“For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (1:22-24). The Jews, as a religious people, sought signs or miracles. The Greeks, as lovers of philosophy, sought wisdom. For signs power is needed, and for philosophy wisdom is necessary. Paul says here that to us who are called Christ is both power and wisdom.
If you want to run a corporation, you need money and sound judgment. The capital or money is the power, and the sound judgment is the wisdom. Have you ever realized that your life is like a corporation, and that Christ is both your capital and your wisdom? If you take your mentality as your capital, your firm will end up in bankruptcy. If you take your cleverness as your wisdom, you will come out short of what you need. Cleverness comes mainly from our human mentality, but wisdom is from the divine Spirit.
More is said about wisdom in verse 30: “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” We were put into Christ by being baptized (Rom. 6:3; Gal. 3:27). The water of baptism signifies not only the death of Christ but also Christ Himself as the realm in which we have been placed. The very Christ into whom we were baptized has been made by God wisdom to us.
Christ is wisdom to us in righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Righteousness refers to God’s doings. To be righteous is to be right with God and with man. No human being can meet this standard. Consider how loose, rough, and lawless we were before we were saved. It is because we have Christ as wisdom that we have the way to be right with both God and man. The change that has taken place in our conduct before God and man is evidence that Christ is the reality of righteousness in our life.
Sanctification is holiness; it is God’s nature. When this objective holiness becomes our subjective experience, it is sanctification. We are sanctified when we are separated unto God from everything that is not of Him.
We can use our attitude toward shopping as an illustration of the distinction between righteousness and sanctification. Before we were saved, if we could take something from the store without paying for it, we were pleased with ourselves for not getting caught. Such behavior is unrighteous. After we were saved, not only would we not steal, but even if we were given too much change we would return it. This is an example of righteousness and means that we are experiencing Christ as the power and wisdom of God.
In the experience of sanctification, you may find when you go shopping that you have a sense of bothering within about the purchase you would like to make. There is no question about your paying for it, but you have a sense that it is worldly. You may drop it and consider another article. Still there is a restraining within. By the time you turn to consider the third possible purchase, you have had enough restraint and decide this is what you are going to buy, that this is less worldly than either of the other two you considered. The Lord within stops talking, not because He approves, but in order not to press you too far when you are so young. When you come to wear your new purchase, sometimes you are happy to put it on, but other times you wonder why you thought it was so attractive in the store. Then you wear it to a meeting and feel condemned the whole time. Eventually you discard it. The next time you go shopping, you find that the appeal of those things has faded. In time you have no inclination to purchase worldly things. By experiences such as these Christ becomes the power and wisdom to us in sanctification.
How is Christ made unto us redemption? When we believed in the Lord Jesus, we were redeemed. We were God’s possession, God’s inheritance, but in the fall we were lost. In redemption Christ bought us back for God. Although this redemption has been accomplished, it still needs to be applied. Our mind needs to be redeemed; so do our will and our emotion. We need to be redeemed from our natural, fallen ability, our eloquence, or our way of treating our neighbors.
It would be good to pray, “Lord, I need You as my power and wisdom to be righteous, holy, and redeemed. I don’t want to remain in my natural, fallen state. I want to be fully in You, not in Adam. God has transferred me to You, and I would like to abide there, redeemed from my way of thinking, my way of loving others, and my way of making a decision. Lord, I want to express You; redeem me from my expression and from my natural attitude.”
First Corinthians 1:30 also refers to the three stages of a Christian life. In the past, when we were sinful, Christ became our righteousness. Our present living is now sanctified through Christ. In the future, when Christ returns, our body will be redeemed. Christ, then, has taken care of these three stages of our Christian life, as well as these three aspects of our daily experience. Day by day He is the power and wisdom for us to be righteous, sanctified, and redeemed.
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