God’s Wisdom in the Cross is our
Wisdom (1 Cor 1-4). Ecclesiology in Practice
Jay Wegter
Jonathan Edwards offers the scriptural insight that true spirituality is knowing, tasting, and seeing the beauty of God’s holiness. What sets the saint apart from all others is that he sees the glory or beauty of divine things. The Bible speaks of this glory as the central thing that makes God and His ways attractive—that lures humans in love, to Him. This is the light that makes the Person of Christ so ravishingly beautiful, that He has drawn the hearts of millions to Himself for the last two millennia. This is the brightness that all saints see in comparison to which their own hearts appear filthy.ⁱ
What does the church become when deprived of the regular revelation of Christ’s glory? In the first place, she becomes spiritually malnourished, for she was called into existence to glorify Christ and to commune with the Godhead by feeding upon Christ. It is by the church’s intake of Christ that she is able to manifest Christ. Without this feasting upon the things of Christ, she will experience declension. A decline into cold formalism and institutionalism is not foreign to any of us. For we have witnessed this same tendency toward lukewarm-ness in our own persons. We are all too familiar with the kind of spiritual chill that can come over the soul and numb its operations (Rev 2:4-5).
INTRO: What does the wisdom of the cross of Christ look like in our ecclesiology? It is Christ who has purchased His church. He owns the church and rules the church by His infallible Word. When believers forget that Christ owns and rules His church—then there is an inescapable pull in the direction of man-centeredness: “it’s ours, look what we built.”
The situation in the N.T. church of Corinth provides a vivid example of what may happen when the glory of Christ is neglected or concealed. Paul’s letters to Corinth represent a powerful corrective to the ‘Corinthian catastrophe’. It is the problem of divisions in the church that has led Paul to expound the meaning of God’s wisdom. In seeking the wrong kind of wisdom (man-centered), the Corinthians had fragmented the church into cliques and factions. In addition, spiritualist teachers in Corinth made religious experience the badge of the Christian life. Until the Corinthians, along with us realize the scandal of the cross has put an end to human boasting, they will remain carnal babes who boast in men. Only when believers embrace the scandal of the cross are they ready for the diet of the mature which is the wisdom of God in the cross. The message of the cross is an unacceptable ‘diet’ to those who think in terms of human achievement and glory (Jn 5:44).
Paul’s thrust is that Christ crucified must be realized in the Corinthians’ lives—if not, they will continue to operate by “earthly score cards” in which ego-driven spiritualism allows the self-life to dominate. What is the answer to this malady? The focus is to be upon the Lord Jesus Christ and His atoning work. Corinth had forgotten that focus. How they needed the recovery of Christ’s glory manifested in His Church.
In the Corinthian correspondence, Paul refutes the Corinthians’ false concept of spirituality. Paul proclaims that power comes through bearing Christ’s weakness! (2 Cor 12-13). God’s power is perfected through human weakness (2 Cor 12:9). The cross is the paradigm for this formula. Paul boasts of his weakness because it preserves the cross paradigm, then God’s power rests upon Paul in his ministry. In other words, it is the believer’s weakness that is the ‘staging area’ for God’s power to be manifested (1 Cor 4:7-16; 2 Cor 4:7-11; 2 Cor 12:9-11). The Corinthian letters constitute a sustained theology of the cross—which is God’s way of working in the world, through human frailty. It is regarded as a way of weakness scorned by human wisdom; but hidden in the cross is the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:24).
A preoccupation with human leaders had taken the Corinthians’ focus off Christ. Paul’s call to unity by Christ’s authority was, speak the same thing, avoid divisions, be of the same mind (1 Cor 1:10). But at Corinth there was speaking different things, there were divisions, and men of a different mind. The professed believers at Corinth engaged in upsmanship—an over-under kind of ‘pecking order’. This situation fed into a party spirit accompanied by triumphalism (the victorious Christian life, those achieving and those not achieving). In their ‘triumphalism’ they looked down on suffering as unspiritual, not wishing to suffer with Christ now (Rom 8:17). Their victorious life view of spirituality was in direct conflict with the wisdom of the cross (sometimes designated, realized eschatology—‘kings now’ 1 Cor 4:6-13ff.).
The wisdom of God and the power of God are brought together in one Person, our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor 1:24-25). Unless Christ is kept preeminent and central, God’s wisdom is not exalted. Christ is pivotal in God’s wisdom and power. To the extent that we promote God’s wisdom, we exalt God’s power in Christ. God’s purpose is to destroy the wisdom of the world by means of His wisdom in the cross. How has God made foolish the wisdom of the world? He has made it foolish “through the foolishness of the message preached”—the gospel (1:21). Therefore, what folly it is to depend on man’s wisdom—and how foolish to exalt man’s wisdom in the church!ⁱⁱ
In Paul’s purpose statement (1:17), he is guarding the centrality and purity of the gospel—he did not want the central point of the gospel to be robbed of its power (or neutralized) by mixing the gospel with human wisdom. In response to the divisions at Corinth, the apostle indicates that Christ did not send him to baptize; “. . . but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, that the cross of Christ should not be made void” (1:17). The faith of Corinthian believers was not to ultimately “rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God” (2:5). Only then does the gospel exert transforming power. Paul will exalt God’s power and God’s wisdom. He did not want to empty the cross of its effect on the lives of people.
We are to glory in God’s power and wisdom—not the world’s value system and wisdom. In chapter one of the epistle, Paul states 10 times in the first 10 verses that Jesus Christ is in HIS Church. And Paul incorporates a series of verbs to declare in “divine passives” that God did it—He formed the Church, He owns it in Christ, thus believers are sanctified in Christ— v. 2, enriched in Christ—v. 5, called in Christ—v. 9, s aved
in Christ—v. 18, chosen in Christ— vv. 27-28. Throughout the New Testament Paul consistently stresses God’s ownership of the church—a church purchased with God’s own blood (Acts 20:28).
The Corinthians radical lack of unity was evidence that the believers were treating the church as if it belonged to them and not to Christ. It is the problem of divisions in the church that has led Paul to expound the meaning of wisdom in the first place. In seeking the wrong kind of wisdom, the Corinthians had fractured the church into little sectarian huddles. Until they realize the scandal of the cross has put an end to human boasting, they will remain fussy carnal babes (1 Cor 3:1-9). Only when they embrace the scandal of the cross are they ready for the spiritual diet of the mature (the cross-centered life). Christ crucified must be realized in the Corinthians’ lives—or they will continue to operate by earthly score cards. The focus is to be upon the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Corinth had forgotten that focus. How they needed the recovery of Christ’s glory in His Church, BUT that is only embraced when the paradox of the cross is embraced, for that is God’s wisdom.
In Corinth, spiritualist teachers who appealed to the supposed authority of their religious experiences made subjective experience the emblem of the Christian life. Paul refutes that false concept. The gospel demands that power comes through bearing Christ’s weakness! See 2 Cor 4:7-16. God’s power is perfected through human weakness, not through showy gifts (2 Cor 12:9; 1 Cor 12:31). The cross is the paradigm for this formula of power through weakness. By contrast, the spiritualist teachers taught that power is powerful only when it is no longer weak or needy or suffering. That is a completely different paradigm!
Paul boasts of his weakness because it preserves the cross paradigm (2 Cor 12:9-10). When Paul is weak, and the focus is upon the Lord, then God’s power rests upon him (1 Cor 4:9-13). Thus, the Corinthian letters constitute a sustained theology of the cross which is God’s way of working in the church and in the world. BUT God’s way is considered insufficient to men, it is not assessed as wise (1 Cor 1:23ff.). It is regarded as a way of weakness scorned by human wisdom but hidden in the cross is the power of God and the wisdom of God (1:24-25).
Paul’s call to unity: speak the same thing, avoid divisions, and be of the same mind is to be based on a common devotion to Christ and to the Word of the cross (1 Cor 1:10). But at Corinth there was speaking different things, a propensity for divisions, upsmanship, a party spirit, and triumphalism. The contrast is clear: Corinth was fraught with divisions and a preoccupation with human leadership BECAUSE they were infatuated with human wisdom and not with the wisdom of the cross. They were impressed by the rhetoric of celebrity pastors. What the Corinthians were doing detracted from God’s purposes in Christ.
The apostle Paul identifies the cause of divisions—it is the focus upon man and dependence on human wisdom, typified by what is esteemed in Athens. Paul clearly lays the blame at the feet of their preoccupation with human wisdom. For it is only the wisdom of God which exalts God’s power. 1 Cor 1:12 – The church at Corinth had divided itself into factions. Each of these factious parties had a leader from whom the followers sought to draw their religious identity (glory and status): “I am of Cephas; I am of Apollos, etc.” The challenge for the apostle Paul was to dismantle the thinking of the Cephasite party (followers of Peter) without saying anything disparaging against the apostle Peter!ⁱⁱⁱ
But, to subdue sin and promote spiritual life, something far more powerful and wise is needed than human pragmatism, resolve, and reasoning. Only when the wisdom of the cross is consistently applied can this be accomplished. Human wisdom with its Jewish elements of legalism cannot promote the unity of the Body. Only God’s wisdom in the cross and its paradox can reverse it.
1:17 – This verse marks the transition from the problems in the church to the divine solution for the church. The Greek explanatory conjunction FOR, (gar), introduces why Paul did not baptize many in Corinth. “FOR Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, that the cross of Christ should not be made void.”
1:17-18ff -- Paul is resolute about keeping his gospel away from the entire sphere of the wisdom of men. Paul’s preaching is set in strong contrast with the “wisdom of words.” In verse 18 he begins the emphasis upon the power of God, “For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” V. 18 is essentially the fulfillment of v. 19 – “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.” God showcases His wisdom and power in the destruction of the wisdom of the world. The cross brings man’s wisdom low, for when natural wisdom is confronted with divine wisdom it is dismantled and destroyed in the process. The practical application of this contrast between God’s wisdom and man’s wisdom reaches its apex in v. 5 of chapter two: “That your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.” The concluding thought is that your faith might be in the power of God in the gospel of Christ so that it is not supported by the wisdom of men.
1 Cor 1:22-23 – The infinite divine wisdom of the cross is spiritually discerned (see 1 Cor 2:10-16), therefore, by standards of human wisdom the cross fails on all counts to be perceived as wisdom. Both sets of criteria for discerning what is wise, applied by Jew and by Gentile do not recognize the cross of Christ as wisdom. The Jewish criterion for wisdom is, signs and visible power, and the Gentile test is, natural wisdom found in philosophy. Thus, when the human or natural tests of wisdom are applied, both groups reject the wisdom of God in the cross of Christ. This gives us insight into that pivotal verse, “The stone which the builders rejected (after careful examination) became the very corner stone [the foundation itself]” (1 Pet 1:7; Ps 118:22; Is 28:16). When Christ and His cross-work are evaluated standards of natural wisdom, His Person and work are discarded as an unworthy foundation upon which to build.
1:24-25 – The wisdom of God and the power of God are brought together in one Person, our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the only source of total, final, absolute wisdom that exists. The whole fulcrum, the whole balance point, the arrow point, the focus of God’s wisdom, the very axis of God’s wisdom is Christ and Him crucified. We were created to be enthusiastic spectators of God’s excellence. In essence, we were made to ‘glory in’ the Lord. If we are not glorying in the eternal, we will by default—glory in the temporal. Paul affirms that death working in the apostles was producing a greater weight of eternal glory—deepening their eternal value system (2 Cor 4:12-18). If we are not glorying in Christ who is God’s wisdom, we will glory in mortal man and his pseudo-wisdom with its earthly score cards. We are to glory in God and His mercies in Christ alone. In God’s wisdom is infinite wisdom—wisdom which scandalizes and offends natural reason, wisdom which towers over the human intellect, wisdom that is infinitely above man’s greatest efforts (Rom 11:33-36; Eph 3:8-10).
Christ and Him crucified is the divine wisdom which invades the realm of human wisdom. Human wisdom is a feeble wisdom—God’s wisdom invades like an immense wedge of carbon steel, piercing and cutting the impotent realm of human wisdom, smashing it into pieces (1 Cor 1:19). The power and wisdom of God are manifested in the message of the gospel. To the extent that we promote God’s wisdom, we exalt God’s power in Christ. Unless Christ is preeminent and central, God’s wisdom is not exalted. Christ is pivotal in God’s wisdom and power. Whenever Christ is not exalted, man’s wisdom rushes in to fill the vacuum.
Paul declares HOW has God made foolish the wisdom of the world—He has made it foolish “through the foolishness of the message preached.” Therefore, if this is God’s overarching purpose to make a public display of demolishing human wisdom, thus, how foolish to depend on man’s wisdom, and how foolish to exalt human wisdom in the church!
1 Cor 1:27-31 -- The power of God made known through weakness is also manifested in the makeup of the Church –“not many wise, mighty.” The power of God is seen in how He has constituted the church—God put the people in the Body according to His wisdom. He has primarily composed the church of average, broken, unwise, needy people—the population of the church is not dominated by the earthly wise, the mighty, and the well born. These two verses highlight whom God has called and whom He has not called. Now Paul personalizes the purpose of God in the destruction of human wisdom—the apostle sets up an antithesis between the two forms of wisdom. This striking contrast has everything to do with solving the Corinthian catastrophe. The Corinthians in considering their call were to realize that they were chosen to exalt God’s wisdom. This is amazing, God’s choice of the foolish, immoral, and base Corinthians was designed to exalt divine wisdom! Thus, the church at Corinth is commanded to remember their past—their own salvation—that they were foolish, weak, base, and of common birth. “Look at your calling you Corinthians to see the foolishness of human wisdom.” Your spiritual origin is all of God. When we consider our own election, we also will begin to see things from the divine viewpoint, from the perspective of divine wisdom. Application: if the Corinthians would reflect upon their calling, they wouldn’t be living the way they are living. Think upon God’s sovereign merciful purposes in your election. Consider the ‘pit’ from which you were ‘dug’. By His doing alone you are in Christ Jesus. God has done it this way to eliminate every possible occasion for boasting in relation to salvation (1:30).
1 Cor 1:27-28 – God intends to shame the wise—this is His divine purpose. God is energizing a clash in worldviews! This is not passive. God destroys the world’s wisdom, and He does so with cosmic ramifications. It is a public display ultimately to be witnessed by both men and angels—consummating at the end of the age. How He destroyed natural carnal wisdom, the fact that He did destroy it, and that He will destroy it—is laid out in 1 Corinthians chapters 1 and 2.
1 Cor 1:29-31 -- The Corinthian problem was not merely the domestic issue of how to solve disharmony in relationships. Corinth was overturning the whole saving purpose and objective of God—namely that no flesh should boast or glory in God’s presence (1:29-31). Paul is making his case in a convincing manner, spiritual and religious upsmanship (self-exaltation in a religious community and context), and its resulting strife, is a byproduct of assimilating the world’s wisdom and values in the church! How remarkable, the Corinthian catastrophe is traceable to the veneration of human wisdom. This hits home for all of us, for how familiar we are with that insatiable desire to jockey for personal status. As Paul Zahl points out, think of how many corrupt fleshly fruits are generated by the activity of seeking to undergird our worth by differentiating ourselves from others. Paul summarizes that tendency in this manner: “For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding” (2 Cor 10:12). The solution is always the cross and the purchase of grace by which the believing sinner receives both a status, sonship, and a righteous standing, justification all by gracious donation. No wonder Paul says, why do you boast as if you have not received it? (1 Cor 4:7). We are to glory in God and His mercies in Christ alone. In God’s wisdom is infinite wisdom—wisdom that baffles and staggers natural reason, wisdom that towers over the human intellect, wisdom that is infinitely far above man’s greatest intellectual efforts (Plato etc.).
God has an infinitely wise dualism, a dichotomy in His infinite wisdom. Christ and Him crucified is the divine wisdom which invades the realm of human wisdom. This infinite wisdom is Christ’s Person, His two natures divine and human, and Christ’s perfect sacrifice (Col 2:2-3). Conversely, human wisdom is feeble wisdom, for it cannot address the human condition.
God’s wisdom pierces the impotent realm of human wisdom tearing it into pieces in a massive display which will reach its public climax at the consummation of history.
Paul continues the wisdom theme at the forefront in chapter two. He startles us out of our complacency as he warns that there is a form of Christianity which nullifies the power of the gospel. It’s a disturbing prospect that by philosophy, eloquence, psychology, and tradition, in other words by human wisdom—the power of the cross in peoples’ lives can be neutralized (1 Cor 1:17). Paul exalts God’s wisdom and power in the cross, lest the effect of the cross be emptied. We can learn from the negative example of Corinth. Fragmentation of the church, upsmanship, an over-under pecking order based upon boasting in men, and its resulting strife, is a byproduct of the assimilation of the world’s wisdom into the church.
1 Cor 2:1-5 -- Paul reflects upon his coming to them and calls the Corinthians to think about his manner and mode and methodology when proclaiming the gospel to them: “And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in the demonstration of Spirit and of power” (vv. 2:3-4). The content of Paul’s message, and his conduct during his message were in kept in absolute harmony. “Whenever he preached Christ and Him crucified, he preached Him in a crucified style.”ⁱᵛ This is the opposite of depending upon eloquence, showmanship, rhetoric, or personality. The contents of his preaching and his conduct were all in agreement with the divine message. Paul’s manner, mode, and appearance—humble, loving, trembling, the Word of the cross only, weak, unimpressive, and “cracked clay pot” were in total synchrony with God’s wisdom in Christ and Him crucified. Paul wasn’t glib, witty, casual, or downhome. There is a demeanor in the preacher which is consistent with the wisdom of the cross—Paul manifested this manner or bearing in his conduct before the Corinthians.
How different was Paul’s ministerial behavior from so many of today’s media evangelists. What a contrast his disposition was from the hucksters who ‘peddle’ the gospel as a means of personal prosperity, numerical growth, and—I might add, as a tool to further their ‘Christianized’ human potential movement. The apostle steered clear of any behavior which is so common among those who wish to build a following around a man’s personality. Paul affirmed that his behavior among the Corinthians was in perfect keeping with his message of Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor 2:1-5).
Paul’s preaching of God’s wisdom in Christ set up an antithesis with the human wisdom that was wreaking havoc in Corinth. The apostle makes it perfectly clear: God’s
wisdom and man’s wisdom do not mix! Paul always starts with Christ. He always takes his readers and converts back to Christ. This is how he deals with man-centeredness. The glory of Christ consistently displayed, exhibited, and feasted upon has the net effect of disintegrating human wisdom and in placing human ego in the dust. The cross of Christ levels our manmade distinctions. In his Corinthian correspondence Paul is single-minded. Whether the issue is immorality (the body is for the Lord—6:13), or a compromised Lord’s Table (we don’t share in the cup of demons—10:21—discern the body of Christ—11:29), or the bodily resurrection of believers (Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead according to the Scriptures—15:3).
Paul runs everything and every problem through Christ and Him crucified! The one, divine, overarching wisdom of God is the solution to every problem.
The citizens of Corinth were drawn to human wisdom like a magnet, they envied the Athenians. The Athenians had their ideal Greek man. He was the epitome of human wisdom, strength, rhetoric, philosophy, pride, dynamism, partisanship, athleticism, asceticism, popularity, and of course, a world and life view of Greek dualism. The cross overturns all of this—for it openly rejects the achievements of man as a foundation for trust and reliance. In effect, Paul was saying to the Corinthian believers, “you are trying to be like Athens.” “You want a great rhetorical preacher in front of you in whom you may take pride and in whom you may boast.” Paul was not trying to win them with his ability to communicate. Paul proclaimed that each local church was solely founded on Christ’s cross, and not on the dynamism of its human founder, not by adding anything to the cross. God’s value system is encompassed in God’s two-pronged wisdom, Christ, the God-man incarnate, and Him crucified. God is doing all through the cross of His Son.
Divine wisdom overturns human wisdom. Christ’s manhood was absolutely permeated with the mindset of Philippians 2:1-8. Christ was the perfect disciple; He had no “will to power”—He was the suffering servant characterized by absolute surrender to God. The will of His Father was His meat and drink. By contrast, the spirit of Athens had a fallen, Adamic value system of human wisdom characterized by boasting and self-assertion, and by the assumed ability of self-differentiation—as if to say, “I can and will by my achievements carry my own importance and superiority and distinguish and differentiate myself from others.”
1 Cor 2:6-7 – To know Christ and Him crucified is the point of beginning in the understanding of God’s whole purpose of creation and redemption. So, Paul says this divine wisdom was foreordained before the ages for our glory. We who behold the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ are being changed from glory into glory (2 Cor 3:18). God’s wisdom leads to our ultimate glory. God’s people are destined for glory, not shame. How powerfully this sets up a contrast to the rulers of this age who are destined for shame, for in their idolatrous infatuation with human wisdom, they will lose every bit of their glory (see Jn 5:44).
1 Cor 2:8 – The sad irony is that the Corinthians in pursuing human wisdom are pursuing what belongs to this age and is passing away. This is Paul’s point—the rulers and the wisdom of this age are on their way out: “Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, NOT of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood: for it they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written, things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him” (2:6-9).
A temporal value system can blind us to God’s purpose, for preoccupation with human wisdom and its score cards leads to willful ignorance of the infinite wisdom of God in the cross and blindness to the vastness of the scope of God’s redemptive plan. The rulers were blind, they hated truth, therefore they used human standards of wisdom and evaluation. Christ’s glory, manifested in His obedience unto death, was not recognized by the rulers of this age—they did not recognize Christ as the agent of God’s salvation of man, therefore in their rebellion, they lose their glory. By applying their natural faulty wisdom to the gospel, they sentenced themselves to remain in ignorance, and blocked themselves from the knowledge of God (1 Cor 1:21).
2:10-14 -- God’s dualistic wisdom, the person of Christ and Him crucified is not esteemed nor is it conceivable to the natural human mind (1:21; 2:14). The cross is filled with paradox. It is filled with mystery that towers over the human intellect. To think that the dereliction of the God-man should reconcile the derelict—to think that the God-man’s willingness to be a victim in the face of evil should conquer evil—that His abject weakness and ignominy in His passion should overpower the most powerful enemies of man (note six enemies). To think that succumbing to death should conquer death; that being made the curse of God should lift the curse from God’s elect, and that death and entombment and resurrection should bring the redeemed from defiled dust to incorruptible glory. This is only made understandable to God’s people through the Holy Spirit. The gospel is a revelation of God (Rom 1:16-17).
It is staggering to our intellects to think that God should operate sub contrario—in other words that He should operate contrary to the strength of His reasoned attributes to reveal the saving knowledge of Himself. For in the cross of Christ, God works contrary or opposite, (sub contrario) to His reasoned attributes of strength, authority, deliverance, and life—instead the cross has weakness, abandonment, victimhood, horror, shame, and death. In an amazing work of substitution, God takes His stand on earth within human crooked desperateness of the human condition.ᵛ
This concept is above natural human understanding. That God should work through the ignominy and weakness of the cross to reveal Himself savingly is baffling to man. The Jewish religious leaders of Jesus’s day stumbled over the Rock—stating that “if you come down from the cross, down from weakness and abandonment, we will believe” (Mt 27:40-42).
If we are following the divine logic of the cross, then we must mark down the following: God’s general revelation in creation and conscience (Rom 1-2) gives the knowledge of the divine, but not the knowledge of salvation. By God’s self-disclosure in the order of creation and in the moral law alone we cannot know the reality of His merciful nature. Without faith perceiving Christ as He is offered in the gospel, one cannot know God’s attitude toward men, nor can one know the basis for divine pardon and acceptance. Saving faith is that salvific moment when we are delivered from guilt, fear, and condemnation through the redemption that is in Christ—in that moment, the power of God in the gospel delivers us from the necessity of self-justification. Through the Spirit’s call we abandon our natural commitment to self-justification and rely on Christ alone to commend us to God.
1 Cor 2:12-14
- The spirit of the world loves spurious wisdom but despises the wisdom of God in the cross.
2:14
- The natural man’s incapacity is characterized by the fact that he
can’t welcome, receive, nor comprehend spiritual things.
He cannot, he has no power to do so
(Grk.
dunatai,
power, ability). “
The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of
God”
(2:14). Because spiritual truth is spiritually discerned, it requires the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit to comprehend.
The unregenerate man operates by the empirical, rational, reason— he is not up to the task to discern spiritual truth. A branch of apologetics known as rational apologetics (that a man may reason His way to God and His existence) has a far too optimistic view of man’s innate abilities. Yes, it is true, we can never shed our created sense of deity, but the noetic effects of sin have darkened the understanding of man so that he is
dead to the things of God
(Eph 2:1-3). The problem is not recognition of the existence of God, but the fact that man does not want reconciliation required for a relationship with the holy God of the Bible.
ᵛⁱ Application: God’s wisdom is centered in the Son. Christ is the only source of total,
final, absolute wisdom that there is. God’s “dualistic wisdom” in Christ: 1) the hypostatic union and incarnation, and 2) the crucifixion or dereliction of the God-man at Calvary’s cross. Dereliction meaning that Christ in His passion was forsaken, crushed, abandoned, and broken under the wrath of God for us (Ps 22:1; Mt 27:46). Christ and Him crucified embraces both the mystery of Christ’s Person as both God and man and the wonder of the efficaciousness and scope of His finished redemptive work. Paul will not let up in his emphasis, for the whole fulcrum, the whole balance point, the arrow point, the focus of God’s wisdom, the very axis of God’s wisdom is ‘Christ, and Him crucified’.
The hidden God (hidden from natural wisdom) is revealed in Christ (deus absconditis). God as our object of worship is hidden until we see His merciful heart exposed in Christ, in God’s wisdom in the cross. Those who try to worship God without a faith encounter with the crucified and risen Christ cannot be confident of His love and mercy—they are still under wrath and darkness.ᵛⁱⁱ The hidden unapproachable God is our common experience as humans. As God’s law reveals, no person is ‘caught up’ on his or her debt to God even for a day much less a lifetime. Like Adam and Eve after committing sin, in our guilty state we seek to hide from God’s omniscient gaze and attempt to cover our moral nakedness with fig leaves. Only the gracious gift of forgiveness covers our failed obligation and transgression.ᵛⁱⁱⁱ
African Muslim turned Christian (author Lamin Sanneh) says, “[When we speak of] God’s unfathomable compassion, in my language we call [it] his ‘numbing’ capacity to take on our suffering.” Thus, there is “intimacy [which] rests on a genuine reciprocity—Christ trading places with us. [I am referring to] the biblical account of Jesus Christ as the divine breakthrough in human form.”ⁱˣ “[The gospel affirms] that although the Word was God, [He] became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.’ . . . Finally, the wraps are taken off and God deals with us outside the veils. [We see in the new covenant that] “by adopting for Himself the full logical consequences of the moral significance of human existence, God achieved a stupendous breakthrough in Jesus Christ.”ˣ “God, who normally delegates his authority to the prophets, is committed to the logic of that delegation by being willing to express Himself in one such Prophet who, by virtue of that special relationship, must henceforth be described by the strong language of filiation [Son of God]. Rather than rendering him immune to the tragedy of human disobedience, such a Prophet is in fact the supreme subject and victim of its consequences. ‘It pleased the Lord to bruise Him’ (Is 53:10). No proximity to the human condition is more poignant than that. It is too lifelike to be mistaken for what it is, a full-blooded encapsulation of the original divine intention. God through Him would know our plight and feel our sorrow. Jesus is God in full engagement. Put to grief in the unspeakable agony of human sinfulness, Jesus is the definitive measure of God’s ‘numbing’ capacity to take on our suffering.”ˣⁱ
Conversely, the spirit of the world loves spurious wisdom, but despises the wisdom of God in the cross. The apostle and his co-laborers apprehend and possess these blessed things of God’s wisdom to convey them to others (2:12; 4:1). Our message then is that there is one cross, one wisdom of God—but there are different reactions to God’s message. We have one message, Christ and Him crucified. Our whole lives are to be built upon this one message. The response will vary—even within churches! A Scripture-based, cross-centered ministry is what is called for; if the brethren do not accept this one expression of love—God’s will for them in the Word from the heart, then they must be dealt with in another expression of love—discipline by the church and/or by God (4:21). The Corinthian error represents what happens when believers imbibe the world’s wisdom and make it the basis for values, relations, identity, and church forms and polity. The result is carnality, strife, and jealousy (3:1-3).
1 Cor 3:1 – (Grk. hos, “as”)—I would like to deal with you Corinthians as spiritual people, but I cannot says Paul. I have to deal with you as fleshly, as babes. Paul states this even though they were in Christ! Our message: there is one cross and one wisdom of God, but there are different reactions to God’s message. We have one message; Christ and Him crucified. Our whole lives are to be built upon this one message. The response to God’s wisdom in the cross will vary—even within churches—and the Corinthian believers are proof of this varied response. A Scripture-based, cross-centered ministry is what is called for; if the brethren do not accept this one expression of love—God’s will for them in the Word of His grace from the heart, then they must be dealt with in another expression of love—discipline by the church and/or by God.
3:3-6 --The Corinthian error is what happens when believers imbibe the world’s wisdom and make it the basis for values, relations, identity, worth, church polity, programs, decisions, measurement of ministry effectiveness, etc. The result is strife and jealousy (3:3).
3:6-7 – When you are planting and watering you often can’t see anything happening, but God is behind the scenes causing, giving the yet to be seen increase. The focus is to be on God, not to be on man, not upon dynamic leaders, “So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God was causing the growth” (v. 7).
3:9 – The emphasis is altogether on God (Grk. emphatic genitive, “of God”). “We are fellow workers of God.” In the possessive sense it is God’s church—it belongs to Him. He holds all the individuals; He owns them all. We hold them lightly. All individuals: kids, friends, family, relations—they all belong to God. Bonhoeffer makes a fascinating comment about the fact that our relationships with one another are to be mediated by Christ:
Human love is directed to the other person for his own sake, spiritual love loves him for Christ’s sake. Human love seeks direct contact with the other person, it loves him not as a free person but as one whom it binds to itself. It wants to gain, to capture by every means; it uses force. It desires to be irresistible, to rule. Human love has little regard for truth. It makes the truth relative, since nothing, not even the truth, must come between it and the beloved person. Spiritual love comes from Jesus Christ, it serves Him alone; it knows that it has no immediate access to other persons. Jesus Christ stands between the lover and others he loves.ˣⁱⁱ
“Be careful how you build” is Paul’s command in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15. The evaluation of our work is based upon how it is built, and with what materials. The issue is what lasts and what doesn’t. The FOUNDATION for our building is God’s wisdom in the cross; Christ and Him crucified. Christ and His cross is the cornerstone which sets the pattern for the rest of the building. Christ and Him crucified is the foundation plan which dictates the nature, shape, and content of the structure. It shapes and dictates the quality and kind of work. Paul laid the foundation of Christ for all that the church does. This ought to be our non-negotiable ecclesiology, our doctrine of the church. Without it we will be stuck in religious forms that cannot fulfill the biblical function of the church.ˣⁱⁱⁱ What is our responsibility in the Body? We are to find our place of giftedness—and then be fulfilled in that place of giftedness. Our delight for Christ’s sake is to see God’s people in the place of their God-intended giftedness. This is the whole of Paul’s theme in 1 Corinthians chapter 12.
Be careful how you build! To most professing Christians, the church is not a holy entity, it is a Christianized YMCA, not a holy of holies. They think they can do whatever they want to churches. To so many people, the church is a Christianized social group or country club. It can be frustrating to preach this section of 1 Corinthians because the above sentiment borne of natural wisdom is so prevalent resulting in an all too common ecclesiological ‘deafness’. The manifestation is that men who employ the world’s wisdom attempt to run the church as “Evangelical deists,” as if God started the Church, then left it to man to run the church in His absence (in absentia). This attitude is expressed as follows: “Since Christ has departed and is in glory, we may engineer things as we see fit.”
Because people are security-driven, they want structure and tradition, and they want a mortal figurehead instead of the liberating principles of Scripture and the rule of Christ. This tendency is in tension with the Word of God—the carnal pull of the flesh even the ‘religious flesh’ is toward man-centered methods and pragmatism.
1 Cor 3:11 – “Be careful how you build.” There is no true foundation but Christ. The evaluation of our work is how it is built, and with what materials. The issue is what lasts and what doesn’t. The foundation for our building is God’s wisdom in the cross—Christ and Him crucified. We are to be ever vigilant in examining the foundation upon which we are building. This is the cornerstone which sets the pattern for the rest of the building. All the contours and angles and forms take their shape and direction from the foundation. Thus, the foundation dictates the nature, shape, content of the structure. It shapes and dictates both the quality and the kind of work. Christ and Him crucified—Paul laid the foundation of Christ for ALL that the church does—this must be our non-negotiable ecclesiology.
3:16 – The foundation of Christ and Him crucified produces an incredible tension here with natural wisdom. “You are a temple of God” (v. 16). You are in quality and by quality a temple, the dwelling place of God. You must see yourself and the local body in this way as the abode of God in Christ. The Church is Christ’s abode. This alludes to a huge ecclesiological tension—pertinent to this is, “whose idea will rule the church?” At the outset, the beginning— everyone must park their baggage at the door and abide in Christ including the pastor(s). Without gospel saturation keeping us focused upon Christ and Him crucified as our only foundation, our default mode will be to defer to the ideas and policies of the most influential human personalities in the church.
3:17 – “If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.” (Grk. oitineis – “What you are,” holiness is the referent here, not the temple.) “Temple of God” is not a reference to the universal church, but to local churches. If anyone destroys a local church by heretical teaching or by grievous divisions, God will deal firmly with that person (note Rev 2-3 and the local churches that disappeared).ˣⁱᵛ
3:18-22 – “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become foolish that he may become wise.” The Corinthians were quarreling under their leaders under the guise of wisdom. Paul again erects the narrow gate of God’s wisdom. He goes back to the theme of God’s wisdom. Like a security check point, he wants his readers to walk through it like a metal detector that they might drop the world’s wisdom like contraband.
When speaking of the “foolishness” of God’s wisdom—Paul’s intent is to show the saints their inheritance. The future is no cause for panic—it’s already theirs. This is another way of saying, “release the world’s values and wisdom, everything is already yours in Christ” (3:21-23). This reality of being co-heirs with Christ must hit us between the eyes like a thunderbolt. We must realize this to the core of our being if we are to release our hidden demands for control and self-exaltation: “So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God” (3:21-23).
4:1-2 -- The truth is, according to Paul, we as Christian leaders are nothing but stewards. In the institutional, or ‘business model’ of the church, leaders are frequently elevated and praised as their managerial skills are put on display. What a contrast this is with the biblical model in which Christ’s servants (under shepherds) are nothing but stewards of the mysteries of God (1 Cor 4:1). The apostles are not rival party leaders but are Christ’s servants (Grk. hyperetai, ‘under-rowers’ of the oars on the bottom deck of a large ship). By stating that the apostles are stewards with oversight responsibilities, Paul is not suggesting that the apostles should be ecclesiastical administrators. Instead, he is emphasizing the need to be absolutely trustworthy, for that is the responsibility of a steward (4:2).
By “mysteries of God” the apostle is primarily referring to the truth of the gospel—the apostles are responsible to proclaim with utter clarity the unblemished facts of the gospel.ˣᵛ By emphasizing that the apostles are but servants of Christ and stewards of the ‘mysteries of God’ Paul is reiterating his premise that the wisdom of the world cannot be developed into the wisdom of God. As stewards we carry out Christ’s rules in a trustworthy manner, we don’t make the rules.
4:3 – It is so liberating to live under the eye of Christ. Paul reveals how he was set free from the fear of man, “Your estimation of me and my life doesn’t really carry much weight compared to the Judge who is the Lord.” It’s not that we don’t care what others say—it is the weight of the Lord’s evaluation that counts. As Spurgeon said, “Compared to what Christ thinks of me, the opinions of others are like so many chirping sparrows.” If we had the above central truth straight, we wouldn’t be so prone to strife and jealousy. Strife and jealousy are symptoms of living under the eye of man. (Grk. anakrino – the examination process. Krino – “I judge” deals more with guilt or innocence.) (Jn 12:43).
4:5 -- It’s remarkable just how eschatologically-driven Paul is. “Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in darkness and will disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.” The Apostle lived between the cross and the resurrection. Both defined his life, and both determined his Kingdom values. By contrast, the Corinthians’ triumphalism that we should ‘reign’ now and be exalted now, have our praise now, not suffer now was an overly realized eschatology that produced irresponsible behavior. Triumphal life will have to wait until the final triumph of Christ and the messianic age. The path now is after Christ’s earthly life—it is the path of the cross, self denial, and death to self (Gal 5:24). We are to be radically identified with Christ in His servanthood, love, humiliation, and reproach (Heb 13:12-14).
How different from the humility of Paul was the perspective of the Corinthians—they thought they had arrived. They lived a “power life” as above others (Grk. “power” -- dunamis). “You are already filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings without us . . .” They lived a relational life of upsmanship (who’s on top), not servanthood through radical identification with Christ (4:8). The Corinthians saw their relationships in an over-under ‘pecking order’ fashion. Clearly this was evidence that they were NOT abiding at the base of the cross, for the cross is the great leveler of men—the great eliminator of manmade distinctions and self-exaltation.
Author Frederick Dale Bruner provides excellent insights into this facet of the Corinthian problem. He notes that the “over-under” theology of the Corinthians exhibited an ego-based sense of spiritual power. Paul’s answer from the cross is that everything must be made low and brought under obedience to Christ (Grk. Hupo, as in ‘over or above’). Says Bruner, “All the exalted sense of spiritual power and fullness must become a deep sense of spiritual need. Christian spirituality is placing oneself under Christ, it is not going beyond Him.”ˣᵛⁱ
Bruner continues, the Corinthians possessed a ‘higher life’ theology. “Teachers, being higher, saw their students as being lower. If one feels himself spiritually higher than others, then from this altitude, it must be difficult . . . to look anywhere but down. [T]he Corinthians found a certain fascination in their strong, masterful leaders . . . who bore [a] superior manner. . . Paul must confess, “to my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that!” (11:21).ˣᵛⁱⁱ
“In a word, Paul wants to turn the eyes of the Corinthians from the spirit of huper (over others) which BOASTS, to the spirit of agape which; BUILDS from being impressed with one’s own spiritual relevance and power, to being concerned with finding a lowly and patient relevance of quite a different kind to the weaknesses of the church.” ˣᵛⁱⁱⁱ Apart from a steady diet of the gospel of the cross of Christ it is far too easy to divide the church into those we imagine have arrived and achieved and those who have not.
“The Corinthian letters are a sustained attempt to formulate what Luther later called a theologia crucis, a theology of the cross. God’s way of working in the world—to men an inefficient way, and thus a proof of its divinity—it is the way of weakness.” “[Regarding the message of the cross,] men are saved by believing this content and serve by assuming this form in this sphere [of the church].” “But hidden in the cross and in weakness (corporate and individual) and revealed in the church to faith—is resurrection power. “When . . .weak, then . . .strong” (2 Cor 12:10).” ˣⁱˣ
1 Cor 4:6 -- The foundation for our entire ecclesiology is: “Do not go on beyond what stands written” (1 Cor 4:6). Application: Programs established by people committed to biblical principles are far more effective. 95% of splits in churches are the result of power struggles, not doctrine, though doctrine may be attached and hide the real cause. One pastor offered the following observation, “If elders are not doing what God wants, then they most commonly, are running the church like a business.” Building upon the foundation of Christ and Him crucified means that our achievements must take a back seat, and Christ must be exalted and be our focus in all we do.
4:7 – Are you boasting in your distinctions? God alone, by His sovereign grace is the distinction-Maker! “Why do you boast as if you had not received it?” Sin is not only lawlessness, but also self-justification, the desire to seek intrinsic differentiation from others.ˣˣ The grace of God demands that we see ourselves from the divine perspective. Because of the gospel, all true differentiation, all individual identity is a gift by grace which frees us from self (i.e. ‘self-justification’). The redeemed have freedom and have identity by a different ‘measure’ than the one applied by mankind—the child of God has status, favor, sonship, identity, acceptance, and standing ALL by divine grace. “Who made you to differ (God alone), why are you boasting as if you did not receive it from someone (from Christ)?” (1 Cor 4:6-7).
Self-justification is the action of defending our intrinsic worth. This defense of our intrinsic worth has manifestations or flesh fruits, (Gal 5:19-21), which are all traceable to original sin. BUT, through the wonder of ‘guilt transfer,’ Christ has brought believing sinners to God (1 Pet 3:18). Self under divine judgment cannot possibly experience communion with God (Job 3:25). We require a substitute, or we will forever be banished from God’s presence, favor, life, love, light, and blessedness.ˣˣⁱ The good news of the gospel is about the divine action to accomplish such a work of guilt transfer by substitution. God alone is free to affect that moral transfer (Jn 1:29; 10:18; Rom 6:23). Christ died for me—this is a one-to-one substitution (Gal 3:13; 2 Cor 5:21; Rom 7:25. We have life by His blood (Lev 17:11; Rev 7:13-14). Christ voluntarily assumed our moral liabilities, our guilt, and our condemnation. He became of no reputation. He was sold under sin and thus paid the price of that sin as our suffering substitute (Rom 7:14).
The gospel is ONLY incredibly good news if we realize that the human condition was a kind of dead end—like a cul de sac. There is no escape, no exit except by guilt transfer— without that guilt transfer, all our hopes, dreams, and meaningful relations will turn to ashes once we enter our death bed. The wonder of redemption is that we are dealing with “the atoned and the atoning God.” God has plucked out His own heart in the bruising of His Son for us. He has “split” Himself so to speak to accomplish this guilt transfer. His requirement of perfection in the human being necessitated a guilt transfer for us to be restored to Him.ˣˣⁱⁱ The wonder of His grace is that at infinite expense to Himself, He propitiates His own wrath on behalf of His own.
Now the dynamics of our blood-bought life in Christ free us to radical honesty in our biblical self-confrontation. The gospel has set us free from self-justification—from attempting to prop up self by enforcing distinctions and glorying in self-differentiation. Therefore, because our status in Christ is immutable, we can afford to face the worst things about ourselves without fear of being diminished. This is the dynamic of the cross-centered walk: the believer’s life is “life as it is in Another” and “life as God imputes to us through Christ.” This is a formula for radical heroism in dealing with sin. It is a formula for humility, for honesty, for service, for true community—for intimacy through Christ—for trust and closeness—for freedom from paralyzing self-consciousness.ˣˣⁱⁱⁱ
1 Cor 4:10-11ff. – “Let me tell you how we are living now!!” Paul contrasts his cross-centered life with the Corinthians erroneous triumphalism: “We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor” (v. 10). Note that the Apostles were suffering circumstances characterized by indignities, just the opposite of the grandiose state of the Corinthians. Paul continually imbues his readers with the fact that the wisdom of the world cannot be developed into the wisdom of God. God’s wisdom in the cross of Christ and the world’s wisdom are mutually exclusive. A sharp antithesis exists between them.
When the Corinthians eschewed the way of the cross, they fell into huper theology (self over the other) by which they attempted to live a power life above the other. In so doing, they demonstrated that they were yet infatuated with human wisdom. Humility only comes when we exalt Christ. Humility is a byproduct of being truly occupied with Christ and in beholding His glory in the mirror of the Word.ˣˣⁱᵛ Meekness is a byproduct of the wisdom of the cross. As Christ is displayed in our teaching, preaching, and mutual edification, the desire to know Him, worship Him, and emulate Him increases.
How God rules His Church—this is God’s Church. He rules it. He rules His Church by God’s inspired Word, He rules His Church by His God-gifted people, He rules His Church by God-ordained circumstances. We seek to ascertain what God wants to do by His Word and by the giftedness of the people. We function by the giftedness of, and in the Body. God builds His Church. He sovereignly places gifted people in the Body where He wishes (1 Cor 12:11, 18). God, through gifted people, directs the Church through the very people He has gifted.
Application: When the church builds around programs instead of people and the gifted person moves on, how do we fill their spot and keep the program going? So often the church attempts to lead by programs, instead of equipping and releasing the gifted members. REMEMBER, the profile of the gifted shapes the profile of a ministry more than a program. By way of contrast, this is especially the case if that program is an unquestioned, rigid church structure.
The central role of giftedness: “Stop forbidding prophesying” (1 Thess 5:20)—do not quench or stifle the Spirit. If you stifle God-given giftedness, you quench the Spirit. Don’t quench the Spirit. This same thought positively expressed is as follows: “Release people to giftedness in ministry.” There is effort required to do this and obey God at this juncture. We must come along side to confront. Affirmation, interview, release—all call for vulnerability. We’d rather control than confront. We are uncomfortable with 1 Corinthians 14 because we are not in control. In 1 Cor 14:1, 12, 26 pursuing mutual edification by means of the priesthood of each believer is in view. But the way we tend to do church reveals a preference to structure everything because we are security driven and thus more comfortable with control. The issue is about releasing gifted people.
Application: Pastors and elders are to examine the use of gifts and equip the gifted people in light of God’s Word. Equip by example, by instruction, by nurture, by opportunity to use giftedness—in so doing we model the expression of giftedness. We are to help others begin to express their giftedness; we open the door for other people to use their gifts. Build ministries around the giftedness of the person—don’t fight it. Don’t shove the person into a job description. Because we are security-driven, we cram people into a job description and fall back on pragmatism and the world’s methods. When we stuff people into a job description, frustrated mediocrity is often the result. The divinely energized power flows through God-given authenticity. Ideally, we as leaders should write the job description in accordance with the person’s uniqueness and gift mix, for then our brother or sister is operating by God’s power through their experience, giftedness, and vision.
God’s Word is on a collision course with hyper-structural institutional pragmatism. God seeks to impact and transform the lives of the church members by means of His Word. By a Spirit-energized confrontation and interface of the soul with the Word, ongoing repentance is the Spirit’s intent. Institutional pragmatism hangs like a sooty veil, blocking the Word’s interface with the soul. A focus upon marketing, hyper-structure, programs, and greater visibility of professionals—each focus sends the message that it is not God’s Church! “It is ours, we built it, and we run it as we see fit.”
Defining the Church: ask the following: “Whose church is it?” “How is the church to function?” “What are the guidelines for its function?” We must establish that it is God’s church; this is the bedrock for everything else. Pauline ecclesiology, spelled out in 1 Corinthians chapters one through four is intended to develop an exegetical mindset—to establish contextually driven principles. The foundation of our ecclesiology is entirely built upon the set foundation of the infallible Word of God. It is established on the solid exegesis of the Word of God. It is consistently exegetically driven: We seek an Exegetical Ministry Outreach, Exegetical Worship, Exegetical Counseling, Exegetical Preaching/teaching, Exegetical Church Leadership, and Exegetical Theology.
We must come to terms with the fact that it is God’s Church (1 Cor 1:2). “Guard the flock which God purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). Once you come to terms with the fact that it is God’s Church, it will transform all that you are about, and all the Church is about. WHY is this truth to be so central? Answer: because today’s issue is about power and control? The problem is in building—what is being built. Whose idea will govern the way we build the Church? Is our approach a species of provincialism in which the outcome comes with the assumption that what we have built is ours? “We built it, it belongs to us, we proudly fly its flag.” That approach is always contaminated with motives that exist to erect a monument to self. “Be careful how you build” can only be obediently fulfilled IF we are absolutely intent on building upon Christ alone as our foundation to the glory of God (3:10-11).
How to stay Christ-centered: if holiness slips from a central position, then the centrality of Christ is lost. One cannot enter the knowledge of the Holy as a consumer, ONLY as a sinner. Sin, grace, and faith are emptied of meaning apart from the holiness of God. It is all too common for the implications of God’s holiness to be missing in the Church. Under the sway of that deficiency God’s authority and power are passé. Self is secretly or openly sovereign, authority now is only a private reference. God’s Word is our only safety from heresy and modernity. What is the solution? Our safety resides in our passion for His holiness and His truth.ˣˣᵛ To be confronted with Christ is to be confronted with your sin and your heart rebellion because Christ is the manifestation of God’s glorious holiness.ˣˣᵛⁱ No wonder men prefer the church as an ‘institution’ rather than the church as Christ’s Body, possession, and holy abode!
The gospel as the glory of Christ is the indispensable key to ongoing holiness. We must frequently meditate on the glory of Christ to be free from earthly cares and affections. But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit (2 Cor 3:18).
Only the saved see and savor the glory of Christ. God’s glory in the face of Christ ought to be the aim of Gospel preaching. If we conceal the glory of Christ, we cripple the sanctifying work of the Spirit who wishes to exalt Christ and reveal His glory to the saints. Christ as revealed in the gospel is our worldview. We are to see all of life through Him—all our purpose, direction, and hope emanates from Him.ˣˣᵛⁱⁱ Only a continual view of the glory of Christ will stir us up and encourage us to watch and continually fight against the deceitful workings of sin. To experience the things of Christ’s glory has the power to make us want to do the things that please Him. Christ’s glory is His divine Person in human form. His glory is the ‘equipment’ He earned to redeem to the uttermost. His glory is His exalted state in heaven.
Seeing Christ’s glory is the only way to obtain holiness, comfort, and preparation for eternal life. The chief privilege in this life is to ‘see’ the glory of God in all His holiness displayed in Christ.ˣˣᵛⁱⁱⁱ Our sin, guilt, lust, cravings, insecurities, and desire for happiness—all combine to make the soul restless. Christ has everything the sinner needs. In all things He is perfectly suited to all the needs and cravings of the immortal soul. “All my springs are in Thee.”ˣˣⁱˣ To believingly ‘see’ God in our nature, dying and bleeding for us, eradicates our sinful fear and suspicion of God. Faith in the gospel opens to the understanding Christ’s full sacrifice, for Christ is the essence of the gospel. “If I see Him who is the atonement to be God-man, then I see an offering so vast, and so extensive in its applications, that every crevice of the conscience must be reached.”ˣˣˣ
We have no life in ourselves. The saints are dependent upon God for continual communication of His goodness, life, and power to them. Christ continues to supply spiritual life, grace, and strength to His redeemed people. The goodness, grace, life, light, mercy, and power which are the origin of the new creation all of God’s origin. It pleased the Father that the fullness of God’s divine nature should be in Christ as Head of the church (Col 1:17-19). These qualities in Christ are communicated from Him to His church—He makes them available to the church.ˣˣˣⁱ But, do we do church in such a way that these spiritual realities are set forth and grasped?
The power of Christ’s love received has an effect and influence upon our lives of enabling us to bear fruit for the glory of God. We must not be content to think of the love of Christ in a general way. Instead, we must dwell upon God’s wisdom, goodness, and grace shown in eternal acts of His divine nature and pity—all given to us in Christ.ˣˣˣⁱⁱ The church cannot maintain its fervency apart from communion with Christ. When He comes and shows Himself amidst our meditation and communion with Him; He brings with Him peace, comfort, joy, and assurance. Christ’s intent is that we ‘feast’ with Him by means of these spiritual refreshments (Jn 6:54-57; Rev 3:20).
How are we to receive these things? Look on the glory of Christ by faith. Meditate on the glory of His unique nature—His humbling of Himself to come into the world—His present high position in heaven—His love and grace. Our hearts will be spiritually affected to some degree by His constraining love (2 Cor 5:14)—which is the source of all our spiritual comforts and power. Christ perfectly knows the eternal blessedness which will be enjoyed by those who believe in Him (Jn 10:10). ˣˣˣⁱⁱⁱ
Institutionalism in the church has contributed to the problem. What is institutionalism in the church? It is man attempting to control religion, it is man attempting to control what cannot be controlled by mortals. It is man objectifying what cannot be objectified—namely moment to moment life sustained by union with Another, with Christ. Os Guinness touches on the root of the problem: “As sinful human beings we have an instinctual, compulsive bias toward forms of religion that we ourselves can create and control.”
The church cannot maintain its fervency apart from communion with Christ. Without the experience of these things, namely the spiritual comforts Christ brings, our Christianity is heartless, lifeless, and useless. We can say we believe the promises about the eternal glories of heaven, but where is the proof of our faith if we do not experience the enjoyment of these spiritual blessings here and now? (Rom 15:13; 1 Pet 1: 3-9). We must take a steady view of Christ’s glory—and seek Him with all our heart. In this way alone will the believers who collectively make up the church recovery from stagnancy. Christ’s glory alone will bring us back to joy—to love in our hearts, in our souls, and in our relationships (Owen).
Those who content themselves with solely an academic understanding of Christ stop short of His love quickening the heart. The result is weak views of Christ. In churches where the view of Christ’s glory is weak, there will be a tendency toward formalism and institutionalism. Satan wants believers to give up seeking the experience of the power, grace, and love of Christ’s gospel in our souls (Owen). How readily will Spirit-filled pastors testify that Owen’s observations are true. And how much more do they ring true in our instant, push-button culture. Professing Christians barely stir themselves to labor after Christ. In their unbelief and spiritual sloth, they rob themselves of discovering the glories of Christ that they could know. Let us stir ourselves out of our default mode of spiritual stagnation and passive compliance with programmatic religious forms.
Only those who are committed to beholding the glory of Christ now are truly pressing on to that perfect view of the glory of Christ in heaven. Those who think of Christ’s glory merely as a magnificent Scriptural idea won’t be changed into His glory. Those who truly long for the glory of Christ will NOT be satisfied with merely a ‘generic’ or academic understanding of His glory. Believers who are delighted to see the glory of Christ experience Christ’s transforming power. Those who make it their full purpose of heart to behold His glory will be changed into His image (2 Cor 3:18). When our trust in Christ is constantly exercised, virtue proceeds from Christ to purify our hearts, increase our holiness, strengthen our graces, and fill us with joy—at times joy inexpressible filled with glory (1 Pet 1:8). Christ’s glory beheld quickens the understanding at the same time as His love is communicated to the heart.
End Notes:
i Gerald R. McDermott, “Jonathan Edwards on Revival, Spiritual Discernment, and God’s Beauty,”
Reformation and Revival 6:1 Winter 1997
ii Exegesis of 1 Corinthians, The Master’s Seminary
iii Ibid.
iv John Flavel, The Fountain of Life, p. 12
v Paul Zahl, A Short Systematic Theology, p. 28, 33, 36
vi Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Total Church, p. 175
vii Edward H. Schroeder, “Using Luther's Concept of Deus absconditus for Christian Mission to Muslims,”
www.crossings.org, p. 4
viii Ibid, p. 5
ix Lamin Sanneh, “Muhammed, Prophet of Islam, and Jesus Christ, Image of God: A Personal Testimony”
International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Oct. 1984, in Edward H. Schoeder, p. 8
x Ibid, p. 9
xi Ibid, p. 10
xii Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, pp. 33-37
xiii J. P. Moreland, Love your God with all your Mind, Navpress, Colorado Springs, CO, pp. 191-192
xiv Norman Hillyer, “1 & 2 Corinthians, The New Bible Commentary Revised, D. Guthrie Ed, et al,
Intervarsity, Leicester: England, 1970, p. 1056
xv Hillyer, p. 1057
xvi Frederick Dale Bruner, A Theology of the Holy Spirit, Eerdmans, 1974, pp. 285-319 – “Huper: The
Relevant Spiritual Problems in Corinth.”
xvii Ibid., p 310
xviii Ibid., p. 318
xix Ibid., p. 319
xx Paul F. M. Zahl, A Short Systematic Theology, pp. 54-55
xxi Ibid, pp. 56-57
xxii Ibid, pp. 68, 70, 76-77
xxiii Ibid
xxiv A. W. Pink, Exposition of the Gospel of John, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975, p. 149
xxv Ibid.
xxvi David Wells, Above All Earthly Powers, p. 222
xxvii John Piper, God is the Gospel
xxviii Owen, The Glory of Christ
xxix A. A. Bonar, The Person of Christ
xxxIbid.
xxxi John Owen
xxxii Ibid.
xxxiii Guinness in David Wells, Above All Earthly Powers, Christ in a Postmodern Culture, p. 303