1 Corinthians Reflection

1 Corinthians Reflection Project “Reason must be deluded, blinded, and destroyed. Faith must trample underfoot all reason, sense, and understanding, and whatever it sees must be put out of sight and ... know nothing but the word of God.” Martin Luther had great insight and encouragement knowing the sheer fact that the war between the world and the cross would be an on going battle. In 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 God pronounced the foolishness of the cross. This paragraph begins in 1:18 with a thematic statement. Paul writes, “For 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.” Paul makes it clear that there are only two categories of people: the “perishing” and the “saved.” Ultimately, all must fall into one of these two classes; there is no other. Paul writes that those who are perishing consider the word of the cross “foolishness.” The word of the cross is that salvation is freely granted by God’s grace, not human merit or intellect. Furthermore, salvation is extended to all people. This levels the ground at the foot of the cross. Everyone comes to God through faith, based upon the work of Jesus Christ.
In 1:19 God’s rescue strategy opts for what appears to be weakness in the eyes of the world. God works in reverse thinking, especially in terms of human redemption. God does not need anyone but Himself to accomplish His plan of salvation. None of us would have ever come up with the plan of salvation that God did. In our “wisdom” we would have made it much more confusing, complex, and inequitable. Earn your way to heaven. We would have devised a “lay-away” salvation plan. But God designed a salvation free for all, available to all, by sending His Son to die for our sins. In the death of Christ, God displayed His own sheer genius in masterminding a plan of salvation whereby He remained both just and the justifier. God designed His plan of salvation in such a way that sinful man could not come to