JESUS CHRIST - HE IS OUR EVERYTHING!

The new believers in Corinth had asked Paul a set of questions. So, reading 1 Corinthians is like listening to a conversation, where only one person conversing can be heard. In this epistle, Paul gives divinely inspired advice to these spiritually gifted, yet very immature believers who had grown up knowing only the ways of worldly Corinth. Paul heard by word of mouth that some of the Corinthian believers were continuing to indulge in their cultural and societal practices that were ungodly.

In this epistle to the church in Corinth, Paul teaches that salvation from sin through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross appears foolish to the average person, however, to believers it shows God's power. God's way has always been different from that of people in general. Whether they be philosophers, scholars, or just ordinary people, people always think their schemes and ideas are full of wisdom; however, God shows them to be foolish. God, in His wisdom, saves people by way of the cross and no other. People think this way to be foolish, however, no matter how much they try to know God through their own wisdom, they will never succeed. 

The Jews want miraculous signs to prove that Jesus is the mighty Messiah, however, instead, they see Him crucified. To them this shows not power, but weakness. A crucified Messiah is in their view a stumbling block, something that they will not believe and that consequently prevents them from receiving God's salvation. As for the Greeks, they consider the whole idea to be mere foolishness. To believers (Jews or Greeks) God’s wisdom is proof of His power and wisdom. The cross alone can conquer sin and bring salvation. That which the Greeks think to be foolish proves to be wiser than anything people can imagine. That which the Jews think to be weak proves to be stronger than anything people can accomplish.

So, Paul writes 1 Corinthians to correct their ungodly behavior and their mistaken beliefs by telling them:

• to heal the divisions in the church (1:10-4:21)
• not to indulge in incest (5:1-8) 
• to separate from immoral believers (5:9-13)
• not to take a fellow-believers to court (6:1-11)
• not to indulge in sexual immorality (6:12-20)
• not to misuse the Lord's Supper (11:17-34)
• not to entertain false teaching about the resurrection (chapter 15)

1 Corinthians 1:18-24 (ERV): “The teaching about the cross seems foolish to those who are lost. But to us who are being saved it is the power of God. As the Scriptures say, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. I will confuse the understanding of the intelligent.” So, what does this say about the philosopher, the law expert, or anyone in this world who is skilled in making clever arguments? God has made the wisdom of the world look foolish. This is what God in His wisdom decided: Since the world did not find Him through its own wisdom, He used the message that sounds foolish to save those who believe it. The Jews ask for miraculous signs, and the Greeks want wisdom. But this is the message we tell everyone: Jesus Christ was killed on a cross. This message is a problem for Jews, and to other people it is nonsense. But Jesus Christ is God’s power and wisdom to the people God has chosen, both Jews and Greeks.”

1 Corinthians 1:30 (KJV): “But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption…”

(ERV): "It is God who has made you part of Christ Jesus. And Christ has become for us wisdom from God. He is the reason we are right with God and pure enough to be in His presence. Christ is the one who set us free from sin."

(TPT): "For it is not from man that we draw our life but from God as we are being joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. And now He is our God-given wisdom, our virtue (righteousness), our holiness, and our redemption."

Paul teaches the Corinthians that God shows His wisdom by means of the righteousness, sanctification, and redemption that we have in Jesus Christ. Each of these theological words carries a special meaning for believers: 

• Righteousness has to do with our standing before God (we are made right with God). 
• We are justified: God declares us righteous in Jesus Christ. 
• We are also sanctified (made holy), set apart to belong to God and to serve Him.
• Our redemption emphasizes the fact that we are set free because Jesus Christ paid the price for us on the cross. This will lead to complete redemption when Jesus Christ returns.

Romans 8:23 (NLT2): “And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as His adopted children, including the new bodies He has promised us."

“But because of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who has become wisdom from God for us: righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” {1 Corinthians 1:30 (KJV)}.

"But because of Him:” Paul comes to the heart of the matter by reminding the Corinthians of their salvation in Jesus Christ; they are believers, not unbelievers. In this epistle, Paul points to God as the author of salvation. God sent His Son to save His people, to cleanse them from sin, and to bring them into His glorious fellowship. Paul can rightly say "because of Him," for God is the reason why every committed believer can have the assurance and the privilege of being in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 1:21 (GW): “She will give birth to a son, and you will name Him Jesus [He Saves], because He will save His people from their sins.” 

1 John 2:2 (NLT2): “He Himself (Jesus Christ) is the sacrifice that atones for our sins and not only our sins but the sins of all the world."

 

John 1:14 (CEV): “The Word became a human being and lived here with us. We saw His true glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father. From Him the complete gifts of undeserved grace and truth have come down to us.”

1 Timothy 1:15-17 (GW): “This is a statement that can be trusted and deserves complete acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and I am the foremost sinner. However, I was treated with mercy so that Christ Jesus could use me, the foremost sinner, to demonstrate His patience. This patience serves as an example for those who would believe in Him and live forever. Worship and glory belong forever to the eternal king, the immortal, invisible, and only God. Amen."

"You are in Christ Jesus”:

This phrase “in Christ Jesus” or “in Christ” appears many times in Paul's epistles. To be in Jesus Christ means to have intimate fellowship with Him and with all other believers who are united with Him. In other words, union with Jesus Christ is a privilege and at the same time an obligation to live a life that is dedicated to Him.

God's real wisdom is Jesus Christ, His Son! God out of His nature of love and salvation has chosen us to be in Jesus Christ. It is God who saves us; we cannot save ourselves, no matter how capable we are or how much good we do. 

How is God able to save us? By Jesus Christ. God presented Jesus Christ to the world as His wisdom - the wisdom of God.

1) Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God given to the world so that we might know the way, the truth, and the life of God. 

God sent Jesus Christ to earth as the Word in bodily form {John 1:14}. He was the perfect expression of what God wanted to say to all men. Everything Jesus Christ said and did was exactly how God wants us to speak and live. Jesus Christ is the Word of God to us. God sent Jesus Christ to earth as the Revelation of Himself. God wanted us to see exactly who He is, what He is like, and how He expects us to live. Therefore, God revealed Himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ.

Colossians 2:3 (GW): “God has hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge in Christ.”

Colossians 2:9 (TEV): “For the full content of divine nature lives in Christ, in His humanity…” 

All men must come to Jesus Christ if they wish to know God, for Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God revealed to the world. God has given His wisdom to the world through His Son, Jesus Christ. Through Jesus Christ:

• God's wisdom has spoken to the world.
• God's wisdom is revealed to the world.
• God's wisdom has lived before the world as a man.

1 Timothy 2:5-6 (ERV): “There is only one God, and there is only one way that people can reach God. That way is through Christ Jesus, who as a man gave Himself to pay for everyone to be free. 

(NCV): “There is one God and one mediator so that human beings can reach God. That way is through Christ Jesus, who is Himself human. He gave Himself as a payment to free all people.”

2) Jesus Christ is the righteousness of God

Righteousness shows just how wise God is. Man is not perfect, but imperfect and unrighteous. Therefore, by our own imperfect nature, we cannot live in God's presence, for God is perfect and the very embodiment of righteousness. How can we ever become acceptable to God and be allowed to live in God's presence? Jesus Christ is the answer! He is the righteousness of God; that is, God sent Jesus Christ to earth to live the perfect, ideal, and sinless life. Jesus Christ never sinned, not even once. Therefore, He stood before God and before the world as the Ideal Man, the Perfect Man, the Representative Man, the Perfect Righteousness that could stand for and cover the unrighteousness of every man!

When a person believes in Jesus Christ - really believes - God takes that person’s faith and counts it (their faith) as righteousness. The person is not righteous; they know it and everyone else knows it. However, God counts their faith and belief as righteousness. Why would God do such an incredible thing? Because God loves His Son – Jesus Christ that much and God loves us that much! God is love, and He will take any person who honors His Son by believing in Him and count that person’s faith as though it were righteousness! 

Every believer must know this empathically: 

Jesus Christ is the righteousness of God. He is the only way we can become righteous and acceptable to God!

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NLT2): “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. 

Hebrews 4:14-16 (NLT2): “So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus Christ the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for He faced all of the same testings we do, yet He did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”

Hebrews 7:24-25 (NCV): “But because Jesus Christ lives forever, He will never stop serving as priest. So, He is able always to save those who come to God through Him because He always lives, asking God to help them.”

1 Peter 2:21-24 (GW): “God called you to endure suffering because Christ suffered for you. He left you an example so that you could follow in His footsteps. Christ never committed any sin. He never spoke deceitfully (dishonestly). Christ never verbally abused those who verbally abused Him. When He suffered, He didn't make any threats but left everything to the one who judges fairly. Christ carried our sins in His body on the cross so that freed from our sins, we could live a life that has God's approval. His wounds have healed you.”

3) Jesus Christ is the sanctification of God 

Sanctification also shows just how wise God is. Sanctification means two things:

a) Sanctification means to be set apart unto God. 

Jesus Christ set His life apart to live for God, and He lived for God perfectly and righteously. Therefore, His act of sanctification can stand as the Ideal, Perfect, and Representative sanctification for man. 

Hebrews 10:10 (NRSV): “And it is by God's will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” 

Hebrews 13:12 (NLT2): “So also Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates to make his people holy by means of His own blood.”

1 Peter 1:2 (NCV): “God planned long ago to choose you by making you His holy people, which is the Spirit’s work. God wanted you to obey Him and to be made clean by the blood of the death of Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be yours more and more. 

b) Sanctification means holiness: to live a holy and righteous, pure and clean life. 

When a person believes in Jesus Christ, God does a most marvelous thing. God puts the Spirit of Christ - the very life and energy and power of Christ - into the heart and life of the new believer. God sends the Holy Spirit, to actually live in the body of the believer. Therefore, the believer has a supernatural power to live for God. As the believer follows in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, living more and more like He did, that believer becomes more and more sanctified - set apart unto God, living a more holy life than the day before.

1 Corinthians 3:16 (NCV): “Don’t you know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 

1 Peter 1:14-16 (NLT2): “So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” 

4) Jesus Christ is the redemption of God

Redemption shows the wisdom of God to the world. As the Ideal, Perfect, and Representative Man, whatever Jesus Christ did would stand for man. He died as the Perfect and Ideal Man, as the Substitute and Representative Man for all men. As the Ideal and Perfect Man, He was able to bear the punishment for every person’s sins. Through His death, Jesus Christ redeems (delivers) us from sin, death, and punishment. He is the redemption, the deliverance of God for this world.

Romans 3:23-25 (NCV): “All have sinned and are not good enough for God’s glory, and all need to be made right with God by His grace, which is a free gift. They need to be made free from sin through Jesus Christ. God gave Him (Jesus Christ) as a way to forgive sin through faith in the blood of Jesus’ death. This showed that God always does what is right and fair, as in the past when He was patient and did not punish people for their sins.”

Ephesians 1:7 (NLT2): “He (God) is so rich in kindness and grace that He purchased our freedom with the blood of His Son and forgave our sins.”

1 Peter 1:18-19 (GW): “Realize that you weren't set free from the worthless life handed down to you from your ancestors by a payment of silver or gold which can be destroyed. Rather, the payment that freed you was the precious blood of Christ, the lamb with no defects or imperfections.”

This is one of the reasons why God sent Jesus Christ into the world: To stir us to praise Him instead of boasting about our own wisdom and self-sufficiency!

Jeremiah 9:23-24 (GW): “This is what the LORD says: Don't let wise people brag about their wisdom. Don't let strong people brag about their strength. Don't let rich people brag about their riches. If they want to brag, they should brag that they understand and know me. They should brag that I, the LORD, act out of love, righteousness, and justice on the earth. This kind of bragging pleases me, declares the LORD."

Jesus Christ is praised for all that He can be to those who receive Him. Jesus Christ, who the world rejects, is everything that we need most. Do we lack true wisdom? We can get it from Jesus Christ. Do we lack divine righteousness to be accepted by God? We can get it from Jesus Christ. Do we lack sanctification (purifying and cleansing from our sins)? We can get it in Jesus Christ. Do we lack redemption? It all comes through Jesus Christ. He is our everything!