Where is the scribe? Where are these disputers of this world," these investigators, these individ uals who are going to find so many things and tell us so much. See, Cod has sent His Son and He was crucified and the wisdom and un derstanding of these people was folly beside the power of God. Notice verse 21, "For after that, in the wisdom of Cod, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased Cod by the foolishness of preaching to save them that be lieve." Cod has given scriptures for the scribes to search and study. The Jewish scribe could look into the Old Testament, but it did not bring the proud Jewish Pharisee or scribe to Cod. Now notice one thing that, I think, is most essential. The mes sage which was presented was not simply Christ, but Christ crucified. This is mentioned time and time again. In verse 23 we read, "But we preach Christ crucified." Verse 17 said, "lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect." Verse 18 said, "the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness." Then in I Corinthians 2:2 we read, "For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him cruci fied." The interesting thing to me is simply this: Christ crucified is a stumbling block to the Jewish peo ple. They had tried to fit things together. But somehow Christ cru cified, a Man on the cross, was a stumbling block to them.The word for stumbling block could also be translated a trap or snare. The people did not see how it fit into their philosophy of life. It did not fit in at all. It did not help
them resolve the fundamental problems of the universe as they saw it, so they layed it aside. I think that the preaching of the cross was displeasing to the Jewish scribe and to the Greek philoso pher because they could not come to the place where they could say, "I am so bad. I am so evil. I am so alienated from God that I need some special work such as a cross, such as the Son of Cod dying on that cross." The Jewish scribe says, "l am not that bad. I am quite righteous. I keep the law. I do not need someone dying on the cross for me." The Greek might say, "Well, I can figure it out for myself. I really do not need that. This does not fit into my concept of wisdom. To say that I have to depend on God and His method of the cross is saying that I cannot handle things my self." Perhaps that is the reason why we read in verse 23 that the preaching of Christ crucified is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Creeks. But note in verse 24 what it is to those who are called, to those who recognize their need and are ready and w ill ing to respond. It is the power of God. It is the wisdom of Cod. Salvation, that gift of God that brings inner peace, joy and eternal life, is God's doing not man's. And Cod has seen to it that the glory will remain His and His alone. We see this in I Corinthians 1:26-31. The passage clearly illustrates that even the people who receive and share or preach this message can not help but give God the glory. In this study we will see why. But first note that this particular passage does not exclude the in-
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