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First Corinthians 1:26-31

Corinth manifested the tell-tale sign of believers who refuse to have the Lords mind on things - the
assembly was fraught with contentions and divisions.
Most in the assembly were drawn in by the idea of amending the gospel of Christ with some current
philosophical thinking - what Paul calls the wisdom of words. Paul made it clear that to attempt to add
such thinking to the gospel would do nothing less than empty the cross of its power.
As Paul continued, he showed that the message of the cross is a stumbling block to those who are trying to
work for their salvation - because it requires that they acknowledge they cant work for it, they must simply
believe it.
And the cross appears foolish to those who are trying to reason out God and the meaning of life, because it
requires that they acknowledge they cant figure it out; they must instead simply receive the revelation God
made of Himself, through Christ.
Gods way of salvation was intentionally designed by God just as it was - the one and only way - so that
man would have nothing of which he could boast, in himself. He must lay aside all of his self-reliance - all
of his abilities, all of his reasoning - and cast himself completely on God, to save him.
Man must utterly humble himself, to receive what God has done for him, in Christ - and nothing less will
do. And as a man humbles himself, at the foot of the cross, the Lord then lifts him up - as a son of God.
Paul showed that the message of the cross - Christ crucified - foolish and weak, to men in the flesh confounded all their wisdom, all of their works. Their ways never brought them to God, try as they might.
But the very way they thought to be foolish and weak, proved to be the wisdom and power of God - the
way of freedom from sin and from death.
Having shown the actual wisdom and power of a message regarded as foolishness by the world, Paul will
now get the Corinthians to consider the so-called fools who were saved when they heard that message.
Those fools were none other than the Corinthians believers, themselves.
[First Corinthians 1:26-31]
Paul had declared that the message of the cross - Christ crucified - is the wisdom and the power of God, to
those who believe. So now, to support that statement, Paul is calling forth an example of this - an example
the Corinthian believers cannot refute - their own personal experience.
In verse 26, Paul asks the brethren to consider their calling - speaking of those who answered the call of
God in Christ, His invitation to become a son of God.
Paul is saying consider yourself; consider those around you in the assembly, who you know to be believers.
What do you see? And the answer - not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble - according to the
flesh - according to the world system, composed of men in the flesh.
Not many of them, who responded to Gods call, were highly educated Greeks. Not many of them were
powerful men of authority, the prominent and influential of Corinth, holding important offices of state.
And not many of them were noble - descendants of illustrious families, with distinguished ancestry.

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Most of them were just common people; of humble origin. Most were from the lower ranks of society artisans, craftsmen - as well as poor freedmen and slaves, the lowest of the low. Paul does not say that
none of them were of higher status, just that not many were. What is his point? We can see that as he
continues.
v. 27-29 Three times, we read, God has chosen. In verse 26, the emphasis was on those who responded
to Gods call. But here, Pauls point is that God chose them. This shows Gods intentionality and His right,
to so choose - the Creator has the say over His creation.
Paul is saying here that God selectively chose some - and not others - speaking of salvation. Does this
mean that God excluded others? Certainly not. God provided His way of salvation - Christ crucified. And
God had His way of salvation proclaimed, through the preaching of the gospel.
Does the call of the gospel go out to all? Yes; for God would have that none should perish, but that all
should come to repentance (2 Pet 3:9). God extends His invitation to every man born into this world to
become a son of God; thats His purpose for them. So the call goes out to all.
But do all say yes to Gods invitation? No. Some reject His invitation; they say no to His call. And
God gives them the freedom to do so. Still, it isnt God who excludes them from salvation. In freely
choosing not to come Gods way, they have excluded themselves.
And meanwhile, those who have come Gods way - through believing into Christ - are chosen by Him for
the destiny He has already prepared for them - to become a son of God. And in His foreknowledge, God
sees ahead of time the ones who will respond to His call, and He has already chosen them.
Here, Paul is showing the intentionality of God, in choosing those whom He did, in Corinth - not many of
whom were wise, mighty, noble - according to the worlds standards. For God foreknew that these would
be the ones - mostly - who would respond to the call of the gospel, and He would use that very fact to
vindicate His way of salvation - through a crucified Savior.
The ones whom God chose were foolish, in the eyes of the world. They didnt have the time to study
philosophy - they were too busy working to keep food in their mouths, and a roof over their heads. When
they heard the gospel, they didnt try to reason it out, to see if it matched up with the great thinkers of the
world. They took the gospel at face value - as good news - and they simply believed it.
These were the weak ones, in the eyes of the world. They were powerless men, who had no authority over
others; in fact, they were quite used to answering to authority. So when God called them through the
gospel, they did not consider themselves as too high and mighty to humble themselves, before a God who
extended to them so great a salvation. They simply received what He offered them.
These were base, lowly men, who had made nothing of themselves in the eyes of the world. They were the
have nots - treated with contempt by the haves. Paul drives this point home - he calls them the things
which are not - more literally, the non-existent ones - the nobodies - completely worthless, in the eyes of
the world - without value.
But when those have nots heard the message of the cross, they realized that to God, they were not
worthless. God valued them so much that He came and died for them. God changed the worlds nobodies
into His somebodies - His very own sons - the noblest dignity a man can receive. So the have nots gladly
responded to His invitation.

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These were the ones in Corinth whom God had chosen - along with the few wise, mighty and noble, who
were willing to humble themselves, in like manner - to simply believe. It is not that God cannot or will not
save those of high status in society; His call goes out to all. It is that those of high status are not as inclined
to accept Gods invitation.
Why would that be? Many get caught up in what this world has to offer. They have attained some of it;
and they think that if they just had a little more, theyd be truly satisfied. If they just knew more; or were a
little more famous. But the truth is that it only satisfies the flesh for a moment; it never satisfies the soul.
Others view what theyve attained from the world as part of who they are, and they fear losing it; theyre
self-made men. But the reality is that those attainments are just temporal; theyre passing away.
Still others think what theyve attained from the world has made them independent; money, that lets them
do what they please; position, so that no one is their master. But the very thing that they think frees them is
actually keeping them enslaved in the world system, in which their Creator will be their judge.
Its the lust and the pride of natural men that keeps them from God: I want and I am. The more that
they have, the more difficult it becomes for them to lay it aside, and humble themselves before God, to
receive from Him.
So God chooses the ones who readily responded to His call - the ones the world considers foolish, weak,
base - to put to shame the wise, the mighty and the noble of the world - to confound the world, and its
ways.
How does God do that? He takes those who the world considers nothings, who they trample underfoot, and
God lifts them up, in Christ; lifts them up, to the position of overcomers, victors over the entire world
system (1 Jn 5:4-5). God shows His power, through them.
These are the sons of the Living God (Rm 9:26), born from above, and by their victory over sin and death,
all of the things that are, in the world, are brought to nothing. In the face of this genuine victory, God
shows the success of the world to be merely an illusion.
Thats how God does it; but why does He do it? Paul wrote here, that no flesh should glory in His
presence. This is not the usual word for glory; in fact, it means boast; a word that Paul will use many
times, in this letter.
By what God has done, He is intentionally disallowing any effort on the part of man to save himself. If
such an effort could be effective, then man would have something in which to boast; and he would remain
self-reliant. His heart would continue to be lifted up before God - a hard heart of unbelief - a heart in which
God cannot plant His Life.
By doing what He did the way that He did, God leveled the ground, at the foot of the cross. All men must
come on the same basis - with a humble heart - a heart that is tender and ready to receive the Incorruptible
Seed, Christ. And for those in Corinth who had received Him, a transformation took place.
v. 30-31 Paul now is introducing a contrast. He has made it clear that men in the flesh will have nothing to
boast about, before God; they will instead experience the Divine displeasure.

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But not so those who have believed into Christ. Having come Gods way, they now have access by faith
into a standing of grace (Rm 5:2), a standing from which they cannot be moved, for the Father has
positioned them in Christ Jesus.
Paul says that Christ Jesus became for us - for believers - wisdom from God. Wisdom means insight. Now,
Paul is not speaking about wisdom for day-to-day living, here, although he will certainly address that later
in his letter.
Remember what Paul has been talking about. He has shown that through the human wisdom, men have
never come to know God - they cannot reason their way to Him; they cannot figure Him out. If they could,
theyd have something to boast about.
What must happen instead? God must reveal Himself to men. And then what must men do? Receive that
revelation, that insight, in order to know God - and to experience His saving purpose, for them.
So here Paul is making a contrast to human wisdom - he calls it the wisdom from God. And what does he
say about it? That Christ Jesus became for us that wisdom; He is the wisdom that came from God. This
corresponds exactly to what Paul said in verse 24 - Christ the power of God, and Christ the wisdom of God.
So what does it mean, exactly? In what sense did Christ Jesus become for us - believers - wisdom from
God? I think the apostle John showed this in his gospel. Turn to the gospel of John, chapter 1. John
begins by describing Jesus as the Word - the Logos. One way to think of Jesus as the Word is as the
understandable expression of the mind of God, to men.
[John 1:1-4]
v. 1-2 In the Greek, the word was communicates continuous action in the past. We might then say, In
the beginning was and always was the Word, and the Word was and always was with God, and the Word
was and always was God. He was and always was in the beginning with God.
John is expressing that the Word - the Son - is an eternal being; that He has always existed, before the
world was ever created; and that He was always with the Father, and was always One with Him; He is God.
v. 3 So the Word was the agent in the creation of the world. This makes Him the source of life, which is
Johns next point.
v. 4 In Him was - and always was - Life. As God, Spirit Being of Deity, the Son was always an eternal
Being. But in the purposes of God, the Father also granted that the Son have Life in Himself (Jn 5:26),
speaking of eternal Life for a body - to bring that Life down from heaven, and avail it to men.
When the Word became flesh and dwelt among men, He expressed Gods loving purpose to men, that they
should not perish, but have that eternal Life - by believing into Him, the Son who God gave for them (Jn
3:16).
The eternal Life within the body of Jesus was - and always was - the Light of men. Light reveals the way;
the eternal Life in Jesus was the way for men to enter into the presence of the Father.
Jesus would call Himself the Light of the world (Jn 8:12) - the One who reveals the way to God - through
Himself. John will write in his epistle, God is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all (1 Jn 1:5). So Jesus
is both the Light, and the Way.

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Later still, Jesus would say, Believe in the Light, that you may become sons of Light (Jn 12:35-36) through believing, a man is transformed into the likeness of the Son (Jn 8:29, 1 Jn 3:2), and becomes one
with Him.
Lets put John and Pauls thoughts together, now. The world through its wisdom did not know God (1 Cor
1:21). Christ is the wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:24); He is the Light God sent, to reveal the way - the way to
God (Jn 12:44-46).
Christ is the true Light who, coming into the world, gives light to every man (Jn 1:9). And in receiving
Christ, He became for us wisdom from God (1 Cor 1:30) - lighting up for us Gods way of salvation. We
couldnt figure out the way to God; God had to reveal the way, to us, and He did so through Jesus.
[Return to First Corinthians 1]
Having believed into Christ Jesus, we are now in Gods way of salvation - in Christ - the Way by which He
brings men into His very presence.
The three things which follow wisdom from God in verse 30 - righteousness and sanctification and
redemption - are also things that Christ becomes for us, as believers. But note that, in the Greek, they are
all contingent upon wisdom; that is to say, a man must first come the way which God has provided, in His
wisdom - through believing into Christ crucified - in order for these three things to be realized, for him.
Paul is purposely laying it out this way here, in order to communicate that mans wisdom cannot effect
these things. But another way of seeing it with which we are more familiar is that we must first be joined
to Christ, through believing in Him, in order for these things to become true for us.
United to Christ by faith, a great exchange takes place. The Lamb of God, who took away the sin of the
world (Jn 1:29), becomes sin for us - standing in our stead, before the Father. And through that same union
of faith, He imputes His perfect righteousness to us.
Then based on that most gracious exchange, the Father looks down from heaven, and pronounces His
judgment upon us: not guilty. Weve been justified; theres not one charge of sin, against us; not now, not
ever. We will be confirmed as blameless to the end of our lives, even as we come into the presence of our
Lord, by whose blood, we were made so.
Christ Jesus became our righteousness; and what else did He become? Our sanctification. Not only are we
no longer condemned for our sin - united with Christ in His death, we have been delivered from its very
realm, and therefore its power.
Notice that this is Gods eternal perspective on the work of Christ at the cross; not the sanctification of
believers as a process, but from the viewpoint of the finished result: they are holy as God as holy;
completely set apart to Him; perfectly pure.
God sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as the Sin Offering, by which God judicially
condemned the Master Sin, in the flesh (Rm 8:3). For the believer, the shackles of sin have been broken;
they are no longer subject to its power; they are free from sin. And in Christ, God sees the full
accomplishment of this: His blameless and pure children of God (Phil 2:15).
The writer to the Hebrews spoke of how Christ accomplished this sanctification. Turn to Hebrews chapter
10. The writer has been contrasting the ceremonial Law to the work of Christ, which it pictures.

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[Hebrews 10:1-14]
v. 1-4 In verse 1, the idea of a shadow versus the very image here means what is pictured, compared to the
reality.
Those things which were pictured by the ceremonial Law carried out by the priests could never make the
man who approached God as a worshiper perfect; that is to say, the mans offering could never accomplish
the intended goal - to purify the man, so that he could enter into the very presence of God, completely
accepted by Him.
For that, a man would need to be completely sanctified; holy as God was holy. The writer points out that if
that were so, thered be no need to continue to offer sacrifices to God; and yet they were offered, year after
year. The worshipers did this, because they were still very much conscious of their sins, both past and
present. Why?
Because the sacrifices were merely ceremonial; the animal blood pictured the covering over of sin, not sin
being taken away. In fact, the sacrifices served to remind the worshiper of his sin - as was intended by God
- so that the worshiper would be pointed to the One who would come into the world, and take away sin.
v. 5-9 The writer brings together several OT passages to contrast what was pictured in the first covenant the ceremonial Law - and what was accomplished in the second covenant - the eternal covenant - by Christ.
The first covenant was rendered obsolete with the establishment of the second - the eternal covenant.
The idea is that the sacrifices and offerings of the ceremonial Law could never satisfy God, concerning sin.
In contrast to this, the Father prepared for His Son a mortal body that would provide the perfect offering.
The Son would come in fulfillment of all of the OT prophecies, concerning Messiah, and perfectly
accomplish the will of the Father, in that body; then offer it in sacrifice on the cross, for the sin of the world
- a perfect sin offering. And it was in that offering that God was completely satisfied, concerning sin - the
sin of the whole world.
v. 10-14 It was by that will - the will of God - that we who have believed have been sanctified - through the
sacrifice of the body of Jesus for sin - once for all. There was no need to offer anything else. There was no
need to repeat the offering. It was the completed work of the eternal God.
From the eternal perspective, we are completely sanctified; we have been crucified to the world, and the
world to us (Gal 6:14); we are set apart to God, useful to the Master, prepared for each and every good
work (2 Tim 2:21); we are partakers of Gods holiness (Heb 12:10).
[Return to First Corinthians 1]
Look again at verse 30. What is the last thing that Paul mentions Christ Jesus became for us? Redemption.
Now, this word means release through payment of a ransom, but it stresses the idea of the deliverance.
Now when you think of Christ Jesus being your deliverance, what do you first think of Him delivering you
from? From sin. But Paul has already spoken of that, by bringing in the idea of Him becoming our
righteousness - were no longer have any charges of sin against us; weve been freed from sin. Could Paul
mean something else by redemption, here?

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Paul wrote of two parts to redemption in his letter to assemblies in Asia. Turn to Ephesians chapter 1. Paul
mentions the first aspect of redemption, starting in verse 7.
[Ephesians 1:7-8, 13-14]
v. 7-8 Paul is writing of the redemption of the soul from sin, here; the deliverance of a man, on the inside,
we could say. Because Jesus took the penalty for sin upon Himself on the cross, God was able to forgive
the sinner, releasing him from his sins; thats justification.
Now we see the other aspect of redemption, starting in verse 13.
v. 13-14 When we believed, we received the Holy Spirit, who guarantees our inheritance in the kingdom of
heaven, until the redemption of the purchase possession - what does that mean? What part of us has yet to
be redeemed? Our bodies. What is it they will be released from? They will be released from Death, as
bodies of glory. That will be our glorification; the deliverance of a man, on the outside; and that is the
redemption to which Paul is referring, in First Corinthians.
[Return to First Corinthians 1]
So Christ Jesus became for us wisdom from God; He became for us our way into the presence of the Father.
For that, man must be loosed from sin, freed from its penalty and power, and transmuted into the very
likeness of Christ Jesus - as a son of God. And all of this was accomplished through the work of Christ on
the cross - once for all - to be received by all who believe.
Paul ends with a paraphrased quotation from Jeremiah. This is only thing of which a man can rightly boast
- not of anything in himself, but in the Lord, who has accomplished so great a salvation.
So Paul has demonstrated his case against the ineffective wisdom of the world through the believers in
Corinth. Their ongoing transformation was a testimony to the effective wisdom of God - Christ crucified,
the power of God to save.
In the eyes of the world, the believers were fools, who had subscribed to a foolish message. But they had
seen the beginnings of this transformation in themselves - the worlds nobodies, who God had made His
somebodies - His sons.
Surely it would cause them to question their inclination to put mans wisdom and Gods wisdom on the
same plane, and even attempt to mix them. And perhaps it would even cause them to recognize that there
was only one wisdom they needed - the One God had given - Christ, whom they already had.
Reading: 1 Cor 2, Acts 13:13-14, 18:1-18, Gal 4:13-15, Isaiah 64.