Visitors to the Reformed Evangelical Church are immediately confronted with a graphic presentation of the Biblical gospel as they enter the sanctuary. Up on the wall behind the pulpit they see a rugged cross that splits the reference of 1 Corinthians 1:18 into two camps of people. On the left side of the cross, there is the bad news: “For the word of the cross [the gospel] is foolishness to those who are perishing”. On the right side of the cross, there is the amazingly good news: “but to us who are being saved it is the power of God”. The two camps represent two radically different responses to the gospel. Everyone who hears the gospel fits into one of the two camps.

As we contemplate this Scripture verse, we realize that evangelism is a weighty responsibility because of its eternal consequences. The Apostle Paul explains that a spiritual battle occurs whenever the gospel is shared: “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:3-4).

The Greek word that is translated “perishing” in 1 Cor. 1:18 and 2 Cor. 4:3 is the same word used by the Lord Jesus in Joh. 3:16 to describe those who do not receive eternal life. The choice of this word indicates that the one who is perishing is not a passive onlooker in the rejection of the gospel. Hence, the Ligonier Study Bible makes this critical comment: “According to the Bible, there will be two types of response to the gospel arising from God’s elective purpose…. This truth does not make God responsible for the perishing of unbelievers; they perish because of their own sin and stubborn impenitence. Those who believe and are saved, on the other hand, are those who are called.”

The context that leads to the Apostle Paul writing 1 Cor. 1:18 in his first letter to the Corinthian Church can be found in the previous verse: “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void” (1 Cor. 1:17). Apparently, the Corinthian Church had an unhealthy appetite for rhetorical skills. Its location within one of the largest and most prosperous cities of the Roman world would have exposed the Church to the liberal ideas and customs of that time. The message of the cross had failed the world’s cleverness test when compared to the philosophies of men. Paul was careful to emphasize that the power in his preaching did not come from fancy rhetoric or human wisdom but from the gospel itself. “The gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16).

The Lord Jesus illustrated the same point to the Pharisee Nicodemus by drawing on a significant incident involving Moses after the exodus from Egypt (Num. 21:4-8). Israel had become impatient in the wilderness and began to complain against God and Moses. God judged Israel by sending fiery serpents which bit the people, causing many of them to die. When the people repented of their sin, God directed Moses to erect a bronze serpent in the wilderness. The serpent, a symbol of sin and judgment, was lifted up from the earth and put on a tree, which was a symbol of a curse: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13a). Anyone bitten by the fiery serpents simply had to look up at that bronze serpent and he would be healed. No works were required, just a simple look of faith and trust in God for healing!

The command to look at a bronze serpent may have appeared foolish to some but if they did not obey, they would have certainly perished. Nicodemus was presented with the same gospel that the wise of this world continue to reject because it is so offensive to the fleshly mind: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life” (Joh. 3:14-15).

When Nicodemus, the “teacher of Israel” (Joh. 3:10) was informed by Jesus of the necessity for spiritual rebirth to enter the kingdom of God he was perplexed. “How can these things be?” he asked (Joh. 3:9). But later, we see him appearing as a faithful follower with a precious offering at the cross of Jesus: “Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight” (Joh. 19:39). He came to Jesus in the darkness of night (Joh. 3:2) and he was transformed by the “Light of the world” (Joh. 8:12).

In Nicodemus we find an example of a wise man, by this world’s standards, who initially stumbled at the “foolishness” of the gospel. However, by God’s grace, he experienced the power of the gospel and moved from the condemned camp on the left side of the cross to the camp of the saved on the right side of the cross. When someone is born of the Spirit, he/she is enabled to see the light of the gospel. “For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).

God has ordained that the world will not and cannot know Him through its own wisdom (1 Cor. 1:21), “so that no man may boast before God” (1 Cor. 1:29). Paul quotes from Isaiah 29:14 to support his thesis that humanistic wisdom will never be a means of finding God and that it is God’s intention to use the “foolishness” of the gospel to accomplish His purpose. Paul sums up his argument by asking some rhetorical questions: “Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” (1 Cor. 1:20).

This is a reminder that our evangelism must be accompanied by much prayer that the Holy Spirit will regenerate the hearts of sinners to hear and understand the gospel. Truly, salvation belongs to the LORD (Psa. 3:8). It is initiated by His grace and completed by His power.