What Does 1 Corinthians 1:24 Mean?
But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, the Anointed One, the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.THE KEY
God’s power and wisdom are not separate qualities to acquire; they meet in the Anointed One.
THE MEANING
For you who are called, Christ is where God’s ability to act and God’s wisdom meet. The call reaches across Jew and Greek, so neither group owns this disclosure: God’s power and wisdom are present together in the Anointed One.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that God’s power and wisdom are distant abstractions; the verse names them as present in Christ.
THE ROOT
Χριστός
christos
GROWS FROM
χρι- (chri-), from χρίω (chriō)
to rub or apply oil; to anoint
Χριστός means “the anointed one,” from the action of anointing. Here God’s power and wisdom are not detached qualities: both are named in relation to the Anointed One.
ALSO GROWS
chriō: to anoint, apply oil
χρίω
This is the action behind Χριστός, keeping the name connected to what is done to the one who bears it.
chrisma: anointing
χρῖσμα
This related noun names the anointing itself and echoes the root carried in Christ’s name.
δύναμις
dynamis
GROWS FROM
δυνα- (dyna-), from δύναμαι (dynamai)
to be able; capacity or ability
δύναμις means power, but its root also carries the sense of being able. Calling Christ God’s δύναμις presents God’s ability to act in the Anointed One, rather than power as force alone.
ALSO GROWS
dynamai: to be able, capable
δύναμαι
This verb makes the root’s sense of capacity explicit: power is linked with what can be done.
dynatos: able, powerful
δυνατός
This related word carries ability into the sense of might, showing how capacity and power belong to the same word family.
σοφία
sophia
GROWS FROM
σοφ-
soph-
wisdom, skillful understanding
σοφία can name wisdom as skillful understanding, not merely a store of information. When the verse calls Christ God’s wisdom, it places God’s way of seeing and discerning in the same person it calls God’s power.
ALSO GROWS
sophos: wise, skilled
σοφός
This related adjective carries wisdom into the quality of a person who understands or acts with skill.
sophizō: to make wise, teach with skill
σοφίζω
This verb shows the word family can describe wisdom being imparted, extending σοφία beyond abstract knowledge.
THE PATTERN
God’s power and wisdom exceed human measures and are disclosed where those measures fail.
For my plans are not your plans, nor are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being delivered it is the power of God.And he said to me, "My favor is enough for you, for strength is carried to its end in weakness." Most gladly, then, I will boast all the more in my weaknesses, so that the strength of the Anointed One may pitch its tent over me.THE THREAD
For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being delivered it is the power of God.The same Greek noun, δύναμις (dynamis), names the cross as God’s power here and Christ as God’s power in verse 24. The thread moves from a message to a person: what human judgment calls foolishness is where God’s capacity to act becomes visible.
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