Human Logic: The Wisdom of Man

Good afternoon! Over the next couple of Saturdays, we will discuss wisdom and logic. Today, we will talk about human wisdom, and then next Saturday, we will talk about the wisdom of God.  

Read 1 Corinthians 1:18-31. 

           When I’ve read this scripture in the past, I never really grasped what Paul was writing about. Sure, I understood verses 19-20 and verse 25, so I just assumed that those verses basically explained this whole section of scripture and continued reading without giving this section much thought. However, in lieu of the modern cries of “Christianity doesn’t make sense,” “Christianity is outdated,” “The Bible is correct, but we have to take into account the time and place it was written,” “It’s time to modernize the church,” and so on, I think we need to revisit this section of scripture.

            In verse 18, Paul writes “the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing.” In other words, those who think that the Bible isn’t the complete and inspired word of God are the perishing. Interestingly though, this part of the verse sets the stage for the whole rest of the chapter. In verse 19, Paul quotes a section of Isaiah 29 which basically states that God went out of his way to defy plain human logic in creating his plan. In verse 20, one can almost hear Paul saying (with a hint of sarcasm); “Where is the one who is wise? (he can’t logically explain this.) Where is the scribe? (he can’t logically explain this.) Where is the debater of this age? (even he can’t logically explain this) Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” (1 Cor. 1:20 ESV)
 

God literally went out of his way to come up with a plan that doesn’t make any sense by our limited sense of logic. 

“Okay,” says the skeptic “isn’t that what Paul wants people to think? If people think that the plan was meant to be illogical, they won’t question it as much.” And I feel that Paul would emphatically answer with a “Yes! That’s definitely one of the reasons why God created such an illogical and unexpected plan.”

God created such a plan because it relies on faith as its foundation. 

             We can logically determine that yes, the Bible helps us live the most fulfilling life possible with the least amount of negative consequences, and we can logically determine that yes, Christ was the ultimate sacrifice to end all sacrifices, and so on, but we can’t logically determine why God chose that particular plan. I’ve often wondered myself “Okay, I understand how God executed his plan and I understand that Christ died out of love, but why did God choose His plan?” I believe that the reasoning behind God’s plan (the Garden of Eden, the Old Testament, Christ’s lineage and ultimately Christ, Christ’s death, and the end of revelation) is revealed to us via the Holy Spirit, working through Paul. I believe that the Bible tells us at least part of the reason why God chose his plan, but I’ve just always overlooked it. Read 1 Corinthians 1:21-24, then read verses 26-30. From these verses, I believe that we can deduce that God created His plan for 3 reasons, and I hope that by the end of this post, even if you don’t agree, you will at least understand why I think so.

The first reason that God chose His plan, according to 1 Corinthians 1:21, is to bring true faith in as an absolute necessity for salvation. 

            In verse 21, Paul states that “since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.” Some in the world believe that there is no God. Some believe that the Bible is incorrect, outdated, or uninspired. They believe they know truth better than God’s word. I’ve even heard those who profess to be Christians claim that “Well, you see, the Bible was written by men, so it is going to be based on each of their interpretations,” just so they could reconcile the Bible with their own human logic. It is only human nature to bend reality to fit what we want reality to be, for reality truly is a matter of perception…in some ways. If someone wants to do something that is not in the Bible, or wants to avoid doing something that is in the Bible, it’s so easy to say “well, the Bible was written by men after all, so I can interpret it however I want.” However, the reality is, the Bible is written by men inspired of the Holy Spirit. 

It is infallible, incorruptible, and everlasting perfection; the written word of God is the only true perfection that exists in the physical realm. 

Sometimes the things in the Bible may not make sense by our own logic, but we see it that way because God meant for us to see it that way. How’s that for logic? God designed his plan to be unexpected and somewhat illogical because in doing so, He gave us no choice but to trust Him and have faith that His plan is true. It pleases God to save those who believe in that which others who use our limited, physical sense of logic to (incorrectly) deem to be “folly,” as we see in verse 21-24. 

The second reason God chose His plan is seen in verse 27. 

            One reason he chose that which is rejected by the majority is so that no-one can say, or even think that we are saved by our own special methods. If one could (or believed he/she could) accurately determine the reasoning behind God’s plan, and someone truly did (or believed he/she did) have all the answers, that person could reasonably claim to personally know how to please God better than the rest of us. That individual could take credit for the new “revelation” (even though God granted all of us equal access to His teachings), then have a group of followers based on the new teachings, much like Jesus did. 

In other words, someone might claim to understand God better than the rest of us and create a new, modified doctrine, and they could even claim it was supported by the Bible. The craziest thing is, that individual would have a seemingly logical reason for doing so. I can’t even imagine. 

The second and the third reasons go together; the third reason God chose His plan is ultimately so that “no human being might boast in the presence of God…”Let one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 1:29,31 ESV). 

God chose His plan because none of us can logically reason out why He did what he did, none of us can claim to know the reasoning behind God’s plan, and none of us can claim that God’s plan is a man-made invention because the design and structure of God’s unexpected and physically illogical plan simply will not allow it. We have no choice but to trust that God created man, that He prepared man to receive Jesus through the Old Testament, that He sent His only Son down from Heaven to die in the ultimate sacrifice, and that we must follow the Bible (and only the Bible) without doubt in order to enter into his spiritual kingdom, his church. 

By designing His plan in such an unexpected way, God ensured that faith, with a belief based solely in the Bible and in undeniable truth, is truly the only way to ever be a pleasing child of God. 

In Christian love,
Bro. Ethan