To the Unknown God-Part D

Paul left Athens at present for them to consider it at alter time. There was not much fruit on his preaching at this time, but wherever he went certain men followed him and wanted to debate with him and learn about this new doctrine. Two people were worth mentioning and one of them was an eminent man, Dionysius the Aeropagite, one of the high court council who sat at Aeropagus, or the Mar’s Hill. Paul was summoned to appear before him, because he was the judge, senator, and he became his convert. Dionysius was bred at Athens, studied astrology and took note of the appearance of the miraculous eclipse at the passion of Christ. When he disputed with Paul, he was corrected from his error and idolatry, instructed by Paul and became the first Bishop of Athens. The other convert was Damaris, who was a person of some quality. So with these two converts mainly people of some quality, and some other believers, Paul cannot say he has laboured in vain.

Paul exhorts the believers of Athens to give much to reading and meditating based on 1 Tim: 4: 13-15; “Till I come , give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.  Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all”.^a

The unknown God is made known

^”No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him”. Jn: 1:18.

What is the mystery of this unknown God?

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory;”Eph: 1:1-14

What was the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began?

Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen. Rom 16: 25-27.

Book References:

1. Millard J. Erickson. Christian Theology. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House: 1983-85. 

2. R.T. Kendall. Understanding Theology, Developing a Healthy Church in the 21^st Century. 1996.

3. Jay E. Adams. A Theology of Christian Counseling, More than Redemption. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1979.

4. Louis Berkhof. Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996.

5.  Robert P Lightner. Handbook of Evangelical Theology, Historical, Biblical, and Contemporary Survey and Review. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1986.

6. Charles Ryrie. Basic Theology. Chicago: Moody Press, 1986, 1999.

7.  A. H. Strong. Systematic Theology. New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Co, 1907.

8.  Wayne Grudem. Systematic Theology, An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994.

9. Steven W. Waterhouse. Not By Bread Alone, An Outlined Guide To Bible Doctrine. Amarillo: Westcliffe Press, 2007. 

10. John Theodore Muller, Th.D. Christian Dogmatics, A handbook of Doctrinal Theology for Pastors, Teachers, and Laymen.  St. Louis, Mo: Concordia Publishing House, 1934.  

11. Prayers To Move Your Mountains. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000.

12. John White. Parables, the Greatest Stories ever Told. Illinois: Inter varsity Press, 1988, 1999.

13. ESV Study Bible. English Standard Version. Crossway Bibles, Wheaton, Illinois: Publishing ministry of Good News publishers, 2008.

14. The Matthew Henry Study Bible. King James Version. Iowa falls: World Bible Publishers, Inc. 1990.

Website References:

1.        Unknown God - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unknown_God

The Unknown God or Agnostos Theos is a theory by Eduard Norden first published in 1913 that proposes, based on the Christian Apostle Paul's Areopagus speech in Acts ...

2.        Acts 17:23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at ...

biblehub.com/acts/17-23.htm

For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore you ignorantly worship, him declare I to you.

3.        Acts 17:16-34 NIV - In Athens - While Paul was waiting for ...

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts 17:16-34&...

Acts 17:16-34 New International Version (NIV) In Athens. 16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, ... to an unknown god.

1.        Witness to the Unknown God: Paul in Athens - Bible Studies ...

https://www.intervarsity.org/bible-studies/acts-17

Witness to the Unknown God: Paul in Athens. Getting Started “The world’s major religions, Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam, are making inroads as are a variety of ...

2.        Biblical Archaeology "To the Unknown God"

www.biblehistory.net/newsletter/the_unknown_God.htm

... “TO THE UNKNOWN GOD ... Greece and Rome dedicated to unknown ... altars to an unknown god” Paul also quoted to the Greeks two of their famous ...

3.        Church, Acts, Paul, Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens ...

https://www.ccel.org/bible/phillips/CN322ACTSPaulTwo.htm

ACTS 15-18 Paul's Second ... 37.3 PAUL ADDRESSES THE PHILOSOPHERS OF ATHENS ABOUT THEIR "UNKNOWN GOD" - After Paul was driven from …

4.        The unknown God - Beswick

www.beswick.info/rclresources/E6A02Ser.htm

The unknown God. We live in a time of ... Son and Holy Spirit who was largely unknown to them. So from "an unknown god" Paul would lead them to "the unknown God ...

5.        Who is the unknown god in Acts 17:23? - GotQuestions.org

www.gotquestions.org/unknown-god.html

Why was there an altar to an unknown god in Athens? What's New; Search Our Site; FAQ Archives; ... Paul explains that this “unknown god” was the biblical God, ...

6.        Athens - Apostle Paul's Missionary Journeys - Bible Study

www.biblestudy.org/biblepic/athens-apostle-paul-missionary...

How did the Apostle Paul get the opportunity to ... Paul uses an altar he sees dedicated to "an unknown god" as a springboard for teaching those in ...

7.        PAUL AND THE UNKNOWN GOD - Christianity Oasis

www.christianityoasis.com/DailyBread/Acts/TheUnknownGod.htm

PAUL AND THE UNKNOWN GOD Christianity Oasis Ministry has provided you with this Paul and the Unknown god study on Paul and the ...

 

To the Unknown God-Part C

“The determinations of the Eternal Mind are not sudden resolves but the counterparts of an eternal counsel, the copies of divine decrees. Our times are in His hand, to lengthen or shorten, embitter or sweeten, as He pleases.” Mathew Henry. 

Paul exhorts people of Athens mostly heathen, that God is present everywhere, and we do not have to place graven images to feel His presence, and even without an altar or without a temple. There is a longing God has placed in our hearts and a longing for eternity, and a necessary and constant dependence upon His providence just like streams have upon the spring and plant life on sun. In Him we live, move, and He is our life and length of days, and we are not perished because of His patience and pity on our lives. God is our Father, and because of His Fatherly care, power, and goodness our frail life our days are prolonged. It is by His providence our souls cherishes, our thoughts run to and fro for many subjects, and our affections and love run towards proper objects. In God our souls move our bodies, we speak, we walk, and He is all in all because God has made man in His image and likeness. In Him we are a noble being ranked high, capable of knowing and enjoying God and not thrown to perish with the misery of the devil because of His love and goodness. Above all we are His offspring, formed by Him and for Him and therefore we as His children are obliged to obey His commandments. Since we are called to live for Him, we have to consecrate our entire being to Him, and become holy and acceptable to Him because there is an eternal well-being in Him.

Paul reasoned out and argued with the Athenian heathens that God cannot be represented by an image of gold, silver, or stone or graven art and by other man’s devices for the following reasons.

·         We are the off springs of God, and spirits in flesh and God our Father is a Spirit Himself, so the Godhead cannot be thought of as an image, or a mould made out of a material from this earth.

·         God does not dwell in a temple made out of our hands, and we wrong God by thinking so and put an affront upon Him. It is extremely sad when we dishonour God by making Him after the likeness of our body. We fail to realize the intensity and the depth of God’s love when He made man in the likeness of His own.

Paul now is addressing the aching question in the hearts of highly learned philosophical Athenians. How did God react towards the Gentile world before the Gospel came? 

·         Can we say that God winked at, during the time of ignorance? It is clear and obvious looking at Athens today that human learning would have flourished so much more than ever even before time of Christ coming into this world. The Gentile world was grossly flourished in all areas except the things of God and they were very ignorant. In the worship of God they were ignorant and we can safely assume idolatry was because of their ignorance.

·         God did detest and hated those times of the ignorance of the Gentiles, because He did not like His glory being parted to something or someone else. So we can safely assume and say that at this time of ignorance God did wink as an act of divine patience and ignorance.

·         God did not detest them by sending prophets as He did to Israel, but in His divine patience and forbearance He did wink and did not punish them in their idolatries but gave them the gift of His providence. He commanded all men to repent of their folly and to break off the worship of idols, and to come and worship the true and living God. He showed His love tremendously on the cross through His Son Jesus Christ, and through His authority and made it very clear that it is our duty and privilege to listen to Him. “Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways.  Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good , and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and”; Acts: 14:16-17.

Paul warned them that God will judge the world that He has made, and want all the children to give an account of what they were gifted with. Male and female before God are called to give an account for the what they have done with their body; whether their body served their soul or the soul was useless to the body making provision for the flesh. It is written, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad”; 2 Cori: 5:10. He reasoned out and argued that there is a day appointed in the counsel of God which cannot be altered where the final determination of men’s state for eternity is affirmed.

·         The world will be judged in His righteousness because He alone is righteous. God’s knowledge of men’s characters and actions are infallibly true and so His sentence upon them will be contestably just and no one absolutely no one will be able to act and say anything against this. God will judge the world by whom He has ordained from the beginning of time and that man is none other than our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and unto Him all judgement is committed.

·         God has raised Jesus from death is the great proof of Him being appointed to judge all mankind, the dead and the living. God exalted Jesus Christ by raising Him up from death and that was the beginning, and Jesus Christ judging the world will be the perfection of it, because the One who begins will also make an end.

·         Consideration of the great judgement which is going to come, we should repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and turn to God. This is a serious matter, matter of life or death. This judgement day will be a terrible day for those who are living in sin, and it is a serious matter to make the judge as our friend. True penitents, those who turn from sins will then lift up their heads with joy, and they will be the redeemed of the Lord.

When Paul addressed the resurrection of the dead to Athenians he had some issues with the people and the Gospel has little success just as anywhere else. We can safely assume that the pride of the philosophers of Athens, just like the Pharisees of Jerusalem, has prejudiced them against the Gospel of Christ. There were different categories of people when Gospel was presented.

·         Many ridiculed Paul’s preaching especially when they heard about resurrection of the dead. When they listened to the resurrection of the dead, they cannot bear it totally, because this was in direct contradiction to the principle of their philosophy. They believed life once lost was totally irrecoverable. Athenians had deified their dead heroes, but never thought they would be raised from the dead, and so they could not reconcile themselves to the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, and the everlasting life. Paul’s doctrine was the saints’ joy, but to their jest, and they made a laughing matter of the whole doctrine.

·         Many others were willing to listen and wanted time to consider it. They do not want to comply with what Paul has said now, but want to hear Paul’s doctrine again. They are willing to debate and learn from him but would not want to take Paul’s teaching as absolute truth. 

 

Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter. So Paul departed from among them. Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them. Acts: 17:16-34

 

 

 

 

 

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To the Unknown God-Part B

I realized that Athens is a very learned place and a place for Philosophers, when I visited I can see it has one of the best place for Universities and education. For the Athenians Christine Doctrine is worshipping of strange gods, and worshipping new demons.  So for Paul it was a harder market towards Athenians to bring the doctrine of resurrection and Jesus dying for the world to remove the sins of people. In general we can say Athenians lost the benefit of the Christian doctrine because they dressed it up in a pagan dialect and attributed it towards worshipping of strange gods. Paul was at Aeropagus which is called Mar’s Hill, and was the town house of the city where the magistrates met up for business and the court house justice was generally kept. This was also the theatre place in the University where the learned meet and often discuss and communicate their notions. In this court at Athens when someone denies any God, they are liable to the censure of this court. This is the place Paul was invited to explain the new doctrine of Christ and His resurrection. The good thing which came out after Paul’s speech was Athenians were willing to listen to this strange doctrine even though they debated, and some mocked. The natives of Athens looked upon Paul’s doctrine as strange, very different from the Philosophy they had been taught and professed. Athenians were always for new things: new government, new gods, new Philosophy, new demons, new fashioned images and altars for their gods, new schemes, new plans and forms for new government and new notions and were always given to change. When I stood at the foot of Mar’s Hill I realized that journey for Paul was not easy in that culture at that time, but for me it has been a blessing because I understand Scripture in depth after my visit.

Now we can understand when Paul stood at Mar’s Hill and spoke it was a new sermon and a new doctrine to the heathens at Athens. The scope of their discourse was completely different, while for Paul his aim was to bring them to the knowledge of the only Living and true God. He wanted to instruct them in the first principle of all religions and that is there is a God, and one and only true God and warned them not to worship the false gods made out of human hands. Paul is really concerned that they were mingling the idolatries in all of their current affairs and day to day life and in fear worshipped demons, the spirits which inhibited the images. He is warning about the superstitious beliefs of the people and he charged them in that crime for giving the glory to the false gods and not the true God.

Athenians had a set up an altar “To the unknown God,” and Paul addressed their written inscription to the unknown God. When they inscribed as “unknown God” that means Athenians have acknowledged that there is a God, and the only God which was unknown to them at that time. It is extremely sad to know Athens, being a place for monopoly of wisdom, the true God was inscribed as an unknown God.

·         Some people think this ‘unknown God’ is the God of Jews, whose nature is unsearchable and whose name is ineffable. It is also possible they heard from the Jews and from the writings of the Old Testament about the God of Israel who proved Himself to be above all other gods, and also who hides Himself based upon Isaiah 45:15; “Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour”. The heathens of Athens also believed that this God of Jews is an uncertain God and for them an uncertain deity of Moses without a name.

·         Some other people of Athens think that it will be their happiness to know Him. There was a narration at Athens especially when there was a great plague. When the plague raged when there was continuous sacrifice, people were advised to let go of some sheep as pleased, where they lay down and they wanted to build a proper altar to a proper God who is in charge of removing that kind of pestilence and plague. Athenians do not know what to call Him, and they inscribed it, “To the unknown God”.

·         The Gentiles in general and the Athenians in particular, their devotions were not governed by their philosophers but by their poets and their idle fictions. Homer’s works became the Bible of their pagan theology which is demonology, and their philosophers tamely submitted to it. They rested in their speculations, disputed among themselves and taught it faithfully to their scholars.

Paul wanted to reform their philosophy and give them the notion of the one and one true God, and bring them off from their polytheism and idolatry. Paul taught them the one whom he serves is the God Almighty, God of heaven and the earth and he wanted Athenians to serve that God alone leaving idolatry and polytheism. The world has been like this from the beginning and it was from eternity is the Aristotle’s school of thought and they denied that God formed the heavens and the earth. The world was made by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, which has been in a perpetual motion, and accidently jumped into this frame was the Epicurus school of fancied thought pattern. Paul has been continuously debating with the scholars of the above schools of thought and maintains that God is the alpha, the Omega and the beginning and the end. He reasoned out with them that God according to the contrivance of an infinite wisdom and power made the world and all that is there in. He tried to part the notion that God is the proprietor, rightful owner and possessor of all powers, riches, in this world and in the heavens who is invisible. Do we think that this kind of reasoning is easy? If we think that mission work is hard today, and the ground is hard, what do we think of this place Athens as a mission ground?

Paul reasoned out using the Word of God that God is the great benefactor of the whole creation, including mankind to whom He has given His breath. He breathed into the first man, gave us this soul and He formed the spirit of man within him. God holds our souls in life, every moment the breath goes out, and He gives it back to us in His grace the next moment, and it is His air we breathe, but in His Hands is our breath; Dan: 5:23;  “But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified.”

Paul taught them how all the people of this world are made of one blood, but placed in different nations, in their different political capacity. God has dispersed them into communities for their mutual preservation and benefit even though they were made of one blood and of one and the same nature. What God has determined regarding an event must not be disputed because it is unchangeable and cannot be altered because it was determined before even it is appointed. God has appointed the time of our coming into the world and the time of leaving based on Ecc: 3:1-2.  “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted”.

To the Unknown God- Part A

These writings were based on my recent visit to Athens and when I stood on Mars Hill where Paul preached I started to pen for the edification of the body of Christ.  Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To The Unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you; Acts 17:21-23.  

I have a deep urge in my heart to pen this because the world’s major religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam and other religions are making inroads as a variety of cults, new age Philosophies flourishing and not to forget the paganism had taken deep roots. This is not new to any one when we read God’s Word because it has been a practice to worship idols even before the birth of Christ. How do we carry the Gospel to the areas surrounded by the other forms of worship? As I have lived in different parts of the world like India, Nepal, Malaysia and Singapore the above forms of worship is very common. Recently I have visited Greece, Italy and Turkey and my focus was on Ephesus, Athens and Rome and the historical ruins and the archeology. Let us refer to Acts chapter 17, and here Apostle Paul is giving some guide lines to how to reason out and talk with the help of the Spirit of God to an unbelieving world.

Refer Acts of the Apostles, Paul preaching to Athenians: Acts 17: 16-33.

Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him. Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection. And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is? For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean. (For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing. Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.  For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To The Unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you; Acts 17:16-23.

Paul was not in Athens to show off his intellectual capacity to the people of Athens, nor to improve himself in Athenian philosophy. He knows it was only a vain glory; ^“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ”; Col 2:8. He was stirred in his spirit to bring Christ and to correct their disorders in religion and to turn them from serving the idols to serve the Living God. He was concerned and filled with compassion for mankind who were caught up in the perils and bondages of Satan and living in sin. He was annoyed with holy indignation at the heathen priests and philosophers who drove people to idolatry and led them in the wrong direction.

God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: Acts: 17:24-30.

Epicurean philosophers indulged in all the pleasures and senses of this world which is in direct contradiction to what Christ has taught; which is to deny the world and the things of this world. They do not believe that God made the world and He governs the world and they do not believe that man should pay attention to what God says and do not believe there is a judgement day.

 Stoicks really thought themselves to be as good as God and indulged themselves very much like the Epicurean philosophers and very much give to lust of the eye, the pride of life and the lust of the flesh. They also thought that a virtuous man is equivalent to God and in no way inferior to God. 

Babbler thought of himself as an idle fellow and equated himself to a ballet singer. They thought Paul to be a pitiful contemptible creature and thought he will get money here and there for what he is doing very similar to a bird which searches food and gets grain here and there.

Whom do we glory in?

Today is Good Friday, a remembrance Day that Jesus Christ was crucified for the salvation of the whole world. It was a beautiful and yet a very painful design by God the Father to give Jesus Christ for the whole world. It was God’s plan and design to sanctify us through Christ Jesus.

    The passage below was taken from the first Book of Corinthians written by Apostle Paul. Corinth was the capital city of Greece, and this was the major centre for art, culture and it is one of the world trade centre for commerce. Corinth was a bustling commercial trading city which hosted many businesses and also it is a place for idolatrous worship and degraded moral culture during the period of Apostle Paul. This should not shock any one of us who is reading this write up because we are living in a world of polluted culture and very often pressured from all directions to conform to the image the world projects as the right and the best.

    This Book was written to the believers at Corinth when the church was pressured and the struggles the believers and the Body of Christ faced in a pagan culture. When we read through this Book we notice that Paul addresses a variety of problems in the Body of Christ and there are so many divisions in the Church because of varied beliefs and doctrines. Factions, immorality, questionable practices, abusing the Lord’s Supper and the abuse of spiritual gifts seem to be prevailing and there was tremendous confusion about the relationships of singleness and marriage and believers needed some clarification. It looked like there was no proper spiritual leader to admonish, confront and correct and lead the people in the path of truth in love. Questions were raised by the believers and Paul is addressing the above issues with God’s wisdom and guidance.

Let us read 1 Corinthians 1:17-31:

¹⁷ For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

¹⁸ For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

¹⁹ For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

²⁰ Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

²¹ For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

²² For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:

²³ But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness;

²⁴ But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

²⁵ Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

²⁶ For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

²⁷ But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

²⁸ And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

²⁹ That no flesh should glory in his presence.

³⁰ But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

³¹ That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

    Preaching the Cross of Christ is the main theme while Paul is addressing and he firmly says that for those who perish in wickedness this message was foolishness. At the Cross the wisdom of the world and all its’ intelligence comes to nothing and the wise are baffled and eclipsed by the Christian revelation. This revelation and the glorious triumphs of the Cross is foolishness in the eyes of the worldly men today. In other words unless the Spirit of the Lord awakens our conscience and our spirit one cannot fathom this mystery and it is the wonder working power of God to work in the life of a person to unveil this mystery.  

    Christ crucified is a stumbling-block to the Jews. They had a conceit that their expected Messiah was to be a great temporal prince, and therefore would never own one who made so mean an appearance in life, and died so accursed a death, for their deliverer and king. They despised him, and looked upon him as execrable, because he was hanged on a tree, and because he did not gratify them with a sign to their mind, though his divine power shone out in innumerable miracles. The Jews require a sign, v. 22. See Mt. 12:38. 2. He was to the Greeks foolishness. They laughed at the story of a crucified Saviour, and despised the apostles’ way of telling it. They sought for wisdom. They were men of wit and reading, men that had cultivated arts and sciences, and had, for some ages, been in a manner the very mint of knowledge and learning. There was nothing in the plain doctrine of the cross to suit their taste, nor humour their vanity, nor gratify a curious and wrangling temper: they entertained it therefore with scorn and contempt¹.

    We can safely assume and say that the Hands of God which is full of love had twisted the crown of thorns into crown of glory and we can be safe in His everlasting arms because of His great love for humanity. There is beauty and pain in this Divine act and it is absolutely full of love for the lost humanity. From the above passage we infer Paul’s saying that we have to share the message of Christ crucified. We can celebrate the resurrected Christ and His hope, but we have to remember Christ’s suffering. If we do not remember His sufferings we are missing on the heart of the matter.

   ³⁰ But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: ³¹ That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. The Word of God is very strong in saying that when one glories let that person glory in the resurrected Christ Who was crucified and it was designed by God that all flesh may glory in the Lord. The theme for today is we should be humble enough to acknowledge the Divine act in the salvation plan and Glory and exaltation must go to God in Christ Jesus His only Son through the power of the Holy Spirit.

End Notes:

¹1 Corinthians 1 Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible

biblehub.com/commentaries/mhcw/1_corinthians/1.htm

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Website References:

1.        1 Corinthians 1 Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible

biblehub.com/commentaries/mhcw/1_corinthians/1.htm

Bible > Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible > 1 Corinthians 1 1 Corinthians 1 ... Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible by Matthew Henry ...

 

2.        1 Corinthians 1 - Matthew Henry’s Commentary - Bible ...

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Bible commentary about 1 Corinthians 1 (Matthew Henry’s Commentary). Bible Commentary. Christ Notes. Bible Search ...