Christ's death on the cross shows God's power and wisdom
18 Some people think that the message about Christ's death on the cross is foolish. Those people are destroying themselves. But it is different for us, the people that God is saving. The message about the cross shows us God's power to save us.
19 It says in the Bible:
‘I, God, will destroy all the clever thoughts of wise people.
I will show that their clever ideas are useless.’
20 So the wise people in this world are not important. The clever teachers of God's Law are not important. People who know how to argue well are not important. God has shown that the wise ideas that belong to this world are really foolish.
21 God shows that he himself is wise. People cannot know him as a result of their own human wisdom. Instead, God uses the message about Jesus to save people. That message may seem to be foolish to some people. But other people believe it and God is happy to save them.
22 Jewish people want to see God do a miracle. Then they will listen. Gentile people want to listen to a message that has clever ideas. 23 But as for us, we tell people about how Christ died on a cross. That is a message that Jewish people refuse to accept as true. Gentile people think that it is a silly message. 24 But it is different for the people that God has called to come to him. Some of us are Jews, and some of us are Gentiles. For us, Christ shows God's great power. He shows how wise God is. 25 Christ's death on a cross may seem a silly thing for God to do. But instead, it shows that God is very wise. He is wiser than people with their clever ideas. Christ's death on a cross may seem to show that God is weak. But really he is stronger than any human power.
1:22Jewish people (Jews) were people who belonged to the Israelite kingdom of Judah. The name was first used at the time of their exile in Babylon. The people of Israel who still remain after that time are called Jews.
