By Robert E. Coleman
At Commencement I think of the student going around campus wearing a big lapel button with the letters BAIK. Someone asked him what that meant.
He replied, "That means 'Boy Am I Confused.'"
"But don't you know that "confused" is not spelled with a K," he was reminded.
"Man," he replied, "You don't know how confused I am."
This young man is not alone in his predicament. You will find confusion everywhere, even among college graduates. Nowhere is it more apparent than in measuring wisdom by the world's standards.
If this confusion of values seems remote, listen to the words of Paul in
I Corinthians 3:18-19:
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Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.
The apostle is not depreciating the pursuit of knowledge. In this admonition, the best educated Christian of the day, the most gifted theologian the Church has ever known simply makes the point that what God esteems wisdom stands in contradiction to the learning of this present age. Thus true disciples of Christ invariably became fools in the eyes of the world. As Paul explains his position in the early chapters of the Corinthian letter, several aspects of this difference of perspective are emphasized.
For one thing, the redeeming Gospel of grace appears utterly foolish to the world. There is simply no way the scandal of Christ crucified can be made compatible with the humanistic presupposition of this secular age. Of course, if somehow the blood could be taken out, then the Gospel would not be so offensive to our sensibilities (cf.
Galatians 5:11). It's the horrible spectacle of Calvary -- that awful sight of the Son of God nailed to the tree, His tortured body writhing in pain, red blood streaming from His wounds running red down the wooden beam -- that is the scene from which the proud of this world shirk in horror.
It is alright to talk about Jesus' great ethical teachings, even to exalt His exemplary life of compassion, but insistence upon the necessity of His vicarious death for our salvation is more than the egocentric mind of this world can stand. It jerks off the mask of our self-righteousness, and shows just how far short we have sunk in degradation and shame. Yet God, in His infinite love, is seen willing to bear the wrath of His own invariable law by taking upon Himself the justice due us all.
This revelation comes as a jolt to those who seek to earn God's favor through human virtues. No wonder the moralistic Jews rejected it. The cross, Paul observed, was a "stumbling block" to their religion of good works. And to the philosophic Greeks who worshipped the noble aspirations of mankind, it was held in no less contempt (
I Cor.1:23). In their lofty idealism, they could not conceive of God becoming involved in the dirty affairs of His creation, and if He did, it would not be in humiliation and shame.