What Old Testament prophecies connect to the message of 1 Corinthians 1:23? Key verse “but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.” — 1 Corinthians 1:23 The seed who would be wounded yet victorious • Genesis 3:15 — “He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” – The first promise of a Deliverer who would be wounded in the conflict yet triumph over the serpent. – Foreshadows both the apparent defeat of the cross and the ultimate victory of the resurrection. The sacrificial lamb pattern • Exodus 12:5, 13 — “Your lamb is to be unblemished… When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” • Leviticus 16:15 — “He shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering… and make atonement.” • Isaiah 53:7 — “He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.” – These passages shape Israel’s expectation of atonement through a spotless substitute, preparing the way for “Christ crucified.” Details of the crucifixion foretold • Psalm 22:16–18 — “They pierced my hands and feet… They divide my garments among them.” • Psalm 69:21 — “They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” • Zechariah 12:10 — “They will look on Me, the One they have pierced.” • Daniel 9:26 — “After the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing.” – Exact features of the passion appear centuries in advance, anchoring Paul’s proclamation in Scripture. Messiah as a stumbling stone • Isaiah 8:14 — “He will be… a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both houses of Israel.” • Isaiah 28:16 — “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone, a tested stone… the one who believes will never be shaken.” • Psalm 118:22 — “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” – These prophecies explain why the cross confronts Jewish expectations of a conquering king, turning their messianic hopes upside down. Perceived foolishness, hidden wisdom • Isaiah 29:14 — “I will again astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish.” • Jeremiah 9:23-24 — “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom… but let him who boasts boast in this: that he understands and knows Me.” – Paul echoes these texts (1 Corinthians 1:19, 31), showing that God had long promised to overturn human wisdom through a surprising act—Christ’s crucifixion. Putting it together The Old Testament consistently: 1. Predicts a suffering yet victorious Redeemer. 2. Establishes the necessity of a spotless, substitutionary sacrifice. 3. Describes the very manner of the Messiah’s death. 4. Warns that this Messiah would offend human pride and expectation. 5. Declares that God’s true wisdom is revealed precisely where the world sees foolishness. Thus 1 Corinthians 1:23 stands not in isolation but as the fulfillment and culmination of a prophetic thread woven throughout Scripture. |
    |