Trading Human Wisdom for Divine Power
In a world drawn to charisma, politics, and persuasive personalities, Paul reminds us that true faith rests not in eloquence or influence but in Christ crucified. Discover how 1 Corinthians 2:1–5 still challenges the Church today.
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1 And I, when I came to you, brothers,[a] did not come proclaiming to you the testimony[b] of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men[c] but in the power of God.
Where Should We Base Our Faith?
There’s a decision every Christian is confronted with: Where do you place your dependence?
We all have the choice to depend upon human wisdom, including philosophical perspectives and people’s opinions, or we can depend upon God’s revelation and His power through the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ.
Paul began moving us toward clarity earlier in 1 Corinthians in 1:17:
“Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel.”
Whether you realize it or not, that’s is a strong statement. Baptism is a sacrament of the church, but not even the sacraments are central in the revelation of God. In 1 Corinthians 2:2, the Apostle Paul expresses: “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”
Being the spiritual archaeologist he was, the Apostle Paul mined out the main thing to help the Corinthian Church mature and grow as believers. He was gripped by what Jesus the Messiah did for our sins through His crucifixion. Because of that, Paul is passionate about keeping the main thing the main thing. Thus, as he’s addressing the Corinthian church, the Apostle Paul makes a decision between a watered-down gospel versus a fully engaged, biblically informed, and all-compelling message of the cross.
It’s because of those implications that we’re approached by the question: Where should I base my worldview as a believer in Jesus?
1) Not On Human Wisdom
“…so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:5 (emphasis added)
What is it about the wisdom of people that can become destructive to faith? Simply put, it can have the propensity to undercut the power of the gospel.
There are many philosophers, not only in Biblical times, but even today. These are people who haven’t necessarily learned philosophy in a collegiate undergraduate or graduate program. Rather, these philosophers are people who propagate a worldview that trumps the revelation of Scripture.
When Paul penned these words, the philosophers were those who propagated worldviews that were part of Corinth’s culture, which carried a variety of perspectives on life. The intentions of these philosophers are always to develop a following and to rally people around their ideas. They’re interested in creating followers who submit to their stream of philosophical thought.
The modern church is still vulnerable to this issue. It’s subtle, but unfortunately, it’s prevalent in our pulpits today. We see this propagation of human wisdom rather than God’s when persons cherry-pick Scriptures and ignore others when they’re propagating a particular perspective. This also happens when they pull from the original language in a manner that doesn’t align with the majority of biblical scholarship, ancient or modern. An easier way to describe this is that they engage in the exercise of theological gymnastics.
If you hear a preacher say they’ve come up with something new that hasn’t already been owned by the church and sustained by Scripture for the past 2,000 years of Christian history, it’s probably heresy. Sadly, it’s more common than we might realize.
Additionally, the American pulpit has become politicized. When the church weds itself with political power, historically, it always results in a neutered church. I’m not saying we shouldn’t have political opinions, because that’s good as persons who participate in the life of a democracy, and Scripture teaches that we should pray for those in authority. However, history demonstrates that when the church gets in bed with a political power and the pulpit is politicized, it does not take the church to good places.
The Church of Jesus Christ takes higher ground, and it should always have her place to speak truth to any political party that may be in power, because we are part of a greater and eternal kingdom. This is relevant because some who take the pulpit to share human wisdom or politicize the pulpit in a manner that cultivates a following of them rather than a following of Christ.
As a pastor, one of the hardest things I’ve had to say to congregations is “I am no longer your pastor.” Leaving a church congregation is never easy, because I’m grateful to serve the Body, but I’m reminded that this is Jesus’ Church, not mine, and it will remain His until He returns. I don’t stand in the pulpit to develop a following. As a pastor, I’m called to develop followers of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. As John the Baptist shared, “I must decrease and He must increase.”
That is the heart of what the Apostle Paul shared in verse five.
“…so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:5
Paul was referencing those hijacking Christianity in an attempt to develop a following in an attempt to glorify themselves. That’s not why Paul came to Corinth. He didn’t want to develop a religious fan club, He came to glorify God. We know this because Paul repeatedly said it through His letters, such as in Romans 1:
“I was given the grace of apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of His name among all the nations” Romans 1:5
God gifted Paul so that he could aid the bride of Christ in maturing, growing, and developing in Jesus Christ. This wasn’t done for the sake of Paul’s name, but for God’s. This should be the aim of every pastor, seminary student, Sunday school teacher, discipleship group leader, and ultimately, every believer. That’s why Paul shared this in verses one and two:
“And 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.” 1 Corinthians 2:1-2
He also said it in Galatians 6:14, “Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Thus, when we’re evaluating our question, where should we base our faith, we can easily determine it’s not in human wisdom.
2) Upon the Power of God
“…so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:5 (emphasis added)
When Paul speaks of the “power of God” in this context, he’s specifically referring to the cross of Christ—what Jesus accomplished through His death, resurrection, and ascension for our sins. He’s also pointing to the power of God’s revelation—how we receive instruction through His Word. While the Holy Spirit is indeed part of God’s power among us, here Paul emphasizes the power of the cross, the gospel, and the revealed truth of God.
We also saw this in the first chapter of 1 Corinthians. Notice how the Apostle Paul uses these terms interchangeably:
“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.” 1 Corinthians 1:18
“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.” 1 Corinthians 1:23
Tony Evans, a well-known preacher, once shared how his grandmother would have him sit in silence during thunderstorms—no TV, no radio—just listening. She’d say, “Tony, we’re going to listen to God.” While we know God isn’t literally speaking through thunder, she was teaching him to revere the grandeur of God. In the same way, when the Apostle Paul gives instruction, it’s a call to listen—because God is speaking. And just like thunder reminded Tony of God, there are certain phrases or moments in our lives that stir our memory and call us to pay attention to Him.
If I could choose a symbolic sound for any church I pastor, it would be the swish of the pages of 1,000+ Bibles turning to the Sunday morning texts utilized in the worship of God. The reason is that it’s the source of my authority in this pulpit. It’s not my wisdom; nor is it a private revelation granted to me beyond the revelation of Scripture.
As a pastor, my words have authority only insofar as they are rooted in the proper application of the words of Scripture. I have authority only when I stand under authority, and our corporate symbol of that truth is the sound of your Bibles opening to the text. My deep conviction about preaching is that a pastor must show the people that what he/she is saying was already said or implied in the Bible. If it cannot be shown, it has no special authority.
The Apostle Paul wrote this first letter to warn the believers against basing their faith on the wisdom of people instead of God’s revelation and God’s power. Therefore, our faith should rest in the divine power unleashed by the death of Christ to save sinners, to justify the ungodly, which is all of us.
Real Christianity is pervasively miraculous because it’s a man hanging on a cross 2,000 years ago that has momentum that carries over today. Therefore, our faith should rest is the divine power unleashed by the death of Christ to save sinners, to justify the ungodly.
When Francis Schaeffer was struggling with disillusionment as a Christian, he asked his wife one day:
“‘Edith, I wonder what would happen to most churches and Christian work if we awakened tomorrow, and everything concerning the reality and work of the Holy Spirit, and everything concerning prayer, were removed from the Bible. I don’t mean just ignored, but actually cut out—disappeared. I wonder how much difference it would make?’ We concluded it would not make much difference in many board meetings, committee meetings, decisions, and activities.”
When we pray for the church, we’re not praying for an institution, we’re praying for the body, the people. You are the church.
J.I. Packer used to say to his seminary students: “Do not neglect the revival dimension in your ministry.” He’s referring to your resilience in God to do things that only God can do when we gather in His name.
3) In Our Awareness of Human Weakness
“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.” 1 Corinthians 2:3-4
Paul leans on the power of God to do what God, and God alone, can do. And as you read that passage, be aware that while it may seem counterintuitive, God meant it that way; He designed it that way. Just as the wisdom of God is foolishness with man, so the power of God is viewed by men as weakness. In fact, God wills it that way:
“God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.” 1 Corinthains 1:27
The divine power in which our faith rests is not the power of a rising China or U.S. military might; it is not the power of corporations like Apple, Amazon, or Google, nor is it a political party; it is not the power of personal charisma and self-assertion. The power in which saving faith rests is the power of divine grace sustaining the humble, loving heart and radiating out through weakness. It radiates from a heart that says, “God, I need you. I need saving, and only You can save me. You are my only help and hope.”
It’s well-known that the Apostle Paul had what he called “a thorn in the flesh.” There’s much speculation about what it could’ve been, but ultimately, scholars don’t know what it was. We know that the Apostle Paul prayed for its healing or removal; however, look what Jesus said to him in response:
“But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:8-9 (NIV)
Paul never would’ve made it as a television preacher. Remember what his enemies said about him in 2 Corinthians 10:10, “They say, ‘His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak and his speech of no account.’
Years ago, I was teaching through an uncomfortable passage of Scripture. As I shared the text, I honored it, but the next day, I received an email from a congregant who shared that if we continued to teach texts like that, the church wouldn’t grow. But is that all the church is? Is the purpose of the church to recruit members like a country club? Are we here to recruit people into Christianity? Selling Jesus? Is that what the Body of Christ is trying to do?
I lovingly submit that we’re not selling anything. We’ll let God speak to hearts and draw people to Jesus.
There is a brand of Christianity today that would have asked of Paul, “What good can he do for Christ? Why, he’ll just turn everybody off. What Christ needs is good-looking people, people with polish, power, status, flair.” Otherwise, “How are we going to be able to sell Jesus to the public and get America Christianized?”
Paul’s question was not so much, “What good can I do for Christ?” Instead, he asked, “What good can Christ do for the world through unworthy me?” It was not, “How much power can I muster for Jesus?” but, “How much power can Jesus show through my weakness?”
This is how Paul described the power of his own ministry. He said in 2 Corinthians 4:7–11:
“We have this treasure in earthen vessels to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair, persecuted but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed, always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For while we live we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.”
When Jesus was at His weakest in the agony of the cross, God’s power was at its strongest, lifting the infinite weight of sin and condemnation off the backs of all who would believe in Him.
Coming to Jesus doesn’t mean there won’t be any more problems in your future. Instead, the difference is that you’re now born into the Kingdom of God and have access to Him. When you enter difficulty, pain, and incongruity that the Scripture affirms are all part of this life, then you have a source to lean into that will develop and grow you.
We can base our worldview on the wisdom of people, or we can base it on the power and revelation of God. It’s through Him that our strength is found in weakness. In Christ, we’re given not just a future hope, but a brand new life that begins now and carries into eternity. So we pray, for ourselves and for one another: God, develop us. Shape us in the way of Jesus. Form us in His wisdom and power. And in our weakness, may Your strength and glory be revealed.
TL;DR
In 1 Corinthians 2:1–5, Paul draws a stark contrast between human wisdom and divine power, urging believers to anchor their faith in the crucified Christ, not charismatic personalities or cultural trends.
He reminds the church that God’s power is made perfect in weakness and warns against building faith on opinions, politics, or eloquence.
Real faith begins with humility and depends entirely on God's Spirit—not the polish of performance.
True revival flows from weakness, not from worldly strength.
