We’re continuing a sort of online Bible study of the readings from 1 Corinthians during Epiphany. Today we are looking at this week’s upcoming reading, 1 Corinthians 1:18-31. 
Deja vu All Over Again – We begin this week’s reading with a line from last week’s reading – verse 18, which reads, “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Last week this verse culminated what Paul was saying about divisions in the church, effectively saying that the Cross is more important than the divisions that the Corinthians had made for themselves. This week, as a hinge, the verse moves us further into an understanding of God’s counter intuitive wisdom.
Silly Preaching – Paul makes a big point about the “foolishness” of how God works. While the ESV translates verse 21, “…it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe,” it is just as correct to translate it, “through the folly of preaching…” Paul is making the point that the Word of God is performative and effective – that through just the speaking act of preaching, God is working. We believe this to be true as we believe that God’s Word is living and active in its forms of being read, being heard, and being taken through the sacraments (which are Word + element). This is a reversal of the quote attributed to St. Francis, “preach the Gospel, use words when necessary,” and would probably be written by Paul to say, “Do the Gospel, use works when necessary.”
The Corinthian Overstatement – Paul points out that “not many” of the Corinthians were “wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.” (vs 26). Yet it appears from Paul’s argumentation that many of the Corinthians were putting on airs of exactly this type. It was as if Christianity gave occasion for the unwise to consider themselves suddenly wise and lord it over others, that it gave Corinthians power that was previously inaccessible and now they were abusing, and that it even was creating a sort of nobility in their ranks (perhaps along the lines of which apostle they claimed to follow). While Christianity does assure us that we are given the wisdom of God in Scripture, and while it does give us the power of God as emissaries of His Kingdom, and while it does declare us to be a royal priesthood – it is important for us to take these things in humility, as Christ did, not lording our advantage over others.
The Booby Trap – Paul points out that the Cross gets in the way. The word “scandalon” is often translated “stumbling block” but was also the word for something that would trigger a trap. It is the thing that gets sprung or activates – both in Law and Gospel. The Cross can trigger the Law as we look at it and consider our sins that put our Lord on such a device of torture. The Cross can also trigger the Gospel as we see the lengths to which Jesus would go to save us. The Cross is a booby trap for the Corinthian overstatement, but it is also the thing that triggers the refreshment that we feel when we hear the Word preached that Jesus died for us and through that makes us God’s own people.
Application – We should watch ourselves for overstatements of our status that make us haughty, because these things are the beginnings of “Crossless Christianity” which is not really Christianity at all. Christianity always has the counter intuitive Cross at its center. When we feel drawn to the powerplays of this world, we know that it is just a matter of time before God leaves the “booby trap” of the Cross out for us to be humbled by His “folly”. But thankfully, that folly makes us His own and gives us “righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” (vs. 30)