Foolishness, wisdom and the Cross.

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Panama City from the Pacific approach

For it is written:
    “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
     the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 
(1 Corinthians 1:19-21, NIV)
Paul’s primary purpose in the passage quoted above seems to be to reassure the church in Corinth that the message on which they’ve set their hopes is God’s wisdom, that it is not foolishness as unbelieving neighbours may claim. In his letter, Isaiah 29 is referenced, a chapter in which the prophet chastises his people for basing their “wisdom” on earthly, human assumptions while ignoring “the scroll,” the revelations of God apprehended and written down by earlier prophets and teachers.
“Their worship of me
is based on merely human rules they have been taught.
Therefore once more I will astound these people
with wonder upon wonder;
the wisdom of the wise will perish,
the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.” (Isaiah 29: 13 & 14 NIV)
Certainly, the body of knowledge in Isaiah’s time wasn’t what it would be in Paul’s time, and the measures of wisdom, knowledge and intelligence in our day would astound Paul. So interpreting Isaiah and Paul on the subject of God’s wisdom vs. earthly wisdom, what appears foolish but is wise vs. what is just plain foolish probably begins with considering what in these old writings is analogous to all human ages and conditions.
It’s not hard to see that a “wisdom” that equates success with material wealth could be labeled “foolishness” in any age; the adage that “you can’t take it with you when you die” should be “wisdom” enough to figure that out. Christ’s message is full of “foolishness” in this regard: it is better to give than to receive; the last shall be first and the first last; if a soldier orders you to carry his pack one mile, carry it two miles; love your enemies; if someone strikes you on one cheek, offer him the other as well. Stupid, stupid stupid. And the most apparently “foolish” of all, that all mankind should be “saved” through the execution of one charismatic teacher, i.e the foolishness of the cross.
So is Science—writ large—human foolishness posturing as wisdom? Are Christians who pursue PhDs chasing after knowledge that will prove in the end to be just so much foolishness? Are the scrolls (or the Bible) the exclusive repository of God’s wisdom?
These are very important questions, especially in a day when the library of what is known about both the massive universe and the nano worlds seems to be expanding exponentially. We speak much and often these days about the condition of the planet on which Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, and we walked and still walk, live out our short lives. Are climate change consciousness and efforts to mitigate the effects futile, foolish? Man’s wisdom, not God’s? Were my ancestors right in eschewing higher education with the argument that the Bible contains everything we need to know? Is reason a gift of God or a satanic force in disguise? Is it necessary to be worldly-ignorant to be spiritually wise? And the most troubling question: can belief be gained or discarded as an act of will?
It’s pretty clear that both Isaiah and Paul saw God and the Holy Spirit as “out there,” anthropomorphic beings, a limiting of imagination not dissimilar from Nordic, Greek, Roman or Mayan spirituality. There are plenty of passages, however, that urge us to think of God and the Spirit as both present in human consciousness and far less restricted than is illustrated through personification. {Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16 KJV; Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you (possibly more accurately translated as “the kingdom of God is in your midst.”) Luke 17:21 KJV}
It appears that some members of the early church at Corinth were questioning their faith based on the apparent foolishness of the gospel—at least when seen through the eyes of reason and conventional wisdom. In our day, it seems analogous to Christians holding to the “foolishness of the cross,” sowing seeds of mercy where greed and selfishness seems reasonable, sowing seeds of peace where militarism appears wise, sowing seeds of generosity where hoarding seems to be the obvious action to take. But like the Corinthians of Paul’s day, buying into the tantalizing, available, advertised, “reasonable” offerings of our surroundings at the expense of God’s wisdom is certainly possible.
Isn’t it?
















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