Paul and the Corinthians—Part Two Exorcising Paganism
19 For it is written; I will destroy the “wisdom” of “the wise” and bring low the “intelligence” of the “intellectual.”
20 Where is the “wise”? Where are the authors? Where are the philosophers of this age? Has God not made the “wisdom of the world” stupidity?
21 For since in the wisdom of God, the world through its “wisdom,” did not come to know God, God was pleased through the “foolishness” of the proclamation (of King Jesus) to save those believing; 22 Seeing both that Jews ask for signs and that Greeks seek “wisdom,” 23 We, however, preaching the Savior crucified, indeed to the Jews a stumbling block, and the gentiles stupidity, 24 but to those called, Jews and Greeks, the Savior is God’s power and God’s wisdom; 25 For the “foolishness” of God is wiser than humans and the weakness of God is stronger than humans.
26 For consider your calling, family, not many of you were considered wise according to the world, not many were powerful, not many were of high social status; 27 But God has chosen the “foolish” things of the world, so that He might shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, 28 and God chose the “low born” and the despised of the world, that which is seen as nothing to make them something, 29 so that all created may not boast before God.
30 But because of Him, you are in Savior Jesus, who became wisdom from God to us, and righteousness and growth and salvation. 31 So that, just as it is written, the one boasting in the King, let him boast.
2:1 And when I came to you, family, I did not come with “excellent” speech or “wisdom” proclaiming to you the mystery of God.
2 For I decided not to know anything among you except Jesus the Savior and His crucifixion.
3 And I was with you in weakness and with fear and with much trembling, 4 and my word and my preaching were not with “persuasive words of wisdom” but with a display of the Spirt and power, 5 So that your belief, trust and loyalty might not be (based) in “human wisdom” but in the power of God.
6 However, we speak wisdom the mature, however, not the wisdom of this age nor of the rulers of this age who are being brought to nothing; 7 But we speak God’s wisdom, in a hidden mystery, which God predetermined before the ages for our divine reputation, 8 which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the King of honor.
9 But just as it is written: Things which the eyes have not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered the heart of people all that God has prepared for those who love Him.
10 For God has revealed to us through the Spirit for the Spirit searches all things even the depths of God.
11 For who among people knows the depths of people except the Spirit of people within them? So also no one knows the things of God except by the Spirit of God.
12 No, we have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the depths granted to us by God; 13 of which we also speak not in in words taught by “human wisdom” but in that taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual means (and) spiritual things.
14 However, the beastly man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God for they are stupidity to them and they are not capable of understanding (them) because they are understood spiritually.
15 However, the person who is spiritual judges all things, but that person is not judged by anyone. 16 For who has known the mind of the King, who will teach Him? However, we have the mind of the Savior.[1]
Commentators like Timothy Brookins and David Garland contend that the Corinthians have split into cliques within the church and, in their immaturity, hold on to the “wisdom or the age.” That is, they are trying to harmonize Paul’s Gospel preaching and teaching with the ungodly philosophy of the culture at large. Paul will have none of it.
A strand of Christian apologetics have argued that a key to presenting the truth faith is that it stands in stark contrast to the opinions of mortal humans no matter how intelligent and/or well educated.[2] Nothing makes sense without the God of the Bible, who is all wise. Thus, adopting any position that is contrary to His Word is…well…moronic.
Paul wants the Corinthian church to become united and that cannot happen with the members looking solely to God’s Word not just for salvation but for any and all subjects the Bible addresses. Unfortunately, this trend did not end with the Corinthians. The church today suffers from the same Satanic sickness on issues ranging from gender to sex to…you name it.
John MacArthur laments this, writing,
…is the Bible, in and of itself, sufficient to furnish us with a complete worldview? Many Christians these days seem to imagine that the Bible is neither modern enough nor sophisticated enough to equip people to live in the twenty-first century. Church-growth experts tell pastors that they must look beyond the Bible for principles of leadership and success gleaned from the modern business world. Psychologists claim that the Bible is too simplistic to help people with complex emotional and psychological issues. In every quarter of the evangelical movement today, the Scriptures are being set aside in favor of novel philosophies, scientific theories, experimental behavioral and counseling techniques, political correctness, and other similar fads of modern opinion. People who claim to be evangelicals have jumped on almost every new bandwagon of secular opinion since the middle of the nineteenth century.
Observing the current trends in the church, one would think opinion polls, rather than Scripture, determine truth for Christians. Some have even claimed that the church will soon cease to exist completely if church leaders do not heed modern opinion polls and change the very nature of the church to get in step with the times. That point of view is flatly contrary to the principle of Matthew 16:18, where we are told that the gates of hell will not prevail against the true church. Many who call themselves evangelicals operate with something other than a biblical worldview.[3]
This includes popular trends like the enneagram. Biblical counselor Rhenn Cherry has traced the enneagram to a self-described mystic named G.I. Gurdjieff who claims to have discovered it in the middle east. It eventually fell into the hands of psychiatrist Claudio Naranjo who steeped into Gestalt Theory (in sum a method geared toward “self-mastery”) and sold the Jesuit Catholic order on this “new personality test.” It was then popularized by panentheistic[4] Catholic Priest Richard Rohr.
The real problem is that Rohr does not believe in the inherit sinfulness of man. Thus, the journey of self-discovery with the enneagram claims to help unbiblically deposits people into groups without judgment or true Biblical insight. A thorough study of enneagram “theology” follows Rohr in that we all already “in Christ” and now we just have to discover our “true selves.” This is a far cry from denying self and following King Jesus! (Luke 9:23).
Dr. Cherry reminds us of the greatest commandment to love God and others (Matt. 22:37-40) and then writes,
What does Jesus, the Savior, say in this passage? “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” We see that Jesus cited two commandments here, not three. There is no command for us to love ourselves.
In closing, our research showed that the Enneagram’s theological differences with evangelicalism are more than simple inconsistencies; they are foundational theological contradictions. The Enneagram is anti-biblical. It’s theology and anthropology are in conflict with Scripture, and therefore it is an anti-Christian tool for understanding man. It leads to a non-Christian way of viewing man and understanding man’s problems. This “tool” is a proverbial road to nowhere. Although the system provides its own peculiar language and sense of inclusion, it leads to a mythical destination. Man’s good divine True Self does not exist.[5]
Following Paul, we need to faithfully recognize once again the sufficiency of Scripture. Wayne Grudem rightly defines this key doctrine writing, “…the sufficiency of Scripture means that Scripture contains all the words of God we need for salvation, for trusting him perfectly, and for obeying him perfectly” (see 2 Tim 3:15-17; Ps 119:1, etc.). [6]
Sorry this post was so long but I’m trying to catch up. Stay tuned!
[1] Author’s translation.
[2] See Voddie Baucham, Jr., Expository Apologetics: Answering Objections with the Power of the Word (Wheaton: Crossway, 2015) or Stephen Feinstein, We Destroy Arguments (Longwood, FL: Advantage Books, 2021).
[3] MacArthur, Thinking Biblically, 10.
[4] This pagan philosophy holds that while God is greater than the universe, He is also one with it. This violates the separation of God and His creation taught in Scripture.
[5] Cherry, Rhenn. The Enneagram and The Biblical Counselor (Biblical Solutions Series) (Kansas City, MO: ACBC Publishing, 2025), 18-19.
[6] Grudem, ST, 152.ere improvement is needed.
Wayne A. Mack, A Homework Manual for Biblical Living: Family and Marital Problems, vol. 2 (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 1980), 7–9.