Faith Resting in the Power of God
A closer look at 1 Corinthians 2:5.
5 So that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. - 1 Corinthians 2:5 (ESV)
Introduction
Mankind has done some incredible things.
People have figured out a way to fly to the moon and back.
Brain surgeries are done every day.
Somewhere someone figured out a way to change the channels on a television set without wires being connected to the remote control.
And, of course, there are many other examples.
Mankind has done some incredible things.
But despite all of these achievements and despite all of the knowledge mankind has accumulated, there is a Biblical warning attached to the “wisdom of men.” The book of Proverbs describes this warning this way:
There is a way that seems right to a man,
but its end is the way to death. - Proverbs 14:12 (ESV)
In our verse today from 1 Corinthians, we are given another of these warnings.
Let’s take a look at it.
“So that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men”
Faith, as the word is used here by the Apostle Paul, is describing our relationship with God. Put another way, we cannot have a relationship with God in any other way than through faith. Note what he also writes in Galatians 2:
16 “Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.” - Galatians 2:16 (ESV)
We are “justified by faith,” which means that our relationship, or standing before God, is not based on stuff we have done or not done, but it is based upon trusting in the work of Jesus Christ that was done on our behalf. Just as Abraham did. He believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. (Romans 4:3)
But despite this clear truth presented by Paul, there has always been this strange pull by mankind away from the grace of God and toward “the wisdom of men.” Wisdom in general is not bad, but in this wisdom, sinful mankind has decided - incorrectly - that obedience is what will please God and earn a right standing before Him.
Obedience is important. All followers of Christ should want to please Him and do what He would do and we should want to follow His commands. But in terms of truly knowing God, this obedience means nothing.
“But in the power of God”
Paul rightly warns us that our “faith” - the way by which we have a relationship with God - should “not rest in the wisdom of men.” Instead, our faith should rest “in the power of God.”
On our own, we can do nothing to save ourselves. All that we bring to the salvation process is our sin that makes salvation necessary. God is the one who saves and as Hebrews 7:25 reminds us, He saves to the uttermost:
25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. - Hebrews 7:25 (ESV)
We are saved to the uttermost because of “the power of God.”
And the passage below from Ephesians gives us a full reminder of this power and of what God has done for us:
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. - Ephesians 1:3-10 (ESV)
Application
It seems only right that we should have to save ourselves.
After all, we are the ones who sin against Almighty God. We are the ones who commit cosmic rebellion and violate God’s standards. We are the ones causing trouble and our sin shows over and over again how we lack faith.
Well, it is appropriate that we obey God. And there are lots of reasons for doing so. But our faith - our relationship with God - does not come through obedience. It comes through what God has done for us via His Son Jesus Christ on the cross. Jesus did the work and we get the blessing.
Remember, there is a way that seems right to mankind and this way ends in death. There is a way that God has made for us by faith that ends in life.
"There is a way that seems right to a man"
12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. - Proverbs 14:12 (ESV) “There is a way that seems right to a man” “There is a way that seems right to a man” and this usually means something that will take him away from God.
