1 Corinthians, Day 1
1 Corinthians Chapters 1 – 2
A little-known fact about me is that my first major in college was accounting. I like numbers, I like processes, I like knowing the result of 2 + 2 will always equal 4 and I like following directions. It seemed like a good fit. You know what I don’t understand at all? — Accounting. It was made abundantly clear to me during Accounting 101 that the ways of accountants are foolish to me. My constant refrain during Accounting 101 was, “But why?” What I was being taught to do didn’t make any sense to me. It all seemed like an over-complication of a simple process. You have money in, you have money out, did you make more money than you spent (accountants everywhere are cringing at the statement I just made)? I quickly came to the conclusion that accounting was not what God had designed me to do.
The thing is, while it seemed impossible, I probably could have gotten to a place where I could have done the job of an accountant had I been willing to put in the work. I may not have agreed that the principles were the best way to do it but I could have comprehended the principles and done the job. Given enough time and attention, we can comprehend the vast majority of things in this world. 1 Corinthians 2:11b tells us one thing we will never be able to fully comprehend: “[S]o also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the spirit of God.”
In the first two chapters of 1 Corinthians, Paul talks about some of the stumbling blocks to belief in Christ. The Jews wanted a sign, and the Gentiles sought wisdom. His point was that the message he was preaching was a stumbling block to both Jews and Gentiles. In essence, both sides rejected the message of Christ because it didn’t fit with their understanding of what a messiah should look like. The Jews were expecting miraculous signs like those in Exodus, and the “idea of being saved through the work of a crucified man” was foolishness to the Gentiles.1 In both of these groups lay the preconceived notion that we expect God to act according to our understanding.
I would like to think that in the many years since 1 Corinthians was written, we have distanced ourselves from that notion. However, sadly, that is not what I see when I look at my own heart and what I observe by the words of others.
While I will admit that there are times I feel the only correct way for God to respond is the way “I think He should,” when I think about it, it doesn’t make any sense that I should desire that. I can’t even grasp accounting principles, so why would it be a good thing that God would operate within the confines of my understanding?
I read an article a while back by Carey Nieuwhof, titled, “Why Christians should stop saying prayer works.” His main point was that when we say “prayer worked,” we mean God did what I wanted as if God were a cosmic vending machine where we can get exactly what we want if we just push the right buttons. Instead, he states that, “Prayer is not a button to be pushed; it’s a relationship to be pursued.”2
Here’s my point. God often shows up in ways we were not expecting and do not understand and if we are expecting to make sense of the ways of God by our human understanding, then we are likely going to miss out on what God is up to. The first-century Jews and Gentiles did not expect salvation to come from a baby born into poverty, who grew up and was crucified a criminal’s death. I use this line with our teenagers all the time. If God were able to be completely understood, would He still be God? No! If I could understand all the ways of God, that would mean one of two things: There is nothing special about God, He is just like one of us, or there is something very special about me and I would be tempted to view myself as a god. Wasn’t that the battle in the garden of Eden — Eve ate of the fruit because Satan deceived Eve with the promise of knowledge (Genesis 3:5).
We are not going to be able to understand all the ways of God. Isaiah 55:8 – 9 says that His ways are above our ways, His thoughts above our thoughts. Therefore, when things don’t make sense, let us not allow it to become a stumbling block to following Christ. Instead, let us lean into the one who has the answer.
“For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God” (1 Corinthians 2:11 – 12).
In those times where we cannot make sense of what’s happening around us, it doesn’t mean that God has failed. It does mean that we should lean into the One Who does have the answers, and ask that God through His spirit would help us understand what is going on around us or accept His sovereignty in the midst of our confusion.
Adam Deering
- https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/guzik_david/StudyGuide2017-1Cr/1Cr-1.cfm
- https://careynieuwhof.com/christians-stop-saying-prayer-works/