LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2023, Page 99

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We Preach Christ Crucified: The Wisdom of God
Concordia University Chicago President Dr. Russell P. Dawn
68th Regular Convention of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod • August 1, 2023
Good morning, brothers and sisters. I am honored to stand
before you. May my words today edify the Church to the glory
of God in Christ Jesus.
Our text is 1 Corinthians 1:18–25:
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are
perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power
of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of
the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will
thwart.” Where is the one who is wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God
made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the
wisdom of God, the world did not know God through
wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we
preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand
signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ
crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to
Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and
Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of
God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and
the weakness of God is stronger than men.
The specific focus of this essay is Christ the wisdom of God. The
essay begins with a brief unpacking of how we should
understand Christ crucified in terms of both Law and Gospel.
Next, the essay addresses the importance of Christ the wisdom
of God in what we Lutherans sometimes call the right hand of
God’s reign, which is to say importance in the economy of
salvation. The essay then turns to the importance of Christ the
wisdom of God in what we Lutherans sometimes call the left
hand of God’s reign, which is to say importance in earthly
matters. This section occupies the bulk of the essay, and in
particular shines a light on the chaotic outcomes we see from
societal abandonment of God’s wisdom. Finally, the essay
concludes with the great Lutheran question, “What does this
mean?”—and specifically what it means for us as those who are
in Christ and therefore in God’s wisdom as we make our
baptismal journeys through this tear-stained vale of chaos.

in confident hope to everlasting life with Christ (Rom. 5:8–10;
Rom. 8:9; 1 Thess. 4:17). In both aspects, Law and Gospel, we see
the love of God. It is not a cruel god who gives law and a loving
god who gives gospel, but rather the one God who is love (1 John
4:8) giving both Law and Gospel, and by whose grace all things
work together for our good (Rom. 8:28).
II
Christ crucified is the wisdom of God, with all the fullness of
God’s loving Law and Gospel. It is obvious that this fullness
includes all manner of things related to the right hand of God’s
reign, that is, things related to salvation. Christ is the wisdom
of God both in His person as the bridegroom of the church and
in His work as the maker of that happy exchange whereby the
bridegroom receives the squalor of the bride and the bride
receives the glory of the bridegroom (Eph. 5:31–21). 1
Following the teaching of St. Augustine, Luther in his lectures
on Romans states that “the wisdom of God is that wisdom by
which He contemplates all things in Himself,” things knowable
“by faith alone or a rapture into heaven,” as opposed to things
that are outside of Himself and created. 2 The center of all that
is known only to faith is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Earlier in the
same lectures, Luther states that the wisdom of God is “that by
which He makes us wise,” just as His righteousness is that by

I
To say that we preach Christ crucified is to say that we preach
the whole counsel of God, both Law and Gospel. When we see
our crucified Lord, we see the full force of the Law. We see the
death that we deserve, the death warranted by our fallenness
and slavish devotion to sin (John 8:34; Rom. 3:23). More
importantly, however, we see also the full mercy of the Gospel.
We see the God who takes on our punishment, our suffering
and death, so that we are reconciled to God the Father in spite
of our sin and brought into new life in the Holy Spirit, through
whom we love God and serve our neighbors, as we look forward
1
Martin Luther, On the Freedom of a Christian (Indianapolis:
Hackett Publishing Company, 2013), 25–26.

Convention Essays

2
Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 25 (St. Louis: Concordia
Publishing House, 1972), 432.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2023 (68TH) LCMS CONVENTION | 99