LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
Neither Signs Nor Wisdom
The Jews in Jesus' time had a strange obsession: they wanted at all costs for Jesus to perform some spectacular miracle -a "sign"- that would prove his claimed messiahship. The Jews expected a political Messiah who would deliver them from Roman power. He had to be powerful, and powerful in the Jewish way, that is, capable of performing miracles, like those performed by Moses on his departure from Egypt. However, Jesus systematically rejected such pretensions.
The Lord was the opposite of this messianic image: he was meek, simple and poor; and when he performed miracles, he took away all spectacular profile. According to the practical and self-interested Jewish mentality, Jesus could not be the Messiah.
The Greeks also had a strange obsession: wisdom. Early on, they sought to clarify the mysteries of the world and of human life by using their intelligence. In Paul's day, when the gospel spread to Greece, this was still the case. The Epicureans and Stoics continued the path traced by Thales. They were interested in listening to Paul. However, when Paul spoke about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, they scoffed, and went away, despising him.
The resurrection of a man did not fit into the rationalistic and reflective mindset of the Greeks. They would have expected an orderly argumentation, in which, given certain postulates, others would have been derived from them, without forcing the logic of thought. But Paul was categorical, impetuous; and he asserted things that he did not logically demonstrate. It was more than they could accept (Acts 17:16-34).
Paul makes known, in his letter to the Corinthians, which is the way in which God saves. There he says that "it pleased God to save those who believe by the foolishness of preaching". God rejects the way of miracles (although he works miracles), and the way of human wisdom (although God himself gave man intelligence). God has decided to save man by a strange method: "preaching".
Preaching is, simply, the exposition by means of words of certain spiritual truths. Preaching requires that the hearer simply hear, and the preaching itself will produce faith in his heart to believe. The subject of this preaching is one and very simple: Jesus Christ crucified. That is why the preaching is also called "the word of the cross". Salvation comes to man dressed in simplicity and by means of modest instruments. Not with miracles, nor with "excellence of words or wisdom", but with a preaching about the death of Christ on the cross to save sinners.
This is the strange method of God. It is such a method that it makes a mockery of "miracle workers" and "philosophers," and is able to reach all men, without distinction. Remember: God's method of saving man is not signs or wisdom, but the preaching of the ignominious cross of Christ, the Savior of all men (1 Cor. 1:21).