Before anyone becomes a Christian (unless that happens at a very early age) they will have certain reactions to God's Word and to the Gospel that are inevitable. At one level or another, for example, they will think that what is taught in the Bible is a load of nonsense, or "foolishness" as Paul describes it in our text. There are different intensities with which this view will be held. Some will admire some of the moral teaching of Scripture or the example that Jesus gave, but they will not believe in Him as a Savior or submit to His teaching about their own condition as sinners. Others may study the Bible as literature, as history or as an archaeological textbook - willing to trust its contents to instruct them in these disciplines but being far too educated to accept that miracles actually took place or that Jesus really was God in human flesh. Others have no time for religion at all. They say they are glad that the teaching of the Bible gives comfort and enjoyment to others but they need no such "crutches" to see them through life. Finally, there are some who mock and jeer, ridiculing Jesus and all who trust Him and seek to serve Him in this world. All these people are wiser in their own eyes than God. They all dismiss what God says in His Word about the reality of sin (and how it may be forgiven) and man's great need of salvation (and how it may be obtained). Other than themselves, they regard as "wise" men those who delve deeper into these considerations from a scientific, rational, philosophical or other perspective in order to bolster the human race in its rejection of God and His Truth.
The outcome of all this so-called wisdom on the part of man is that man does not come to know God. All his "wisdom" actually strengthens him in his pride and his unbelief.
How does God react to this? By saving those who are to be saved by the declaration (or preaching) of a message that the world regards as foolishness. It is clear that it could be no other way. Men and women are not going to be saved through a message that sounds wise to them when their hearts are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, because they can't and don't recognize or desire true wisdom even when it stares them in the face. God's wisdom is foolishness to lost sinners, but God's wisdom alone can save them from their sins.
Every time the Gospel is preached, this amazing wisdom of God is made known. It's message is simple and may be summed up like this:
- Man rejected God as his Lord and rebelled against Him, breaking His laws and committing crimes worthy of eternal punishment.
- Man does not have the ability or the desire to get right with God.
- God sent Jesus as a substitute to keep the laws man had broken, and to receive on the cross the punishment their law-breaking had deserved.
- When someone turns from sin and believes in Jesus, their sins are taken away and dealt with by Jesus on the cross, and all the law-keeping of Jesus is counted as theirs.
- Since God now regards them as having done no sin but rather having kept the law perfectly, He receives them as children and gives them eternal life. He also sends the Holy Spirit to live in them and to begin a work in which they become more and more like Jesus in character.
Here is wisdom from God - here is the "foolishness" that delivers all who believe in it from hell! And this is the message at the heart of all true preaching. God's wisdom (which is Christ Himself) shines forth, and man's "wisdom" is exposed for the wicked, proud foolishness that it really is. What a compelling reason to hear the Word preached!