Was the Cross Plan B?

Q: 1 Corinthians 2:8 puzzles me. Was Paul saying that if things had turned out differently, Jesus would not have been crucified? The crucifixion of Jesus was a fulfillment of prophesy and the essential act of our salvation. So, what is the significance of 1 Corinthians 2:8?

Note: for the sake of clarity, the question above was summarized from a longer submission that included personal testimony and reflection.

A: The verse asked about appears in bold in the following passage from 1 Corinthians:

"We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written:

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him—but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God." I Corinthians 2:6-10

The key to understanding this passage is Paul's confidence that "God has revealed it to us by His Spirit." Paul is contrasting the unsearchable wisdom of God, which can only be known as the Holy Spirit reveals it, with "the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age." He returns in 2:8 to a theme that he initiates in 1:17-31, which ends with a quote from Jeremiah, "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord." The power of the Cross, and for that matter the entire Gospel, stands in stark opposition to "eloquent wisdom."

What Paul writes in verse 2:8 is meant to highlight this contrast. He sets up a hypothetical situation that underscores the futility of trying to understand God's wisdom "from below", from a human-centered theology as it were. Paul groups the wisdom that predominates his particular age, grounded in Hellenistic culture, with those that rule in that age. They are dominated by this "wisdom"—believing all that is good, true, and beautiful is available to them through their own efforts.

Paul is pointing out, quite simply, that they are deluded. "If" is the operative word here: if they had understood who Jesus was, they would not have crucified Him. But they didn't, nor could they because they found their own brand of wisdom so much more attractive than the plain declaration of God's Word concerning His Son.

The Corinthians were being seduced by the same love of worldly wisdom. Imagine the corrective power of those lines as they were read in the Corinthian church. Imagine the congregation hearing echoes of their own deception in the sinful autonomy of the "rulers of this age" who nailed the Lord of Glory to a cross.

Paul is not contemplating a different plan in 2:8. There was always only one way, and that is the path Jesus willingly took.