Jesus was the foolishness and weakness of god

JESUS WAS THE FOOLISHNESS AND WEAKNESS OF GOD
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
1 Corinthians1:25 25
Forthe foolishnessof God is
wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is
stronger than human strength.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
Christ The Power Of God
1 Corinthians 1:24
H. Bremne The power of God is seen in nature and in providence, but here we have a new
conception of it. Jesus Christ is that Power. In his person, as God manifest in flesh, there resides
the potency of the Highest; but the apostle is here thinking mainly of him as crucified. In that
cross, which seems to us the culmination of weakness, he sees the very power of God. Consider -
I. THE ELEMENTS OF DIVINE POWER TO BE FOUND IN THE CROSS OF CHRIST.
1. The death of Christ manifests the power of God's love. As soon as we understand the meaning
of the cross, we cannot help exclaiming," Herein is love!" Nor is it merely the fact of his love to
men which it reveals, for this might be learned elsewhere; but it is the greatness of his love. It is
the "commendation" of it (Romans 5:8) - the presenting of it in such a way as to powerfully
impress us with its wonderful character. Here is the Son of God dying for sinners; and on
whichever part of this statement we fix attention, it casts light on this marvellous love.
(1) The Son of God! The strength of God's love to us may be gauged by the fact that he gave up
to death his own Son. "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son," etc. (John
3:16); "He that spared not his own Son," etc. (Romans 8:32). What a power of love is here! Not
an angel, nor some unique being specially created and endowed for the mighty task, but his one
only Son. Human love has rarely touched this high water mark.
(2) For sinners! "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Human measures and analogies
fail us here. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends"
(John 15:13); but here is love for enemies. And love, not in mere sentiment, not in simple
forbearance, but in self sacrifice - love persisting in its purpose of salvation in the face of hatred

and scorn. Thus on both sides the love of God is seen in power. And what a battery to play upon
the hearts of men!
2. The death of Christ manifests the power of his justice. No reading of the cross that leaves this
element out of account can explain the mystery. In a work the professed design of which is to
restore men to righteousness, there must surely be no breach of righteousness; yet it is here put to
a severe test. Is the Law impartial? Will it punish sin wherever it is found? What if the Son of
God himself should be found with sin upon him? Shall the sword awake and smite the man that
is God's Fellow (Zechariah 13:7)? Yes; for he dies there as one "bruised for our iniquities."
Surely justice must be mighty when it lays its hand on such a victim. If that modern description
of God as a "power making for righteousness" is applicable anywhere, it is so here; for nowhere
is he so severely righteous as in the working out of salvation for men. Nothing can more
powerfully appeal to conscience than his treatment of the sinner's Surety; and nothing can more
thoroughly assure us that the pardon which comes to us through the cross is righteous.
II. THE POWER OF GOD IN THE CROSS AS SEEN IN ITS PRACTICAL EFFECTS, Our
readiest measure of any force in nature is the effect it produces, and in this way we may gauge
the power of the cross. Take it:
1. In regard to the powers of darkness. "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he
might destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:15; comp. Hebrews 2:14). The execution of this
purpose is intimated in Colossians 2:16, "Having put off from himself the principalities and the
powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it [the cross]." It is as if ten
thousand fiendish arms were stretched out to pluck him from that cross; but he strips them off
him, and hurls them back into the abyss. It cost him much to win that victory, even "strong
crying and tears" and an agony of soul beyond all human experience; but the triumph was
complete.
2. In regard to the actual salvation of sinners. To deliver a man from sin in all respects, undo its
direful effects, and fit him to take his place among God's sons, - what power is adequate to this?
Take Paul's own conversion, on which apologists have been willing to stake the supernatural
character of Christianity. And every conversion presents substantially the same features. It is
nothing less than a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) - a calling of light out of darkness, order
out of chaos, life out of death; and this is a more wonderful exercise of power than that which
gave existence to the universe. The fair temple of God in the soul has to be built, not out of fresh
hewn stones, but out of the ruins of our former selves. A poor weak man is rescued from
corruption, defended "against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places"
(Ephesians 6:12), and presented at last without blemish before God, - what but Divine power can
accomplish this? Add to this the exercise of this power in a countless number of instances. From
the steps of the throne survey that radiant multitude, beautiful with the beauty of God and noble
with the nobility of Christ, and the might of the cross will need no other proof.
3. In regard to what he enables his people to do and suffer for his sake. Take an active
missionary life like that of Paul. Read such a catalogue of afflictions as he gives us in 2
Corinthians 11:23-33, and ask why a man should voluntarily undergo all these. Thousands have
followed his example, meeting toil, privation, death, for their Lord's sake. Nor does the power of
the cross shine less conspicuously in the sick chamber. How many a Christian invalid exhibits a
patience, a meekness, a cheerfulness, which can be found nowhere else! - B.

Biblical Illustrator
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God stronger than men.
1 Corinthians 1:25-28
The gospel as contemplated by man and employed by God
J. Lyth, D. D.I.ITS DOCTRINE — is foolishness, yet wiser than men.
II.ITS AGENCIES — are weak, yet stronger than men.
(J. Lyth, D. D.)
For ye see your calling, brethren.
The Christian calling
Bp. Huntington.1. The word "calling" means the great primary truth of religion, viz., that our
erring life is governed by a will above it, and is capable of receiving influences of attraction from
the Spirit of God. A man's common employment, too, is spoken of as his "calling." But this
usage discovers the same origin; for it must have sprung up in days when it was verily believed
that each man's business in the world was a sacred appointment. A living faith not only justifies
that view, but requires it; for it supposes that in the soul which has confessed its calling there is a
power of holy consecration supreme over all the choices and pursuits of the mind.
2. The expression stirs some feeling of mystery. More is suggested than the understanding
clearly grasps. But there is something here that is plain enough to common sense, and, to earnest
moods at least, very welcome. How many weeks will any of us be able to live without coming to
some spot where it will be felt as a rational comfort to believe that all our way was ordered for us
by Him who sees the end from the beginning? If there is a "calling," there is one who calls, and
who when calling has a right to be heard. It follows that there is one object in existence so pre-
eminent that to accomplish that is to fulfil the great purpose of our being, and to fail of that is to
miss the chief end. It is only triflers who conceive of their life as without a plan, and have never
heard the call of the Master, "Go, work to-day in My vineyard." So true is this, that it has been
observed of the most efficient and commanding men in the history of the world, that they were
apt to represent themselves as led on by some Power beyond themselves — a demon, a genius, a
destiny, or a Deity. But the apostle refers to something higher and holier than any dreamy
sentiment like this. Standing on the verities of the gospel, speaking to those that have nominally
assented to it, he summons them to a more solemn and searching sense of what it requires of
them: "Ye see your calling, brethren." The truth is clear; you see it. It is not of men, but of God,
who calls. Christ has lived, and He asks living followers.
3. It is remarkable how perseveringly the New Testament clings to this particular conception of
the Christian relation. Disciples are said to be "the called of Jesus," "called out of darkness into
marvellous light," "called unto liberty," "called to peace," "called to eternal life," "called" first, to

be afterwards "justified and glorified," "called to inherit a blessing," "called in one body" and
"one hope," "called by God's grace" to "holiness," to "His kingdom and glory," with "a holy
calling," "a heavenly calling." The apostles are "called" from one place, work, suffering, joy, to
another. To "walk worthy of the vocation" is made the business of a careful conscience. To make
our "calling and election sure" is the victory of our warfare. The promise that subdues all anxiety
as to the result is "Faithful is He which calleth you." Notice the prominent teachings of this
language.
I. THAT THE BUSINESS OF A CHRISTIAN LIFE IS SOMETHING SPECIAL — a "calling"
by itself, to be distinguished from all other occupations. A Christian character springs from its
own root, grows by its own laws, and bears its own peculiar fruit. It must have a beginning,
which the New Testament everywhere speaks of as being born into a new life. Then there must
be a growing into greater strength and goodness, without end. Here, therefore, is a new principle
of conduct. It is a Divine calling. Paul speaks as if no pursuit were to be thought of in
comparison with it.
II. THAT THIS IDEA OF A "CALLING" INDIVIDUALISES NOTONLY THE CHRISTIAN
OBLIGATION, BUT THE CHRISTIAN PERSON. Paul had no conception of a social
Christianity apart from the personal righteousness of the men that make up society. It is your
calling. It is quite vain for us to congratulate each other on a state of general integrity and order if
we tolerate depravity in ourselves or the class to which we belong. If we have a community here
of a thousand people, in which we want to see the Christian graces flourishing, our only way is to
go to work and turn one and another of the thousand into a Christian person, each beginning with
himself. How weary and indignant God must be at hearing the Pharisaic praises of a Christian
religion, legislation, literature, country, from speakers and writers who allow Christianity to
conquer no one of their propensities to pleasure or to pride! The vocation is an individual matter.
Ye see it, each for himself. The work is for each. "Repent," "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God,"
"Take up the cross and come after Me," are for each. "Ye see your calling."
III. THAT, NOTWITHSTANDING ALL THIS, CHRIST'S TRUTH IS A MATTER, NOTOF
PARTIAL, BUT OF UNIVERSAL APPLICATION. The Christian spirit, revelation, privilege,
and promises are not meant for a class of men culled out arbitrarily here and there; not for a few
persons of special constitutional proclivities or whose circumstances happen to predispose them
for a spiritual plane of being, making it easy for them to reach it. The Bible makes no such
exceptions. "Whosoever will." Nor is the Christian calling a whit the less universal and impartial
for the reason that it is special, requiring a personal consecration. On the contrary, its speciality
is the very ground of its universality. The more definite, important, and searching you make the
Christian command to be, the more will the principles of its righteousness send their pressure
into every department of life, and the spirit of its charity diffuse its fragrance into every nook and
corner of the household of humanity. If there were any variations excusing men from this calling,
they might be expected to exist either in their nature, their place, or their time. Yet how far these
things are from constituting an apology for disregarding the duty of a disciple!
1. Take the inequalities of intellectual equipment. There is not much likelihood of men's seeking
a release from taking up the Christian work and cross on a plea of mental infirmity. More
probably the plea of exemption will arise in the opposite quarter, and be a pretence of gifts or a
culture superior to the need of faith, independent of the humiliating doctrines of the Crucified
(vers. 20-24).

2. Take the excuse of unfavourable outward fortunes. What are those fortunes? Poverty and
hardship? Unto the poor the gospel was first preached, and in every age it is with them that its
simple and consoling truths have found their most cordial and fruitful reception. Wealth and
station? But unto whom much is given, of them shall much be required. Or is it the busy and
contented state of pecuniary mediocrity or a competency? Yet that is the very state which, of all
others, a wise man is represented as praying for, and which common sense would pronounce
most favourable to a useful and healthy piety. Indeed, the whole honest spirit of our religion
disallows the evasive notion that any position can liberate the child of God from loving his
Maker, serving his Saviour, and living in godly charity with his fellow-men.
3. The changing aspects of the times are just as powerless to acquit any single conscience of its
accountability for a Christian walk and conversation. Principles do not change with periods. The
Christ of whom it is written that He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, is not subject to
fluctuation, either in the measure of His affection or in His demands for allegiance.Conclusion:
Ye see your calling —
1. Families. On every domestic sanctuary Christ lays She law of a consecrated and holy
economy. Set thy house in order; for these earthly tabernacles are to be dissolved. And while
they last they take in no calm, no abiding light, save through invisible windows that open upward
into the unshadowed and undivided heaven.
2. Parents. To exercise your trust you will have to feel that the Christian character of every child
committed to your charge is immeasurably the most urgent interest of your parental office.
3. Men of action. "I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the Word of
God abideth in you."
(Bp. Huntington.)
Behold your calling
Homiletic Monthly.A concrete fact of faith. Our vague and vagrant life is attracted by a
magnetism and swayed by a will superior to itself and supremely wise and good — the Spirit of
God. Behold your calling —
I. IS OF GOD. Supreme, authoritative, irreversible. The call of wisdom and love. "Faithful is He
that calleth you."
II. HIS GLORIOUS, COMPREHENSIVE BLESSINGS. Called out of darkness into marvellous
light — "unto liberty," "to peace," "to eternal life," to "holiness," to "His kingdom and glory." It
is "a heavenly calling," "a holy calling."
III. IS TO SPECIAL, DISTINCTIVE MODE OF LIVING.
IV. IS INTENSELY PERSONAL.
V. INCLUDES THE WHOLE MAN IN ALL HIS RELATIONS IN LIFE.
(Homiletic Monthly.)
How that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. —
Not many wise, &c., are called
J. Lyth, D. D.I. THE FACT.
1. Undeniable.

2. Lamentable.
3. Worthy of consideration.
II. THE REASON. Not that God despises human wisdom, &c. — it is His gift — but that these
gifts are perverted —
1. By pride, in judging the things of God which are beyond human understanding.
2. By unbelief which rejects salvation.
3. By moral blindness occasioning self-sufficiency and independence.
(J. Lyth, D. D.)
The few and the many
J. Service, D. D.1. There is a great difference between a historical statement and a doctrinal one.
The former tells you something which is true with reference to a particular place or time; the
latter what is always and everywhere true. It must, therefore, often be a grave, often a most
ridiculous blunder, to take the one for the other.
2. Now, here is a statement which has been often taken as if it were doctrinal, though it is, in
fact, historical, with mischievous results; for if these classes are always to be reckoned
unchristian and unbelieving —(1) Thoughtful men of all classes would, on that account alone,
hesitate to embrace the gospel. If Christianity were only fit for the mob, its prospects would be
poor, especially as the education of the people will not suffer from having now been made a
national affair.(2) It would be a misfortune for the world if what we call civilisation advances.
Each generation more nearly than its predecessor approaches to the condition of the privileged
classes of society — the wise, the mighty, the noble.
3. On the other hand, consider the text as historical, and it is plain enough. We still sometimes
hear explanations given of how it is that the learned and the great and the noble are not
Christians, but —(1) These explanations account for what is not the fact, for there are as many
Christians among cultivated and aristocratic people as in any other class; and —(2) These
explanations, as a rule, would not account for the fact, if it were one. It is nonsense, e.g., to say
that wise men in their conceit reject Christianity because it is simple or because it is supernatural;
for there is more conceit, not with those who have some knowledge, but with those who have
none.
4. Now if we glance at Corinth, it is easy to understand why the classes specified were more
reluctant than others to embrace Christianity.
I. As regards THE "WISE MEN AFTER THE FLESH."
1. By these the apostle did not mean the great sages of antiquity. It would certainly not be
anything to boast of if we had to suppose that Christianity rejected them or they it; for one could
wish that the majority of Christians had attained to as lofty, as enlightened ideas as some in the
golden age of Greek wisdom entertained and taught. But we have to do here with the men of a
degenerate time — smatterers, would-be wise men, pretenders to universal knowledge, which is
often largest and loudest where ignorance and frivolity divide between them the empire of the
human mind.
2. Nor were they thinkers of our modern type.(1) The principles according to which our scientific
men conduct their inquiries are modern discoveries. Our wise men try to discover the facts of

nature, life, and history, and construct their theories according to the facts. But exactly the
reverse was the common way of the wise men here spoken of.(2) Our modern thinkers are
seekers after truth, and they are as likely to discover the truth of Christianity as other people, if
not more so. These ancient wise men, on the other hand, were rather like our ignorant and
superstitious masses, who take a side without candid inquiry, and are resolute to defend their side
just because it is theirs.(3) Our literary and scientific men, as far as they are faithful to their
vocation, inquire each man for and by himself, and own no allegiance to a party or a master, but
to truth alone. But these ancient wise men, as leaders or adherents of their school, enjoyed what
credit and influence they had, and were jealous of new opinions, as possibly inimical to their
authority and its repute.
II. As regards THE MIGHTY AND THE NOBLE.
1. When Christianity was new it had all the disadvantages of novelty.(1) So it most repelled
those who had least to gain and most to lose by any change. These, of course, were the privileged
classes here mentioned.(2) Remember, too, that the changes which Christianity threatened were
the most violent, and therefore the most distasteful possible to these classes. They were free, and
a great part of the community were their slaves. It is now a maxim — thanks to Christianity —
that property has its duties as well as its rights. But that maxim had no existence then.(3) Then it
was not some magnate of their own lofty order, or even of their own race, who told those lords of
many to become the servants of all; it was a company of artisans, fishermen, slaves,
foreigners.(4) Then consider that the gospel was gospel in those days. It was a plain,
straightforward declaration of the truth that God is love, and man's true life is love; that to be
selfish is to be damned, to love is to be saved.
2. The gospel has no longer these disadvantages. When sons of nobles are ill-paid clergymen,
and sovereigns and statesmen are gratuitous defenders of the faith, there is nothing to hinder the
great and noble, any more than the poor and lowly, from professing Christianity. And, as regards
the practice of Christianity, the case is not different. The mighty and the noble, as a matter of
course, now accept, along with their honours and their privileges, a host of duties, public and
social, which are enjoined rather by public opinion than by law. So much are things changed,
property now has not only duties as well as rights, but has fewer rights than duties, and there are
at least as many of these classes as of any other who exhibit the true spirit of Christianity in lives
of faith towards God and charity towards men.
(J. Service, D. D.)
The benefits arising from human learning to Christianity
D. H. Cotes, LL. B.1. Of all the apostles St. Paul was the one endued with the greatest natural
powers, cultivated with the most assiduous care, and one would have expected him ever to have
been the advocate of knowledge. Against this, however, the text is often quoted. But this admits
of a double construction — either "that not many wise men after the flesh" were called to believe
the gospel, or were called to preach the gospel. Now, that the former interpretation is erroneous
will be apparent when we tell you that, although during Christ's life the majority of the Pharisees
and rulers did not believe on Him (John 7:48; comp. 12:42), immediately after the day of
Pentecost a great company of the priests became obedient unto the faith (Acts 6:7), and also that
"many of those who used curious arts at Ephesus brought their books together, and burned them
before all men" (Acts 19:19, 20). Since these two classes, converted to the faith, are to be
reckoned amongst the wise and learned, with truth it cannot be said, "Not many wise men after

the flesh are called" to become disciples of the Messiah. So we conclude that the text means that
"not many wise men after the flesh," &c., called the Corinthians into the gospel.
2. Should, however, the correctness of the present version be maintained, we still deny that it was
written to warn us against the acquisition of human learning, for the use and abuse of knowledge
are not identical, and the text thus understood could only apply to the Greeks, who preferred their
wisdom to revelation, and to the Jews, who, having misinterpreted their Scriptures, required a
sign to confirm that misinterpretation. The passage which was intended to apply to such as these
can never be quoted to condemn that which only becomes reprehensible when it is not made
subservient to the religion of our Lord. This is a conclusion worthy your attention, inasmuch as,
if disproved, it would tend to cause the pious scholar to throw aside all the aids he might derive
from history, criticism, and science in explaining and defending the oracles of God. That such a
course would prove a serious detriment to religion the records of our race abundantly testify.
Where ignorance has prevailed, there infidelity or superstition has abounded, whilst in the train
of knowledge more accurate conceptions of the Deity and of social duties have ever followed.
When Christianity was spreading many of the wise, indeed, rejected it, but the more obstinate
were found among those whose prejudices in favour of their ancient faith remained unshaken,
because their minds had not been trained by knowledge to estimate the value of those doctrines
propounded for their acceptance. Note, then —
I. THE ADVANTAGES OF KNOWLEDGE TO RELIGION.
1. The annals of the Reformation speak an unmistakable language in favour of human
acquirements.
2. It is from the arsenal of knowledge that the most formidable weapons have been taken
wherewith to resist the assaults of infidelity.
3. The benefits of a knowledge of science, history, &c., to the missionary are simply
incalculable.
4. The cultivation of learning greatly conduces to a right understanding of the Bible.
II. THE OPPOSITION TO KNOWLEDGE commenced in primitive times. Whilst and Clement
recommended the study of literature, declaimed against it as the source of those heresies which
disturbed the peace of the Church. Because philosophers had erred philosophy was condemned;
and yet, in defiance of the experience which has proved that there is no necessary connection
between philosophy and infidelity, in spite of the fact that Newton and Bacon and Pascal and
Boyle have submitted their powerful minds to the teaching of the gospel, the same objection and
the same plea is boldly advanced.
III. THE ABUSES TO WHICH IT IS LIABLE.
1. Prior to the promulgation of the gospel (though there then existed minds as powerful as any
which have since adorned the pages of history) the grossest immorality prevailed amongst the
wise ones of the earth. Hence we deduce the fact that by itself "the wisdom of the world" now, as
then, is unable to reform the morals of mankind. "The world by wisdom knew not God"; and the
writings of infidels have confirmed the assertion of our apostle.
2. Knowledge is fatally abused when Scripture is wrested from its obvious meaning in order to
make it coincide with some cherished theory or to advance some favourite doctrine. Suppose that
by an induction of facts we arrive at a conclusion opposed to a certain portion of the Bible, our

duty is to extend our observation till we obtain a result in accordance with that indicated in the
Word of God.
(D. H. Cotes, LL. B.)
God's strange choice
C. H. Spurgeon.Note —
I. THE ELECTOR Some men are saved and some men are not saved. How is this difference
caused? The reason why any sink to hell is their sin, and only their sin. But how is it that others
are saved? The text answers the question three times — "God hath chosen." This will be clear if
we consider —
1. The facts. God elected fallen man, but not the fallen angels; Abraham, the Jews, David, &c.
God is a king. Men may set up a constitutional monarchy, and they are right in so doing; but if
you could find a being who was perfection itself, an absolute form of government would be
undeniably the best. The absolute position of God as king demands that, especially in the work of
salvation, His will should be the great determining force.
2. The figures —(1) Salvation consists in part of an adoption. Who is to have authority in this
matter? The children of wrath? Surely not. It must be God who chooses His own children.(2) The
Church, again, is called —(a) A building. With whom does the architecture rest? With the
building? Do the stones select themselves? No; the Architect alone disposes of His chosen
materials according to His own will.(b) Christ's bride. Would any man here agree to have any
person forced upon him as his bride?
II. THE ELECTION ITSELF. Now observe —
1. How strange is the choice He makes. "He hath not chosen many wise," &c. If man had
received the power of choosing, these are just the persons who would have been selected. "But
God hath chosen," &c. If man had governed the selection, these are the very persons who would
have been left out.
2. It is directly contrary to human choice. Man chooses those who would be most helpful to him;
God chooses those to whom He can be the most helpful. We select those who may give us the
best return; God frequently selects those who most need His aid. We select those who are most
deserving; He selects those who are least deserving, that so His choice may be more clearly seen
to be an act of grace and not of merit.
3. It is very gracious. It is gracious even in its exclusion. It does not say, "Not any," it only says,
"Not many"; so that the great are not altogether shut out. Grace is proclaimed to the prince, and
in heaven there are those who on earth wore coronets and prayed.
4. It is very encouraging. Some of us cannot boast of any pedigree; we have no great learning,
we have no wealth, but He has been pleased to choose just such foolish, despised creatures as
ourselves.
III. THE ELECTED. They are described —
1. Negatively.(1) "Not many wise men after the flesh." God has chosen truly wise men, but the
sophoi — the men who pretend to wisdom, the cunning, the metaphysical, the rabbis, the
doctors, the men who look down with profound scorn upon the illiterate and call them idiots,
these are not chosen in any great number. Strange, is it not? and yet a good reason is given. If
they were chosen, why then they would say, "Ah! how much the gospel owes to us! How our

wisdom helps it!"(2) "Not many mighty." And you see why — because the mighty might have
said, "Christianity spreads because of the good temper of our swords and the strength of our
arm." We can all understand the progress of Mahommedanism during its first three centuries.(3)
"Not many noble," for nobility might have been thought to stamp the gospel with its prestige.
2. Positively. "God hath chosen" —(1) "The foolish things"; as if the Lord's chosen were not by
nature good enough to be called men, but were only "things."(2) "The weak things" — not
merely weak men, but the world thought them weak things." "Ah!" said Caesar in the ball, if he
said anything at all about it, "Who is King Jesus? A poor wretch who was hanged upon a tree I
Who is this Paul? A tent-maker! Who are his followers? A few despised women who meet him
at the water-side."(3) "The base things" — things without a father, things which cannot trace
their descent.(4) "Things that are despised," sneered at, persecuted, hunted about, or treated with
what is worse, with the indifference which is worse than scorn.(5) "Things that are not" hath God
chosen. Nothings, nonentities.
IV. THE REASONS FOR THE ELECTION.
1. The immediate reason.(1) "To confound the wise." For one wise man to confound another
wise man is remarkable; for a wise man to confound a foolish man is very easy; but for a foolish
man to confound a wise man — ah! this is the finger of God.(2) "To confound the mighty."
"Oh!" said Caesar, "we will soon root up this Christianity; off with their heads." The different
governors hastened one after another of the disciples to death, but the more they persecuted them
the more they multiplied. All the swords of the legionaries which had put to rout the armies of all
nations, and had overcome the invincible Gaul and the savage Briton, could not withstand the
feebleness of Christianity, for the weakness of God is mightier than men.(3) "To bring to nought
the things that are." What were they in the apostle's days? Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, Diana. Here
comes Paul with "There is no God but God, and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent." He represents
"the things that are not." So contemptible is the heresy of Christianity that if a list were made out
of contemporary religions of different countries Christianity would have been left out. But where
are Jupiter, &c., now? What was true in Paul's day is true to-day. Existing superstitions, though
attacked by those who are things that are not, shall yet cease to be, and the truth as it is in Jesus,
and the pure simple faith backed by the Spirit of God, shall bring to nought the things that are.
2. The ultimate reason is "that no flesh may glory in His presence." He does not say "that no
man"; no, the text is in no humour to please anybody; it says, "that no flesh." What a word! Here
are Solon and Socrates, the wise men. God points at them with His finger and calls them "flesh."
There is Caesar, with his imperial purple; how the Praetorian guards shout, "Great is the
Emperor! long may he live! Flesh," saith God's Word. Here are men whose sires were of royal
lineage. "Flesh," says God. "That no flesh may glory in His presence." God puts this stamp upon
us all, that we are nothing but flesh, and He chooses the poorest, the most foolish, and the
weakest flesh, that all the other flesh that is only flesh and only grass may see that God pours
contempt on it, and will have no flesh glory in His presence.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Weak things chosenLuther says: "Next unto my just. cause the small repute and mean aspect of
my person gave the blow to the Pope; for when I began to preach and write the Pope scorned and
contemned me. He thought, 'Tis but one poor friar; what can he do against me?' I have
maintained and defended this doctrine in Popedom, against emperors, kings, and princes; what,
then, shall this one man do?" We all know what the one man did, and we often see that weak

ones who come in the name of the Lord of Hosts conquer where stronger ones have failed. The
Lord often chooses weak things in order that we may more easily see that the victory is due to
Him.
God's choice of instruments
H. Townley.A native convert originally belonging to one of the lowest castes thus delivered
himself in my hearing: "I am, by birth, of an insignificant and contemptible caste — so low that
if a Brahmin should touch me he must go and bathe in the Ganges for purification; and yet God
has called me, not merely to the knowledge of the gospel, but to the high office of teaching it to
others. My friends, do you know the reason of God's conduct? It is this: If God had selected one
of you learned Brahmins, and made you the preacher, when you were successful in making
converts bystanders would have said it was the amazing learning of the Brahmin and his great
weight of character that were the cause; but now, when any one is converted by my
instrumentality, no one thinks of ascribing any of the praise to me, and God, as is His due, has all
the glory."
(H. Townley.)
The gospel ministry
A. J. Parry.In proof of the superiority of the gospel over human learning, the apostle points to
their own knowledge of the working of the Divine power and wisdom. Two facts are adduced in
proof.
I. THE UNFAVOURABLE CONDITION IN WHICH THE GOSPEL FOUND THEM, AND
HOW IT MADE THEM THE SUBJECTS OF ITS POWER. The apostle divides society into
two classes —
1. The one consisting of the wise, the mighty, and the well-born — the man of thought, the man
of action, and the man of leisure. These three he further describes as those who "are" (ver. 28) —
those who are deemed somebody, the recognised of the world; those for whose sole interest all
things are deemed to exist — what would now be termed "society."
2. The other class consists of the foolish, the weak, and the base, or despised, &c. Those forming
this class are further described as those which "are not." They were those who had no status, and
were ignored by the world as things utterly beneath notice. Of this class were the bulk of the
Corinthian believers. "For ye see your calling." Thus it will be seen that the gospel chose as the
subjects of its gracious operations(l) Those whom the so-called wise, mighty, and noble utterly
neglected, those who in the estimation of the world "are not."(2) Those who were incapable of
helping themselves. Supposing they had been able to help themselves, society's neglect of them
would not have mattered so much. Their utter helplessness is indicated by the descriptive
epithets. But to such as these came the gospel. This proves its truly benevolent character, and
sets it in direct contrast to the world's ways and methods. The spirit of this world is always to
give where it sees the prospect of a return. The ancient gods always bestowed their favours upon
those who brought to their altars the costliest sacrifices. The world follows the example of its
gods. But it is the glory of the gospel that it seeks out the foolish, the weak, the base, and
despised (Matthew 11:4, 5). It was a new thing in the world to supply a gospel to the poor. A
gospel preached to the poor must be something more than human. God alone can afford such
grace as this.

II. ITS EFFECTS UPON ITS SUBJECTS FAR TRANSCENDS THE WORLD'S HIGHEST
GOOD AND MOST DESIRABLE POSSESSIONS. The world's highest good are wisdom,
might, and nobility, i.e., culture, prowess, and rank. But the gospel bestows upon its subjects far
higher things (ver. 30).
1. "Things that are not," i.e., without a status in the world, obtain one in Christ — one infinitely
surpassing anything the world can boast of.
2. In Christ they are endowed with qualities far transcending the world's best gifts. Has the world
wisdom, might, and nobility? The gospel —(1) Endues men with a wisdom far surpassing in
worth the world's highest philosophy or culture — the wisdom that makes wise unto salvation.(2)
It confers a might far surpassing in degree and nature the might of the world — the might of
right.(3) It endows with a nobility far more glorious than that of blood, the nobility of holiness.
Nobility gives a right of entrance into the highest society, holiness into the heavenly society. It
requires blood to give the social nobility that men prize. Similarly the spiritual nobility comes of
the blood of Jesus Christ, which cleanseth from all sin. And by virtue of this we become
endowed with rank. The blood is royal blood, and they who come under its influence become
royally related — they become kings and priests to God His Father.(4) They who "are not" are
redeemed. This state of "being not," i.e., of being without social status, implies a state of slavery.
But He Who was made for them redemption brings them freedom from the bondage and
degradation of sin, a freedom far more glorious than any social one. From being slaves of sin,
and ,though still slaves of men, they become, not merely free, but sons of the heavenly King.
(A. J. Parry.)
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.
God's choice of the weak and foolish to confound the wise and mighty
Bp. Phillips Brooks.Dr. Vinton was a sceptical physician. A friend advised him to read "Butler's
Analogy," which satisfied his reason. A short time after he was called to the dying bed of a little
girl who whispered that she had something to say to him, that she hardly had the courage, as it
was about his peace with God; but she added, "To-morrow morning, when I am stronger, I will
tell you." And on to-morrow morning she was dead. This led to Dr. Vinton's conversion, and a
grand life in the ministry was the result. Who shall deny that "God hath chosen the weak things
of the world to confound the things which are mighty"?
(Bp. Phillips Brooks.)
God's choice of feeble agencies
J. Lyth, D. D.I. THE FACT.
1. God has chosen feeble agencies.
2. Has by them confounded the mighty.
II. THE IMPORTANCE OF IT. It shows that Christianity —
1. Regards all men alike.
2. Is independent of human help.
3. Is sustained only by the power of God.
III. THE LESSON.

1. The humble should be thankful.
2. The proud humble.
(J. Lyth, D. D.)
God destroying the conventionally great by the conventionally contemptible
D. Thomas, D. D.I. EVILS EXIST UNDER CONVENTIONALLY RESPECTABLE FORMS.
In Corinth dangerous errors wore the costume of wisdom. Power was also on their side.
Statesmen, wealth, and influence stood by them, and they appeared "mighty." Here, as in
Corinth, evils wear fine clothing, and pass under great names.
1. Infidelity writes and speaks in the stately formularies of philosophy and science. It is a "wise"
thing of the world.
2. Licentiousness passes under the grand name of liberty. The vaunted religious liberty of
England's population means often only power to neglect sacred ordinances.
3. Social injustice does most of its fiendish work in the name of law.
4. Selfishness goes under the taking name of prudence.
5. Bigotry, superstition, fanaticism, wear the sacred name of religion.
6. War is called glory. Could we take from sin the mantle of respectability that society has
thrown over it, we should do much towards its annihilation.
II. GOD IS DETERMINED TO OVERTHROW EVIL BY CONVENTIONALLY
CONTEMPTIBLE MEANS.
1. Negatively. This language does not mean —(1) That the gospel is an inferior thing. The gospel
is not "foolish," "weak," or "base." As a history of facts, as a system of thought, as a code of
laws, it is incomparably the grandest thing within the whole range of human thought. What light
it throws on man, the universe, God! What influence it has exerted, and what changes it has
wrought!(2) That the men appointed as its ministers are to be inferior. This passage has been
abused to support the claims of an ignorant ministry, than which few things have tended more to
degrade Christianity. There are several things to show that the gospel ministry requires the
highest order of mind.(a) The character of the work: "Teaching men in all wisdom."(b) The
character of the system. What a system it is to learn! What mines of truth lie beneath the surface
of the letter! What digging is required to reach the golden ore! Simpletons call the gospel simple,
but intelligence has ever found it of all subjects the most profound and difficult. The greatest
thinkers of all ages have found the work no easy task.(c) The character of society. Who exerts
the most influence upon the real life of the men and women around him? The man of capacity,
thought, sound judgment. If the gospel ministry is to influence men, it must be employed by men
of the highest type of culture and ability.(d) The spirit of the work. Humble, charitable,
forbearing, reverent. Such a spirit as this comes only from deep thought and extensive
knowledge. Ignorance generates a spirit of pride, bigotry, intolerance, and irreverence.(e) The
character of the apostles. Where can you find greater force of soul than Peter's, a more searching
sagacity than James's, a more royal intellect than Paul's, a finer intuitional nature than John's?
They were men of talent and men of thought. And more, they all understood Hebrew and Greek.
We require a long college course for this, and then only very partially reach their linguistical
attainments.

2. Positively. It means —(1) That the gospel was conventionally mean. It was so in the
estimation of the age. The schools, religions, institutions, and great men of the day regarded it
with contempt. It was a "foolish" thing to the Greek, a "weak" thing to the Jew, and a "base" and
"contemptible" thing more or less to all.(2) The first ministers were conventionally mean. They
were not selected from chairs of philosophy, or seats of civil power, or homes of opulence. They
were fishermen. The system and its ministers, however, are merely conventionally contemptible,
nothing more. But these, like many other things that erring man regard as insignificant and mean,
shalt do a great work. The flake of snow is insignificant, but it is commissioned to build up a
mountain that shall overwhelm widespread districts. The coral insect is insignificant, but it builds
up vast islands, beautiful as paradise. The insignificant things do the work of the world. They
clothe the earth with verdure, and provide subsistence for man and beast; they rear majestic
forests, and provide materials for building our cities and our fleets. Even so the gospel. What
work it has already done! What systems it has shattered! What towering institutions it has
levelled to the dust! It has "brought to nought" a vast world of things; and so it shall proceed
until all the "things that are" great in the estimation of man, but bad in themselves, are for ever
brought to "nought." The little pebble shall smite the giant and send him reeling to the grave; the
little stone shall shiver the colossus and scatter its particles to the winds.Conclusion: From this
subject we may infer —
1. That so long as evils exist in the world great commotions are to be expected. God hath chosen
this system to confound, to put to shame, and bring to nought things that are. "It will overturn,
overturn, overturn," the whole system of human things. The gospel, when it first enters a soul,
confounds it. When it enters a country and begins its work it is revolutionary in its action. In the
first ages it confounded the Jewish Sanhedrin, and the heathen priesthood, and the Gentile
philosophy.
2. That the removal of evil from the world is, under God, to be effected through man as man. The
gospel is to make its way, not by men invested with political power, scientific attainments, or
brilliant oratory, but by men as men, endowed with the common powers of human nature,
inspired and directed by the living gospel. Let no one say he is too poor or too obscure, too
destitute of artificial endowments to minister the gospel to others; all that is wanted is the
common sense, the common affection, and the common speech of man.
(D. Thomas, D. D.)
Yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are.
The "things which are not"
B. S. Storrs, D. D.This clause is the last of a series of clauses, of which each that precedes it
prepares the way for it, and by natural progress leads the mind toward it. The foolish and the
weak, the base and the despised things — it is only natural that from the last and lowest of these
the apostle should step to the things which are not; that is, which have no existence that is
recognised by mankind; which arrest no thought, excite no fear, and are not prominent enough to
be scorned. And these things, he says, the Lord hath chosen, to bring to nought the things that
are; the great institutions, establishments, forces, which mark or mould the constitution of
society. He hath chosen them for this purpose, to the end that His name may be magnified by
their agency, and His glory be revealed in their ultimate triumph. That the "things which are," at
any time, in human society, however venerable, are always liable to be displaced by others which
were not in existence, or were not of recognised importance when the former were established.

These are facts familiar as any fact of nature, which impress immediately the most careless
observer. "Things which are not," so far as men's earlier knowledge is concerned, which exist but
in embryo, and are only to be developed by a keener observation, are yet usually superior to the
things which precede them, and more replete with a vitalising energy; that thus each industrious
community is likely to surpass in its later years the attainments of its earlier, and the race itself to
be gradually enriched and elevated as the centuries proceed; these also are facts which modern
history clearly illustrates. But these things of which the age knows not and dreams not are all the
time present to the mind of the Most High; they are indeed His preordained instruments, not only
for working the changes which shall come in the aspects or in the life of society, but for the
grander purpose of establishing supremely His kingdom in the world. So here, as everywhere,
does Christianity vindicate its origin in God's mind, by placing us at once upon the highest levels
of truth, and opening to our minds the widest range for reflection. Let us review the scenes amid
which the text was written, and then the events which became its immediate and complete
vindication. It was written from that delightful and populous city planted by the Ionian colony on
the hills overlooking "the Asian meadows," along the Cayster. In this city of Ephesus, important
and peculiar, partly Greek but still more Oriental in its manners and spirit, the metropolis of a
province, and with a commerce that drew to its wharves the representatives of all nations, in
which schools of philosophy seem so much to have abounded that one of them was opened to
Paul for his labours, yet in which the Eastern superstitions and magic haughtily confronted
philosophy, and still had a power which they had not either at Athens or at Rome. In this city,
where the East and the West were commingled, and within whose spacious walls and harbour
was assembled so busy and so various a life, the apostle, coming westward from Antioch, abode
for more than two years, and from thence wrote this Epistle. It was written to Corinth, that
wealthier, more brilliant, and more luxurious town planted upon the celebrated Greek Isthmus,
and by its position attracting the trade not only of Greece, but of all the countries whose shores
were washed by either of the seas between whose almost meeting waves it fortunately stood. It is
evident, then, at once, what were the institutions which Paul describes as "things that are"; the
great established powers in society, which withstood, or at least did not harmonise with, the
extension of Christianity. Foremost amongst them we must reckon, of course, that haughty
Judaism, dogmatic and secular, into which the religion given by God to the people of His
election had by degrees been transformed, and which now had the seat of its dominion in
Palestine, but the outposts of its influence in many, cities of the empire. Ennobled and vitalised
as it had been at the beginning, by the supreme truth of the being of God, eternal and holy,
almighty and wise. the Creator, moral Governor, and Judge of the universe, it received a
practical impressiveness from the discoveries which it made of His presence and providence, and
of His perfect law. Yet from this religion the nation had early and persistently swung away into
grossest idolatries, reproducing in gold the Egyptian Apis beneath the very pavement of sapphire
on which the feet of God were treading above the mount; in their subsequent history, polluting
the hills which looked out upon Jerusalem with the fury and lust of sacrilegious observances.
Second in order of these "things that are" — these powerful institutes of the day of the apostle,
opposed to Christianity — must be reckoned of course the heathenism which prevailed outside of
the Jews among all nations; which confronted Paul everywhere, ancient as man, but still vigorous
in strength, imperial in place, and arrayed in universal opposition to the gospel. First of all it is to
be recognised by us that this heathenism which so withstood Christianity was not an altogether
artificial system in any nation; that it grew out of real and even deep motions in the general
mind, and was not in its substance a matter of chance or a creature of contrivance, least of all an

arbitrary and fabricated arrangement either of statecraft or of priestcraft; nay, that it had a certain
real moral life in it, and was related not to depraved desire alone, to the lust and the pride which
it never denied and too often deified, but related also, however insufficiently, to needs which the
soul always feels to be inmost and knows to be abiding. Its answer was a vain one, but it sought
to give an answer, to questions which never since the exile from Eden have ceased profoundly to
agitate the race. Unconscious prophecies of better things lurked in many of its forms and in some
of its traditions. Its sacrifices were efforts to staunch the flow from bleeding hearts. And while
the popular mind acknowledged chiefly the hold of its ceremonies and shows, the thoughtful
found also some solace or stimulus in its sublimated legends. Then further it must be noticed that
as existing in any nation it took the form most germane to that people, to its genius and spirit, to
its circumstances and habits; and that everywhere it allied itself with whatever was strongest,
whatever most attracted men's minds. Thus in Greece, from the first, it enshrined itself in art;
made eloquence its advocate; was indebted for the memorable form which it assumed to the
noble poetry in which its mythologies were melodiously uttered. In Rome the same power allied
itself with politics, and became a military force. Still further we must remember that in no land
was this recent; in none was it devoid of that dignity and authority which were derived from a
high antiquity; while to all the peoples, in proportion to their advancement, it was associated
with whatever was to them most renowned and inspiring in their history. It was dear to them as
the bond which connected their life with heroic ages. There remains a third thing to be
recognised as standing among the "things that are" — the powerful institutes and establishments
of society, opposed to Christianity — when Paul was writing from Ephesus to Corinth. But this
was also the most powerful of all; the most dangerous to assail, to human view the most
inaccessible to change or decay; supreme over every force that could touch it, and comparing
with them all as the Mediterranean with the restless streams which sought and sank into it. It
was, of course, the authority and power of imperial Rome. It was hardly as yet at its uttermost
height, this imperial power; for scores of years still slowly passed before that age of Trajan and
the Antonines which marked its consummate might and splendour; while it was later even than
this that Severus carried his victorious arms to Ctesiphon and Seleucia, transferred the entire
legislative power from the senate to himself, and scattered the profuse. memorial of his reign
over Africa and the East. And so was this empire now exhibited to Paul, encircling the sea which
was the centre of his thoughts, from Carthage to Alexandria, from Alexandria to Ephesus, and on
to the very pillars of Hercules, with no sign of weakness. Considering its history, its growth, it
seemed hardly so much a construction of man, this empire of Rome, as one of the preordained
elements of nature; reaching in its exhaustive roots to the centres of history, and draining the
earth to give it nutriment. So it stood before Paul, as at Ephesus he saw it, as everywhere he met
it, as he knew and felt it environing the earth. And Paul knew that this mightiest establishment of
government on the earth, this impregnable despotism which was touched by no fear, against
which human power seemed vain, that this should also, in God's own time, be wrecked and
"brought to nought." But how should it be done? By what agencies should. each of these
prophesied victories over Judaism, heathenism, and the terrible iron-limbed empire of Rome, be
brought to pass? Not, he affirms, by the forces which already are at work in the world, and which
may be still further multiplied, and made to bear on this new issue; not by armies revolting, or
statesmen conspiring, or philosophers projecting new answers to heathenism; not by nations
reclaiming their ravaged rights, or the still existing senate combining with the people to bury the
haughty imperial prerogative in a cataclysm of revolution. The forces which God shall employ
for this work, and to which He shall give a might irresistible, are simply thus far the "things

which are not"; the things which He alone can bring out of the secrets of thought and life, and
make triumphant on their mission. How utterly insignificant was Christianity in the beginnings
before one temple had sprung toward heaven; before one treatise had wrought its principles into
scientific statement, or clothed them in the grace and the majesty of letters; before any
government had sought to incorporate its rules into statutes; before any one of all the great names
now associated with it had become its bulwark in the popular confidence. In the simply spiritual
elements it involved, it was set against this array which opposed it; and of all the auxiliaries
which it afterward gained, not one had as yet appeared on the earth. How utterly insignificant
seemed then its force! How incredibly inadequate to the end to be accomplished! The truths
which had been taught the apostles, and afterward recalled to them and unfolded more fully by
the witness of the Spirit, and which were to be enshrined in evangelical narratives, not one of
which had yet been written — these were the primary instruments to be used, with the oral
proclamation of their principles and laws, for the spread of God's kingdom, and the overthrow of
whatever withstood its advance. And these! — it seemed like binding the lightning in the meshes
and knots of metaphysical argument. Epistles and talks in the synagogue against armies! The
might that lay on letters and lips against the might that ruled from thrones! The publication of
doctrines against establishments of power as rooted- as the hills! And yet these were the very
agencies — these "things which were not" in every sense — which were not regarded, and which
hitherto existed only in germ, these Gospels and Epistles which were still to be written, these
teachings and preachings which had scarcely commenced, these Christian forces in life and
character which hardly thus far had appeared on the earth — these were the forces which God
had chosen to bring to nought the "things that were" — the ancient, immense, and impregnable
institutions that stood in all their august might and tremendous effectiveness fronting the gospel.
Not with energy only, but with an exact precision of speech, had Paul then described them. The
philosopher thought of them, if he thought of them at all, with a contempt only greater than that
which he gave to the most absurd or childish of fables. The soldier regarded them less than the
mists which had hovered last year around the crests of the hills. To the Jew, in comparison of his
august forms and world-challenging miracles, they seemed as frail and shadowy as dreams. The
whole: wisdom of the world anticipated as little an impression from them as we that the tiny
animalculae in the ocean, streaking its waves with phosphorescent glow, will arrest the
revolution of shaft and wheel, and stay the steamship on its march. Those secondary forces, too,
which were in time to be evolved by God's plans, and confederated in effective alliance with
these, although, of course, existing in embryo, they were, if possible, still more unrecognised,
and even unrealised, when Paul was writing. The awakening spiritual longings under Judaism, at
which his ministry to so large an extent was sympathetically aimed; the awakening moral
instincts within heathenism, whose premonitions he must have felt, of which Plutarch soon
afterward became so illustrious an example; the gradual progress of moral decline in all the
systems that were rooted in error and maintained by force — all these were things which one by
one came into development, each in its time, as the truths and the spirit of the gospel went
forward, but which were as latent, when Paul looked forth from Ephesus on the sea, as were the
germs of modern oaks. And those still additional procedures and events, also auxiliary to these
more silent forces, already were purposed in the mind of the Most High; already He saw their
seeds unfolding; but how vaguely, if at all, were they thus far foreshown even to Paul; how
entirely unsuspected were they yet by the world! The destruction of Jerusalem by the arms of
Titus, who seems to have felt himself but the instrument of a power which he could not
comprehend and could not contravene, in his overthrow of the city; the consequent extinction of

the Jewish nationality, the final obliteration of all distinctions between the tribes, and the
scattering of their impoverished remnant to the ends of the earth — this was a fact lying still as
hidden among God's plans. Judaism was surpassed and terminated in a higher religion, more
adequate to man's wants, more illustrative of God's glory. Heathenism was not only broken
down, but it was made, thenceforth and for ever, the veriest outcast of civilisation. The Roman
Empire was as finally extinguished as if the crust of the globe had been opened to swallow it up.
And all was wrought within a few centuries by what; at the outset had appeared so unreal or so
ineffectual.
(B. S. Storrs, D. D.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(25) Because.—This introduces the reason why
Christ, as being crucified, is the power and wisdom of God, viz., because God’s folly (as they
call it) is wiser, not “than the wisdom of men,” as some understand this passage, but than men
themselves—embracing in that word all that men can know or hope ever to know; and the
weakness of God (as they regard it) is stronger than men.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary1:17-25 Paul had been bred up in Jewish learning; but the
plain preaching of a crucified Jesus, was more powerful than all the oratory and philosophy of
the heathen world. This is the sum and substance of the gospel. Christ crucified is the foundation
of all our hopes, the fountain of all our joys. And by his death we live. The preaching of
salvation for lost sinners by the sufferings and death of the Son of God, if explained and
faithfully applied, appears foolishness to those in the way to destruction. The sensual, the
covetous, the proud, and ambitious, alike see that the gospel opposes their favourite pursuits. But
those who receive the gospel, and are enlightened by the Spirit of God, see more of God's
wisdom and power in the doctrine of Christ crucified, than in all his other works. God left a great
part of the world to follow the dictates of man's boasted reason, and the event has shown that
human wisdom is folly, and is unable to find or retain the knowledge of God as the Creator. It
pleased him, by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe. By the foolishness of
preaching; not by what could justly be called foolish preaching. But the thing preached was
foolishness to wordly-wise men. The gospel ever was, and ever will be, foolishness to all in the
road to destruction. The message of Christ, plainly delivered, ever has been a sure touchstone by
which men may learn what road they are travelling. But the despised doctrine of salvation by
faith in a crucified Saviour, God in human nature, purchasing the church with his own blood, to
save multitudes, even all that believe, from ignorance, delusion, and vice, has been blessed in
every age. And the weakest instruments God uses, are stronger in their effects, than the strongest
men can use. Not that there is foolishness or weakness in God, but what men consider as such,
overcomes all their admired wisdom and strength.

Barnes' Notes on the BibleBecause the foolishness of God - That which God appoints, requires,
commands, does, etc., which appears to people to be foolish. The passage is not to be understood
as affirming that it is really foolish or unwise; but that it appears so to people - Perhaps the
apostle here refers to those parts of the divine administration where the wisdom of the plan is not
seen; or where the reason of what God does is concealed.
Is wiser than men - Is better adapted to accomplish important ends, and more certainly effectual
than the schemes of human wisdom. This is especially true of the plan of salvation - a plan
apparently foolish to the mass of people - yet indubitably accomplishing more for the renewing
of people, and for their purity and happiness, than all the schemes of human contrivance. They
have accomplished nothing toward people's salvation; this accomplishes everything. They have
always failed; this never fails.
The weakness of God - There is really no weakness in God, any more than there is folly. This
must mean, therefore, the things of his appointment which appear weak and insufficient to
accomplish the end. Such are these facts - that God should seek to save the world by Jesus of
Nazareth, Who was supposed unable to save himself Matthew 27:40-43; and that he should
expect to save people by the gospel, by its being preached by people who were without learning,
eloquence, wealth, fame, or power. The instruments were feeble; and people judged that this was
owing to the weakness or lack of power in the God who appointed them.
Is stronger than men - Is able to accomplish more than the utmost might of man. The feeblest
agency that God puts forth - so feeble as to be esteemed weakness - is able to effect more than
the utmost might of man. The apostle here refers particularly to the work of redemption; but it is
true everywhere. We may remark:
(1) That God often effects his mightiest plans by that which seems to men to be weak and even
foolish. The most mighty revolutions arise often from the slightest causes; his most vast
operations are often connected with very feeble means. The revolution of empires; the mighty
effects of the pestilence; the advancement in the sciences, and arts, and the operations of nature,
are often brought about by means apparently as little suited to accomplish the work as those
which are employed in the plan of redemption.
(2) God is great. If his feeblest powers put forth, surpass the mightiest powers of man, how great
must be his might. If the powers of man who rears works of art; who levels mountains and
elevates vales; if the power which reared the pyramids, be as nothing when compared with the
feeblest putting forth of divine power, how mighty must be his arm! How vast that strength
which made, and which upholds the rolling worlds! How safe are his people in his hand! And
how easy for him to crush all his foes in death!
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary25. foolishness of God—that is, God's plan of
salvation which men deem "foolishness."
weakness of God—Christ "crucified through weakness" (2Co 13:4, the great stumbling-block of
the Jews), yet "living by the power of God." So He perfects strength out of the weakness of His
servants (1Co 2:3; 2Co 12:9).
Matthew Poole's CommentaryThe foolishness of God is wiser than men; the least things that are
the products of the wisdom of God, or the contrivance of God for man’s salvation, which the
sinful and silly world calls foolishness, are infinitely more wise, and have more wisdom in them,
than the wisest imaginations, counsels, and contrivances of men.

And the weakness of God is stronger than men; and those things and means which God hath
instituted in order to an end, have in them more virtue, power, and efficacy in order to the
production of God’s intended effects, than any such means as appear to men’s eyes of reason to
have the greatest strength, virtue, and efficacy. Whence we may observe, that the efficacy of
preaching for the changing and convering souls, dependeth upon the efficacy of God working in
and by that holy institution, which usually attendeth the ministry of those who are not only called
and sent out by men, but by God, being fitted for their work, and faithfully discharging of it.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleBecause the foolishness of God,.... Not that there is any such
thing as "foolishness" in God, nor the least degree of weakness in him; but the apostle means that
which the men of the world esteem so, and therefore, by an ironical concession, calls it by those
names; by which is intended either Christ, who, as crucified, is counted foolishness; yet he "is
wiser than men": yea, even than Solomon, who was wiser than all men besides; Christ is greater
than he in wisdom, having all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge in him; yea, in redemption
by the blood of his cross, which is accounted such an egregious instance of folly, there is such a
display of wisdom as surpasses all the wisdom of men and angels: and though he is, as crucified,
esteemed as
the weakness of God, yet in this respect,
is stronger than men; stronger than the strong man armed; and has done that by his own arm, has
brought salvation for his people, which neither men nor angels could ever have done: or all this
may be understood of the Gospel of Christ, which is condemned as folly and weakness, and yet
has infinitely more wisdom in it, than is to be found in the best concerted schemes of the wisest
philosophers; and has had a greater influence on the minds and manners of men than theirs ever
had; it is the manifold wisdom of God, and the power of God unto salvation. Moreover, these
words may be applied to the saints, called in 1 Corinthians 1:27.
the foolish and weak things of the world; and yet even these, in the business of salvation, how
foolish soever they may be in other respects, are wiser than the wisest of men destitute of the
grace of God; and however weak they are in themselves, in their own esteem, and in the account
of others, they are able to do and suffer such things, through the strength of Christ that no other
men in the world are able to perform or endure. The phrases here used seem to be a sort of
proverbial ones; and the sense of them is, that whatever, in things divine and spiritual, has the
appearance of folly and weakness, or is judged to be so by carnal men, is wiser and stronger not
only than the wisdom and strength of men, but than men themselves with all their wisdom and
strength. It is very likely, that proverbial expressions of this kind, with a little alteration, were
used by the Jews. The advice the young men gave to Rehoboam is thus paraphrased by the
Targumist (o), , "my weakness is stronger than the strength of my father"; which is very near the
same with the last clause of this verse,
(o) In 2 Chron. 10.
Geneva Study BibleBecause the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God
is stronger than men.
EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT CommentaryHYPERLINK "/1_corinthians/1-25.htm"1 Corinthians 1:25.
Confirmation of the Θεοῦ δύν. κ. Θεοῦ σοφ. by a general proposition, the first half of which
corresponds to the Θεοῦ σοφίαν, and the second to the Θεοῦ δύναμιν.

τὸ μωρὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ] the foolish thing which comes from God,[260] i.e. what God works and
orders, and which appears to men absurd. Comp ΤῸ ΣΩΤΉΡΙΟΝ Τ. ΘΕΟῦ, Luke 2:30.
ΤῶΝ ἈΝΘΡΏΠΩΝ] We are not to amplify this, with the majority of interpreters (including
Beza, Grotius, Valckenaer, Zachariae, Flatt, Pott, Heydenreich, and de Wette), into ΤΟῦ ΣΟΦΟῦ
ΤῶΝ ἈΝΘΡΏΠ., after a well-known abbreviated mode of comparison (see on Matthew 5:20;
John 5:36), which Estius rightly censures here as coactum (comp Winer, p. 230 [E. T. 307]),
because we should have to supply with ΤῶΝ ἈΝΘΡ. not the last named attribute, but its
opposite; the true rendering, in fact, is just the simple one: wiser than men; men possess less
wisdom than is contained in the foolish thing of God.
τὸ ἀσθενὲς τοῦ Θεοῦ] whatever in God’s appointments is, to human estimation, powerless and
resultless. The concrete instance which Paul has in view when employing the general terms ΤῸ
ΜΩΡΌΝ and ΤῸ ἈΣΘΕΝῈς ΤΟῦ ΘΕΟῦ, is the death of Christ on the cross, through which God
has fulfilled the counsel of His eternal wisdom, wrought out with power the redemption of the
world, laid the foundations of everlasting bliss, and overcome all powers antagonistic to Himself.
[260] This, according to the well-known use in Greek of the neuter with the genitive (Poppo, ad
Thuc. VI. p. 168; Kühner, II. p. 122), might also be taken as abstract: the foolishness of God—
the weakness of God. So τὸ μωρόν, Eur. Hipp. 966. But Paul had the concrete conception in his
mind; otherwise he would most naturally have used the abstract μωρόα employed just before.
The meaning of the concrete expression, however, is not: God Himself, in so far as He is foolish
(Hofmann); passages such as 2 Corinthians 4:7, Romans 1:19; Romans 2:4; Romans 8:3, are no
proof of this.—As to the different accentuations of μωρός and μῶρος, see Lipsius, grammat.
Unters. p. 25; Göttling, Accentl. p. 304.
Expositor's Greek TestamentHYPERLINK "/1_corinthians/1-25.htm"1 Corinthians 1:25. What
has been proved in point of fact, viz., the stultification by the cross of man’s wisdom, the Ap. (as
in Romans 3:30; Romans 11:29, Galatians 2:6) grounds upon an axiomatic religious principle,
that of the absolute superiority of the Divine to the human. That God should thus confound the
world one might expect: “because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of
God is stronger than men”. Granted that the λόγος τ. σταυροῦ is folly and weakness, it is God’s
folly, God’s weakness: will men dare to match themselves with that? (cf. Romans 9:20).—τὸ
μωρόν (not μωρία as before), τὸ ἀσθενές are concrete terms—the foolish, weak policy of God
(cf. τὸ χρηστόν, Romans 2:4), the folly and weakness embodied in the cross.—ἰσχυρός (ἰσχύς)
implies intrinsic strength; δύναμις is ability, as relative to the task in view.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges25. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men,
&c.] What was folly in the eyes of the Greek, or weakness in the eyes of the Jew, was yet far
wiser and stronger than their highest conceptions. The revelation of God in the man Christ Jesus,
the Infinite allying itself to the Finite—the foolishness of God—was the perfection of the Divine
Wisdom; the crucifixion of sin in the Death of Christ; God suffering, dying—the weakness of
God—was the highest manifestation of Divine Power, in that it destroyed what nothing else
could destroy. For whosoever unites himself to Christ by faith in His Blood acquires the faculty
of putting sin to a lingering death.
Bengel's GnomenHYPERLINK "/1_corinthians/1-25.htm"1 Corinthians 1:25. Τοῦ Θεοῦ, of
God) in Christ.—σοφώτερον—ἰσχυρότερον, wiser—stronger) 1 Corinthians 1:30.—τῶν

ἀνθρώπων, than men) The phraseology is abbreviated;[12] it means, wiser than the wisdom of
men, stronger than the strength of men, although they may appear to themselves both wise and
powerful, and may wish to define what it is to be wise and powerful.
[12] See App., under the title, Concisa Locutio.
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 25. - The foolishness of God... the weakness of God; the method, that
is, whereby God works, and which men take to be foolish and weak, because with arrogant
presumption they look upon themselves as the measure of all things. But God achieves the
mightiest ends by the humblest means, and the gospel of Christ allied itself from the first, not
with the world's strength and splendour, but with all which the world despised as mean and
feeble - with fishermen and tax gatherers, with slaves, and women, and artizans. The lesson was
specially needful to the Corinthians, whom Cicero describes ('De Leg. Age,' 2:32) as "famous,
not only for their luxuriousness, but also for their wealth and philosophic culture."
Vincent's Word StudiesThe foolishness (τὸ μωρὸν)
Lit., the foolish thing. More specific than the abstract μωρία foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:18, 1
Corinthians 1:21), and pointing to the fact of Christ crucified.
PRECEPT AUSTIN RESOURCES
Dr. Jack L. Arnold
Winter Park, Florida Sermon #5
FIRST CORINTHIANS
The Foolishness Of The Cross
I Corinthians 1:17-24
At this very moment, there is in this world a struggle for the minds of men. Will people seek
God’s wisdom or man’s wisdom? Will they go God’s way or their own way? Will they accept
humanism or theism? Will they acknowledge secularism or Christianity? Will they yield to
naturalism or supernaturalism? Will they make God their god or man their god? Whether one
follows the wisdom of God or the wisdom of man is directly related to what he does with the
Cross, where one of the ugliest, most repulsive and gruesome scenes in history took place—the
ignominious death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why would fairly intelligent, more or less normal

human beings, give themselves over to this crucified Christ? The answer to this question is found
in First Corinthians 1:17-24.
The Corinthian church was torn into pieces by division within its own ranks. They were
following men. Some followed Paul, glorying in their Gentile liberty. Others followed Apollos,
who was the epitome of the Hellenistic intellectual culture. Others followed Peter (Cephas), who
liked a traditional Jewish approach to Christianity. Then there were those who were super-pious,
an exclusive party who claimed to be followers of Christ only. The problem at Corinth was that
the Christians were impressed with the wisdom of men. The church was quarreling over what
Paul called the “words of human wisdom” (I Cor. 1:17). They found it particularly stimulating to
enter into debates about all kinds of theories and speculations centered around certain dynamic
personalities. When people began to glory in human wisdom, they began to glory in leaders, and
when they began to glory in leaders, there were divisions (schisms) within the church. They were
exalting leaders because they were playing intellectual games which always leads to pride. In
First Corinthians 1:10-17, Paul established the fact that there were divisions at Corinth. In First
Corinthians 1:18-3:21, Paul deals with the causes of those divisions. The first cause was their
glorying in human wisdom.
In First Corinthians 1:17, Paul declared emphatically he had been called to preach the gospel.
“For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel” (1:17). The gospel was central
for Paul. What is the gospel? All people are sinners, separated from God, under His wrath, lost,
and headed for eternal judgment in hell. God sent Christ to die for sinful people who could not
save themselves by any human works or acts. Christ died in the sinner's place, a substitute for the
sinner—his sins, curse, judgment and hell. Christ then rose from the dead, showing He is
victorious over sin, death and hell. Now all who receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord by faith,
believing He died for them, will be saved. That, my friends, is the gospel and it all centers
around the Cross of Christ.
In First Corinthians 1:17, Paul also declares the Cross is not to be preached in the words of
human wisdom or the Cross is stripped of all its power to save. “Not with words of human
wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power” (1:17). The Greeks placed tremendous
emphasis on eloquence, excellent rhetoric, good diction, high sounding words; colorful language,
and oratorical ability. The Greek professional men of wisdom had a methodology that
embellished all of their messages with flowery eloquence. In many cases, the Greeks would
rather hear something said beautifully than something said clearly. Paul's message was not the
message of the Greek philosophers, who engaged in all sorts of speculations and disputations
over theories and hypothesis. Rather, Paul's commission was to preach the gospel, the message
of the Cross, the good news of the crucified Christ. He preached plainly, clearly and bluntly the
Cross of Christ so people could understand it. To approach the gospel philosophically or to
couch it in high sounding terms would empty the Cross of its power. Flowery wordings and
philosophical reasoning in preaching no longer make the Cross a cross. Why? The Cross, by its
very nature, is an offense to men. It says man is nothing; he is depraved, a sinner by imputation,
nature and acts, and he is in need of a Savior because he cannot save himself. The Cross says
man is absolutely, totally, helplessly, and hopelessly lost. The moment preachers put the Cross in
high sounding phrases, in man’s wisdom, in philosophical terms, this appeals to man’s mind and
feeds his pride. The gospel then evaporates into a system, a principle, a theory. The gospel is not
a system, but a person, not a principle but a salvation. Remember, Paul himself was a learned

man, educated in Tarsus, and he sat under the famous Gamaliel, but in preaching the gospel of
Christ he set his secular learning aside. He preached Christ crucified in plain language.
The central aspect of Paul's preaching was the Cross of Christ. The cross has become a modern
day symbol for Christianity. People wear the cross around their necks. The cross is displayed in
most church buildings and it stands high on many a steeple. We become so use to seeing the
cross that it has lost meaning for us, and we certainly do not understand the cross as the first
century Christians did. To them it was a horrible symbol of the death of a criminal.
"It (the cross) was for these early Christians, and for those among whom they lived, a horrible
symbol. If you had used it then as a symbol it would have made people shudder. We would get
much closer to it today if we substituted a symbol of an electric chair for the cross. Suppose we
had an electric chair mounted on our wall here, with its straps and its atmosphere of death and
shame? Wouldn’t it be strange driving across this country to see church steeples with electric
chairs on top? We would get much closer to the meaning that the cross had in the minds of first
century people if that were true” (Roy Stedman, First Corinthians).
It is interesting to note that the cross had such negative connotations that it was not used as a
symbol for over a hundred years in the early church.
COMPLETE FOOLISHNESS OF THE CROSS 1:18
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. There are two basic
reactions to the Cross. First, the unsaved, who are in the process of perishing and will perish for
all eternity unless they turn to Christ by faith, look upon the message of Christ as foolishness;
that is, they see the gospel as stupid, silly, absurd and nonsense. The Greek word “foolishness” is
the word from which we get the English word “moron.” The unsaved man looks at the Cross as
moronic. Perhaps you can now understand a little better the way your unsaved family or friends
or business associates react to you when you talk about Christ to them. You appear to be a moron
because “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.” The unsaved man
sees no point to the gospel at all. “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that
come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them,
because they are spiritually discerned” (I Cor. 2:14).
Whenever we witness to a very self-sufficient, self-made man and tell him all of his impressive
record or achievement is worth nothing in the sight of God, that it does not make him one degree
more acceptable in the sight of God, that it is nothing more than wasted effort, we immediately
feel the sting of the offense of the Cross. He will say, “You mean to tell me all this impressive
array of knowledge and wisdom that has been accumulated for centuries, with all the great
achievements of mankind in the realm of relieving human misery and the technological advances
of our day, that all this is worthless and that God will not take this into account in the area of
salvation. Nonsense!”
But to us who are being saved it is the power of God. Another reaction to the gospel is by
believers in Christ who are in the process of being saved; they are not yet perfect (far from it) but
they are on their way to final salvation. For the saved, the gospel is the power of God. This
message of Christ brings deliverance from the guilt of sin. It breaks the chains of the bondage of
sin in daily living, and it promises complete deliverance from the presence of sin the future. It is
the Cross which releases all the spiritual blessings of life; it is the basis for all true peace and joy.
The gospel is not simply good advice to men, telling them what they should do, nor is it a
message about God’s power. It is God’s power! "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is

the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the
Gentile” (Rom. 1:16). The gospel is a declaration not a system.
Notice carefully how Paul divides all humanity into two classes of people--the saved and the
unsaved, those perishing and those being saved. There is no middle ground! Every person is
either on the way to eternal judgment or on the way to an eternal heaven. The difference is one’s
attitude and commitment to the message of the Cross, which is nothing more than commitment to
the person and work of Christ alone for salvation. Now we may be beginning to see why the
Cross was so important to the Apostle Paul. Human wisdom, philosophy or man-made
speculations will never save a soul. The gospel message alone can save men, women, boys and
girls, for it is the power of God.
CONDEMNATION OF HUMAN WISDOM 1:19-20
Man’s Reason Is Insufficient Because of Scripture (19-20)
For it is written. These Corinthians were starting to glory in human wisdom. There is nothing
wrong with human wisdom in certain categories, but human wisdom has its limitations. There is
one category where human wisdom plays absolutely no part--the salvation of a man’s soul. The
message of the gospel alone brings men salvation and a knowledge of God. Paul introduces four
propositions in First Corinthians 1:19-31 to prove that human wisdom has no part in salvation.
The first reason is scriptural and he quotes from Isaiah 29:14,
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
God proved in the Old Testament that He denounced all human wisdom as folly. Men have
always thought their way was right, but God reduces their reasoning to nothing. He destroys it.
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death” (Prov. 14:12).
Where is the wise man? What human wisdom could Babylon, Egypt, Greece and Rome add to
God’s wisdom and His way of salvation? None. The wise man may be a general reference to
secular scholars who think they have all the answers to difficult problems.
Where is the scholar (scribe)? The Jews approached wisdom and knowledge from a study of
ancient writings and Scripture. This would correspond to scholarly people, men and women, of
letters in our society. But what can they add to God’s way of salvation in Christ? Nothing.
Where is the philosopher (debater) of this age? This refers to the Greek philosophers who loved
to debate the philosophies of their day and it would correspond to all the learned men of our day.
But what can they add to God’s way of salvation in Christ? Nothing.
Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? Man’s wisdom in God’s sight is
foolishness. The best of man’s wisdom is folly. Even in the categories where human wisdom is
valid, it has proven faulty. Human wisdom raises the right questions but does not have the right
answers. Human solutions are temporary and not permanent; it sounds impressive, radiates
optimism, and does seem to temporarily work in some situations, but ultimately it solves
nothing. This is why every generation wrestles with the same problems, and that remains true as
far back as we can go into human history. This is why one generation never seems to learn from
another. Men still go hungry; there is social injustice; there is war; there is greed; there is
political maneuvering. Look at the wisdom of man in the failure of the United Nations. See the
wisdom of man in the hopelessness of the ghettos of the city of New York. Watch the panic of

the world as it tries to solve a global economic crisis. See the wisdom of man in the USA and
western culture as it crumbles away morally, grasping at every straw to solve the AIDS
epidemic. Look at the wisdom of man in the blood-soaked streets of Bosnia. If the wisdom of
man is faulty in the categories where it is supposed to work, then this is proof positive that
human wisdom most assuredly cannot work in the area of salvation.
“Certain it is that while men are gathering knowledge and power with ever-increasing speed,
their virtues and their wisdom have not shown any notable improvement as the centuries have
rolled. Under sufficient stress, starvation, terror, warlike passion, or even cold, intellectual
frenzy, the modern man we know so well will do the most terrible deeds, and his modern woman
will back him up” (Winston Churchill).
Man's Reason Is Insufficient Because of God's Decree (21)
For since in the wisdom of God the world through its own wisdom did not know him. In His
plan, God decreed that men, with all their wisdom, would not come to know God through that
wisdom. Why has God allowed human wisdom then? To give us prestige? To help us make
money? To give us power? To better society? To bring peace on earth? According to Paul, the
ultimate purpose of wisdom was to bring people to God. It was allowed to show men the utter
futility of human wisdom to save themselves. Human wisdom fails to show men their need of
God. Paul is saying that man, by his own reasoning, may try and try but his efforts will never
bring anyone to God. Therefore, why should anyone trust in that which is doomed to failure?
Man’s wisdom is faulty because it fails to recognize God as He is revealed in Christ through
Scripture. God is behind all that exists, and to leave Him out is the folly of follies. This is why
God is left out of the American public school system. No one dares to mention God’s name, for
to do so would be to admit that He is the God of all true knowledge. This is one of the reasons
our children should be exposed to Christian education so they can learn to relate God to every
area of life. Only an education that is Christian can really do this.
God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. It
pleased God, because He has a plan, to bless the message of the gospel. He sovereignly and
freely decreed by the foolishness of the thing preached to save those who respond positively to
the message. Men look at the doctrine of the Cross and think it is nonsense, but God has decreed
that men be saved only this way. This is why human wisdom and philosophy have no part in
salvation. God has made a decree: If any person is to be saved, have his sins forgiven, be granted
eternal life and a righteousness which will make him acceptable to God, and go to heaven, this
person will enter into these blessings through the message of the Cross.
The response of those who are called by God is to believe. Believing does not mean giving
assent to. It means taking a risk and putting one’s whole trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation.
Man’s Reason Is Insufficient Because of Spiritual Blindness (22)
Jews demand miraculous signs. The Jews (which categorically speaks of any
religious person) are blinded to the truth of the message of Christ. They were very much matter
of fact and practical. They demanded evidence for everything. Many times the Jews said to
Christ, "Show us a sign” and then they would believe. Christ showed them many signs but they
still didn’t believe because of the hardness of their hearts. The Jews thought they had God all
figured out and that He would act in the way they thought He should act; but He did not. They

thought the Messiah would come with striking manifestations of power and majesty to deliver
Israel from the yoke of Rome. To them a crucified Messiah was a contradiction of terms. They
kept asking for more signs before they would believe because they were spiritually blind. They
rejected the greatest of all signs—the Lord’s resurrection.
The modern religious man is always looking for a sign, always looking for a feeling, always
looking for a new experience, always getting security somehow from a miracle or a shrine or a
cathedral to confirm his or her faith. A very recent sign of this nature is the Shroud of Turin
which is supposedly the burial shroud of Jesus. This has evoked much attention in some circles.
Another example is the search for Noah's Ark somewhere in Turkey. Still another is the
insatiable desire for miracles (signs and wonders) in our day to somehow strengthen our faith.
Why all this fuss over signs? Because something in us says if God will give some sign we will
believe. We need no signs, only the crucified and resurrected Christ
And the Greeks look for wisdom. The unsaved, intelligent Greek took great pride in his wisdom
and reveled in his speculative philosophy. Herodotus said, “All Greeks were zealous for every
kind of learning.” He too was spiritually blind. The modern intellectual is much like the ancient
Greek who wanted to talk and talk and yet not say much. The more complex and confusing a
subject is made, the more leaned it obviously appears. Therefore, the intellectual man
rationalizes and talks himself away from God. If the gospel did not make rational, logical sense
to the Greek, he wanted nothing to do with it. Any touch of the supernatural was mocked as
madness.
CRUCIFIXION POWER 1:23-24
But we preach Christ crucified; a stumbling block to the Jews. To the Jew, the death of the
Messiah would be the ultimate contradiction. Why? For them, Messiah meant power, splendor,
and triumph but crucifixion meant weakness, humiliation, and defeat. A crucified Messiah was
the ultimate stumbling block (scandal). For a person to hang from a tree was for a Jew to be
placed under a curse. “...because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse” (Deut.
21:23). Messiah would be for them a despised criminal -- a total contradiction to the Jewish
mind.
And foolishness to Gentiles. To the intellectual Greek, a crucified Christ was a brainless
superstition, pure madness, moronic. Any belief in a miraculous death and a supernatural
resurrection was folly to the closed Greek mind. The whole story of the Cross was absurd. Until
the intellectual skeptic humbles himself and gives up reliance on his own insight and
understanding, the gospel will always be nonsense.
The message of Christ trips up the religious man and it is absurd to the rational man. If the
gospel was a stumbling block and foolishness, why didn’t Paul water it down and get rid of the
offensive elements? Why didn’t he make it attractive so he could have a big church? If he would
have watered it down, then it would not have been a means of salvation to sinners. To
compromise the gospel is to give up the gospel. To give up the gospel is to give up Christianity.
But to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the
wisdom of God. In the word “called” we have the key to Christianity. This refers to the
sovereign, efficacious, irresistible call of God to salvation. Christianity is supernaturally based
on God's calling of sinners to Himself. We are Christians because God did a supernatural work in
our hearts to bring us to faith in Christ. Christianity is not anti-intellectual but it is supernatural.

As Christians, we understand that Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God because we
are experiencing the effects of the crucified and resurrected Savior in our lives.
CONCLUSION
What lessons are we Christians to learn from this section of Scripture? First, only the gospel of
Christ is God’s message of salvation, and there is no other way to God except through Christ.
Second, human philosophy only empties the Cross of its real meaning; therefore, the gospel
should never be presented in philosophical terminology. Third, when preaching the gospel, we
must never hide it by toning it down or obscure it by eloquence. Our goal should not be to have
people go away from a gospel presentation saying, “What a brilliant preacher! What a splendid
personality! What a dynamic orator! Oh, he made me feel so good inside!” No, our desire should
be to get the facts of the Cross to people so they might say, “What a guilty sinner I am, and how
amazing is the love of God that sent His Son to die for sinners such as me.” Fourth, as Christians,
we must make a declaration of the whole gospel to men, for the gospel is not a system or a
philosophy to be debated, but a message about a person who died for sinners. How often in a
gospel presentation are we sidetracked in philosophical discussions, the right or wrong of
evolution, or the inequities of social justice in the world, and we forget to present Christ crucified
to men. Fifth, while no human reasoning can save anyone, a Christian is not to commit
intellectual suicide by throwing out intellectual pursuits. He must be intellectually alert and know
the thinking and philosophies of secular minds in order to destroy worldly thinking by showing
its inadequacy to save a man. Sixth, we must be careful about wanting intellectual respectability
with the unsaved world, for in getting it we will have to compromise the faith somewhere. We
are not here to please men but to please God. Seventh, the cure for divisiveness and dissension in
a local church is a proper understanding and appreciation of the gospel. Believing the gospel is
not only the means by which we become Christians, it is also the means by which we are
delivered in our Christian experience from all causes of disagreements, factions and dissensions.
The Cross makes us focus on what we Christians have in common and not on our differences on
secondary theological issues and petty personal preferences.
If you are not a Christian, I would like to ask you a very simple question. Could human
reasoning ever think up this way of salvation through Christ? We see Christ, a crucified, sinless
Savior, dying for sinful men who deserve nothing but hell. We see salvation is not by any human
works or acts but purely by God’s grace through faith in Christ. This is too great a
concept to think men could have thought it up. Therefore, I ask you, "Are you among those who
are perishing?” If you are, I present to you Christ who saves people from the guilt, penalty,
power, and presence of sin, If you think the gospel message is nonsense, I can assure you it
makes sense to those who are called by God. In fact, the gospel is God's power to save all who
believe.
"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone
who believes.. .“ (Rom. 1:16).
BARCLAY

Jesus was the foolishness and weakness of god

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