ESTUDIO DEL VERSÍCULO
1 Corinthians 1:18 — The Word of the Cross as God's Power
Paul declares that the message of the cross divides humanity into two groups: it is foolishness to those perishing, but the power of God to those being saved.
Escritura
- 18.Porque la palabra de la cruz es locura a los que se pierden; pero a los que se salvan, esto es, a nosotros, es poder de Dios.For the word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved it is the power of God.
Qué significa este pasaje
Paul's phrase "the word of the cross" identifies the apostolic proclamation whose content is Christ's crucified. He places a single message before two kinds of hearers. To "them that perish," the same message reads as "foolishness" — an absurd, unbelievable claim about a crucified Messiah acting as a savior. To "us who are saved" (literally "us who are being saved"), that very message is "the power of God," an active divine force that accomplishes what human reasoning cannot.
The contrast is not between two different doctrines but between two responses to one message. The text itself does not state why some perish and others are saved; it simply assigns each group its verdict on the cross. The "foolishness" verdict belongs to people whose judgment the passage leaves at "perishing," while the "power" verdict belongs to people described as "being saved." Paul thus treats the cross as a dividing line: what looks weak and absurd on one side looks like God's operative power on the other.
By calling the message itself "the power of God," Paul treats the preaching as the form in which God's saving power is presently at work (see also verse 17, where he insisted on preaching the gospel "not in wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made void"). The cross is neither emptied of force nor decorated with rhetorical cleverness; it is set forth plainly and trusted to act.
Contexto
The verse sits inside Paul's opening rebuke of factionalism in Corinth (1:10–17), where believers were boasting in favorite teachers. Verse 17 supplies the immediate hinge: Paul was sent "to preach the gospel: not in wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made void." Verse 18 therefore clarifies why he refuses rhetorical display — the cross's saving power is undone the moment it is packaged in worldly cleverness.
Verses 19–21 extend the thought: Paul cites Scripture to say God destroys the wisdom of the wise, then concludes that God "through the foolishness of the preaching" saves those who believe because the world, "through its wisdom, knew not God." Verse 18's two-group verdict is the hinge on which this whole argument about wisdom, calling, and glory turns (1:19–31).
Preguntas frecuentes
Does Paul mean the message of the cross is literally a force?
The verse calls the word of the cross "the power of God," and verse 24 similarly calls Christ "the power of God." The passage treats the preached message as the form in which God's saving power is presently active, while still linking that message to the person of the crucified Christ.
Who are "those that perish" and "us who are saved"?
The verse itself supplies only two descriptors — people who are "perishing" and people who are "being saved." Paul's text does not here explain the cause of the division; it only assigns each group its verdict on the cross. Later verses (1:26–29) note that "not many" of the wise or mighty are called, but verse 18 stops at naming the two responses.
Why does Paul present the cross as "foolishness"?
Because Paul is echoing how the cross is heard from outside the faith, not endorsing the verdict. He reports that those perishing call the message foolish (and verse 23 adds that Jews see it as a stumbling block). He frames that verdict as the world's view, then contrasts it with the verdict of those being saved, for whom the same message is God's power.