Exploring the Scripture

This text describes the gospel as counterintuitive. The word Paul uses is “foolishness”
(v. 18). He was helping the church in Corinth grapple with the mystery of the cross. They would have more to learn if they thought they had Christ figured out based on scripture or philosophy.

The young church community at Corinth included Jews and Gentiles. Both likely struggled with the cross. They may have applied the tools of scripture, philosophy, or common knowledge and still had difficulty understanding what had happened on the cross and its meaning as a symbol.

Today, we may be familiar with some Old Testament scripture passages that Jewish Christians saw pointing to a coming Messiah. But Jewish scribes and scripture experts of Paul’s day likely had a hard time reconciling the final parts of Jesus’ earthly life with scripture. They read in the Hebrew Scriptures that God cursed those put to death by hanging on a tree (Deuteronomy 21: 22–23). The cross was a significant obstacle to considering Jesus as Lord.

Various schools of philosophy influenced Gentile thinking. None of those philosophies saw death by execution as something to be admired in a leader. Meanwhile, Gentile thought, as reflected in popular mythology, understood good fortune, or misfortune, to be tied to the gods’ intervening. If you were rich and powerful, it was because the gods were helping you. The opposite also applied. A surface reading of the Hebrew Bible could reveal similar assumptions. As a disciple, following a leader put to death by execution was problematic for Jews and Gentiles. It went against scripture, logic, and common sense.

Paul insisted the cross remain at the center of faith, despite these obstacles. Through the cross, God displays utmost solidarity with those in the world who are oppressed and suffering. God suffered with them.

The cross was more than just a symbol of solidarity. The cross meant suffering could no longer be seen as a clear sign of God’s judgment. Christ, their leader, had suffered horribly on the cross, and he was blessed. After the crucifixion, the conventional wisdom that God cursed suffering people was decisively overthrown by continuing to follow Christ. People were freed from assuming God must also be angry with them besides their suffering. 

Paul also argued the cross had shown God’s power is different in its nature from other powers that can be seen in the world. At least God uses power differently. God doesn't use power for boasting or amassing more power. Instead, God’s power was used for lifting the lowly, freeing them from guilt. God’s power was used to stand in solidarity with the suffering. 

Finally, the supposedly most powerful people of this world would not be allowed to have the last word. Their power would be overcome, unexpectedly, through what was the supreme symbol of their power. It’s not simply that God turned out to be stronger. While it may seem foolish, the fundamental mystery of Christianity is that God’s power is revealed on the very cross intended to humiliate and oppress.

Project Zion Podcast

Co-hosts Karin Peter and Blake Smith consider how this week's scripture connects to our lives today.

LISTEN

Central Ideas

1. Neither suffering nor worldly success should be seen as simple expressions of God’s will.
2. God’s power is different, in mysterious ways, from what people might recognize.
3. Surprisingly, the empire’s symbol of oppression and death, the executioner’s cross, has become a symbol of God’s power.

Questions to Consider

1. What are some moments when you’ve seen God revealed in times of suffering and oppression?
2. What time or story can you think of where the powerful were crushing the weak while, at the same time, God’s love was being revealed in the community of the oppressed? Or think of where that marginalized community was, in fact, becoming more powerful? (Such as various civil rights movements.)
3. Paul talks about “those who are perishing [and] us who are being saved” (v. 18). In your experience, are there two kinds of people divided like this? Or is it more a constant struggle where sometimes we see the power of the cross, and sometimes we instead look away?
4. Today, how do people assume wealth and privilege are due to divine favor? How often do we secretly wonder what we did to deserve it when faced with a diagnosis or turn of events we didn’t want? In what ways should the cross upend this way of thinking for Christians? How is this liberating? How much do we still struggle with this?