We can show God's existence to be reasonable and rational through persuasive argument. Christian apologists have several at their disposal: the ontological argument, the cosmological argument, the teleological argument, and the moral argument to name four. We can demonstrate that it makes historical sense that Jesus rose from the dead. We can have some of the most learned scholars championing the faith, and have some of the most intelligent and witty preachers delivering sermons each Sunday. We can have all of these sound reasons for accepting the truth of the Christian message, and yet...
the word of the cross is foolishness.
It is moria, which can be faithfully translated as "moronic".
Much as we might wish otherwise, our preaching of the gospel of Christ crucified is an act of lunacy (or "loon-a-she"). It does not and will not fit with the dominant wisdom of our day. Paul makes this clear in the latter half of 1 Corinthians 1, which (learned scholar) Richard Hays says is the apostle's attempt to show that "prideful confidence in human wisdom is antithetical to the deepest logic of the gospel".
Conventional human thinking will not lead one to the cross. This was true of the first Christians, who found the mere idea of Christ crucified unfathomable. Though Jesus predicted his own death, his disciples were having none of it. Their minds could not conceive of such nonsense. This was still truer of the apostle Paul, who initially found the proclamation of a crucified Messiah so repulsive that those who spread such foolishness were seen by him to be deserving of imprisonment or even death.
Yet this same apostle experienced a conversion of his imagination which led him to write that "the cross...is the power of God". As Hays comments,
The cross impinges on our epistemology, on the way we know things. Believing in the death of Jesus is not to believe one thing among many; it is to believe something that shapes how we see everything else. To quote Hays one last time,
This is why it's vital for the church to both proclaim the message of the cross and to incarnate the story it tells. We are God's way of making known his surprising wisdom. We are an epistole (a letter) from Christ, the means through which this "epistemological revolution" bears fruit and the place where it is manifested.
the word of the cross is foolishness.
It is moria, which can be faithfully translated as "moronic".
Much as we might wish otherwise, our preaching of the gospel of Christ crucified is an act of lunacy (or "loon-a-she"). It does not and will not fit with the dominant wisdom of our day. Paul makes this clear in the latter half of 1 Corinthians 1, which (learned scholar) Richard Hays says is the apostle's attempt to show that "prideful confidence in human wisdom is antithetical to the deepest logic of the gospel".
Conventional human thinking will not lead one to the cross. This was true of the first Christians, who found the mere idea of Christ crucified unfathomable. Though Jesus predicted his own death, his disciples were having none of it. Their minds could not conceive of such nonsense. This was still truer of the apostle Paul, who initially found the proclamation of a crucified Messiah so repulsive that those who spread such foolishness were seen by him to be deserving of imprisonment or even death.
Yet this same apostle experienced a conversion of his imagination which led him to write that "the cross...is the power of God". As Hays comments,
God has chosen to save the world through the cross, through the shameful and powerless death of the crucified Messiah. If that shocking event is the revelation of the deepest truth about the character of God, then our whole way of seeing the world is turned upside down. Everything has to be reevaluated in light of the cross.
The cross impinges on our epistemology, on the way we know things. Believing in the death of Jesus is not to believe one thing among many; it is to believe something that shapes how we see everything else. To quote Hays one last time,
Paul has taken the central event at the heart of the Christian story -- the death of Jesus -- and used it as the lens through which all human experience must be projected and thereby seen afresh. The cross becomes the starting point for an epistemological revolution.
This is why it's vital for the church to both proclaim the message of the cross and to incarnate the story it tells. We are God's way of making known his surprising wisdom. We are an epistole (a letter) from Christ, the means through which this "epistemological revolution" bears fruit and the place where it is manifested.
No comments:
Post a Comment