None of the rulers of this age understood the wisdom of God, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Corinthians 2:6-16).

Welcome to week 2 of our Influence series. This week we’ll be looking at the interplay of “wisdom” and “Spirit” and “the mind (thoughts) of Christ” in Paul’s letter to the believers in the city of Corinth.

Corinth in Paul’s day was a thriving Greek city, perhaps even Greece’s leading city of the time.  It was well known for its commerce, culture, religiosity and immorality.  Sounds a lot like New York, London, Beijing or any of dozens and dozens of modern-day urban centers!

And, surprise, there was a church there!  A group of Jesus believers who were as heavily influenced by Corinth’s take on money, sex, power and spirituality as they were by the Gospel.  Sounds a lot like many churches in the United States!

We can read this letter as Paul’s way of helping the Corinthian believers sort through the various influences that have been working on them, often to their spiritual detriment and the compromise of their witness to their neighbors.

“Wisdom” is one of Paul’s main themes, especially in the early chapters of his letter.  The “wisdom” Paul is after is not a generic kind of how-to-live-better wisdom.  Instead, Paul wants these believers to understand the wisdom of the cross and to see how it’s radically different from “the wisdom of the world” with which they are already so familiar.

Wisdom isn’t primarily about how “smart” we are, nor how educated (though Paul has no problem with education).  Wisdom has to do with being able to live well, as defined by Jesus crucified and raised.  

Paul insists that Jesus, crucified and raised, is the wisdom of God in action, a wisdom that is in active tension with the prevailing Corinthian consensus on money, sex, power and spirituality. Issue by issue, question by question, Paul applies the wisdom of the cross as a powerful antidote to the wisdom of first-century Corinth.  And twenty-first century America.

The wisdom of the cross inverts the world’s values and subverts the world’s practices.  Then and now.

And, Paul also insists, it is impossible to live this wisdom of the cross apart from the Spirit of God.  There is no wise living apart from Holy Spirit living!

We can’t simply flip a switch to go from “Corinthian” (or Chathamite!) to “Christian.”  Take a few minutes to identify one way in which you feel your life may be more influenced by the wisdom of the world rather than the wisdom of the cross.  What might more of the influence of the wisdom of the cross look like in that one specific area?