For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
The verse names two different human demands set against the gospel, the Jews demanding supernatural miraculous signs and the Greeks seeking human philosophical wisdom. The message of Christ crucified met neither demand as expected, proving a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks. To those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, that same Christ crucified is the power of God and the wisdom of God. God does not save through the demanded signs or wisdom, but it pleased Him by the foolishness of preaching Christ crucified to save those who believe, making foolish the wisdom of this world.
What Jews and Greeks Sought
The verse sets out two different human demands, with the Jews demanding supernatural, miraculous signs and the Greeks seeking human, philosophical wisdom. The Jews sought miraculous signs while the Greeks sought worldly wisdom, and neither demand on its own terms recognized Christ crucified. Requiring a sign and seeking wisdom mark the two great classes of people who receive, reject, or distort the gospel and who are mistaken about spiritual religion.
The demand for a sign was indifference to the light given for salvation and resistance to conviction, because truth is unpopular and involves self-denial and the cross. Those who demanded a sign did not sincerely seek evidence to establish faith in Christ as sent from God or from conviction of His divinity, but sought temporal advantage. They were like those who followed Him because they ate the loaves and were filled and thought union with Him profitable if He supplied bread for temporal wants. Even after the fresh evidence of feeding the five thousand they asked what sign He would show to make them believe, proving that piling evidence upon evidence would not increase faith. What they wanted was not evidence but an excuse to avoid the cross involved in accepting the gospel and believing on Him as personal Saviour.
The Jews required signs instead of a Saviour and rested in signs and outward forms. Though the Son of God had come as the fulfilment of all their types, the substance of all their shadows, they rejected the antitype, clung to their types and useless ceremonies, and continued to ask for a sign. They expected the Messiah to prove His claims by mighty deeds of conquest, to establish His empire on the ruins of earthly kingdoms. The Greeks valued human wisdom above the wisdom from God, and their pride in learning and intellect hindered them from receiving the light and knowledge Christ gives. Insistence on evidence limited to human faculties and reliance on human reason can lead people to reject God's power and the gospel. These demands show what fallen human nature is like, which Christ fully understands: fallen people demand something other than Christ crucified, a desire still present in the world.
Christ Crucified Rejected
The preaching of Christ crucified met neither demand in the way it was expected, for to the Jews who demanded miraculous signs it was a stumbling block, and to the Greeks who sought human, philosophical wisdom it was foolishness. The two different expectations explain the offense, since those who required a sign and those who sought after wisdom stumbled over a crucified Saviour instead of receiving Him as God's power and wisdom to those called. The contrast is between worldly standards and God's way of saving those who believe through the preaching of the cross.
The message of the cross is foolishness to those who rely on worldly wisdom, are shaped by worldly pursuits, and reject the simplicity of true godliness. Those blinded by worldly wisdom fail to see that human sin made Christ's suffering and self-denial and sacrifice necessary and brought grief upon Him. Worldly wisdom can blind people to His self-denial and sacrifice and to the way human sin brought grief upon Him, so that neither the demand for different kinds of proof nor the demand for signs or wisdom recognizes Christ crucified as God's power and wisdom.
In the wisdom of God the world by its own wisdom did not know God, and human wisdom cannot bring people to know God or make one person wise for another. God does not save through those demanded signs or wisdom, because He has made foolish the wisdom of this world and will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. The preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who perish but the power of God to those who are saved.
Jewish expectation looked for the Messiah to prove His claims by mighty deeds of conquest to establish His empire on the ruins of earthly kingdoms, demanding signs instead of a Saviour while clinging to types and useless ceremonies though the Son of God had come as the fulfillment of all their types and the substance of all their shadows. That expectation was answered in the parable of the sower: not by force of arms or violent interpositions was the kingdom of God to prevail, but by implanting a new principle in hearts. He came not as a king but as a sower, not for overthrow of kingdoms but for scattering seed, not to point followers to earthly triumphs and national greatness but to a harvest gathered after patient toil and through losses and disappointments.
Christ Power and Wisdom
The same crucified Christ who offends demand for wonders and disappoints demand for philosophy becomes, to those who are called from both Jews and Greeks, God's own power and God's own wisdom. Neither demand is met on its own terms, for to one side the cross is a stumbling block and to the other it is foolishness, yet to the called it is salvation through preaching that the world despises. The two groups stand for the two great ways people receive, reject, or distort the gospel while mistaken about spiritual religion, and out of both God calls some to find in Christ what human wisdom could never give another. What the world by its wisdom could not attain, to know God, is given in Him who is power to the saved while the same preaching is foolishness to those who perish.
What human judgment calls foolishness in God is wiser than men, and what it calls weakness in God is stronger than men, wiser and stronger than all human wisdom and strength. God has made foolish the wisdom of this world, will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent, and it pleased Him to save believers by what the world calls the foolishness of preaching. He has higher aims for His people than the study of man, and waits to bestow His Holy Spirit on all who hunger and thirst after righteousness rather than on exaltation of men and of man's ideas of education. Those who are in Christ Jesus have Him made unto them wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Therefore they glory only in knowing the Lord and not in themselves, for no one has anything that was not received to glory over.
God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and the weak things to confound the mighty, and the base and despised things of the world and things which are not to bring to nought things that are. His purpose is that no flesh should glory in His presence. For this reason not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, for He calls without regard to worldly wisdom or status so that no one can boast before Him. True education is therefore knowing God, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, and the word of God is to be the man of counsel rather than wisdom after the flesh crowding it out.
The rich and learned exalt themselves above humble seekers who come to Jesus to be saved, but Christ gives encouragement and comfort and help where it is most needed, to the poor. Those who come to Christ acknowledging their need can become wise unto salvation, receiving the light and knowledge He gives where pride in learning and intellect had hindered reception. He that glories must glory in the Lord by taking in light to impart light in good works.
Human Wisdom Made Foolish
God has made foolish the wisdom of this world, and will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Since in God's wisdom the world by its own wisdom did not know God, it pleased Him to save those who believe by what the world calls the foolishness of preaching. Exalting man's ideas of education and extolling learned men is foolishness in God's sight, for it dishonors the Creator and puts man where God should be. He has higher aims for His people than the study of man, and is waiting to bestow His Holy Spirit on all who hunger and thirst after righteousness. Human wisdom must not be treated as God's wisdom, for exalting human judgment over God's leads people astray through the foolishness of human wisdom.
The verse belongs to a passage contrasting human wisdom with the wisdom God gives, showing that worldly learning, book-knowledge, and human achievement cannot provide the highest knowledge. Wisdom after the flesh does not fit for heaven and must not crowd out the word of God, which is to be the man of counsel. True wisdom is found in Christ, and no one should glory in human wisdom or status but in the Lord. God calls people without regard to worldly wisdom or status, so that no flesh should glory in His presence. The highest of all education is knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent and living by His truth, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness. That knowledge and education is of more value than gold and silver and precious stones, and more to be desired than worldly honor and the empty applause of frivolous mortals.
God's lessons surpass the wisdom taught in human schools and can instruct even those with limited understanding when they are willing to learn humbly. Yet God's wisdom and the methods He uses appear foolish to boastful, self-confident people because they do not know the mystery of godliness. Neither Jewish learning nor Grecian eloquence can reach the mark of the high calling that is in Christ Jesus, and the highest eloquence and the greatest physical strength cannot give power to convict and convert souls. Resources for that work must come from heaven through heart-reception of the pure principles of the gospel and the fullness of the Spirit confirming the spoken word. God can use a poor, unlearned person repeating the message of Christ's coming to humble a learned man, and can bring victory through humble means that human strength and wisdom would dismiss as inadequate, showing that worldly wisdom and status do not bring people to God.
The cross of Calvary gives the proper level to the human mind: looking unto Jesus as Author and Finisher of faith lays all desire for self-glorification in the dust and brings self-abasement, lowliness, humbleness of mind, and true humility with no self-exaltation. Contemplating what it provided shows God in Christ and Christ as God, which levels human exaltation and pride. The Creator of all worlds humbled Himself to human nature in meekness and lowliness, clothing His divinity with humanity though He was the Majesty of heaven and rich in heaven's treasure, becoming poor so that through His poverty believers might be made rich. Any cherishing of high-mindedness, self-trust, self-sufficiency, and self-complacency dishonors the Maker and will surely be humbled. The cross is unintelligible to hearts that cling to self-love and self-sufficiency and are proud of their own wisdom and do not know their need of Christ, for true godliness calls for humility and willingness to learn from God. The contrast between those seeking signs and those seeking human wisdom belongs to the contrast between worldly speculation and God's truth, as when Luther opposed philosophers' and theologians' sophistries and turned people toward the eternal truths taught by prophets and apostles.
Preaching and Living It
God does not save people through the signs the Jews demanded or the wisdom the Greeks demanded, but through what looks like foolish preaching — proclaiming Christ crucified — to save those who believe. The world by its own wisdom did not come to know God, and God made the wisdom of this world foolish, destroying the wisdom of the wise and bringing to nothing the understanding of the prudent. The preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but the power of God to those being saved, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Greeks, yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. God chose the foolish and weak and base and despised things of the world, and things that are not, to confound the wise and mighty and bring to nothing things that are, so that no flesh should glory in His presence. Those who are in Christ Jesus have Him made to them wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, and glory only in the Lord.
The lesson for labor is to determine to know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Speech and preaching are not to be with excellency of speech or enticing words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that faith stands not in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Paul himself could have met oratory with oratory and philosophy with philosophy on their own ground, yet he deliberately set that aside, because God alone transforms character through the mighty power of the cross of Calvary. The message is therefore spoken not in words that human wisdom teaches but in words the Holy Spirit teaches.
Waiting for a sign and holding back for some wonderful thing to be done only delays the work, for men and women are to be converted not by the gift of tongues nor by the working of miracles but by the preaching of Christ crucified, and the world will not be converted by those means. No costly apparatus is needed to make the world better, for however humble the sphere and however lowly the work in the shop, on the farm, or in the office, labor in harmony with the Saviour’s teachings lets Him reveal Himself through the worker and draw souls to Him. He honors meek and lowly ones who seek earnestly to serve Him when soul-saving endeavor is brought into all they do. Resources for convicting and converting souls do not come from Jewish learning or Grecian eloquence, nor from the highest eloquence or greatest physical strength, but must come from heaven through heart-reception of the pure principles of the gospel and the fullness of the Spirit confirming the spoken word. That heavenly supply magnifies Jesus through His sons and daughters, prevails against satanic agencies, and breathes the breath of God into the soul to fill it with power.
The gospel speaks a true wisdom among those who are mature, not the wisdom of this world nor of the princes of this world that come to nothing, but the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom ordained before the world unto glory. None of the princes of this world knew that wisdom, for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things God has prepared for those who love Him, but God reveals them by His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. God hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes, and no one has anything that was not received to boast over. The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned, comparing spiritual things with spiritual, but he who is spiritual judges all things and has the mind of Christ.
The answer to division and uncertainty is a plain thus saith the Lord, all speaking the same thing with no divisions, perfectly joined together in the same mind and same judgment, giving the trumpet a certain sound. That united witness proclaims the third angel’s message and carries the medical missionary work in connection with the gospel message. God does not want His people to wait until every seeming objection is removed before they believe, and He will never remove all seeming difficulties from the path. Those who wish to doubt may find opportunity to doubt, while those who wish to believe will find plenty of evidence on which to base their faith. Those without spiritual eyesight and the heavenly anointing misjudge value, count advocates of truth inferior to advancers of error, pervert talent, time, intellect, money and strength to the enemy side, and remain restless with a sense of want because they do not come to Christ to drink the waters of life, while the grace of God in the heart changes the estimate of everything relating to the cause of God.
The first three chapters of 1 Corinthians give instruction of the greatest importance to all who have entered the Lord’s army, exposing the envy and strife cherished by members as the reason for the weakness of the church. All engaged in the various branches of God’s work are to study this truth with the first and second chapters of 1 Corinthians with prayer for understanding and put it into practice. Students seeking education are likewise to read those chapters with prayer, learning that wisdom after the flesh does not fit for heaven and must not crowd out the word of God as the man of counsel, that not many wise after the flesh are called, and that he who glories must glory in the Lord by taking in light to impart light in good works.
The verse names two different human demands set against the gospel, the Jews demanding supernatural miraculous signs and the Greeks seeking human philosophical wisdom. The message of Christ crucified met neither demand as expected, proving a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks. To those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, that same Christ crucified is the power of God and the wisdom of God. God does not save through the demanded signs or wisdom, but it pleased Him by the foolishness of preaching Christ crucified to save those who believe, making foolish the wisdom of this world.
What Jews and Greeks Sought
The verse sets out two different human demands, with the Jews demanding supernatural, miraculous signs and the Greeks seeking human, philosophical wisdom. The Jews sought miraculous signs while the Greeks sought worldly wisdom, and neither demand on its own terms recognized Christ crucified. Requiring a sign and seeking wisdom mark the two great classes of people who receive, reject, or distort the gospel and who are mistaken about spiritual religion.
The demand for a sign was indifference to the light given for salvation and resistance to conviction, because truth is unpopular and involves self-denial and the cross. Those who demanded a sign did not sincerely seek evidence to establish faith in Christ as sent from God or from conviction of His divinity, but sought temporal advantage. They were like those who followed Him because they ate the loaves and were filled and thought union with Him profitable if He supplied bread for temporal wants. Even after the fresh evidence of feeding the five thousand they asked what sign He would show to make them believe, proving that piling evidence upon evidence would not increase faith. What they wanted was not evidence but an excuse to avoid the cross involved in accepting the gospel and believing on Him as personal Saviour.
The Jews required signs instead of a Saviour and rested in signs and outward forms. Though the Son of God had come as the fulfilment of all their types, the substance of all their shadows, they rejected the antitype, clung to their types and useless ceremonies, and continued to ask for a sign. They expected the Messiah to prove His claims by mighty deeds of conquest, to establish His empire on the ruins of earthly kingdoms. The Greeks valued human wisdom above the wisdom from God, and their pride in learning and intellect hindered them from receiving the light and knowledge Christ gives. Insistence on evidence limited to human faculties and reliance on human reason can lead people to reject God's power and the gospel. These demands show what fallen human nature is like, which Christ fully understands: fallen people demand something other than Christ crucified, a desire still present in the world.
Christ Crucified Rejected
The preaching of Christ crucified met neither demand in the way it was expected, for to the Jews who demanded miraculous signs it was a stumbling block, and to the Greeks who sought human, philosophical wisdom it was foolishness. The two different expectations explain the offense, since those who required a sign and those who sought after wisdom stumbled over a crucified Saviour instead of receiving Him as God's power and wisdom to those called. The contrast is between worldly standards and God's way of saving those who believe through the preaching of the cross.
The message of the cross is foolishness to those who rely on worldly wisdom, are shaped by worldly pursuits, and reject the simplicity of true godliness. Those blinded by worldly wisdom fail to see that human sin made Christ's suffering and self-denial and sacrifice necessary and brought grief upon Him. Worldly wisdom can blind people to His self-denial and sacrifice and to the way human sin brought grief upon Him, so that neither the demand for different kinds of proof nor the demand for signs or wisdom recognizes Christ crucified as God's power and wisdom.
In the wisdom of God the world by its own wisdom did not know God, and human wisdom cannot bring people to know God or make one person wise for another. God does not save through those demanded signs or wisdom, because He has made foolish the wisdom of this world and will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. The preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who perish but the power of God to those who are saved.
Jewish expectation looked for the Messiah to prove His claims by mighty deeds of conquest to establish His empire on the ruins of earthly kingdoms, demanding signs instead of a Saviour while clinging to types and useless ceremonies though the Son of God had come as the fulfillment of all their types and the substance of all their shadows. That expectation was answered in the parable of the sower: not by force of arms or violent interpositions was the kingdom of God to prevail, but by implanting a new principle in hearts. He came not as a king but as a sower, not for overthrow of kingdoms but for scattering seed, not to point followers to earthly triumphs and national greatness but to a harvest gathered after patient toil and through losses and disappointments.
Christ Power and Wisdom
The same crucified Christ who offends demand for wonders and disappoints demand for philosophy becomes, to those who are called from both Jews and Greeks, God's own power and God's own wisdom. Neither demand is met on its own terms, for to one side the cross is a stumbling block and to the other it is foolishness, yet to the called it is salvation through preaching that the world despises. The two groups stand for the two great ways people receive, reject, or distort the gospel while mistaken about spiritual religion, and out of both God calls some to find in Christ what human wisdom could never give another. What the world by its wisdom could not attain, to know God, is given in Him who is power to the saved while the same preaching is foolishness to those who perish.
What human judgment calls foolishness in God is wiser than men, and what it calls weakness in God is stronger than men, wiser and stronger than all human wisdom and strength. God has made foolish the wisdom of this world, will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent, and it pleased Him to save believers by what the world calls the foolishness of preaching. He has higher aims for His people than the study of man, and waits to bestow His Holy Spirit on all who hunger and thirst after righteousness rather than on exaltation of men and of man's ideas of education. Those who are in Christ Jesus have Him made unto them wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Therefore they glory only in knowing the Lord and not in themselves, for no one has anything that was not received to glory over.
God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and the weak things to confound the mighty, and the base and despised things of the world and things which are not to bring to nought things that are. His purpose is that no flesh should glory in His presence. For this reason not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, for He calls without regard to worldly wisdom or status so that no one can boast before Him. True education is therefore knowing God, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, and the word of God is to be the man of counsel rather than wisdom after the flesh crowding it out.
The rich and learned exalt themselves above humble seekers who come to Jesus to be saved, but Christ gives encouragement and comfort and help where it is most needed, to the poor. Those who come to Christ acknowledging their need can become wise unto salvation, receiving the light and knowledge He gives where pride in learning and intellect had hindered reception. He that glories must glory in the Lord by taking in light to impart light in good works.
Human Wisdom Made Foolish
God has made foolish the wisdom of this world, and will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Since in God's wisdom the world by its own wisdom did not know God, it pleased Him to save those who believe by what the world calls the foolishness of preaching. Exalting man's ideas of education and extolling learned men is foolishness in God's sight, for it dishonors the Creator and puts man where God should be. He has higher aims for His people than the study of man, and is waiting to bestow His Holy Spirit on all who hunger and thirst after righteousness. Human wisdom must not be treated as God's wisdom, for exalting human judgment over God's leads people astray through the foolishness of human wisdom.
The verse belongs to a passage contrasting human wisdom with the wisdom God gives, showing that worldly learning, book-knowledge, and human achievement cannot provide the highest knowledge. Wisdom after the flesh does not fit for heaven and must not crowd out the word of God, which is to be the man of counsel. True wisdom is found in Christ, and no one should glory in human wisdom or status but in the Lord. God calls people without regard to worldly wisdom or status, so that no flesh should glory in His presence. The highest of all education is knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent and living by His truth, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness. That knowledge and education is of more value than gold and silver and precious stones, and more to be desired than worldly honor and the empty applause of frivolous mortals.
God's lessons surpass the wisdom taught in human schools and can instruct even those with limited understanding when they are willing to learn humbly. Yet God's wisdom and the methods He uses appear foolish to boastful, self-confident people because they do not know the mystery of godliness. Neither Jewish learning nor Grecian eloquence can reach the mark of the high calling that is in Christ Jesus, and the highest eloquence and the greatest physical strength cannot give power to convict and convert souls. Resources for that work must come from heaven through heart-reception of the pure principles of the gospel and the fullness of the Spirit confirming the spoken word. God can use a poor, unlearned person repeating the message of Christ's coming to humble a learned man, and can bring victory through humble means that human strength and wisdom would dismiss as inadequate, showing that worldly wisdom and status do not bring people to God.
The cross of Calvary gives the proper level to the human mind: looking unto Jesus as Author and Finisher of faith lays all desire for self-glorification in the dust and brings self-abasement, lowliness, humbleness of mind, and true humility with no self-exaltation. Contemplating what it provided shows God in Christ and Christ as God, which levels human exaltation and pride. The Creator of all worlds humbled Himself to human nature in meekness and lowliness, clothing His divinity with humanity though He was the Majesty of heaven and rich in heaven's treasure, becoming poor so that through His poverty believers might be made rich. Any cherishing of high-mindedness, self-trust, self-sufficiency, and self-complacency dishonors the Maker and will surely be humbled. The cross is unintelligible to hearts that cling to self-love and self-sufficiency and are proud of their own wisdom and do not know their need of Christ, for true godliness calls for humility and willingness to learn from God. The contrast between those seeking signs and those seeking human wisdom belongs to the contrast between worldly speculation and God's truth, as when Luther opposed philosophers' and theologians' sophistries and turned people toward the eternal truths taught by prophets and apostles.
Preaching and Living It
God does not save people through the signs the Jews demanded or the wisdom the Greeks demanded, but through what looks like foolish preaching — proclaiming Christ crucified — to save those who believe. The world by its own wisdom did not come to know God, and God made the wisdom of this world foolish, destroying the wisdom of the wise and bringing to nothing the understanding of the prudent. The preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but the power of God to those being saved, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Greeks, yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. God chose the foolish and weak and base and despised things of the world, and things that are not, to confound the wise and mighty and bring to nothing things that are, so that no flesh should glory in His presence. Those who are in Christ Jesus have Him made to them wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, and glory only in the Lord.
The lesson for labor is to determine to know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Speech and preaching are not to be with excellency of speech or enticing words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that faith stands not in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Paul himself could have met oratory with oratory and philosophy with philosophy on their own ground, yet he deliberately set that aside, because God alone transforms character through the mighty power of the cross of Calvary. The message is therefore spoken not in words that human wisdom teaches but in words the Holy Spirit teaches.
Waiting for a sign and holding back for some wonderful thing to be done only delays the work, for men and women are to be converted not by the gift of tongues nor by the working of miracles but by the preaching of Christ crucified, and the world will not be converted by those means. No costly apparatus is needed to make the world better, for however humble the sphere and however lowly the work in the shop, on the farm, or in the office, labor in harmony with the Saviour’s teachings lets Him reveal Himself through the worker and draw souls to Him. He honors meek and lowly ones who seek earnestly to serve Him when soul-saving endeavor is brought into all they do. Resources for convicting and converting souls do not come from Jewish learning or Grecian eloquence, nor from the highest eloquence or greatest physical strength, but must come from heaven through heart-reception of the pure principles of the gospel and the fullness of the Spirit confirming the spoken word. That heavenly supply magnifies Jesus through His sons and daughters, prevails against satanic agencies, and breathes the breath of God into the soul to fill it with power.
The gospel speaks a true wisdom among those who are mature, not the wisdom of this world nor of the princes of this world that come to nothing, but the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom ordained before the world unto glory. None of the princes of this world knew that wisdom, for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things God has prepared for those who love Him, but God reveals them by His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. God hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes, and no one has anything that was not received to boast over. The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned, comparing spiritual things with spiritual, but he who is spiritual judges all things and has the mind of Christ.
The answer to division and uncertainty is a plain thus saith the Lord, all speaking the same thing with no divisions, perfectly joined together in the same mind and same judgment, giving the trumpet a certain sound. That united witness proclaims the third angel’s message and carries the medical missionary work in connection with the gospel message. God does not want His people to wait until every seeming objection is removed before they believe, and He will never remove all seeming difficulties from the path. Those who wish to doubt may find opportunity to doubt, while those who wish to believe will find plenty of evidence on which to base their faith. Those without spiritual eyesight and the heavenly anointing misjudge value, count advocates of truth inferior to advancers of error, pervert talent, time, intellect, money and strength to the enemy side, and remain restless with a sense of want because they do not come to Christ to drink the waters of life, while the grace of God in the heart changes the estimate of everything relating to the cause of God.
The first three chapters of 1 Corinthians give instruction of the greatest importance to all who have entered the Lord’s army, exposing the envy and strife cherished by members as the reason for the weakness of the church. All engaged in the various branches of God’s work are to study this truth with the first and second chapters of 1 Corinthians with prayer for understanding and put it into practice. Students seeking education are likewise to read those chapters with prayer, learning that wisdom after the flesh does not fit for heaven and must not crowd out the word of God as the man of counsel, that not many wise after the flesh are called, and that he who glories must glory in the Lord by taking in light to impart light in good works.