In his letter to the Corinthian church, the Apostle Paul said, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God.” What did Paul mean? Here, we will examine three reasons why the message of the cross is foolish to some. But first, let’s set the stage for Paul’s letter to the Corinthians.

Background

Paul was writing a letter from Ephesus to the Corinthian church in Corinth, which he had established on his second missionary journey. The church had requested Paul address a few questions that needed to be resolved, and he was responding to information that there was division in the church.  

The church was mostly made up of non-Jews who still felt the powerful tug of the surrounding Greco-Roman pagan culture. This culture placed a high value on human wisdom. It was full of philosophers and writers like Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle, who loved to debate words, ideas, doctrines, etc. In fact, the word “philosophy” itself means the love of wisdom.

As a result, the Greco-Roman culture highly valued education and learning, much like Western culture today. Even now, we often witness a clash between the Western worldview and religious beliefs. You see when a culture values man’s wisdom over God’s wisdom, it tends to discard religious views as irrational and foolish if they cannot be proven logically. Paul knew this and wanted the Corinthians to understand what influenced their division. He wanted them to understand the trap they were setting for themselves when they placed more value on man’s wisdom than God’s wisdom. He told them that the message of the cross was foolish to those who didn’t believe.

Foolish

The message of the cross is Christ crucified; it is the good news of our salvation. However, Paul tells us it is foolish to those who don’t believe. Foolishness is the Greek word moria, which means folly, absurdity, and foolishness. It originates from the word moros, the root of the English word moron, meaning nonsensical, dull, lacking a grip on reality.

Let’s take a closer look : 

For the message of the cross is nonsensical.

For the message of the cross lacks a grip on reality.

For the message of the cross is absurd.

But why? To those who believe, who “know that they know that they know,” it is often hard to understand why others don’t and why they reject Jesus. Why is the Message of the Cross foolish to unbelievers?

#1 Message of the Cross Can’t Be Explained With Logic

To the Greco-Roman culture, Christ crucified just made no sense. It couldn’t be explained logically. The Christ, the Savior of the world, hanging on a cross, dead, and then three days later resurrected! Man’s wisdom couldn’t explain it then and can’t explain it now. Therefore, it must be untrue if it can’t be explained by logic or reason. So, it is dismissed.

Today, many believe the Bible is just an instructional story meant to teach us valuable moral lessons. That was me years ago; I was proud, wise, and so very wrong. Read this for more on my journey from a skeptic to a true believer.

If people can’t believe that Moses parted the Red Sea or Jesus turned water into wine, the idea of God raising someone from the dead is simply foolish. Human wisdom and pride keep them from even considering the Bible might be true and that the Message of the Cross may have saving power. To those who are perishing, Christ crucified is foolish because Satan has blinded their minds to the truth – the Message of the Cross, Christ-crucified.

“In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” 2 Corinthians 4:4

#2 Message of the Cross is For the Fool

The Greco-Roman culture wanted to debate and solve every issue through clever words and human understanding. They prided themselves on figuring out the mysteries and meaning of life. And they thought they had. Their reasoning went like this: If man’s intellect could figure it all out and their human mind could understand the world and how it worked, what purpose did God serve? To them, religion was for the stupid, and only the foolish could possibly believe the Message of the Cross.

Some things never change. Search the internet, and you’ll find plenty of people who think religion is foolish. I did. With a simple Google search, I read that God is imaginary, created by the human mind in a feeble attempt to explain the unknown. I also read that anyone who seriously believes in and worships God is an idiot. So, there you have it. What Paul said two thousand years ago still holds true today. The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.

#3 Message of the Cross Can’t Be Discerned Through Man’s Wisdom

Only through the Holy Spirit can the message of the cross be discerned. Paul says that “in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe (1 Corinthians 1:21 BSB). Intellectual knowledge and human reason will never produce faith. After all, even the demons believe. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. So, no matter how hard we try to understand the Message of the Cross through intellectual knowledge and human reason, the truth is only revealed through the power of the Holy Spirit.

There is nothing wrong with pursuing wisdom and knowledge; we just won’t find God down the road it leads us. Using logic to solve human problems is a good thing. God gave us minds to think, to reason, and to know. But to try to use this same logic to understand God will always fail. But He also gave us spirits, and when our spirit communicates with the Holy Spirit, we can genuinely believe the Message of the Cross, which is the POWER of God.

Conclusion

Paul’s insights into why the message of the cross is considered foolish reveal a timeless conflict between worldly wisdom and divine truth. Rooted in a clash between human intellect and supernatural faith, his words echo across cultures and centuries. As believers, we’re called to embrace the cross and recognize that true understanding comes through the Holy Spirit, not human reasoning. In a world that values logic, let us boldly proclaim the cross as the divine wisdom that brings salvation to all who believe.