The Wisdom of God
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2025 · 11 May 2025
The world looks at what God has revealed in the Bible and what He has done in Christ's work on the cross as foolishness. The apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 1, deals with this subject of contrasting the foolishness of God with the so-called wisdom of the world. Now Paul is dealing with problems that range all the way from chapter 1 to chapter 16. The first problem that he deals with is the problem of disunity in the church.
In the church at Corinth there was division. And the reason there was division was twofold. One, they were identifying with human teachers and they were lining up with different men. And so they were creating factions. There's a second cause of division and that was these people had been saved out of a very philosophically oriented society and they had all prior to their conversion been adherence to a philosophy.
And when they became Christians, they maintained this kind of philosophical identity. And so they were all believers, but they couldn't get together in real unity because they were philosophically divided. And so Paul attacks the idea of division over the basis of the world's wisdom from 1:18 on to the end of the chapter. And he is showing them that they should never have division in the church based upon philosophy.
They should never be divided over economics, over social viewpoints, over perspectives that are propounded by men's wisdom, because all of this is null and void anyway. They are united around the wisdom of God and that is common to every believer. And you know, you can have people who have a different philosophy arguing with others who have a different philosophy, but in God's word is the revelation of what is true.
And so he attacks the idea of dragging into the church philosophical viewpoints, perspective based on human wisdom and thus dividing the fellowship into groups around this human view. Now, what it really tells us is the contrast between the wisdom of God and the wisdom of men. And they are opposites. You don't need philosophy because when it's right, that just means it matches the Bible.
You only need the word of God. Just to give you an illustration, there's only two kinds of wisdom in the world. God's wisdom and man's wisdom. In James 3:.17 we find the definition of the wisdom of God, "the wisdom is from above". Now we know right away that this is supernatural wisdom. It's outside of the earth. It's unearthly. It's divine. It's God's wisdom. It's from above. It is pure.
God's wisdom brings about holiness, purity, righteousness and then he says it's peaceable. It makes peace. It's gentle. Means it's sweet and it's reasonable. He says it's easy to be entreated. Which means it's not contentious. It's full of mercy. It forgives. It is kind. It has good fruit. It is without partiality. God's wisdom is unambiguous, not shifty, doesn't play politics and isn't double-tongued.
And it's without hypocrisy. It's honest, frank, straightforward and open. That's God's wisdom. And what James is saying here is you can tell a person who is teaching God's wisdom because he will be pure, peaceable, gentle, free from contention, full of mercy, good fruits, won't play politics and will be straight, frank and honest. That's God's wisdom. Now, in contrast to that, you have man's wisdom in verse 15.
Now this just plain old ungodly wisdom. This is human wisdom and it is defined in three terms. We saw these last time. Earthly, which is it is bound to the earth. It cannot know anything outside of itself, which is really a severe handicap. It's trying to pull itself up by its own bootstraps. Secondly, it is sensual. That is it is predicated on the lusts and desires of men. Thirdly, its source is demonic.
Now, you see here two kinds of wisdom. Worldly wisdom and divine wisdom. You'll notice something. God's wisdom does not need the addition of man's wisdom. Why would you add to supernatural wisdom something is earthly, sensual, and demonic? That would not do anything for God's wisdom, but what? Corrupt it. That's what philosophy does to revelation, through the word of revelation.
Philosophy corrupts. For in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and you are complete in Him." The addition of human philosophy is unnecessary. What can you add to completion? Nothing. Well, that is the viewpoint then that Paul is presenting to the Corinthian. And incidentally, it also had contributed as we will see to most all of the rest of the problems in the Corinthian assembly.
The Old Testament in Ecclesiastes 1 was written by Solomon and it chronicles human wisdom. It says in effect what human wisdom is all about. And the Lord put it here to show us the frustrations and the inabilities of human wisdom. He says in chapter 1:13, "Oh, I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven." Verse 16, "I have gotten more wisdom than all.
Verse 11-13, “When I considered all that I had accomplished and what I had labored to achieve, I found everything to be futile and a pursuit of the wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun. 12 Then I turned to consider wisdom, madness, and folly, for what will the king’s successor be like? He will do what has already been done. The wisest man that ever lived said, "When all came to an end, I was a fool." That's human wisdom.
In 1 Corinthians 1:18 it compares the wisdom of God with the wisdom of men. And it gives us five reasons why God's wisdom is superior to man's wisdom. Number one, its permanence. In verses 19-20, Paul says that God's wisdom is superior to man's wisdom because God's wisdom is permanent. And he doesn't make that statement. But he shows man's wisdom to be impermanent. And therein is the contrast.
Notice verse 19. "For it is written I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. I will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent." He says, "Where is the wise" - verse 20. "Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?" And he talks about the three areas of human understanding. The wise, that's philosophy. The scribe, that's literature. The disputer, that's rhetoric.
Let all of the philosophies of the past have come to nothing. The same problems exist in a manifold sense. Where are all of these answer men? God has made foolish the wisdom of this world. And in the sense that God has frustrated it, that it runs to its limits and still comes up zero, it's foolishness. What do men need? Men need life, eternal. Men need the forgiveness of sin. Men need to know God.
Human wisdom can't forgive sin. It can't give life eternal and it can't bring men to God. When it's all said and done, it can't do anything, except make comfortable people who are sinning. And in all the pursuits of their own wisdom they came up with no answers. And God stepped in and made their wisdom foolish by what He did. He forgave sin. He granted eternal life and He ushered men into the knowledge of Himself.
Second thing, God's wisdom has power. Verse 21 says, “For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of what is preached. Human wisdom doesn't transform people. It doesn't forgive sin. It doesn't usher people into the presence of God. It gives people an intellectual satisfaction that they can explain a certain thing.
It has no power. And the world looks at the gospel and says how foolish. What the men of the “world couldn't do when all of the composite of their wisdom was put together, God simply did. He saved men. From what? From their sins, their meaninglessness, from Satan. He saved them. Rescued them. Delivered them into His own presence. Forgave their sin. Gave them life eternal. That's what God did.
Now notice at the end of verse 21, we have to note this. "The foolishness of preaching saves them that believe." There is a human response required and that is faith. Paul did not say in Romans 1:16, "The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to all those who can understand its complexities." No, it's the power of God to all those who believe. A man came to Jesus and said, "Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief."
He says the same in verses 22-25, For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. 24 Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, 25 because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
Here we are in the world and we're preaching this simple message of the cross. God in human flesh comes into the world. He lives. Does miracles. Proves Himself to be God. Dies on the cross. Sheds His blood. Bears the punishment for our sin. Rises from the dead." We keep preaching this message. And we keep telling people this is the apex of history. This is the theme of the universe. This is the salvation of men.
He says in verse 22, "The Jews require a sign." They had to have a supernatural proof for everything. What they were really saying was, "Do a trick. Do something really super magic." But He did his miracles really for His disciples, because miracles only solidify the faith of people who already believe. People who don't believe will find a way to explain them away. Think about the blind man in the gospel of John.
And the Pharisees by the time the chapter is done, are still convinced the guy wasn't made to see. And they go to him and say, "Now, are you the guy?" "I'm the guy." "We don't believe you." They find his mom and dad. "Is this your son who was born blind?" "That's the guy." And they say, "Well, Jesus can't be somebody from God." And he says, "You know that He has opened my eyes and you're asking me whether He's from God?"
The end of it was unbelief and hatred toward Christ. The world does not have the mentality to except the supernatural to begin with, because the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God. That's why today we don't we need miracles all the time to convince people who don't believe. That's an act of God in their lives. Jesus did miracles in front of the disciples to convince them who already believed of His power.
In Matthew 16, the Pharisees and Sadducees came and they said, "Well, we want a sign." And Jesus said in verse 4, "There shall no sign be given this wicked and adulterous generation, except the sign of Jonah." Jesus would die three days in the grave and arise. And when He rose from the dead, you know what they did? They bribed the soldiers to say that they stole His body and that He didn't really rise.
Do you know the Jews still don't believe that? You know the biggest hang up that the Jews have over the Messiahship of Jesus Christ is His death, because they have their own little deal figured out. He would come and He would set up His kingdom. And He came, but He didn't do that. You say, "What did they do with Isaiah 53?" They don't do much with it. You say, "What do they do with Psalm 22?" Mostly they avoid it.
Verse 24 says "both Jews and Greeks." "Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God." In spite of the fact that the most rejected it. The call of salvation effectually came to some Jews and some Gentiles. And they believed and immediately Christ became to them the power of God. Colossians 1:29, "I want to tell you that I labor, but it isn't me, it's Christ working in me." And to the Gentiles who believed, it became wisdom.
And so the wisdom of God is so much superior to the wisdom of men, because it has the power to save. The power to regenerate new life and grants divine wisdom. So, to them that are called, those that God has chosen. Jews and Greeks. Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. We're able to do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think, aren't we? According to the power that works in us?
There are a lot of things that God knows that we don't know, right? And you begin to see that God is far beyond what you can even imagine. There are complexities of the mind of God that are absolutely beyond humankind to even comprehend. He's saying, "The simplest thing I've ever done is the cross. The weakest exhibition of my power ever is infinitely beyond the greatest of your wisdom and power."
Verse 26, “Brothers and sisters, consider your calling: Not many were wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth.” Isn't it true the church is composed of simple, humble people? One reason that the Lord chose the church from the humble people was as a living testimony to the world that He doesn't need its wisdom. The church stands as a rebuke against the complexity of the world's wisdom.
The world bases its greatness on knowledge, education, influence, power, money and on rank. Would you like to know the greatest man that ever lived according to God? His name is John the Baptist. He had no education. He wore a kind of a modified suit made out of camel's hair and he ate locust and wild honey. Jesus said in Matthew 11:11, "Among them that are born of women there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist."
Verse 27-28, “Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. 28 God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world—what is viewed as nothing—to bring to nothing what is viewed as something.” Here he contrasts what God has chosen and what He hasn't chosen. "God has not chosen educated, but foolish.
He has not chosen the powerful, but the weak. Not high born, but low-born. The word of God shows. You see, human philosophy doesn't mean anything. Paul says, "People get that stuff out of your ranks, will you? You don't need it." Can't you see that the permanence of God's wisdom, the power of God's wisdom and the paradox of God's wisdom in choosing the church shows that God doesn't need human wisdom? Let's pray.