To a Jew, Greek, or Roman living in the first century, almost every word of this familiar summary of the Gospel would be radical, strange, or even foolish. A god cannot die, and he certainly would not die by crucifixion. What God did through Jesus runs counter to both Jewish and Gentile expectations about how gods are supposed to behave, or what the God of the Hebrew Bible does. The Gospel has some awkward facts: the object of our worship was executed as a criminal of the worst kind! In fact, he intentionally allowed himself to be destroyed in the most shameful way possible.
Paul does not shy away from these inconvenient facts of the Gospel to gain more converts, because God has chosen foolish things to make foolish the wisdom of this world. The Gospel is not the sort of thing a religious person would have invented in the first century.
The Cross divides all of humanity into two groups, those who are “perishing” and those who “are being saved.” Perishing (ἀπόλλυμι) is a strong word chosen to highlight the present judgment of those who have rejected the Cross. The word used in the Septuagint for a sacrifice that is completely consumed in fire (Lev 7:10, for example). It is used for God’s judgment of the unrighteous (Sodom, Gen 18:24, several times). Psalm 2:12 uses the verb for God’s destruction of the nations that have challenged the Lord’s anointed. The verb is in the present tense, indicating these people are under God’s judgment now because of their rejection of the cross.
Paul describes himself and his readers as “those who are being saved,” emphasizing the presentness of salvation. The verb is again in the present tense; all people are (at this moment) either in need of salvation because they reject the Cross or being saved by the power of the Cross.
This division in humanity is based on the reaction to the Cross. The Cross is foolish to the ones who are perishing. Two related nouns (μωρία, 1:18 and μωρός, 1:27) refer to some idea that is senseless to believe, perhaps with the sense of ridiculous (the earth is hollow and lizard people are controlling our thoughts; a child telling a story about fairy tale creatures to a genius scientist, etc.) To believe in something foolish is a waste of time, since it cannot possibly be true.
Why is the Cross foolishness? In the Greco-Roman world, self-sacrifice was not considered a virtue. The idea a person might willingly shame themselves by voluntarily sacrificing themselves on a Cross is unthinkable and so radically offensive no rational person could believe it.
To those who are being saved, the Cross is the power of God. A death on the Cross was such an offensive and shameful death that it would have been shocking for Paul to call it the “power of God for salvation.” D. A. Carson suggested the analogy of someone today claiming the Holocaust was “the power of God” (The Cross and the Christian Message, 12). No one in the world today would say the Holocaust is “the power of God.” Such a statement would be jarring and offensive. Anyone making that sort of claim would not just be laughed at, but vilified and persecuted for such a claim.
Yet this is what Paul claims: God chooses foolish things to silence the wise. He quotes Isaiah 29:14, a saying embedded in a context of the judgment on Judah for worship with their lips but not their heart (29:13); since their hearts are not right, they are about to face God’s judgment. The Corinthians may have heard this as a pronouncement on the wise of this age (which is true), but since the object of God’s wrath in Isaiah is Judah, it is possible that Paul’s point here is that the church will also be silenced because of their foolishness!
How does this “foolishness” play out in the modern preaching of the Gospel? Some American evangelical Christians like to use apologetics to present faith in Jesus as rational and reasonable to a rational mind. Others try to use secular culture to present the Gospel in a way that appeals to the modern or postmodern mind (those “Mars Hill” ministries, for example). Would Paul have created a rational argument to prove the need for the violent death of Jesus on the Cross? Would he have hosted a poetry slam in one of his churches for people to express their repressed feelings about religion? How can we “embrace the foolishness” and still reach our culture?
In the Greco-roman time period and culture, it was very common to believe in a god or many gods. Jews believed in one God, Yahweh, and Christians believe that as well. Most people believed in a god of some sort, whether it was the true God or not. Their struggle was to believe in the Christ Jesus the messiah, but their initial belief in God was present. Today, the struggle is simply believing in God. With scientific arguments, spirituality and other explanations, it is very hard to convince them that the “foolishness” of believing in the existence of God is authentic and true. Once that bridge is crossed, then we can approach the “foolishness” of the cross issue with people. Another barrier we face as american Christians is that we are so afraid of offending people. If we embrace this timid culture, how are we supposed to preach an offensive gospel that spotlights the sin in our lives? No one wants to hear that they are a sinner, a bad person, deserving death. THAT message is very offensive to Americans because everyone is “good, perfect and beautiful just the way they are”. Everyone wants to feel good about themselves, receive attention, and to feel complete in their identity. Maybe, this is something appetizing that we can share with people, that Christ is the one that gave us enough attention, enough to DIE for us, and that in him we are complete. This sounds good to the listener, but it is true at the same time, without giving a “half’ or “fluffy” gospel.
I think another way in which we might be able to reach this culture with the foolishness of the gospel is emphasizing the empathy that Jesus has with us coming to earth as a human. He empathizes with our struggles, was an outsider, was rejected, and suffered on our behalf.
Rachel Smith
How does this “foolishness” play out in the modern preaching of the Gospel? (P. Long, blog – The Message of the Cross). In the modern world, the ‘foolishness of the cross’ is still a stumbling block to some. “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.” 1 Corinthians 1:18. Two millennia later, it still does not make logical sense for the eternal God to send His Son to die for sinners! Today, the quest for honour is not exactly the same as the social honour system of the Corinthians; yet we still understand the desire to be respected and honoured. To believe that our only way to heaven is salvation by grace through faith in the Son of God who died a shameful death for us, can be a hard concept to wrestle with, especially for those who are surrounded by a culture that teaches self reliance as the most honourable way to live.
I never thought of what Jesus did on the cross is foolish. After reading this blog post, it put the crucifixion into perspective for me. I can now see how confusing it would be to believe in such a thing. It was foolish to believe in this in the 1 century and even the present day.
I will answer the question of how would Paul display the gospel today? I can see this question is difficult to answer, but the way I see it is that Paul was called as an apostle of Jesus. Kind of in the same way every other pastor today, they feel called to love people and preach the gospel. Pastors every day are saving people because of the power of the gospel. I see Paul doing the same thing. Paul would have most likely taken the path of an evangelistic pastoral role. Paul would not have softened the gospel, he would still preach for what it is and not apologize for it.
But how can we get people to understand that the cross may seem foolish, but it is so powerful? We need to explain how Jesus dying on the cross as a sacrifice for us who are full of sin. It is also a covenant, that he has forgiven us for sinning against him and that if we believe this, we will spend eternity forgiven with him.
Wow thank you for that great opinion that moved me and helped me better understand.
For one to fully grasp the power of God being shown in the cross, they must have the Holy Spirit in them. “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God”(1 Corinthians 4:12). I don’t think those without Him guiding them can see God Himself dying for humanity in such a humiliating way. But that is all Christianity is it not? Everything Jesus seemed to say was contrary to our earthly thinking. The Beatitudes(Matthew 5) are a good example of this, and His actions resembled these teachings. What was once thought of as strange, even to the Jews, was now the revealed will of God. As you stated, “Paul does not shy away from these inconvenient facts of the Gospel in order to gain more converts because God has chosen foolish things in order to make foolish the wisdom of this world”(Phillip Long). God is just showing His awesome power and how this world does not affect Him, and His overwhelming grace and love. The idiotic way of thinking in this world is truly laughable to God, so He used something that was humiliating to them and made it a sign of His grace and power over death.
Foolish thinking in this world is just as present now as it was then. We have people trying to sugarcoat the Gospel and others trying to present it without the use of Scripture or God’s guidance. I think apologetics can be incredibly effective, and it may be overlooked by many Christians. But, we must also understand that not every bit of Christianity will connect logically with an unbeliever because God is involved, and He is not limited like we are. He transcends what we’re capable of understanding. “Paul does not shy away from these inconvenient facts of the Gospel in order to gain more converts because God has chosen foolish things in order to make foolish the wisdom of this world”(TTP 109). Someone who does not have the Holy Spirit within them to guide their understanding may think that God dying is weird. But, one who overlooks their foolishness and worldly “intelligence” can see the love and beauty behind God dying for His children. Paul tells it how it is. He doesn’t give their worldly thinking any leeway for them to fully grasp the Gospel. I think we are meant to meet people where they are at without polluting the true Gospel. This includes making it seem like rainbows and fairytales, or preaching a comfortable Gospel.
It is interesting to take a dive into this, because you will never hear the cross be considered a foolish thing in modern preaching. Although after some reflection this makes a lot of sense coming from the perspective that the people back then would have had. I think about the Greek gods. Achilles died in war. He would never experience the shame of being put to death and especially not the humiliation that crucifixion would bring upon one who dies that way. I think Christ’s death on the cross is a great example to the people of the time that you will look foolish for my name. The honor shame system in the culture assured this. Helping the poor, widows and sickly were all things that would have been shameful.
I do not at least in the 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 passage that Paul makes a logical argument for the “violent death of Jesus on the cross.” I think Paul demonstrates well Isaiah 55:9. This idea that God’s ways are higher than humans are shown by Paul in this passage. I like the way he says, “The foolishness of God is wiser than men,”. I like the aspect here of where Paul is essentially saying look it does not matter if it is foolish to you, God gets to decide either way. This said I don’t think a slam poetry event would move Paul in any way. I do not think Paul would host such an event. Paul’s writings seem to break down postmodern ideas in my opinion. Embracing the foolishness looks like owning the way of life that Christ’s death on provides for Christian. It looks like being counter cultural and standing for what the Gospel is even when in today’s culture it is mocked about everywhere you look.