CoA Week 7

~Company of Angels~
"...You have had a clear picture of Jesus Christ crucified, right in front of your eyes..." -Gal 3:1

Weekly Bible Reading

1 Corinthians 1:17-25

After all, Christ sent me not to baptise, but to preach the gospel; and not by means of wisdom of language, wise words which would make the cross of Christ pointless. The message of the cross is folly for those who are on the way to ruin, but for those of us who are on the road to salvation it is the power of God. As scripture says: "I am going to destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of any who understand." "Where are the philosophers? Where are the experts?" And where are the debaters of this age? Do you not see how God has shown up human wisdom as folly? Since in the wisdom of God the world was unable to recognise God through wisdom, it was God's own pleasure to save believers through the folly of the Gospel. While the Jews demand miracles and the Greeks look for wisdom, we are preaching a crucified Christ: to the Jews an obstacle they cannot get over, to the gentiles foolishness, but to those who have been called, whether they are Jews or Greeks, a Christ who is both the power of God and the wisdom of God. God's folly is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.

According to St. Paul, why does the Cross make Jesus seem powerless to the Jews, who demand miracles?

Why does the Cross make God seem foolish to the Greeks, who seek for wisdom?

How does the Cross actually show that "God's folly is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength"?

For Memory:
"The message of the cross is folly for those who are on the way to ruin, but for those of us who are on the road to salvation it is the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1:18)