Napier Baptist

I was struck by a quote Paul gives from Soren Kierkegaard the Danish philosopher:

“The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. ‘My God,’ you will say, ‘if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world?’"

We're currently working through 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5 and noticing how the church at Corinth is impressed by the rhetoric and wisdom of the Sophists (the megastar windbags (orators) of the 1st century). Oratory was highly prized in Corinth and the Sophists were the superstar gasbags who impressed the crowds with their good looks and their ability to tickle people's ears with the skills of rhetoric (to read a little more about the Sophists of the 1st century go and have a snoop around Bruce Winter's webpage here). To be someone special and powerful in Corinthian society you had to display all the skills of rhetoric (like the celebrity Sophists). But Paul says that's the ways of the scheming swindlers and it's not how God works. God chooses the foolish things of the world to shame the wise so that no one can boast before God (holding our trophies and achievements before God). No doubt in Corinthian society Paul's message of Christ crucified seemed foolishness and moronic (the Greek word for foolishness is moria and we get our English word moron for its root). This is moronic to Corinthian society who love their power, wisdom and abilities, but Paul says Christ crucified is the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the Christian faith is centred on the crucified one, we find that wisdom is found in humility, strength is found in weakness and power is found through love. In the light of who God is, Corinthian society, with its love of power and rhetorical wisdom, is what is exposed as moronic, not God.

There is no other 'Christ' than the crucified Christ. But we, and I especially include myself here, are scheming swindlers who like to trade up from the crucified Chrsit to follow something less scandalous and less moronic and follow something more acceptable to us and our ways. Martin Luther King said of the church of his day: "The contemporary church is often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. It is so often the arch supporter of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church’s silent and often vocal sanction of things as they are." Check it the full quote at William Willimon's blog here.