1:18-2:5

1 Corinthians 1:18-25For 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. For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart." Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe…

1 Corinthians 1:18-25…For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

God• He is the Creator and Owner of everything• God is Holy• He requires Perfect Obedience to His law

Man• God created Mankind in His Image• All Men have broken God’s Law• The Payment Due for our sin is Death• Good Works and intentions cannot save

Anyone

Christ• He is Fully God, yet also became Fully Man• He Died on a Cross to provide salvation• He Rose from the Dead and is Alive today• He will Return one day to Judge all men

You Must…• Repent and Turn from all that Offends God• Count the Cost of Following Christ• Plead for Christ to Save you and Trust Him

MacArthurThat one man could die on a piece of wood on a nondescript hill in a nondescript part of the world and thereby determine the destiny of every person who has ever lived seems stupid…It allows no place for man’s merit, man’s attainment, man’s understanding, or man’s pride…it is moronic, absolute nonsense to unbelievers who rely on their own wisdom

Romans 1:15-16So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek

1 Corinthians 1:26-31For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly 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; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are…

1 Corinthians 1:26-31…so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

CelsusLet no cultured person draw near, none wise and none sensible, for all that kind of think we count evil; but if any man is ignorant, if any man is wanting in sense and culture, if anybody is a fool, let him come boldly [to become a Christian]…We see them in their won houses, wool dresses, cobblers, the worst, the vulgarest, the most uneducated persons…They are like a swarm of bats or ants creeping out of their nest or frogs holding a symposium around a swamp, or worms convening in mud

1 Corinthians 2:1-5And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God