Seeking God in signs and wisdom
1 Cor. 1:21-31
1 Corinthians 1:22 says that the Jews look for signs and the Greeks look for wisdom. Indeed, when we look at the Bible, we see several instances of the Israelites seeking signs – Gideon (Jdg. 6:17); Hezekiah (Is. 38:22); Pharisees (Mk. 8:11-12); Scribes and Pharisees (Mat. 12:38-39); Others (Lk. 11:6). Because of this, Jesus said of them, ““Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe” (Jn. 4:48).
Like the Jews, the Greeks (Gentiles) also seek wisdom and chase after it. Till today, Greek philosophy is being studied all over the world. Plato Aristotle, Democritus, Socrates, Heraclitus, Thales, Pythagoras are some of them.
Because of this, when Jesus came and began his teaching and ministry, the people (Jews and Greeks) could not understand Him because they we looking for something else.
This teaches us the impossibility of understanding God and His Words through human knowledge and wisdom alone. The Apostle Paul said that as he proclaims Christ crucified, it became a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles (1 Cor. 1:23). Why? The Jews sough for signs, they did not see it. The Gentiles (Greeks) sought wisdom, they saw it as foolishness.
But the Scripture tells us, “In the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe” (1 Cor. 1:21). How wonderful! It is indeed wonderful to know that the world, through its wisdom failed to see God, but God revealed Himself to us using ‘foolish proclamation’ to save us.
If not, we would never have known salvation. We wouldn’t have been able to grasp it with our limited wisdom, knowledge and wealth. But it is also written, “Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong” (1 Cor. 1:26-27).
Let Him be praised for revealing Himself to us and saving us when all the wisdom, power, wealth and riches of the world failed to see Him.
