Have you ever heard it said, we should never preach in or believe in Christ, and Him crucified + something else because then we would make Christ of no effect? Most churches and denominations would agree 100% with this and say it is legalism to say we need to add anything to the cross. When asked where in the Bible it says we can’t add anything to the cross, they would tell you this is found in Pauls’s letters. According to them, Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles was the one who preached the cross and nothing but the cross.
If you ascribe to this idea, you end up having a contradiction between what Jesus preached and what Paul preached. We have several instances in the Gospels where we see Yeshua telling us to obey the law of Moses, but we never see Him tell anyone to believe in the cross. And then we have Paul, who allegedly only preaches the cross and allegedly never preaches obedience to the Mosaic law because that would be legalism according to Paul.
In 2.Pet 3:16, Peter the Apostle says some of Paul’s letters can be difficult to understand. He then says that some ignorant and unstable people distort the meaning of Paul’s letters and the Old Testament, and because of this, they will lose their salvation and end up in hell. With this warning in mind, do we not owe it to ourselves to make 100% sure we understand what Paul says?
In 1.Cor 1:17-25, we read, “17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.”
In 1.Cor 1:17 and 2. Cor 2:22, it seems as if Paul is saying we should only preach Christ and Him crucified. If we try to add something to the cross like wisdom or eloquence, we will empty the cross of its power. To understand what Paul says here in 1.Cor 1:17 and 2.Cor 2:22, we need to read verses 18 and 19.
In verse 19, Paul says, “For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
Here Paul says the cross will destroy the wisdom of the wise. (verse 18). Paul then begins verse 19 by saying, “For it is written” this shows us he is quoting something, and in this case, it is Isaiah 29:14. To understand Isaiah 29:14, we need to read it in its context with verse 13.
“The Lord says:
“These people come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
is based on merely human rules they have been taught.
14 Therefore, once more, I will astound these people
with wonder upon wonder;
the wisdom of the wise will perish,
the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”
What Isaiah is saying here is that worship of Yehovah based on merely human rules is futile. Now we understand what Paul says in 1.Cor 1:17; we should never add human rules and human-made wisdom to the cross. What are human rules and human-made wisdom? We find an excellent example of this in Matthew 15:1-9:
“Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
8 “‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
9 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’ ”
Here in Matthew, some Pharisees asked Yeshua (Jesus) why His disciples did not obey the tradition of the elders and washed their hands before eating a meal. To understand what is happening here, it is essential to know the commandment for ritual handwashing before a meal does not exist in the Torah (the law of Moses.) But it does exist in the Talmud and Jewish oral law (tradition.) Jesus replies with a question asking them why they break Yehovah’s Torah for the sake of their tradition. What is the Torah? The Torah is the law of Moses, so what Yeshua is saying here is, “why do you break the law of Moses for the sake of your tradition?” He then says that those who break the law of Moses for the sake of their traditions worship Yehovah in vain. They are hypocrites.
Now we know that the human wisdom Isaiah and Paul speak of are traditions, and they are not referring to the law of Moses (the Torah). But we also learn from Jesus the only way to worship Yehovah is by obeying the law of Moses. What Isaiah, Paul, and Jesus are trying to tell us is this: Never worship Yehovah with human traditions and doctrines, worship Yehovah by being obedient to the law of Moses. This is what Jesus also says in John 14, the only way to love Yehovah and Yeshua is by obeying the law of Moses.
According to Paul, if we preach the Gospel+human tradition, the cross will lose its power. So far, Paul has not said that we should not preach the Gospel + the law of Moses. (1. Cor 1:17)
Paul then goes on to teach on the wisdom of Yehovah in 1.Cor 1:21. Who or what is the “wisdom of Yehovah”? When Paul wrote 1.Cor, he did not have a New Testament; his Bible was the Old Testament. In Pauls Bible, the Old Testament, we see a reference to Yehovah’s wisdom in Proverbs. Here in Proverbs, Yehovah’s wisdom is identified as the law of Moses. So what Paul is saying to us in 1.Cor 1:21 is that the wisdom of Yehovah is Yeshua, and Yeshua (Jesus) is the walking, talking, living, breathing law of Moses. He then contrasts the wisdom of Yehovah (the law of Moses) and the wisdom of this world (human traditions). Paul says if we follow the wisdom of this world (human traditions), we are unable to know and understand the wisdom of Yehovah (the Torah.) Paul says here that if we reject the law of Moses in favor of human traditions, we reject our relationship with Jesus. This is the same thing Jesus says in Matt 7:21-23 and John 5:46-47. Our relationship with Jesus depends upon our obedience to the law of Moses.
In verse 21, Paul says believing in the wisdom of Yehovah (the law of Moses) are those who will be saved. The word Paul uses here for believing can best be translated as trust. And as we have learned from before, when the Bible says we trust someone, we show our trust in action. (James 2, 1. John 2.) So if you trust in Yeshua, who is the law of Moses and the wisdom of Yehovah, you will show your trust by obeying the law of Moses. If there is no obedience to the law, you are not saved. (James 2, 1. John 2, Matt 7:21-23.)
Paul then goes on to contrast the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of Yehovah in verse 22. He says Jews demand a sign, and the Greeks look for wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles (verse 23). How is Christ crucified a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles? According to Paul, a few verses ago, it is because they reject the law of Moses. The Jews reject the law of Moses in favor of tradition, the Greeks in favor of human-made wisdom. If you reject the wisdom of Yehovah, you are not able to understand the cross, according to Paul.
In verse 24, Paul says Christ is the power and the wisdom of Yehovah. Notice first of all what Paul is not saying; he is not saying Christ crucified is the power and wisdom of Yehovah. He is saying Christ is the power and wisdom of Yehovah.
We already know from before Paul says Christ is the wisdom of Yehovah because Christ is the walking, talking, living, breathing law of Moses. But how is He the power of Yehovah?
He is the power of Yehovah because the law of Moses is superior to all human wisdom. So the law of Moses destroys all human wisdom and all human attempts to have a relationship with Yehovah. There is only one way, and one way only for us to come into a relationship with Yehovah, and that is through the law of Moses, which is identical to Yeshua. (1. Cor 1:19)
Because there is only one way for us to come into a relationship with Yehovah, there is also only one way for Him to have a relationship with us. The law of Moses says that when a spouse is unfaithful and guilty of the sin of adultery, her husband has to divorce her, and he is forbidden to take her back as his wife. It does not permit the husband to remarry, not even if he wanted to.
Throughout the law of Moses, sin is compared to adultery. When we sin and break the law of Moses, we are guilty of adultery. So, according to God’s law, He has to divorce us. His own law forbids him to remarry us, and we have all sinned, so we are all lost on our way to hell. We deserve hell because we chose to commit adultery and cheat on our God.
Back in Genesis, Yehovah made a promise to Abraham. He promised Abraham he would have more descendants than the sea shore’s sand and the stars in the sky. This promise would be impossible for Yehovah to fulfill because of sin had it not been for what happened on the cross.
Paul says in Roman 7, when a husband dies, his wife is free from the law. So if she is guilty of adultery, she is no longer guilty when her husband has died because the one accusing her is gone. Even though she was an adulteress, she is no longer an adulteress, and now she can remarry.
To be able to fulfill the promise made to Abraham, Yehovah had to die on the cross. When He died, all who believe in the death of Yeshua are no longer considered an adulterer. All who believe in the cross are forgiven, and now we are free to remarry.
Because Yeshua was also 100% a human being who never sinned, His human Blood was the perfect sacrifice for our sins. So now all who believe in the cross have their sins atoned for by His Blood.
Now that we are free to remarry, who should we remarry if Yehovah is dead and buried? This is why Romans 10:9 says we are saved IF we believe in the resurrection of Christ. Notice what it does not say in Romans 10:9 it does not say we are saved if we believe Jesus died for us. It says we are saved if we believe in the resurrection of Christ and confess Jesus is Lord. Why is this important?
Because now that we are free to remarry, and our past adultery has been atoned for, we need a God as our husband. So if we believe Yeshua was raised from the dead and He lives today, our faith in His resurrection combined with our obedience to Him saves us. What do I mean by “combined with our obedience to Him saves us”?
Rom 10:9 says there are two things we need to do to be saved. We need to show the world that He is our Lord. How do we “show the world that He is our Lord”? By obeying His teachings. What did He teach us to do? He taught us to obey Moses. So when you obey the law of Moses, He has become your Lord. But you also need to believe He lives today to be saved because if He is dead, you do not have a God to serve and be married to.
So salvation is:
Believe He died for you on the cross. Your faith in His Blood atones for your sins, and your faith in His death takes away your sins of adultery. Because you believe He died for you, you are no longer an adulterer/adulteress, and it is as if you have never broken the law of Moses in the first place. Because you believe this, you would, of course, choose not to commit the sin of adultery again. This is called repentance; you choose from now to live as a faithful child of Yehovah. Repentance makes Yeshua your Lord; from now all the world will know He decides how you should live because you belong to Him. He had already told you how to live when He taught you to obey Moses. If God is dead, your obedience counts for nothing because you are serving a dead God. But if you believe Yehovah raised Jesus from the dead, your Lord lives, and your obedience will be seen as love for your God Yehovah. This saves you.
Paul says Christ is the wisdom of Yehovah and the power of Yehovah. He is the wisdom of Yehovah because He taught us how to live by teaching us how to obey Moses. He is the power of Yehovah because when He died on the cross, His obedient death freed Yehovah from the curse of the law preventing a remarriage and made it possible for Yehovah to fulfill His promise to Abraham.
Paul says in verse 25 if you reject the law of Moses, you reject the wisdom of Yehovah. If you reject the wisdom of Yehovah, you reject Yeshua, and you are unable to understand what really happened on the cross. But if you accept the law of Moses and you choose to live by it in obedience to your Lord Yeshua, you will understand how the law is wiser than human wisdom and the cross is stronger than human strength.
In 2.Peter 3:16, Peter the Apostle says the ignorant and unstable people distort the meaning of Paul’s letters and the Old testament. The consequence of this will be their destruction and a loss of salvation. In 1.Cor 1:17, Paul says if we preach the cross + human wisdom, we empty the cross of its power. In 1.Cor 1:17-25 Paul says if we reject the law of Moses, we reject Jesus, we reject the cross, we will be unable to understand anything in the Bible, and the end result will be a loss of our salvation. In Matthew 15 Yeshua says those who reject the law of Moses and try to worship Yehovah using human traditions are hypocrites, and their worship is in vain.
Are you a hypocrite worshiping Yehovah in vain?
Have you rejected the cross and Jesus because you have rejected the law of Moses?
Are you guilty of emptying the cross of its power because you reject the law of Moses and preach adherence to human laws and traditions instead?
Repent while you still can because the time is short, and our Lord will soon come looking for those who genuinely love Him and obey Him. (Matt 7:21-23, Luk 6:46, Matthew 15:1-9.)
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