“Three Kinds of Wisdom and What They Give You”
I Corinthians 1:18-31
3/15/09 Sermon
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but
its end is the way of death” (Prov. 14:12). Most of us
would like to think that we are wise. We wouldn’t want to
be classified as fools. We’ve all received some kind of
education; I would guess that all of us have graduated from high
school. Some have even gone on to college and university.
But knowledge and learning doesn’t necessarily entail
wisdom. Just because you know something doesn’t mean
you’re a wise person. You may know that it’s
dangerous to cross the street without looking both ways first, and yet
you may foolishly disregard this knowledge and cross anyway. In
the case of the Christian faith, a person may know who Christ is and
might even acknowledge what He’s done, but may foolishly refuse
to believe in Him, trusting in his own personal self-chosen way of
salvation instead. And so, wisdom is more than just
knowledge. Knowledge alone won’t save anyone. After
all, the devil knows more than we do, and yet he’s not
saved. He can quote the Bible better than any one of us can, and
yet he hates God and His Word.
In today’s epistle text the Apostle Paul
extols wisdom. But this is not just any kind of wisdom.
It’s the wisdom of God. There are other kinds of
wisdom: the wisdom of the world (or the wisdom of reason) and the
wisdom of the Law, but neither of these give the salvation that the
wisdom of God alone delivers through the cross of Christ. The one
who has this wisdom has eternal life, as he not only knows who Jesus is
and what He’s done, but wisely trusts in Him as his wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
But this wisdom doesn’t come naturally to us;
it is given. We are not born sages, but fools in God’s
eyes, possessing a wisdom that sets itself over and against God’s
wisdom. And even though we’ve been given the mind of Christ
in our Baptism and have the Holy Spirit working within us, we still
constantly have to fight against both the wisdom of the world as well
as the wisdom of the Law, since our sinful nature always wants to trust
in these instead of God’s wisdom. It’s why we
don’t understand why God does what He does and why we often ask
the “why” question when God doesn’t do things our
way. And so, we must continue to die to the wisdom of the world
and the wisdom of the Law, because to rely on either will lead us away
from Christ, away from life to death.
Here in his epistle to the Corinthian congregation
Paul contrasts God’s wisdom specifically with the wisdom of the
world. Again, this wisdom can also be described as the wisdom of
reason. It is a wisdom that accepts and believes things as long
as they seem rational to our fallen, sinful minds. This wisdom is
praised by the world, because it appears to be so logical, scientific,
and practical. But it is a wisdom that rejects the proclamation
of Christ crucified for our salvation, because this appears to be
nonsense. This kind of wisdom can know and believe certain things
about God, but it can’t really know God, because it considers the
cross of Christ to be foolishness and refuses to accept that we are
reconciled to God through that work. It’s just as Paul says
elsewhere in this letter: “The natural man does not accept
the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to
him...” And so, the wisdom of the world/reason does not
lead to God, but away from Him. By this wisdom it’s
impossible to believe in Jesus Christ our Lord or come to Him.
It’s a kind of wisdom that demands signs from God, and yet even
when given the sign of Christ’s resurrection it still refuses to
believe. Rejecting this sign, it wants God to prove Himself by
performing the signs it wants from Him. Since God does not cater
to this kind of wisdom, however, it will not believe. This
wisdom, therefore, doesn’t give life. It gives a sense of
power and wisdom in this world (which is why it’s so appealing),
but it’s foolishness in the eyes of God, because it rejects His
Son and the salvation He won for us by way of His cross.
Therefore, it’s end is the way of death.
Related to the wisdom of the world but not
specifically mentioned by Paul here is the wisdom of the Law.
Jewish Christians would have struggled with this one particularly,
because they had come from a very legalistic background, where
obedience to commandments was demanded. And God Himself had given
them His Law, including the 10 commandments and the laws concerning
circumcision, sacrifice, and civil society. And, of course, no
one can say that the 10 commandments are foolishness. They are an
expression of God’s wisdom. It’s even reasonable,
rational, and logical to believe that if you do obey them you’ll
be saved. The Scripture even says that if a man keeps them he
will live. But they are, in fact, powerless to save. God
never gave the Law to be used as a means for salvation. It was
given to reveal sin, so that the one convicted would trust in
God’s mercy, not in his own efforts and works, to gain
forgiveness.
It’s fools, then, who use the Law to try to
get righteous before God. Far from showing that you can keep it,
the Law actually shows you that you can’t and that you’ve
broken every one of God commandments. Those who try to keep the
Law certainly will have the appearance of wisdom as they outwardly
attempt to obey its rules. Even Paul in his epistle to the
Philippians writes, “If anyone else thinks he has reason for
confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth
day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of
Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the
Church; as to righteousness under the Law, blameless.” And
so, the wisdom of the Law gives a sort of confidence and occasion for
boasting in this world, because of how holy it makes people look.
But those who rely on the Law for their salvation reject Christ and the
wisdom of the cross. Therefore, the wisdom of the Law, too, leads
to death. Whenever you and I believe that by obeying God’s
commandments we somehow earn His favor and therefore deserve His love
and His gifts, we fall into the trap of living according to the wisdom
of the Law. And we must confess this and repent of it; otherwise,
we cut ourselves off from the true wisdom, the wisdom of the cross.
And it’s this wisdom in which Paul boasts here
in today’s epistle text. He boasts in it, because though
the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, to us
who are being saved it is the power of God. It is the wisdom of
the cross of Christ alone that gives salvation. By faith in this
wisdom we have eternal life. With this wisdom we actually come to
know God, as opposed to just knowing things about Him. The wisdom
of the cross still comes across as foolishness to our fallen reason,
because God uses weak and foolish looking things to reveal this
wisdom. He revealed it through the frail human flesh of Jesus,
who appeared as a poor, humble carpenter and yet was God Himself.
He then revealed it through that God-Man’s bloody death on a
cross. He also revealed it through His bodily resurrection from
the dead. Now He reveals it through the simple spoken and written
words about Jesus. He reveals it through simple water, bread, and
wine. He even reveals it among the simple people like you and me
who believe it. We may not be the best looking people nor the
wealthiest nor the most powerful or successful people in the
world. But we have eternal life and the riches of heaven.
We have God and all His gifts given to us through the wisdom of the
cross.
It’s this wisdom alone that Paul boasts in,
and it’s this wisdom that we too can boast in, even though to do
so will make us look like fools in the eyes of the unbelievers.
It’s easy to boast in the other kinds of wisdom - in the wisdom
of the world/reason and the wisdom of the Law. These make sense
to people and they conform to our sinful minds. But of this Paul
writes, “Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of
Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the
surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have
suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order
that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness
of my own that comes from the Law, but that which comes through faith
in Christ...” It may be difficult to boast in the cross of
Christ, because of how weak it looks. But this wisdom reveals
God’s strength. The one who boasts in this wisdom
doesn’t boast in himself or anything he has done, but in Christ
alone and what He has done. Through the cross God has made Him to
be our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
Whoever believes in Him is a wise, righteous, holy, and redeemed person.
Proverbs 26:12 says, “Do you see a man who is
wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for
him.” The wisdom of the world may appear to be more
rational, logical, and scientific, and the wisdom of the Law may appear
to be more religious, pious, and holy. But to rely on either one
of them for salvation is the way of death. The wisdom of God
alone revealed through the proclamation of the suffering and death of
Jesus Christ, crucified for our salvation, gives eternal life to all
who believe it. Through it God has made the wise foolish and the
foolish wise. Amen.