28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
Paul continues here to tell that God takes those that the world looks on as a nobody and makes them His helpers. All the children of God needs is the power, wisdom and strength that we gain with Jesus in our life. We do not have to be highly educated by the worlds standards because God gives us the mind of Christ. Also the spoken Word of God created all the earth, and everything in it and around it from nothing. Then we see that no saved sinner can boast that he has achieved salvation by his intellect. If we are truly His then everything we are and hope to be is because He ordained it which leaves no room for self-glory. Our salvation is by divine intervention into our affairs. We need to praise God every day for what He has done for us.
1 Corinthians 1;26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
We see here God does not call the kings, but fishermen, He did not call the scribes or pharisees, just simple people who were not burdened down with their own importance. God chooses those who wall be totally dependent on Him and seek the will of God in everything instead of deciding own their own what to do. God is looking for a few people who will serve Him, in whatever task He has for them to do. God disdained human wisdom by choosing to save the lowly. He does not call to salvation many who the world would call wise, mighty and noble. God chooses those that are foolish and common that are considered nothing by elite. they will trust in Jesus as their Savior and Lord and give Him all the glory for choosing them to know Him and the eternal truths of His heavenly kingdom.
1 Corinthians 1:25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
The things that man thought of as weakness or defeat, brought about the greatest victory that man has ever known which is speaking of the crucifixion. We can see in another scripture how that can show us this a little clearer. Romans 11:33-36 says it this way; Romans 11:33-35 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counselor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. We need to understand we can only ask for God to give us wisdom to understand Him and his will for our lives. It is foolishness for us to even think we could out smart God.
1 Corinthians 1:22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
We start here seeing that the Jews were always demanding, through all four of the gospels, to see a sign. Paul realized that the Greeks were looking for wisdom when he was witnessing to them and they analyzed every new thing that came along. Christ being crucified was a stumbling block to the Jews because they were looking for a mighty warrior as a savior. The Greeks had a problem with Christ being crucified because it did not fit any theories they could up with for a savior. But to all that are called, the message of the cross, which seems so pointless and irrelevant to man’s proud, natural mind, exhibits God’s greatest power and greatest wisdom. Again we can see here that there is only one way to be saved and that is through belief in Jesus Christ. It does not matter whether you are a Jew or any other nationality it is Jesus who saves. Please attend a church today that will teach you true word of God and be ready to receive the blessings he has for you and accept them.
1 Corinthians 1:19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
This first verse lets us know that it does not matter how smart we are in book learning it is not important to God. God is not interested in your mind or your intellect, He wants your heart. we have seen it plenty of times a supper smart person can not comprehend the saving grace of our Savior. Next he ask the question of the smart religious people who totally missed the Lord Jesus Christ as their Messiah, because they did not understand the things of the Spirit. Fact is the opposite of faith and this is what the wise wanted was to argue facts. Finally Paul tells that even with all the wisdom the world has they missed God. God designed to save helpless sinners through the preaching of a message that was so simple that the worldly wise deemed it nonsense. You cannot study your Bible for very long or hear the Word of God preached many times without receiving Jesus Christ as your Savior.
1 Corinthians 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
This verse tells us that there is an unbelieving world out there that believes the preaching of the gospel is foolish. Everyone is in the process of either coming to the a life of salvation or going in the other direction to a life of destruction. It is hard for the unbeliever to accept what Christ did on the cross for us in shedding His blood for the forgiveness of sin. They actually believe this to be nonsense. For us that are believers we understand the power of the cross and just what it took for us to be saved with the shedding of the blood of Christ. Just as in the Old Testament there had to blood shed for the remission of sin, so was Jesus that sacrifice for us and His blood cleanses us of our sin which helps us understand the power of God. With His blood, He has saved us, and by His power He has raised us with Him to eternal life.
1 Corinthians 1:16 And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.
17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
Paul stated here saying he also might have baptized some others but that was not his primary purpose because baptizing does not save someone. Paul’s primary purpose, as should be ours, was to preach the gospel so people would be convicted in their hearts and repent of their sins and receive forgiveness. He also help establish other churches and hopefully equip them with people to carry on the the work of spreading the gospel. He let the people know that is not just the words that save you but the accepting of what Jesus did for us on the cross the that gives us our salvation. Salvation comes from believing Jesus in our heart and confessing this with our mouth and this is the only way to receive the salvation provided for us as a free gift from God.
1 Corinthians 1:14 I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;
15 Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name.
Paul wanted the people to understand that him baptizing someone did not make him Christ, But that he baptized in the name of Christ. Paul wanted people to worship Christ and not him. Paul was very aware of the dangerous effect it would have if he allowed anyone to worship him. This could be a lesson to us not to worship the people that helped us get where we are in Christ but worship Christ. Also to be aware of people putting to much faith in us for helping them to gain the knowledge of the saving grace of our Lord, and try to put us on pedestal. We are just like Paul a servant of an almighty God and our job is to lead people to Christ so they will know who to worship and give their glory to.
1 Corinthians 1:11 For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
12 Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.
13 Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?
We see in these verses that even in Paul’s day there were people in disagreement with one another. He goes to tell us that this second verse could refer to denominations today and the differences that separate them. When we should not worry about the denomination but whether we are a christian first. We must always remember that, we are first a follower of and a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and then join whatever denomination best takes care of our needs. We have a tendency, like these people here, to relate our Christianity to the one who led us to the Lord. Christ is not divided and neither is His body, the church. Paul depreciates his worth in comparison to the Lord Jesus so the answer to this is definitely no! The only salvation that is real and able to save you, is the salvation the Lord Jesus paid for with His precious spotless blood. Only His blood cleanses from all sin.
1 Corinthians 1:9 God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
These two verses really say a lot of what our country needs today. If you are a part of the family of God you know he is faithful to do all He promises to to do. For all that believe this way it ask that we speak with the with the guidance of Christ so that we have unity one with another. That there be no divisions among us and that we agree together in the same mind and same judgement. This is something the leadership in our churches needs so desperately today. We need a real revival in the people of God to get back to our first love, which is Jesus Christ. How can we expect our country to function properly when Christians can not even agree on what is right and what is wrong, how to worship or when to worship.
"For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one." I John 5:7
