Paul was dealing with a difficult situation in Corinth. In fact, there were several difficult situations, with everything from incest to lawsuits amongst the believers. From sexual immorality to significant questions about whether someone should be married or stay single. From eating food that had been offered as a sacrifice to idols to whether or not a woman should cover her head in church.

One question, one problem, after another, Paul faced as he wrote to the church in Corinth.

However, the one problem that he started with was the problem of division in the church. Some people were saying that they followed Paul, some said that they followed Apollos. Others said that they followed Peter. And some said that they only followed Christ. The people were aligning with the various leaders that had either come through Corinth to teach the people, or that they knew about because of the messages that the people who had taught were teaching them.

In reality, these are no different than the problems that we see today. We routinely see that churches will split as a result of personalities driving wedges between the people of the church. Often those personalities will look for a type of authority, of power, that they can exert over others in the church, and thus we see splits within the church with people desiring to support one person or another.

This is a similar situation to what we see here in Corinth, except that Paul and the other teachers weren’t trying to create their own type of power. No, instead, Paul insists that his only message was to make Christ, and him crucified, known to the people. That was the message. That is all that he brought. That was the wisdom that he could offer.

But Paul points out that his message, of course, did not actually seem like a wise message at all from the perspective of the “mature”, from the viewpoint of those that were the rulers of that age. In fact, it seemed like nothing but foolishness.

Your message is about a guy who was killed?

Your message is to tell people that they should follow someone who seems to have failed?

But Paul points out that there is a significant difference between the wisdom of God and the wisdom of people:

We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written:

“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”—
the things God has prepared for those who love him—

these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

1 Corinthians 2:6-10

The wisdom of men is to follow people that seem to be a success from a worldly perspective. They have accumulated wealth and power. They have amassed fame. And yet, as Paul says, they are coming to nothing. The power and success of this world is nothing. We are here for a moment in time, and then we are gone.

We know this truth by our instinct. We know that death is coming. We know that our lives are only temporary, and yet we are continually enticed by the attraction of wealth, power, and fame. In this way, through these values of the world, we can have significance. Other people will lift us up. Other people will glorify us. Even if it is for a short while, we will receive glory and honor, even if it is amongst other people who will also only be here for a short while.

Paul says, however, that his message is not based on the wisdom of this world. His message is based on the wisdom of God, and the wisdom of God speaks of Christ crucified. And why should this be considered to be wisdom, let alone the wisdom of God? Because it is eternal.

By placing our faith in the wisdom of God, by placing our faith in Christ who has been crucified, we place our faith in that which will go on forever. The glory with which we participate is not a glory that is temporary. It is a glory that is eternal because it is a glory that goes to the one who is eternal, to Jesus Christ himself. Instead of receiving glory to ourselves, we give glory to him and we participate in his joy and glory because through his death and resurrection, we are allowed to enter into his kingdom and live with him forever. Physical death has no hold upon us because we will live forever, glorifying the king forever.

This is the wisdom of God. We do not live for today. We live forever. And that is the message of wisdom that Paul brought to the Corinthian church and that we bring even today, in our time.