Blogpost #26

Chapter 11: Wisdom of God - Part 3

Ref: I Cor. 1:18-2:10

The Jewish Mindset: "Show Us a Sign"

In the last article we considered the mindset of the Greeks in their "search for wisdom" and saw how it was, at its core, an intellectual pursuit of purely worldly wisdom. When they were presented with "spiritual" truth, i.e. the Cross and the Resurrection, they scoffed at it. But, what about the Jews? What was their "mindset"?

Charles Hodge, the great Princeton theologian of the last century, points out that the history of the Jews is one of constantly demanding "signs," some miraculous proof that something is true. Starting with the book of Exodus, this demand reappears over and over. Sadly, rather than a search for proof of truth, it ultimately came to signify nothing more than a hardness of heart.

Now, to be fair, there was a history of God, indeed, giving them "signs." He gave Moses the burning bush. He gave Israel the 10 plagues which destroyed Egypt and freed them. He gave them the parting of the Red Sea to deliver them once and for all from Egypt. Gideon had his fleece, Elijah praying for rain on Mt. Carmel...and many others. But what was the purpose of these signs? Faith! Trust! God only gives signs to establish the fact in doubting minds and hearts that He can be trusted. Sadly, only a small remnant of the Jews ever caught on.

The Greeks despised the religion of the Jews. To them, it was all meaningless rituals because there was no evidence their God existed; sadly the Jews really couldn't provide convincing proof that He did. By the time of the Greeks and Romans, Israel had become the servant-slaves of one world empire after another. With their God no longer present, their religion was powerless. Besides, the Jewish idea of an absolute, all-powerful Creator God made no sense to the Greeks. If such a being existed, why didn't He reveal Himself? That is actually a very valid question! And, Israel was supposed to have been the proof of the answer!

Israel: God's Chosen Vehicle of Revelation

Indisputably, the Jews were God's chosen people. He revealed Himself to them in ways that no other people on earth ever experienced. The plan was for God to reveal Himself to the other peoples by the wisdom, blessing and prosperity that Israel would experience because they followed and obeyed the laws and commands of their God, Jehovah. The others would see the wisdom of their ways and the prosperity they enjoyed and want to follow their God as well. Obviously, that plan didn't work out too well.

But, there was a bigger plan overlaying it; one that did not depend on man, but on God alone. It was a plan that revealed God's wisdom. It is known by different names: The Gospel, the Lamb slain, Christ crucified. But they all reveal the true wisdom that leads to God. The problem is this wisdom just doesn't make sense...at least not to most people!

The Gospel Does Not Make Sense

In I Corinthians 1 as Paul continues to outline the reasons for the failures of both the Jewish and Greek attempts to find God, he highlights the main problem: The Gospel doesn't make sense! Not rational sense. Not philosophical sense. It only makes sense to God.

What both these philosophical approaches miss is the core of the gospel message which is "Christ crucified"...and specifically the need for it. "Christ crucified" as the solution to all the world's problems seems ludicrous to the world. Why? The world sees man as having enormous potential, not as one "dead in sin." Man's pride blinds him to the truth. Admitting one is hopelessly, morally flawed requires real humility. To the "wise" of this world, it is nonsense, utter foolishness.

"It is foolishness...to the perishing"

But, does it make any sense that God would design a plan for man's redemption which would allow him to be forgiven and restored to a place of blessing, with all his pride still intact? With no change to his sinful, rebellious nature? No, that makes no sense either. And that is Paul's point in I Cor. 1, God's plan is to expose man's pride by allowing those who are typically despised by the world to see the value of the truth of "Christ crucified." The proud dismiss it as nonsense, but to the convicted sinner it is the only hope of redemption.

It is foolishness to the Gentiles. It makes no sense that the God who created the universe and all those who dwell in it would sacrifice His precious and only Son for the sin and rebellion of His created beings. It makes no sense. The logic does not compute.

It's foolishness to the Jews as well. They saw no need of a "Savior," they were already God's chosen people. They prided themselves on their knowledge of God, literally! They already occupied an exalted place in this world and were simply waiting for a messiah, a king, who would restore their fortunes. They were just as blind to their need as the Greeks!

The Blinders on the Jews

Jesus addressed this blindness head-on in John 5. In effect, He said they were dead men reveling in the revelation of God. They were masters of the technical aspects of the law, they knew it backwards and forwards...memorizing large parts of it. Yet, they were blind to what it meant and how it should impact their lives in their search to know God.

To those religious leaders He said, "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me; and you are unwilling to come to me that you may have life." (John 5:39-40) The amazing thing is that Jesus closes the chapter with the warning that when they are finally judged, it is Moses ("...in whom you have set your hope") who will judge them! Why? Because the truth is, they don't believe Moses's writings any more than Jesus's words. They weren't seeking God. They were enjoying the intellectual stimulation of speculating about God!

Wait a minute. Isn't that's exactly what the Greeks were doing when Paul confronted them at Mars Hill. The truth is the Jews and Greeks were essentially engaged in the same thing, a pride-stimulating, intellectual search for God/gods that blinded them to their own personal need for a Savior to redeem them from their sin.

Write it down: Truth without Application is merely Information.

God once told the Jews that "you shall seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart." The only way to find God is faith. Faith is the path of true wisdom, but Faith requires humility. James said, "God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

True wisdom is knowing the right thing to do (the will of God) and the right time to do it (God's time to do it).  How do you get that wisdom?

True wisdom begins with "the fear of the Lord" which means you'll have to humble yourself before God. Neither Greeks nor Jews were willing to take the humble place before God. That's why they completely missed the message of the gospel. Because of their pride, they missed the Christ "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." It is God's good pleasure to reveal Him to those who are willing to believe and trust in Him.

The Missing Key: Faith

True Wisdom can only be found with eyes of faith; humble eyes that see that the love of God in Christ is sufficient reason to trust Him and that all that He has said and done in Christ is true. And the only place you can find the proof of that love is in the cross of Jesus Christ. When this truth is confirmed by His Resurrection, you have in this one person the "wisdom of God and the power of God."

The Greek approach to the "search for wisdom" made faith impossible; likewise, the Jews' demand for "signs" makes faith impossible. God knew the message would sound like foolishness to those would who would seek Him this way. But, He also knew that there would be a "few," "the called," who would hear the truth, see it revealed in Christ and choose to "follow Him."  These God was "well-pleased to save."

To these and these alone, Paul says, Christ became " the power of God and the wisdom of God".

Blogpost #25

Chapter 11: Wisdom of God - Part 2

"...Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God."

"...to the Jews a stumbling-block, to the Gentiles foolishness.

"...the foolishness of God is wiser than men..." 

 I Cor 1:23-24-25

The wisdom of God and the wisdom of man never lead to the same place unless the relationship between man and God is in the right place. Since man by his very nature is a rebel against God, any time his will and desire coincides with God's will and desire is purely accidental. Man, at his core, is totally selfish. His desire for wisdom is, at its core, a desire to exalt himself. This is why the gospel is such a problem; there is no way for a person to exalt himself and respond to the gospel of God's grace. A saving response requires a humble acknowledgment of wrongdoing, a plea for forgiveness and a recognition of one's total inability to change or atone for the wrongdoing.

Most people have no problem admitting they're "sinners". The essence of that admission is simply a general acknowledgment that "no one is perfect." This requires no humility because everyone is in the same boat. No personal responsibility for "my sins, my acts of rebellion or my selfishness" is required. There is no conscious personal awareness that, in God's eyes, "I am an outlaw; I have committed crimes against God that deserve His wrath and judgment." Rather, the mindset is more, "Yes, I've not been what I ought to be, but I can do better and, eventually, my good deeds can atone for my failures." How did we get so far from the truth? Where did this "mindset" come from?

The Wisdom of the World

In the book of Daniel, there is a famous "golden image" which foretells of the major empires which will rule the world. The first two (the Babylonians and Medo-Persians) were primarily about power and dominion. The third was Alexander the Great's Greece, then finally to Rome's world domination. As we read the histories of these empires, the major focus of their efforts was ruling their empires...with one exception: Greece. The other empires left very little in the form of a "legacy" to the world they once dominated. Greece is different. In a real sense, Greece continues to rule Western Civilization, at least it rules their thinking. Greece epitomizes the "wisdom of the world."

More than one historian has noted that while Rome conquered Greece, the culture of Greece ruled Rome and all of Western Civilization...and still does. There was a period in Greece from about 500-300 B.C. which is often called the "golden age of Greece."

It was one of the greatest periods of cultural development the world has ever seen. It was the period of the great philosophers (Plato, Aristotle), the great writers (Aeschylus, Euripides), mathematicians like Euclid and Archimedes...just to name a few. This period is viewed as the "birth of Western Civilization"...and when it is coupled with Alexander's vision of uniting his empire with a single "trade" language (Koine Greek), it laid the foundation for the ability of the "gospel" to be taken to the whole known world in one generation.

What is it about Greek culture that is so compelling? What does this have to do with the wisdom of God?

The "Mindset" of Jews and Greeks

It did not escape the apostle Paul's notice that Greek culture was dominating the world. In his letter to the Corinthians (Corinth was a major center of Greek culture), he noted that the "Jews seek for signs, Greeks search for wisdom." This masterfully sums up the two dominating mindsets of people in Paul's day. Their approaches couldn't be more different, yet both sought and failed to find the ultimate prize, the knowledge of God.

Yet, it is the culture and language of the Greeks which ruled the minds of the people, long after the power of the Roman empire vanished. What was it that was so attractive and compelling? The answer is pretty simple.

The Greek culture exalted man like no other. It represented the pinnacle of human achievement in many areas, laid the foundation for much of what mankind has achieved and planted the seed for the dream of "human potential" like it had never been seen before. This mindset (the seemingly limitless possibilities of individual human potential) has continued to rule Western Civilization ever since.

The interesting thing is how Paul sums up the contrast between the Jews and Greeks. The "Jews seek for signs, Greeks search for wisdom". That is really an amazingly succinct and accurate summation of two world-dominating cultures! The two paths they followed couldn't be more different; so you would expect them to be diametrically opposed. As we'll see, in many ways they were doing the same thing. But, though both supposedly sought the knowledge of God or at least "ultimate knowledge", neither path led to any kind of life-changing experience. If ever there was evidence that the idea that "all roads lead to God" was patently false, it has to be the history of the Jews and the Greeks. So, how did they approach the search for "wisdom"?

The Greek Mindset: Making Sense of It All

The Greeks worshiped perfection. It didn't matter whether it was in beauty, art, science, architecture or athletic prowess; perfection was always the goal. Logic and reason were the tools which guided them. Imperfection in all its forms was despised. Interestingly, while Greek philosophers often speculated about ultimate truth and moral accountability, the Greek "gods" were not morally perfect. They were, at best, super-human heroes. The gods of the Greeks had flaws, weaknesses...they usually excelled in only one main area or attribute. They were to be appeased, in order to secure their favor, not emulated.

The Greeks searched for a path to "perfection", believing that man is capable of great things. The problem is simply that this basic premise is totally false. Their idea of "perfection" was merely a human ideal. They called these idols "gods," but it was all an illusion. They simply ignored the obvious fact that all men are irrecoverably, morally flawed. They think God is more like man and man is more like God than they should. They have it totally backwards.

That's why they continue to try to reason their way onto the path of god-likeness. The reality of their world is very different from their perception of it. In other words, they are just deceived. As Paul says, they are "blinded by the god of this world." Their path to wisdom is a "dead end" street. This was inevitable because the Scriptures say that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning point of wisdom." They missed the turn because they were looking for glory for themselves, not God.

But...were the Jews any better? After all, they were God's "chosen people." Next time we'll see why both Jews and Greeks failed to see the "wisdom of God."