1 Corinthians 1:17-21 Where does your wisdom come from?
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: January 18, 2020 1 Corinthians 1:17-21
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For 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.
(Understanding the Text) Paul starts by saying how much he loves and appreciates the Corinthians. Then he reproves them for quarreling among themselves. Their main argument is about who they follow, and they are divided based on whether they follow Paul, Apollos, Cephas, or Christ. Paul tells them not to argue and be divided from each other, but to be united in Christ. He says that he is happy that he did not baptize very many of them. Then he gives the reason why he did not. He says that he has been called by God to tell people about Jesus’ incarnation, death on the cross, and resurrection–the gospel. He says that he did not use eloquence (which I think is a reference to Apollos) because it would get in the way of the message. (Note: Since this time, I have changed my opinion, and I think that this might be a reference to Paul’s experience in Athens just before he came to Corinth. There he used philosophy to debate with Athens’ top philosophers. However, there were only a few converts. This may have been simply the way Athens was, but it may have been the method that Paul used to reach them. Regardless of the reasoning behind the comment, the same truth is there: We should preach the gospel rather than the wisdom of the world.) Paul told the Corinthians the news of the cross of Christ directly and simply, and it had the power to transform them.
Now Paul is pointing out the problem that led them to their division. They are depending on philosophy and human wisdom and operating under worldly principles. He tells them that the cross of Christ is not wise or smart or good or logical by worldly standards. By worldly standards, it is the belief of fools. By worldly standards, it is nonsense. It does not fit in with any worldly concept of wisdom or common sense. It does not operate by debate and argument. Instead, it has a power of its own that reaches to the heart.
(Revelation of God) The world’s wisdom does not lead to God; thus, the world’s wisdom is idiocy. The reality is God. Anything that denies Him or His place as our Creator, is fantasy and delusion. The world’s wisdom is based on false premises and sinful natures, but the rest of the universe outside of this little world operates on very different principles. We are the delusion, not the reality. We need to become tuned in to the reality. The reality is that the cross of Christ is God’s reaction to our brokenness. God didn’t argue with us. He tries to woo us. He didn’t overpower us with His might. He died for us because we couldn’t die for ourselves and survive also. He did what we couldn’t, so that we could escape the delusions of this world and become part of reality. The Corinthians needed to wake up to the fact that they were still operating under the wrong view of the world. They needed to change their perspective to see their lives and actions through the lens of love, not debate.
Paul is saying that we can’t know God through the principles that we are surrounded by in the world. He says that to know God, we have to go beyond our past experience and be foolish because the kingdom of God is counterintuitive to our own natures. It is foolishness to us, but it is the foolishness that we need to grasp hold of to be saved.
(Application / Prayer) My application for myself is that I need to continue to try to live in this world with God’s viewpoint rather than the world’s viewpoint. I need to see reality rather than the world’s delusions. It is difficult because I am surrounded by Christians who are still participating in the delusions of this world. I pray to always see the truly important and discard the fantasies of this world. I pray to have the wisdom that You provide and to see Your love for me and to accept it and to follow where You lead me rather than where the world’s logic leads.