presented at Sierra Grande Cowboy Camp Meeting, July 2003

My goal in a Bible study is not necessarily to answer your questions, but rather to leave you with more questions, to fuel your thirst for a better understanding of God’s word. My hope is that you’ll leave this study with a burning desire to crack open your Bibles to see if these things are true. I hope that we have some points of disagreement so that we’ll both have to turn to our Bibles and seek God’s word for clarification. I give lessons on various instruments- fiddle, guitar, mandolin, etc.- and when the lesson’s over there are two types of student- those who hurriedly close their cases so they can go play ball, and those who hurriedly close their cases so that they get out in the hall and practice what they’ve just learned.

The text we’re looking at this morning is:

You’ll note that the text I’ve selected is bracketed by two similar thoughts: "… the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." and "… a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. ". I’d like to examine these two statements and then dive into the center of the text.

Let’s take the first statement first: "the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing". All the Bible versions of which I’m aware say pretty much the same thing here, although the King James calls it "the preaching of the cross". My question is "Who are these people that are "perishing"?

Romans 3:23 tells us that "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God",

Romans 5:12 says that "death passed upon all men, for all have sinned.".

Romans 6:23 tells us that "the wages of sin is death." Furthermore,

Ephesians 2:1 and Colossians 2:13 both say that we were "dead in our trespasses and sins".

This seems to make sense in the light of John 3 which says that a man must be "born again" in order to see the kingdom of heaven. Jesus says in

John 3:5-6 "Except a man be born of water and [of] the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.".

In Romans 7 and 8, Paul says "if you are living according to the flesh, you must die;"

So, the Bible seems to tell us that all have sinned and death is passed upon all and that we all were dead men. Thus, we were at one time among the "perishing".

The last verse I read in the 1 Corinthians passage said "… a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. " and this thought seems to tie in with the first. Once again, what is a "natural man"? It seems obvious that the "natural man" is well….a "natural" man, that is, a sinful man, but let’s see if we can run down this phrase "natural man" in the Bible. There is relatively little mention of the "natural man" outside of 1 Corinthians, at least in the context in which it’s used there. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul is talking about the resurrection and he says:

1 Corinthians 15:42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So also it is written, "The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. (NASB)

So, while Paul is talking specifically of the resurrection here, his contrast of natural versus spiritual, and especially his statement that the natural comes first is important.

The word "natural" is translated as "worldly" or "worldly-minded" in some versions in some places. In the context of the 1 Corinthians passage where Paul uses "foolishness" twice; in seeing Paul contrast "natural" with "spiritual" in 1 Corinthians 15; and in light of our discussion of John 3 where we saw that one must be born again from fleshy to spiritual, it seems fairly safe to say that we were all "natural" before we became "spiritual". To add some weight to this assumption, I would point out that in

Genesis 1, darkness comes before light.

In John 1:5, Jesus said "light shone into darkness….".

John 12:46: "I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness." This verse seems to plainly state that we were in darkness.

1 Peter 2:9 says that "God called you out of darkness into his marvelous light".

The theme of these verses is that we once were "something" and then became "something else". Therefore, I take the context of 1 Corinthians 2:14 to be that we were once, ourselves, natural men.

If that is the case, and it most certainly seems to be the case that we were once all "perishing", then how is it that we can accept the "foolishness" of the message of the cross? 1 Corinthians 2:14 doesn’t beat around the bush. It says "the natural man does not (or "cannot" in the KJV) accept the things of God". It’s not like we sat down, studied the problem, and said "this is foolish, but it makes sense to me!". The word "foolishness" in the Greek is mo-ree’-ah and it also means "absurd". 1 Corinthians 1:18 says, "… the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." How did we get from "foolishness" to "the power of God"??

1 Corinthians 1:21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

This acceptance of the "power of God" does not come from worldly wisdom. That is, we did not go down to the library and check out some books, hang out at the coffee shop and talk to some philosophers, watch a little TV, see a current movie, read a popular weekly news magazine, and then come to the logical conclusion that Jesus Christ died for our sins. I’m not saying that the power of God can not be present in some of those things, but I am saying that those things, in and of themselves, did not lead us to a saving faith. Remember!!-"the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing". This is a catch-22 situation. The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but the only way to be saved is to accept the message of the cross!! Yet, how can we accept something that is clearly so foolish?

Let’s read the middle of our selected verses again:

1 Corinthians 1:22-31 For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,  but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption ,so that, just as it is written, "LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD."

v. 27-28 say that God chose these things, that he chose the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are. And v. 30 says "…by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption…". And there we have the answer to our dilemma. How does the message of the cross change from a perishing man’s foolishness to become "the power of God"? How can a natural man accept the "foolishness" of God’s message and thus save himself? He can’t. He’s blind, dead in his sins, and in darkness. According to 1 Corinthians 2:14, "he cannot accept the things of God". It is not until the light of God shines in that darkness that the natural man can see his sin. Then, and only then, can the formerly natural man accept the things of God, begin to understand them, and see Jesus as "the wisdom of God". Only then is man capable of repentance and belief and faith.

v. 30: …by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, "LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD."