1 Corinthians 1:18-31 — Christ, Our Wisdom
WAY OF WISDOM PART 2 INTRODUCTION
In Part 1 of The Way of Wisdom, we explored the beginning of wisdom as revealed in Proverbs 1: the fear of the LORD. Wisdom does not begin with intellect or performance; it begins with reverent, joyful surrender to the God who alone gives insight, truth, and direction. That fear rightly orients our hearts before the Creator, yet it raises a vital question: if wisdom begins with reverence, where does it reach its fullness?
The answer comes not in a principle, but in a Person.
The apostle Paul, writing to a divided and performance-driven church in Corinth, reframes the entire conversation. True wisdom, he says, looks nothing like the world’s. It does not arrive with eloquence or applause, nor does it ride in on strength or status; true wisdom is found by looking to the One who chose the cross.
A wisdom the world cannot recognize
“For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,” Paul writes, “but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).
The gospel does not flatter human reason. It exposes it. The cross confounds those who seek a god made in their own image, a god of control, advantage, and reward; yet in that place of weakness, where the world sees failure, God reveals the fullness of His wisdom.
The wisdom of God is not a strategy for winning but a Savior who dies. Paul presses further: “The foolishness of God is wiser than mankind, and the weakness of God is stronger than mankind” (verse 25). The message of the cross does not compete with worldly systems; it undoes them. It silences pride and demands surrender, and that is precisely the point.
Those whom God calls
“Consider your calling,” Paul says. “Not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble” (verse 26). God does not recruit strength; He chooses the weak. He does not require pedigree; He calls the lowly. Why? “So that no human may boast before God” (verse 29).
The wisdom of the world builds ladders, but the wisdom of God invites kneeling. The called of God are not those who impress but those who receive, and in their weakness, God displays something greater than human potential; He displays His grace.
Christ, the embodiment of wisdom
“But by His doing,” Paul writes, “you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (verse 30).
Here everything converges. Christ does not simply model wisdom, for He is wisdom. He does not give righteousness as a commodity; He becomes righteousness for us. He is not merely our teacher, but our life.
In Him, we do not ascend toward God; God has descended to us. By faith, we are in Christ, not by effort, but by grace. Our lives are hidden in Him, and His wisdom is now alive in us. This is not wisdom achieved; it is wisdom received.
The Spirit of wisdom rests on Him
Centuries before the cross, Isaiah saw Him coming. He spoke of a King, a shoot from the stump of Jesse, on whom the Spirit of the LORD would rest, not partially or temporarily, but fully.
“The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him,
The spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The spirit of counsel and strength,
The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
And He will delight in the fear of the LORD” (Isaiah 11:2–3).
What the Old Testament anticipated, Christ fulfilled. He did not merely carry wisdom as a gift; He embodied it in full. And unlike every other figure before Him, He delighted in the fear of the LORD perfectly and perpetually. He walked in reverence, not because He had to, but because He wanted to; and that same Spirit now dwells in us.
The sevenfold fullness that rested on Christ has been poured out on His people, not for personal greatness, but for intimate communion.
Boast in the Lord
Paul ends the chapter with a call to reframe everything: “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (verse 31). We do not boast in our insight, morality, or wisdom. We boast in Christ.
He is our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, and our redemption. Because of Him, the fear of the LORD is no longer a distant standard but a living relationship. We delight in it because He did; we receive it because He gives it.
Returning to reverence
If Proverbs taught us to bow low in reverence, 1 Corinthians teaches us where that reverence leads and that is to Jesus Himself.
True wisdom begins in the fear of the LORD and finds its fulfillment in the Son who embodied it. The cross is not a contradiction to wisdom; it is its clearest expression.
So if you feel weak today, remember: He is your strength. If you feel foolish, remember: He is your wisdom. And if your heart longs for righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, remember: you are in Christ.
You do not ascend into wisdom; wisdom has come down to you. In receiving Christ, you receive the fullness of what your heart was made to long for.
Go Deeper
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