God's wisdom is far greater | 1 Cor 1:19-21 Bible Study
1 Corinthians 1:19-21 | God's wisdom is far greater!
19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
To begin with, this verse starts by saying "For it is written". Paul is referring to Isaiah 29:14 which says,
"Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid."
Man thinks that with his religion, philosophy, science, art, music, technology, fashion trends, etc that they are so wise. In their "wisdom" they also most often reject God. Not only that, but they use their wisdom to preach against God. This even happens in Christendom. They might talk about Jesus, but it's usually not the Lord Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery. They might talk about "the spirit", but its usually not the actual Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost. They might talk about grace, while they usually mix law and grace together. They might talk about the gospel, but it's usually not the gospel of the grace of God. And when a "Midacts Grace Pauline Rightly Dividing King James Bible believer" tries to share a clear gospel message with them, or teach them about rightly divided bible study, they say that we are foolish! Even worse, for centuries, Bible believers have been persecuted including sometimes being killed by so-called believers and by unbelievers too.
Also, just a side-note, prudence isn't always a bad thing. It's more wise, for example, to be prudent (frugal, economical) with our spending for example. But the prudent here is in reference to people who are unwilling to hear or listen to sound grace doctrine. People who think they have it all figured out and don't need anything, will not believe the gospel. They will not realize their desperate need for a savior.
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?
The finished work of the cross is so powerful that everything else pales greatly in comparison. In fact, you can't even compare man's wisdom with God's wisdom!
Isaiah 19:12 also says,
"Where are they? where are thy wise men? and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the Lord of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt." In ancient Egypt the wisest of men couldn't compare to the power and wisdom of God and this is certainly true today all around the world.
Verse 20 also says, "Where is the scribe?" A scribe held a high place of authority. Scribes could be writers, lawyers, and had to do with religion and politics. Some of the Jewish scribes would write their own sort-of commentaries, which were not truly in alignment with the word of God but were rather "traditions of men". We certainly have this in Christendom today! There are plenty of theologians, apologists, Pope's, priests, pastors, nuns, Bible teachers etc who claim to be knowledgeable in the scriptures, showing off their degrees, their religious titles and biting and devouring one another in public debates (we see this on YouTube now), and yet most of them have no clue about the revelation of the mystery. They believe that they are wise, but God says that they are fools!
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.
The world thinks that Christ's death, burial and resurrection as atonement for our sins is foolishness. The Jews for the most part today still do not believe in Christ as our Saviour, except for a small few. These Jewish believers even today have it really hard in some parts of the world. But even among the Gentiles, it seems like less and less people are actually believing the gospel today. It seems this way especially in the western world, but their are still those being saved around the world. In western society, which for the most part thinks that they no longer need God, the gospel or the Bible, we have increasing numbers of people leaving the faith and many more never having any interest in the Bible or the gospel at all. Typically, a nation or culture with more humility will be more likely to believe the gospel. In America and Europe there isn't very much humility anymore! They think that they have it all figured out! This is because Satan has a policy of evil against us and is always working to keep people blinded to the gospel. But man's very own pride is also another huge obstacle. The more prideful people get, the less likely they are to really believe the gospel of the grace of God.
There is a song called "Dust on the Bible" that Kitty Wells and even Hank Williams used to sing. It says, "I went into a home one day just to see some friends of mine
Of all their books and magazines, not a Bible could I find
I asked them for the Bible when they brought it, what a shame
For the dust was covered o'er it, not a fingerprint was plain
Dust on the Bible, dust on the Holy Word
The words of all the prophets and the sayings of our Lord
Of all the other books you'll find, there's none salvation holds
Get the dust off the Bible and redeem your poor soul
Oh, you can read your magazines of love and tragic things
But not one word of Bible verse, not a scripture do you know
When it is the very truth and it's contents good for you
But it's dust is covered o'er it
And it's sure to doom your poor soul"
Well this is certainly true today! I've seen it myself! That's if you can even find a bible in a friend or relatives house. I've known several people who have a bible or maybe even a fancy wedding or family bible and yet it's covered in dust! But they are sure busy on their cell phones and TVs with social media, streaming services and video games! Then, some of the people that I used to know who were more highly educated, that read lots of books, don't even have bibles in their homes at all! They consider the Bible to be full of mistakes, archaic, mythological or simply foolish. They have no clue that they will one day be JUDGED according to that book! The Bible is the most important book that anyone could ever read and it's also a supernatural book, it is literally alive!
Revelation 20:12
12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: [the Holy Bible!] and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Satan takes God's word seriously, but he does not really understand or believe it because he obviously thinks that he can beat God. But God took Satan by surprise. The cross accomplished many important things! God is reconciling both the heavens and the earth unto himself, something that Satan was completely clueless about! Had Satan known what the finished work of the cross would accomplish, he would not have crucified the Lord of glory. God was very wise to keep some things hid. Satan knows the scriptures well, but because he is a fallen creature, he's not actually capable of truly understanding it like we are. We have God's Holy Spirit in our spirit to help us understand the things of God. We will learn more about this in chapter 2.
So, God's wisdom is far above men, angels, Satan and all creatures in heaven and earth!
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