The wisdom of the world vs the wisdom of God is a theme that is found all through Scripture. It is a vital topic for us to understand and with which we can examine ourselves to see if we really are born again.
The natural man cannot understand nor accept the things of the Spirit of God. The Word of the Cross is just foolishness to him.
The Lord leaves us no room for boasting. We are in Christ only because He has elected and saved us. It is by His doing alone that we have the gift of faith and repentance.
Many professing Christian churches are changing biblical terms in an attempt to make sinners not feel like "outsiders." Paul's sermon on Mars Hill shows us that we must never alter the gospel in some attempt to make it less scandalous to the sinner.
The gospel is called the Word of the Cross. It is God's wisdom and God's power for salvation. But the world regards it as foolishness. Many churches today are preaching a false gospel which has been dressed up to appeal to the world.
The Word of the Cross of Christ is foolishness to the natural man. The Corinthians were in danger of believing a false gospel which was altered in order to appear as wisdom to the natural man. Their sin of pride was at the root of it all.
We once again consider a chief theme of First Corinthians - pride and its terrible effects upon and within Christ's church.
The pride which was so rampant at Corinth is inconsistent with who Christ's people are and leads to all sorts of divisions and troubles in a church.
First Corinthians is a vital book of the New Testament for the church today, as it has been in all ages. The church at Corinth was a church plagued by the disease of pride, and that malady had led to all kinds of troubles - even in some cases to a denial of the gospel. The same sins seen in Corinth are plaguing the church today.
