Christ Is the Wisdom of God - 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Series: Hearing From God
Preacher: Russell Smith
Date: June 28, 2026
Church: Madeira-Silverwood Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati, Ohio
Theme verses: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25; 2:16
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Christ Is God’s Living Wisdom
We bring this Hearing from God series to a close as we prepare for July’s Sabbath month. We began in 1 Corinthians 2 with the promise that, by the grace of Christ, we have the mind of Christ. In a world full of voices trying to guide, lead, and direct us, Christ gives us direct access to the wisdom of the universe through the Holy Spirit.
We first hear that wisdom first through Scripture and then, through Scripture, we learn to attend to the still, small voice within. We have considered whether the fruit of our lives shows that we are listening. And we have seen how God gives us living examples in other Christians who have learned to hear the voice of Christ. Now we return full circle to the beginning of this section in Corinthians: Christ is God’s living wisdom.
As we prepare to seek God’s wisdom in July, we need to have open eyes about the nature of that wisdom. Christ is God’s living wisdom, and we have the mind of Christ.
The Wisdom of Christ Is Inseparable From the Cross
The wisdom of Christ is inseparable from the cross: the greatest wisdom exemplified in a symbol of suffering. Any number of teachers have redefined Christ however they wished: Christ as a wise moral teacher, Christ as a social revolutionary, or a Jesus made in their own image. But Paul brings us to the root of the work of Christ: the cross.
In the early 20th century, Albert Schweitzer traced the modern search for the historical Jesus and showed how readily the thinkers of each era reinterpreted Jesus in their own image. The temptation remains. We can admire a version of Jesus who confirms what we already believe while avoiding the question Paul puts before us: What do we make of the cross? Why did Jesus have to die? The cross is not an incidental detail. It is an essential component in grasping the wisdom of God.
“We preach Christ crucified,” Paul says, “a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” For Jewish hearers, a crucified Messiah was scandalous. The law of Moses says: “Cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree.” For the Greco-Roman world, which prized vigor, accomplishment, and valor, crucifixion looked like absolute failure. A crucified person was not someone to be emulated, but someone to be mocked.
Paul does not soften that offense. He names the very thing that seems incomprehensible and declares it to be God’s wisdom and power. The Messiah does not triumph by displaying the kind of strength the world recognizes. Christ wins through self-giving love. That reversal feels paradoxical to us, and yet it is the essence of wisdom.
Yet Paul leans in and says, “We preach Christ crucified.” This is essential to understanding the wisdom of Christ. If we are going to seek God’s wisdom, the cross needs to remain in front of our minds.
A Wisdom That Seems Foolish to the World
Paul says that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those being saved it is the power of God. He quotes Isaiah: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” The quotation comes from Isaiah 29, where God’s judgment falls not only on surrounding nations but on Jerusalem itself.
Isaiah’s target is not merely pagan philosophy. It is the religious self-righteousness and formalism of God’s own people. Paul then asks, “Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age?” In cosmopolitan Corinth, he is speaking both to Jewish-born believers and to people formed by the Greco-Roman world.
That matters because Greco-Roman religion was not primarily about becoming the sort of person a god wanted you to be. People offered sacrifices and hoped to receive something in return; there was little expectation of personal attachment to a deity or of life change. If you wanted to ask how to live a good, happy, or right life, you went to the philosophers. Their teaching on wisdom was largely grounded in reason rather than revelation.
The philosophical schools of that era offered different accounts of wisdom. Platonists searched for abstract ideas; Aristotelians sought comprehensive understanding; Stoics emphasized duty; Epicureans taught intellectual pleasure. They generally approached wisdom as something reasoned out on our own. Paul announces something startlingly different: the wisdom of God is not merely a principle or a conclusion. It is a living person.
John’s Gospel had already used the philosophical word logos— used by the Stoics to refer to the organizing principle of the universe—and applied it to a person: “In the beginning was the Word.” Paul does something similar here. He upends the idea that wisdom is merely reasoned out and identifies it with the One who gives the gift of reason itself. The Christian movement may look, to the philosophers, like one more competing process of human reasoning. But its wisdom is rooted in the living God.
That is why the cross seems foolish. Rome intended it as a symbol of domination, fear, and control: do not question Roman authority. But Christ overturns it. The symbol of domination becomes the sign of self-giving love, grace, and victory over the oppressor.
We live in an era of mastery, control, hustle, and maximizing personal potential and power. The cross says that something more important and more powerful is at work here: pure, lavish, unearned love, graciously given. Not mastery, not dominance, not control, not subjecting others to our agendas, but giving ourselves away. Christ fully gave himself to redeem humanity from sin, and when that wisdom enters us, he invites us to give ourselves away in love.
The cross also tells the truth about us. The forces of sin, chaos, destruction, wrath, despair, and evil are not merely somewhere outside us. In the story of Good Friday, we do well to identify with the crowd, the Roman soldiers, the priests, and Pilate. We should examine ourselves, not with the confidence that reason alone can solve the problem, because we are remarkably able to rationalize our behavior. The cross exposes that darkness, and the cross proclaims that darkness will not have the final word.
For us, the cross is the power of God made manifest. It is the evidence that chaos, destruction, wrath, sin, despair, and evil will not have the final word. The wisdom of God takes flesh and gives itself away. That is why the wise may look at Jesus and see a fool, and why Christians can say, with Paul, that God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom.
In his great theological work The institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin wrote that the sum of the Christian life is denial of self. That statement is not an invitation to become less alive. It is the way Christ gives life. “If you would find your life, lose it,” Jesus says. The cross calls us to die to the agenda of making our own goals ultimate and to live for what Christ calls us to do.
The Wisdom of Christ Is More Powerful Than the World
We get a little taste of this whenever we serve. A group from the church recently worked at Matthew 25: Ministries, sorting shoes and clothing in a warehouse while the boxes kept coming. The pace was relentless: sort the clothes, break down the box, put it away, and another box arrived. It was exhausting work—perhaps a tiny taste of an Amazon warehouse—but we left energized and vitalized because we were there to serve. Those resources would reach people in need around the world in the name of Jesus.
Service can feel like menial or grunt work, yet when we give ourselves away we receive a little taste of joy and abundant life. That may happen while serving children, helping at St. Francis Seraph Ministries, or caring for someone God has placed in our lives. Expand that truth into a life in which you habitually give yourself away in a thousand small ways. That is the invitation of the cross.
This is not a denial of the goodness of reason, learning, or human capacity. Reason is a good gift. When reason is deployed in the service of the transcendent, it can accomplish remarkable things. But reason unmoored from the transcendent can become a monster. The cross keeps us from imagining that intelligence, mastery, or the strength of our own plans will save us.
“The foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom,” Paul says, “and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. In a noisy world where everyone is empowered with a megaphone, where we are all media outlets and content creators whether we like it or not, we need to listen for the voice of Christ above the noise.
Seeking Wisdom Together in Proverbs
That is why we are seeking the wisdom of Christ in July. Proverbs is full of God’s wisdom; it was designed as an introductory course to wisdom. But we will come to Proverbs through the lens of Christ, God’s living wisdom.
Bring an area of life where you need God’s wisdom. It may be something large, such as a job decision, a relationship decision, a crossroads, or a challenge. It may be something small. And if life is especially good, perhaps the question becomes: How can I glorify God and thank God more fully for this good life? We can all seek God’s wisdom somewhere.
A chapter a day gives us thirty-one opportunities to attend to God’s wisdom during July. The task is not simply to collect information about Proverbs. It is to bring a real question before God and listen patiently, trusting that the accumulated wisdom may speak into that particular place.
Write down the question you bring. Active writing is powerful: putting pen to paper helps us attend. Each day, pause and pray, open yourself to the Holy Spirit, and read a chapter of Proverbs. Notice the verse or verses that grab your attention, make you curious, or linger with you. Write them down, then listen: is God nudging you in any way? Record what you notice.
Do not force a verse to answer the question immediately. If a particular verse catches your attention, write it down and wait. Each week return to what you have written and notice themes and patterns. The connection may become clearer over time. At the end of the month, use the reflection questions to gather the wisdom you have received. We come to the month with a question and leave with a collection of God’s wisdom, trusting that the Spirit will speak into the place where we seek direction.
Some of the clearest wisdom may come not in one dramatic moment but through the accumulation of small nudges: a verse that stays with you, a question that returns, a pattern you begin to notice, or a conversation that clarifies what you have been hearing. The invitation is to listen rather than to force a quick answer.
Sabbath month is a retreat in place, a shared time to seek God’s wisdom, listen to one another’s stories, and linger in Proverbs together. This practice can be especially helpful in conversation with a spouse, prayer partner, or small group. Share the insights and promptings you are receiving as you seek God’s wisdom.
A Reader Invitation
Take a quiet moment to listen. The Lord may be speaking to you about seeking wisdom through Proverbs, or about something else entirely. Where is he inviting you deeper into following Jesus? What is the step of faith he is calling you to take as you seek his wisdom?
Questions to Consider
Where do you see the pull of mastery, control, hustle, or self-aggrandizement in your own life?
What would it mean for you to receive the cross as wisdom: to give yourself away in love rather than seek control?
What area of life are you bringing before God for wisdom this month?
What verse, question, or action might you write down as you begin listening through Proverbs?
This sermon is part of the Digital Discipleship Resources of Madeira-Silverwood Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. We create resources to help people take their next step of faith with Jesus.
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