1Cor 1:18, 23, 2:14 | PNT | STEP | The preaching of the cross . The gospel of a Crucified Savior. Unto them that perish . Those who are unregenerate. Foolishness . The Greek philosopher and the Jewish scribe scoffed at the thought of a Savior who had been crucified. They held that his crucifixion proved that he was not divine. Unto us who are saved . There are two sections of mankind--the unsaved and the saved. To the first, the cross is folly; to the second, the gospel of the Crucified One comes as the "power of God". See . To the unsaved, the cross is a pillar of cloud; to the saved, a pillar of light.

1 Corinthians 1:18

The preaching of the cross. The gospel of a Crucified Savior.

Unto them that perish. Those who are unregenerate.

Foolishness. The Greek philosopher and the Jewish scribe scoffed at the thought of a Savior who had been crucified. They held that his crucifixion proved that he was not divine.

Unto us who are saved. There are two sections of mankind--the unsaved and the saved. To the first, the cross is folly; to the second, the gospel of the Crucified One comes as the "power of God". See Ro 1:16. To the unsaved, the cross is a pillar of cloud; to the saved, a pillar of light.

1 Corinthians 1:23

But we preach Christ crucified. Not merely Christ, but Christ Crucified; a Crucified Savior.

Unto the Jews a stumblingblock. Because they had an entirely different conception of the Christ. Yet it was predicted that he should be "a stone of stumbling" (Mt 21:42 Isa 8:14)

Unto the Greeks foolishness. It seemed to the Greeks that a being who died so ignominious a death could not be divine.

1 Corinthians 2:14

But the natural man. The natural man is the unregenerate, one who has the spirit of the world, one not born anew of water and of the Spirit. Man is a triune being--body, soul and spirit. The natural man is under the dominion of the soul, the animal life.

Receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. The spirit must be stirred from its dormant condition, and born again, before one can comprehend the things of the Spirit.

For they are foolishness unto him. These are foolishness to one under the dominion of the animal life, such as the Jewish scribes and Greek "disputers" (1Co 1:20), for

They are spiritually discerned. They can be discerned only by the spirit of man. It is only when a spiritual hunger is felt, when one is born again, and when man becomes a spiritual instead of an animal being, that he can understand "the deep things of God" (1Co 2:10). But blessed be God, the A B C's of the gospel, which the ignorant and unlearned men can understand, are sufficient to convert and prepare one for a higher knowledge.