The Power of God
“…Christ the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:24
It was the 19th century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) who seems to have coined the phrase “will to power.” What he actually meant by it remains open to debate. Popularly it became understood as the idea that if a person wants power in this world, they simply must have the will to rise up and take it. So the recent military coup in Myanmar, as military leaders through force of arms assumed political power there. So those dark-web extortionists who held the east coast oil supply line for ransom, hoping to increase in economic power. So the myriad of voices who over the past year or so have hoped to gain more societal power.
So what kind of power are we talking about here? The power to not be controlled by others and do whatever it is we want to do—even to the extent of actually controlling those around us. Such power is the exact opposite of the powerlessness we have felt at moments in our lives when we seemed to have been swept downstream unexpectedly by the raging currents of a flash flood of life: A financial reverse, a death, an injury, a loss of some kind or another. The political, financial and social power that man seeks throughout the world is believed to be the one and only antidote against such powerlessness.
So how is Christ the power of God? Christ who was politically disadvantaged, monetarily challenged and societally outcast? The power of God in Christ was worldly weakness in all of these arenas. The pivotal moment in the life of Christ was His death, demonstrating that He had no worldly power whatsoever. The temptation of Christ? The will to power. The thought that yes, if He wanted, as the Son of God, He could overpower the world politically, financially, and socially.
But He did not.
And we, as Christians, do not. For our power, like that of Christ, “is made perfect in [our] weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9).
But what does that mean? It means our acting, or speaking, or willing, is not to power, to power over this world politically, economically or socially but spiritually, through faith in our Lord Savior Jesus Christ, who has “overcome the world” (John 16:33).
Our life then, being “hidden with Christ in God,” (Col. 3:3) is not seen by the world as power, but as weakness. And it is in that weakness, in our lack of will to power, that we see the power of the will of God, as He directs and guides, guards and keeps us, “defending us from all danger, guarding and protecting us from all evil” (Small Catechism).
And He does this through faith in Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For in our daily life of forgiveness through Him, love in Him, and hope because of Him, a power is expressed that simply is not of this world.
It is that of Christ, the power of God.