1 Corinthians 1:19

1 Corinthians 1:19 states, For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.  I believe Paul was stating that we can never come to God thorough the wisdom of the world, but the world's wisdom is what will ultimately fail.  There are many very intelligent people in the world today who not only do not believe in God but attempt to discredit His very existence.  One day, though, all their wisdom will be destroyed, but the God that they denied will still be God.  Verse twenty adds, Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?  Paul was asking a question that should have been answered that those who would not accept the salvation of Christ were nowhere spiritually.  All their wisdom and teachings amounted to nothing.  There is only one way to salvation, and that is through faith Christ, which is so simple that even a child can understand it.  Verse twenty-one continues, For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.  We can never find God through the wisdom of the world, and I believe that the more a person accepts the wisdom of the world the harder it becomes to accept the gospel.  Paul stated that it was by the foolishness of preaching that God chose to reach the world.  God has unlimited methods to bring about salvation, but He chose accepting Christ as Savior and Lord through faith.  This is nothing complex, so to many in the world it is foolish for this reason.  Many people do not want to admit that salvation is not something that they can obtain by their own abilities. Verse twenty-two states, For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:  The Jews in Paul's day were looking for a sign that the Messiah was here, and missed the sign when it came.  They were not looking for a suffering Servant but a conquering King, so they missed the sign of the cross. The Greeks were seeking wisdom, and the cross seemed foolishness to them as a way to victory over the world.  Verse twenty-three declares, But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;  Unfortunately, this remains true today.  For the Jew today, Christ is still a stumbling block, and for the unsaved of the world, salvation through a crucified Savior is still foolishness.  Verse twenty-four adds, But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.  Paul declared that to those who accepted salvation through Christ that Christ was the power and wisdom of God.  This is a truth that we as followers of Christ can never doubt.  Christ's crucifixion revealed both the power and wisdom of God.  It represents the power because sin and spiritual death were defeated for all time.  It represents the wisdom of God since it represents the only way to salvation and is based only on faith in that fact.