Tuesday, February 20, 2018
1 Corinthians 1:22-25 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
WE PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED … TO BOTH JEWS AND GREEKS (1)
We are used to hearing about "Jews and Gentiles," Scripture's way of making clear that the Savior born of the race of Abraham was not just for Jews, but for non-Jews as well. But what's with this reference to "Jews and Greeks"? To find the answer, try googling philosophical schools from Ancient Greece like Stoics, Epicureans, and Skeptics, or individual philosophers like Aristotle, Socrates, and Plato.
Known for their supposed wisdom, the people of ancient Greece were and are symbolic of those who imagine that divine truth can be discovered and understood by human wisdom and reason alone. Now put yourself in the shoes of the Apostle Paul. On a previous missionary journey he had established a Christian congregation in Corinth, Greece; but now he had gotten wind of the fact that the gospel he had preached--with its theme of “Christ and Him Crucified”--was being attacked as foolishness by some of the "wise" citizens of Corinth.
How would you and I respond? I trust we would undertake a vigorous defense of the truth of the gospel as Paul did when he wrote to the Romans: "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek" (Romans 1:16). How timely for our "enlightened" day. Spurred on by twenty-first century Academia's "philosophical schools," as well as by every Satan-inspired, man-made religion out there, legion are they who seek "wisdom" apart from the gospel of Christ and Him crucified. In spite of all this, the truly wise in our day continue to sing from a believing heart:
On my heart imprint Thine image, Blessed Jesus, King of Grace,
That life's riches, cares, and pleasures Have no pow'r Thee to efface.
This the superscription be:
Jesus, crucified for me, Is my Life, my hope's Foundation,
And my Glory and Salvation.
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 179)
