"The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing"
A closer look at 1 Corinthians 1:18.
18 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. - 1 Corinthians 1:18 (ESV)
Introduction
People who go to church will do a lot of unusual things.
Sometimes they will take their hard-earned vacation and instead of going camping or heading off to the beach they will spend their time off teaching Vacation Bible School for a group of community’s kids.
Sometimes they take the first portion of their hard-earned paycheck and give it away, entrusting the best use of the first portion of their income to someone else. And they do this week after week, month after month, and year after year.
Sometimes they even fill a room and sing songs to someone they cannot see, give thanks to someone they cannot touch, and and then pray to this unseen or untouched thing.
For many people who go to church, these things are second nature and part of a routine. They are things that are done willingly and with a loving purpose in mind.
Yet to outsiders, these things seems far-fetched and ridiculous. These things seem like folly to those who don’t understand. But it is not just the activities done by Christians that seem to folly. The whole idea of Christ and the gospel is folly to them.
Today we’re going study 1 Corinthians 1:18 which highlights this great contrast related to the Gospel of Jesus. It is folly to some, but everything to others.
Let’s get started.
”For the word of the cross”
During the time of Jesus, the cross was an instrument of death, the place where criminals went to receive their sentence of execution. So when the Apostle Paul uses this word, he is describing where Jesus went, and what He endured. He went to the cross to be punished though He was innocent and He went there to die in the place of others.
The phrase “the word of the cross” is used by Paul to explain what happened to Christ and to explain why He endured what He did. In other words, “the word of the cross” describes describes the gospel of Jesus Christ. The word of the cross explains to us our condition as sinners separated from God and have explains to us how Jesus gave up the glories of heaven to walk the earth perfectly as a man so that He could be the perfect sacrifice for our sins. This sacrifice, though the result of a mock trial and the worst miscarriage of Jesus of all-time, was also done willingly by Jesus and was part of His Father’s will. And three days later, through His resurrection, Jesus declared victory once and for all over sin and death.
“The word of the cross” tells us how we can be reconciled to God and spend eternity with Him.
“Is folly to those who are perishing”
But not everyone receives this message as good news. For some, the gospel of Jesus Christ is simply folly.
This is another way of saying that some people think all of this stuff being said about Jesus Christ and what He did for us is absurd and it is foolish to even think seriously about such things. Rather than drink of the living water offered through Jesus, many would rather scoff at the message.
It is easy to see this very thing happening today, but this view of Jesus’ work as folly goes all the way back to the beginning.
At the time when this verse was written, many of the people hearing the message of Christ were Jewish. The were very religious people. They were God’s chosen people., they very people who were living their lives waiting expectantly for the arrival of the Messiah.
But when He actually arrived and did His work for them, they scoffed at Him, rejected Him and did not accept the work He did on their behalf. Though His work was done right before their eyes or in view of many witnesses, but they refused to believe. Instead they scoffed and viewed His work and message as folly.
Of course, this rejection of the good news by some has happened ever since and the consequences are worse than stark. The Bible makes clear the path of those with this view: they are perishing. As the ESV Study Bible notes tell us related to the word “perish,” this means they are being destroyed, they are being ruined, they are losing. Those that choose this path are eternally separated from God. This is made clear by Jesus in what is probably the most famous verse from the Bible, John 3:16:
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” - John 3:16 (ESV)
The word of the cross is folly to some. It is utter nonsense, something to ridicule and and the subject of mockery. The work of Jesus is not respected by these people in any way and they have either totally rejected the one true God, King of the Universe, or they have decided to trust in their own work, and not the precious work of Christ.
“But to us who are being saved it is the power of God”
But to those who embrace the work of the cross and receive Jesus the Christ as their Savior, His gospel is everything. As Paul describes this, for those “who are being saved it is the power of God.”
“Power of God.”
This is an unusual phrase, but it is one that is not uncommon in Scripture.
For example, we see Jesus use this phrase in Mark 12:24 as He responded to a question from the Sadducees. This sect did of religious leaders did not believe in the resurrection.
24 Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? - Mark 12:24 (ESV)
Jesus’ response to them in this verse indicates that they were wrong in their thinking because they did not know the Scriptures and they did not know the power of God.
The Apostle Paul uses this phrase to to describe the gospel of Christ in Romans 1:16:
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. - Romans 1:16 (ESV)
And in Luke 22:69, this phrase is used to describe where Jesus is now after His ascension into heaven:
69 But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” - Luke 22:69 (ESV)
[Emphasis added in the passages above.]
Reviewing these passages helps us to better understand this phrase and its use in today’s verse:
18 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. - 1 Corinthians 1:18 (ESV)
To those of us who are being saved, the gospel is not just a mantra or some vain hope. It is not folly. Instead, to us who are being saved, “it is the power of God.”
The power of God raised Jesus from the dead in His resurrection and the power of God will raise the dead when Jesus returns.
The power of God works salvation in those of us He calls to Himself. As Paul notes, “for it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes.”
And Jesus now resides and reigns beside the power of God eternally now in heaven.
For those being saved, as Paul indicates today’s verse, “the word of the cross…is the power of God” to those being saved. This reminds us of God’s role in our salvation. Jesus did the work for us. God then calls us. And as we are brought to salvation, the Holy Spirit comes to live in us. God then leads us through the mountains and valleys of life and when we die He ushers us into His presence. And if our earthly death is before Jesus returns, when He comes back our bodies will be resurrected. All of this is God on display. And all of this is done through God’s power.
The word of the cross is not folly to those who believe. To us, it is the power of God. And the power of God describes everything God is and everything He does for us.
Application
For verses like today’s, most of the application of it to our lives is obvious.
How do we view the good news, the gospel of Jesus?
Do we regard this message as folly either by outright rejecting it, or by not taking the message seriously?
Or do we embrace it in such a way that we trust it with all that we have and in such a way that it becomes everything to us?