Jesus was the foolishness and weakness of god'

JESUS WAS THE FOOLISHNESS AND WEAKNESS OF GOD'
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
1 Corinthians1:25 25Forthe foolishness of God is
wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is
stronger than human strength.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Christ The PowerOf God
1 Corinthians 1:24
H. Bremne
The powerof God is seenin nature and in providence, but here we have a new
conceptionof it. Jesus Christis 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, whichseems to us the culmination of
weakness,he sees the very powerof God. Consider -
I. THE ELEMENTSOF DIVINE POWER TO BE FOUND IN THE CROSS
OF CHRIST.
1. The death of Christ manifests the power of God's love. As soonas we
understand the meaning of the cross, we cannothelp exclaiming," Herein is
love!" Nor is it merely the factof his love to men which it reveals, for this
might be learned elsewhere;but it is the greatnessofhis 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 gaugedby the
fact that he gave up to death his own Son. "Godso loved the world that he
gave his only begotten Son," etc. (John 3:16); "He that sparednot his own
Son," etc. (Romans 8:32). What a power of love is here! Not an angel, nor
some unique being speciallycreatedand endowedfor 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 failus here. "Greaterlove 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 salvationin the face of hatred
and scorn. Thus on both sides the love of God is seenin 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 accountcanexplain the mystery. In a
work the professeddesignof 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 Sonof
God himself should be found with sin upon him? Shall the swordawake and
smite the man that is God's Fellow (Zechariah13:7)? 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 descriptionof God as a "powermaking
for righteousness" is applicable anywhere, it is so here; for nowhere is he so
severelyrighteous as in the working out of salvation for men. Nothing can
more powerfully appeal to conscience thanhis 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, Ourreadiestmeasure of any force in nature is the effectit
produces, and in this way we may gauge the powerof the cross. Takeit:
1. In regard to the powers of darkness. "Forthis purpose the Sonof God was
manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:15; comp.
Hebrews 2:14). The executionof 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]." Itis as if ten
thousand fiendish arms were stretchedout to pluck him from that cross;but
he strips them off him, and hurls them back into the abyss. It costhim much
to win that victory, even "strong crying and tears" and an agonyof soul
beyond all human experience;but the triumph was complete.
2. In regard to the actual salvationof 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 poweris adequate to this? Take Paul's ownconversion, on which
apologists have been willing to stake the supernatural characterof
Christianity. And every conversionpresents substantially the same features. It
is nothing less than a new creation(2 Corinthians 5:17) - a calling of light out
of darkness, orderout of chaos, life out of death; and this is a more wonderful
exercise ofpower than that which gave existence to the universe. The fair
temple of God in the soulhas to be built, not out of fresh hewn stones, but out
of the ruins of our former selves. A poor weak man is rescuedfrom
corruption, defended "againstthe spiritual hosts of wickednessin the
heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12), and presented at last without blemish
before God, - what but Divine power canaccomplishthis? Add to this the
exercise ofthis powerin a countless number of instances. Fromthe 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. Readsuch a catalogueofafflictions
as he gives us in 2 Corinthians 11:23-33, and ask why a man should
voluntarily undergo all these. Thousands have followedhis example, meeting

toil, privation, death, for their Lord's sake. Nordoes the power of the cross
shine less conspicuouslyin the sick chamber. How many a Christian invalid
exhibits a patience, a meekness, a cheerfulness, whichcan be found nowhere
else!- B.
Biblical Illustrator
Becausethe foolishness ofGod is wiserthan men; and the weaknessofGod
strongerthan men.
1 Corinthians 1:25-28
The gospelas contemplatedby man and employed by God
J. Lyth, D. D.
I.ITS DOCTRINE— is foolishness,yet wiserthan men.
II.ITS AGENCIES — are weak, yetstronger than men.
(J. Lyth, D. D.)

For ye see your calling, brethren.
The Christian calling
Bp. Huntington.
1. The word "calling" means the greatprimary truth of religion, viz., that our
erring life is governedby a will above it, and is capable of receiving influences
of attraction from the Spirit of God. A man's common employment, too, is
spokenof as his "calling." Butthis usage discovers the same origin; for it
must have sprung up in days when it was verily believed that eachman's
business in the world was a sacredappointment. A living faith not only
justifies that view, but requires it; for it supposes that in the soul which has
confessedits calling there is a powerof holy consecrationsupreme over all the
choices andpursuits of the mind.
2. The expressionstirs some feeling of mystery. More is suggestedthan the
understanding clearly grasps. Butthere is something here that is plain enough
to common sense, and, to earnestmoods at least, very welcome. How many
weeks willany of us be able to live without coming to some spotwhere it will
be felt as a rational comfort to believe that all our way was orderedfor 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 objectin existence so pre-eminent that to accomplishthat is to fulfil the
greatpurpose of our being, and to fail of that is to miss the chief end. It is only
triflers who conceive oftheir 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 observedof 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
assentedto 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 perseveringlythe New Testamentclings to this
particular conceptionof the Christian relation. Disciples are said to be "the
calledof Jesus,""calledout of darkness into marvellous light," "calledunto
liberty," "calledto peace,""calledto eternallife," "called" first, to be
afterwards "justified and glorified," "calledto inherit a blessing," "calledin
one body" and "one hope," "calledby 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 electionsure" 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 ofthis 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 charactersprings from its own root, grows by its
own laws, and bears its own peculiar fruit. It must have a beginning, which
the New Testamenteverywhere speaksofas being born into a new life. Then
there must be a growing into greaterstrength 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 comparisonwith it.
II. THAT THIS IDEA OF A "CALLING" INDIVIDUALISES NOT ONLY
THE CHRISTIAN OBLIGATION, BUT THE CHRISTIAN PERSON. Paul
had no conceptionof a socialChristianity apart from the personal
righteousness ofthe men that make up society. It is your calling. It is quite
vain for us to congratulate eachotheron a state of generalintegrity 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, eachbeginning with himself.
How wearyand indignant God must be at hearing the Pharisaic praises ofa
Christian religion, legislation, literature, country, from speakersand 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, eachfor himself. The
work is for each. "Repent," "Thoushaltlove the Lord thy God," "Take up
the cross andcome after Me," are for each. "Ye see your calling."
III. THAT, NOTWITHSTANDINGALL THIS, CHRIST'S TRUTH IS A
MATTER, NOT OF 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 circumstanceshappen to predispose them
for a spiritual plane of being, making it easyfor them to reachit. The Bible
makes no such exceptions. "Whosoeverwill." Noris the Christian calling a
whit the less universal and impartial for the reasonthat it is special, requiring
a personalconsecration. 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 householdof humanity.
If there were any variations excusing men from this calling, they might be
expectedto exist either in their nature, their place, or their time. Yet how far
these things are from constituting an apologyfor disregarding the duty of a
disciple!
1. Take the inequalities of intellectualequipment. 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 gospelwas first preached,
and in every age it is with them that its simple and consoling truths have
found their most cordial and fruitful reception. Wealthand station? But unto
whom much is given, of them shall much be required. Or is it the busy and
contentedstate of pecuniary mediocrity or a competency? Yet that is the very

state which, of all others, a wise man is representedas 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 Godfrom loving his Maker,
serving his Saviour, and living in godly charity with his fellow-men.
3. The changing aspects ofthe times are just as powerless to acquit any single
conscienceofits 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 affectionor 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. Setthy 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 unshadowedand
undivided heaven.
2. Parents. To exercise your trust you will have to feel that the Christian
characterof every child committed to your charge is immeasurably the most
urgent interestof 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 factof faith. Our vague and vagrant life is attracted by a
magnetism and swayedby 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. Calledout of
darkness into marvellous light — "unto liberty," "to peace,""to eternallife,"
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 INTENSELYPERSONAL.
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. Notthat 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-sufficiencyand independence.

(J. Lyth, D. D.)
The few and the many
J. Service, D. D.
1. There is a greatdifference betweena historicalstatement 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 takenas if it were doctrinal,
though it is, in fact, historical, with mischievous results; for if these classesare
always to be reckonedunchristian and unbelieving —(1) Thoughtful men of
all classeswould, on that accountalone, hesitate to embrace the gospel. If
Christianity were only fit for the mob, its prospects would be poor, especially
as the educationof 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. Eachgenerationmore nearly than its predecessor
approaches to the condition of the privileged classesofsociety — the wise, the
mighty, the noble.
3. On the other hand, considerthe text as historical, and it is plain enough. We
still sometimes hearexplanations given of how it is that the learnedand the
greatand 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 accountfor the fact, if it were one. It is nonsense, e.g.,to say
that wise men in their conceitrejectChristianity 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 easyto understand why the classes
specifiedwere 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 greatsagesofantiquity. It would
certainly not be anything to boastof if we had to suppose that Christianity
rejectedthem or they it; for one could wish that the majority of Christians
had attained to as lofty, as enlightened ideas as some in the goldenage of
Greek wisdomentertained and taught. But we have to do here with the men of
a degenerate time — smatterers, would-be wise men, pretenders to universal
knowledge, whichis often largestand loudest where ignorance and frivolity
divide betweenthem the empire of the human mind.
2. Norwere 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 discoverthe facts of nature, life, and history, and construct
their theories according to the facts. But exactlythe reverse was the common
way of the wise men here spokenof.(2) Our modern thinkers are seekersafter
truth, and they are as likely to discoverthe truth of Christianity as other
people, if not more so. These ancientwise 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
eachman 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, enjoyedwhat 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 ofnovelty.(1) So it
most repelled those who had leastto gain and most to lose by any change.
These, ofcourse, were the privileged classeshere mentioned.(2) Remember,
too, that the changes whichChristianity threatened were the most violent, and
therefore the most distasteful possible to these classes.Theywere free, and a
greatpart 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)Thenconsiderthat the gospel was gospelin those days. It was a
plain, straightforwarddeclarationof the truth that God is love, and man's
true life is love; that to be selfishis to be damned, to love is to be saved.
2. The gospelhas no longer these disadvantages.Whensons of nobles are ill-
paid clergymen, and sovereigns andstatesmenare gratuitous defenders of the
faith, there is nothing to hinder the greatand 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 leastas many of these
classesas ofany 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 greatestnatural
powers, cultivated with the most assiduous care, and one would have expected
him ever to have been the advocate ofknowledge. Againstthis, however, the
text is often quoted. But this admits of a double construction — either "that
not many wise men after the flesh" were calledto believe the gospel, or were
calledto preachthe gospel. Now, thatthe former interpretation is erroneous
will be apparent when we tell you that, although during Christ's life the
majority of the Pharisees andrulers did not believe on Him (John 7:48; comp.
12:42), immediately after the day of Pentecosta greatcompany 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, convertedto the
faith, are to be reckonedamongstthe wise and learned, with truth it cannot be
said, "Notmany 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., calledthe Corinthians into the gospel.
2. Should, however, the correctness ofthe present version be maintained, we
still deny that it was written to warn us againstthe 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 passagewhich 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 conclusionworthy your attention, inasmuch as, if
disproved, it would tend to cause the pious scholarto throw aside all the aids
he might derive from history, criticism, and science in explaining and
defending the oracles ofGod. 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 ofthe Deity and of social
duties have ever followed. When Christianity was spreading many of the wise,
indeed, rejectedit, 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 Reformationspeak an unmistakable language in favour of
human acquirements.
2. It is from the arsenalof knowledge thatthe most formidable weapons have
been takenwherewith to resistthe assaults ofinfidelity.
3. The benefits of a knowledge ofscience,history, &c., to the missionary are
simply incalculable.

4. The cultivation of learning greatlyconduces to a right understanding of the
Bible.
II. THE OPPOSITIONTO KNOWLEDGE commencedin primitive times.
Whilst and Clement recommended the study of literature, declaimed againstit
as the source of those heresies whichdisturbed the peace of the Church.
Becausephilosophers had erred philosophy was condemned; and yet, in
defiance of the experience which has proved that there is no necessary
connectionbetweenphilosophy and infidelity, in spite of the fact that Newton
and Baconand PascalandBoyle have submitted their powerful minds to the
teaching of the gospel, the same objectionand 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 existedminds as
powerful as any which have since adorned the pages of history) the grossest
immorality prevailed amongstthe 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 assertionof our apostle.
2. Knowledge is fatally abused when Scripture is wrestedfrom 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 conclusionopposedto a certainportion of the Bible, our duty is to
extend our observationtill we obtain a result in accordance withthat
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 reasonwhy 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 — "Godhath chosen." This will be clearif we consider —
1. The facts. God electedfallen man, but not the fallen angels;Abraham, the
Jews, David, &c. God is a king. Men may setup 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, especiallyin the
work of salvation, His will should be the greatdetermining 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 choosesHis own children.(2) The Church, again, is called —(a) A
building. With whom does the architecture rest? With the building? Do the
stones selectthemselves?No;the Architect alone disposes ofHis chosen
materials according to His own will.(b) Christ's bride. Would any man here
agree to have any person forcedupon him as his bride?
II. THE ELECTION ITSELF. Now observe —
1. How strange is the choice He makes. "He hath not chosenmany wise," &c.
If man had receivedthe power of choosing, these are just the persons who
would have been selected. "ButGod 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. Manchoosesthose who would be
most helpful to him; God choosesthose to whom He can be the most helpful.
We selectthose who may give us the bestreturn; God frequently selectsthose
who most need His aid. We selectthose who are most deserving; He selects
those who are leastdeserving, that so His choice may be more clearly seento
be an actof grace and not of merit.
3. It is very gracious. It is gracious evenin its exclusion. It does not say, "Not
any," it only says, "Notmany"; so that the greatare not altogethershut out.

Grace is proclaimedto the prince, and in heaven there are those who on earth
wore coronets and prayed.
4. It is very encouraging. Some ofus cannotboastof any pedigree; we have no
greatlearning, we have no wealth, but He has been pleasedto choose justsuch
foolish, despisedcreatures as ourselves.
III. THE ELECTED. Theyare described —
1. Negatively.(1)"Notmany wise men after the flesh." God has chosentruly
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
scornupon the illiterate and callthem idiots, these are not chosenin any great
number. Strange, is it not? and yet a goodreasonis given. If they were chosen,
why then they would say, "Ah! how much the gospelowes to us! How our
wisdom helps it!"(2) "Notmany mighty." And you see why — because the
mighty might have said, "Christianity spreads because ofthe goodtemper of
our swords and the strength of our arm." We can all understand the progress
of Mahommedanism during its first three centuries.(3)"Notmany noble," for
nobility might have been thought to stamp the gospelwith its prestige.
2. Positively. "Godhath chosen" —(1)"The foolish things"; as if the Lord's
chosenwere not by nature goodenough to be calledmen, but were only
"things."(2)"The weak things" — not merely weak men, but the world
thought them weak things." "Ah!" said Caesarin the ball, if he said anything
at all about it, "Who is King Jesus? A poor wretch who was hangedupon 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 cannottrace their descent.(4)"Things that are
despised," sneeredat, 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 confoundthe wise." Forone wise man to
confound another wise man is remarkable; for a wise man to confound a

foolish man is very easy;but for a foolishman to confound a wise man — ah!
this is the finger of God.(2)"To confound the mighty." "Oh!" said Caesar,
"we will soonrootup this Christianity; off with their heads." The different
governors hastenedone after another of the disciples to death, but the more
they persecutedthem the more they multiplied. All the swords of the
legionaries whichhad put to rout the armies of all nations, and had overcome
the invincible Gaul and the savageBriton, could not withstand the feebleness
of Christianity, for the weaknessofGod is mightier than men.(3) "To bring to
nought the things that are." Whatwere they in the apostle's days? Jupiter,
Saturn, Venus, Diana. Here comes Paulwith "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 attackedby 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 backedby the Spirit of God, shall bring to nought the things that
are.
2. The ultimate reasonis "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 Solonand Socrates, the wise men.
God points at them with His finger and calls them "flesh." There is Caesar,
with his imperial purple; how the Praetorianguards shout, "Greatis the
Emperor! long may he live! Flesh," saithGod's Word. Here are men whose
sires were of royal lineage. "Flesh," says God. "Thatno flesh may glory in His
presence." Godputs this stamp upon us all, that we are nothing but flesh, and
He chooses the poorest, the most foolish, and the weakestflesh, 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 chosen

Luther says:"Nextunto my just. cause the small repute and mean aspectof
my persongave the blow to the Pope;for when I beganto preach and write
the Pope scornedand contemned me. He thought, 'Tis but one poor friar;
what can he do againstme?'I have maintained and defended this doctrine in
Popedom, againstemperors, 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 strongerones have
failed. The Lord often choosesweakthings in order that we may more easily
see that the victory is due to Him.
God's choice of instruments
H. Townley.
A native convertoriginally belonging to one of the lowestcastesthus 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 forpurification; and yet God has calledme, not merely to the
knowledge ofthe gospel, but to the high office of teaching it to others. My
friends, do you know the reasonof God's conduct? It is this: If God had
selectedone of you learnedBrahmins, and made you the preacher, when you
were successfulin making converts bystanders would have said it was the
amazing learning of the Brahmin and his greatweightof characterthat were
the cause;but now, when any one is convertedby 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 gospelministry
A. J. Parry.

In proof of the superiority of the gospeloverhuman learning, the apostle
points to their own knowledge ofthe working of the Divine powerand
wisdom. Two facts are adduced in proof.
I. THE UNFAVOURABLE CONDITION IN WHICH THE GOSPEL
FOUND THEM, AND HOW IT MADE THEM THE SUBJECTSOF ITS
POWER. The apostle divides societyinto 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
recognisedofthe world; those for whose sole interestall things are deemed to
exist — what would now be termed "society."
2. The other class consists ofthe foolish, the weak, and the base, or despised,
&c. Those forming this class are further describedas 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.
"Forye see your calling." Thus it will be seenthat the gospelchose as the
subjects of its gracious operations(l)Those whomthe so-calledwise, mighty,
and noble utterly neglected, those who in the estimationof the world "are
not."(2)Those who were incapable of helping themselves. Supposing they had
been able to help themselves, society's neglectofthem would not have
mattered so much. Their utter helplessnessis indicated by the descriptive
epithets. But to such as these came the gospel. This proves its truly benevolent
character, and sets it in direct contrastto the world's ways and methods. The
spirit of this world is always to give where it sees the prospectof a return. The
ancient gods always bestowedtheir favours upon those who brought to their
altars the costliestsacrifices. The world follows the example of its gods. But it
is the glory of the gospelthat it seeks outthe 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 gospelpreachedto the poor must be something more than
human. God alone canafford such grace as this.
II. ITS EFFECTS UPON ITS SUBJECTSFAR TRANSCENDS THE
WORLD'S HIGHEST GOOD AND MOST DESIRABLE POSSESSIONS.

The world's highestgoodare wisdom, might, and nobility, i.e., culture,
prowess, andrank. But the gospelbestows 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 canboast of.
2. In Christ they are endowedwith 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 highestsociety,
holiness into the heavenly society. It requires blood to give the socialnobility
that men prize. Similarly the spiritual nobility comes of the blood of Jesus
Christ, which cleansethfrom 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 socialstatus, 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 socialone. From being slaves ofsin,
and ,though still slaves ofmen, they become, not merely free, but sons of the
heavenly King.
(A. J. Parry.)
But God hath chosenthe foolishthings of the world to confound the wise.
God's choice of the weak and foolishto confound the wise and mighty
Bp. Phillips Brooks.
Dr. Vinton was a scepticalphysician. A friend advised him to read "Butler's
Analogy," which satisfiedhis reason. A short time after he was calledto the

dying bed of a little girl who whisperedthat she had something to sayto 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 "Godhath
chosenthe 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 chosenfeeble agencies.
2. Has by them confounded the mighty.
II. THE IMPORTANCE OF IT. It shows that Christianity —
1. Regards allmen alike.
2. Is independent of human help.
3. Is sustainedonly 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 greatby the conventionally contemptible
D. Thomas, D. D.

I. EVILS EXIST UNDER CONVENTIONALLYRESPECTABLE FORMS.
In Corinth dangerous errors wore the costume of wisdom. Powerwas also on
their side. Statesmen, wealth, and influence stoodby them, and they appeared
"mighty." Here, as in Corinth, evils wearfine clothing, and pass under great
names.
1. Infidelity writes and speaks in the statelyformularies of philosophy and
science. Itis a "wise" thing of the world.
2. Licentiousness passesunder the grand name of liberty. The vaunted
religious liberty of England's population means often only powerto neglect
sacredordinances.
3. Socialinjustice does most of its fiendish work in the name of law.
4. Selfishness goes under the taking name of prudence.
5. Bigotry, superstition, fanaticism, wearthe sacredname of religion.
6. War is calledglory. Could we take from sin the mantle of respectabilitythat
societyhas thrown over it, we should do much towards its annihilation.
II. GOD IS DETERMINEDTO OVERTHROW EVIL BY
CONVENTIONALLYCONTEMPTIBLE MEANS.
1. Negatively. This language does not mean —(1) That the gospelis an inferior
thing. The gospelis not "foolish," "weak," or"base."As a history of facts, as
a system of thought, as a code of laws, it is incomparably the grandestthing
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
passagehas been abusedto 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 gospelministry requires the highest order of mind.(a)
The characterofthe 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 reachthe golden ore!
Simpletons call the gospelsimple, but intelligence has ever found it of all

subjects the most profound and difficult. The greatestthinkers of all ages have
found the work no easytask.(c)The characterofsociety. 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 gospelministry 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
characterof the apostles. Where canyou find greaterforce of soul than
Peter's, a more searching sagacitythan 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 courseforthis, and then only very partially reach their
linguistical attainments.
2. Positively. It means —(1) That the gospelwas conventionallymean. 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 selectedfrom chairs of philosophy, or seats ofcivil 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 regardas insignificant and mean, shalt do a great
work. The flake of snow is insignificant, but it is commissionedto build up a
mountain that shall overwhelm widespreaddistricts. The coralinsectis
insignificant, but it builds up vastislands, 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. Whatwork 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 proceeduntil all the "things
that are" greatin the estimationof 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 andscatterits
particles to the winds.Conclusion:From this subject we may infer —
1. That so long as evils exist in the world greatcommotions are to be expected.
God hath chosenthis 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 gospelis to make its way, not by men invested with
political power, scientific attainments, or brilliant oratory, but by men as men,
endowedwith the common powers of human nature, inspired and directed by
the living gospel. Let no one sayhe is too poor or too obscure, too destitute of
artificial endowments to minister the gospelto others; all that is wanted is the
common sense, the common affection, and the common speechof 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 ofclauses, ofwhich eachthat 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 despisedthings — it is only natural that
from the lastand lowestof these the apostle should step to the things which
are not; that is, which have no existence that is recognisedby mankind; which
arrestno 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 greatinstitutions, establishments, forces, whichmark or mould
the constitution of society. He hath chosenthem for this purpose, to the end

that His name may be magnified by their agency, and His glory be revealedin
their ultimate triumph. That the "things which are," at any time, in human
society, howevervenerable, are always liable to be displacedby others which
were not in existence, orwere not of recognisedimportance when the former
were established. These are facts familiar as any fact of nature, which impress
immediately the most carelessobserver. "Things whichare not," so far as
men's earlier knowledge is concerned, whichexist but in embryo, and are only
to be developedby a keenerobservation, 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 elevatedas the
centuries proceed;these also are facts which modern history clearly
illustrates. But these things of which the age knows notand dreams not are all
the time present to the mind of the MostHigh; they are indeed His
preordained instruments, not only for working the changes whichshall come
in the aspects orin 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 highestlevels 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 seemso much to have abounded that one of them was opened to
Paul for his labours, yet in which the Easternsuperstitions 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 Eastand the West were
commingled, and within whose spacious walls and harbour was assembledso
busy and so various a life, the apostle, coming westwardfrom 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 celebratedGreek Isthmus, and by its position attracting the trade

not only of Greece,but of all the countries whose shores were washedby
either of the seas betweenwhose almostmeeting waves it fortunately stood. It
is evident, then, at once, what were the institutions which Paul describes as
"things that are";the great establishedpowers in society, which withstood, or
at leastdid not harmonise with, the extension of Christianity. Foremost
amongstthem we must reckon, ofcourse, that haughty Judaism, dogmatic
and secular, into which the religion given by God to the people of His election
had by degrees beentransformed, and which now had the seatof 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 receiveda practicalimpressiveness
from the discoveries whichit made of His presence and providence, and of His
perfect law. Yet from this religion the nation had early and persistently swung
awayinto grossestidolatries, reproducing in gold the Egyptian Apis beneath
the very pavement of sapphire on which the feetof God were treading above
the mount; in their subsequent history, polluting the hills which lookedout
upon Jerusalemwith the fury and lust of sacrilegiousobservances. Secondin
order of these "things that are" — these powerful institutes of the day of the
apostle, opposedto Christianity — must be reckonedofcourse the heathenism
which prevailed outside of the Jews among all nations; which confronted Paul
everywhere, ancientas man, but still vigorous in strength, imperial in place,
and arrayed in universal opposition to the gospel. Firstof all it is to be
recognisedby us that this heathenism which so withstoodChristianity was not
an altogetherartificial system in any nation; that it grew out of real and even
deep motions in the generalmind, and was not in its substance a matter of
chance or a creature of contrivance, leastof all an arbitrary and fabricated
arrangementeither of statecraftor 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,
howeverinsufficiently, to needs which the soul always feels to be inmost and
knows to be abiding. Its answerwas a vain one, but it soughtto give an
answer, to questions which never since the exile from Eden have ceased
profoundly to agitate the race. Unconscious prophecies ofbetter things lurked
in many of its forms and in some of its traditions. Its sacrificeswere efforts to

staunch the flow from bleeding hearts. And while the popular mind
acknowledgedchieflythe hold of its ceremonies and shows, the thoughtful
found also some solace orstimulus in its sublimated legends. Thenfurther 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 andhabits; and
that everywhere it allied itself with whateverwas strongest, whatevermost
attractedmen'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 powerallied 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 associatedwith whateverwas to them most renowned
and inspiring in their history. It was dear to them as the bond which
connectedtheir life with heroic ages.There remains a third thing to be
recognisedas standing among the "things that are" — the powerful institutes
and establishments of society, opposedto 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 Mediterraneanwith the restless streams whichsought and
sank into it. It was, ofcourse, the authority and power of imperial Rome. It
was hardly as yet at its uttermost height, this imperial power; for scores of
years still slowlypassedbefore that age of Trajan and the Antonines which
marked its consummate might and splendour; while it was later even than this
that Severus carriedhis victorious arms to Ctesiphonand Seleucia,
transferred the entire legislative powerfrom the senate to himself, and
scatteredthe 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 seemedhardly 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 stoodbefore 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, againstwhich human powerseemed
vain, that this should also, in God's own time, be wreckedand "brought to
nought." But how should it be done? By what agencies should. eachof 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 ravagedrights, or the still existing senate combining
with the people to bury the haughty imperial prerogative in a cataclysmof
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 ofthought 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
associatedwith it had become its bulwark in the popular confidence. In the
simply spiritual elements it involved, it was setagainstthis array which
opposedit; and of all the auxiliaries which it afterward gained, not one had as
yet appearedon the earth. How utterly insignificant seemedthen its force!
How incredibly inadequate to the end to be accomplished!The truths which
had been taught the apostles, andafterward recalledto them and unfolded
more fully by the witness of the Spirit, and which were to be enshrined in
evangelicalnarratives, 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
whateverwithstood its advance. And these! — it seemedlike binding the
lightning in the meshes and knots of metaphysical argument. Epistles and
talks in the synagogue againstarmies!The might that lay on letters and lips
againstthe might that ruled from thrones! The publication of doctrines

againstestablishments of poweras 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 existedonly in germ, these Gospels and
Epistles which were still to be written, these teachings and preachings which
had scarcelycommenced, these Christianforces in life and characterwhich
hardly thus far had appearedon the earth — these were the forces which God
had chosento bring to nought the "things that were" — the ancient, immense,
and impregnable institutions that stoodin all their augustmight and
tremendous effectiveness fronting the gospel. Notwith energyonly, but with
an exact precisionof speech, had Paul then describedthem. 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
regardedthem less than the mists which had hovered last year around the
crests of the hills. To the Jew, in comparisonof his august forms and world-
challenging miracles, they seemedas frail and shadowy as dreams. The whole:
wisdom of the world anticipated as little an impressionfrom 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 secondaryforces, too, whichwere in time to be evolved by
God's plans, and confederatedin 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 soonafterward
became so illustrious an example; the gradual progress ofmoral 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, eachin its time, as the
truths and the spirit of the gospelwentforward, but which were as latent,
when Paul lookedforth 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, alreadywere purposed in the mind of the Most High;
already He saw their seeds unfolding; but how vaguely, if at all, were they
thus far foreshowneven to Paul; how entirely unsuspectedwere they yet by
the world! The destruction of Jerusalemby the arms of Titus, who seems to

have felt himself but the instrument of a powerwhich he could not
comprehend and could not contravene, in his overthrow of the city; the
consequentextinction of the Jewishnationality, the final obliteration of all
distinctions betweenthe tribes, and the scattering of their impoverished
remnant to the ends of the earth — this was a factlying still as hidden among
God's plans. Judaism was surpassedand terminated in a higher religion, more
adequate to man's wants, more illustrative of God's glory. Heathenism was
not only brokendown, but it was made, thenceforth and for ever, the veriest
outcastof 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 outsethad appeared so unreal or so
ineffectual.
(B. S. Storrs, D. D.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(25) Because.—This introduces the reasonwhy Christ, as being crucified, is
the powerand 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 canknow or hope
ever to know; and the weakness ofGod(as they regardit) is strongerthan
men.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
1:17-25 Paul had been bred up in Jewishlearning; 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 salvationfor 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 gospelopposes their
favourite pursuits. But those who receive the gospel, and are enlightened by
the Spirit of God, see more of God's wisdom and powerin the doctrine of
Christ crucified, than in all his other works. Godleft a greatpart of the world
to follow the dictates of man's boastedreason, and the event has shown that
human wisdom is folly, and is unable to find or retain the knowledge ofGod
as the Creator. It pleasedhim, by the foolishness ofpreaching, to save them
that believe. By the foolishness ofpreaching; not by what could justly be
calledfoolish preaching. But the thing preachedwas foolishness to wordly-
wise men. The gospelever was, and ever will be, foolishness to all in the road
to destruction. The messageofChrist, plainly delivered, ever has been a sure
touchstone by which men may learn what road they are travelling. But the
despiseddoctrine 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 blessedin every age.
And the weakestinstruments Goduses, are strongerin their effects, than the
strongestmen can use. Not that there is foolishness orweaknessin God, but
what men consideras such, overcomes alltheir admired wisdom and strength.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
Becausethe foolishness ofGod - That which God appoints, requires,
commands, does, etc., which appears to people to be foolish. The passageis
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
reasonof what God does is concealed.
Is wiserthan men - Is better adapted to accomplishimportant ends, and more
certainly effectualthan the schemes ofhuman wisdom. This is especiallytrue
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

accomplishednothing toward people's salvation; this accomplishes
everything. They have always failed; this never fails.
The weakness ofGod- There is really no weaknessin God, any more than
there is folly. This must mean, therefore, the things of his appointment which
appear weak and insufficient to accomplishthe end. Such are these facts - that
God should seek to save the world by Jesus ofNazareth, Who was supposed
unable to save himself Matthew 27:40-43;and that he should expectto save
people by the gospel, by its being preachedby people who were without
learning, eloquence, wealth, fame, or power. The instruments were feeble; and
people judged that this was owing to the weaknessorlack of powerin the God
who appointed them.
Is strongerthan men - Is able to accomplishmore than the utmost might of
man. The feeblestagency 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 Godoften effects his mightiest plans by that which seems to men to
be weak and even foolish. The most mighty revolutions arise often from the
slightestcauses;his most vast operations are often connectedwith very feeble
means. The revolution of empires; the mighty effects of the pestilence;the
advancementin the sciences,and arts, and the operations of nature, are often
brought about by means apparently as little suited to accomplishthe work as
those which are employed in the plan of redemption.
(2) God is great. If his feeblestpowers put forth, surpass the mightiest powers
of man, how greatmust 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 comparedwith the feeblestputting 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 easyfor him to crush all his foes in death!
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary

25. foolishness ofGod—that is, God's plan of salvationwhich men deem
"foolishness."
weakness ofGod—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 weaknessofHis servants (1Co 2:3; 2Co 12:9).
Matthew Poole's Commentary
The foolishness ofGod is wiserthan men; the leastthings 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 wisestimaginations, counsels,and
contrivances of men.
And the weaknessofGod is strongerthan men; and those things and means
which God hath instituted in order to an end, have in them more virtue,
power, and efficacyin order to the production of God’s intended effects, than
any such means as appearto men’s eyes of reasonto have the greatest
strength, virtue, and efficacy. Whence we may observe, that the efficacyof
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 sentout by men, but by God,
being fitted for their work, and faithfully discharging of it.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
Becausethe foolishness ofGod,.... Notthat there is any such thing as
"foolishness"in God, nor the leastdegree ofweaknessin him; but the apostle
means that which the men of the world esteemso, and therefore, by an
ironical concession, calls itby those names; by which is intended either Christ,
who, as crucified, is counted foolishness;yet he "is wiserthan men": yea, even
than Solomon, who was wiserthan all men besides;Christ is greaterthan he
in wisdom, having all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge in him; yea, in
redemption by the blood of his cross, whichis accountedsuch an egregious

instance of folly, there is such a display of wisdom as surpasses allthe wisdom
of men and angels:and though he is, as crucified, esteemedas
the weaknessofGod, yet in this respect,
is strongerthan men; strongerthan the strong man armed; and has done that
by his own arm, has brought salvationfor his people, which neither men nor
angels could ever have done: or all this may be understood of the Gospelof
Christ, which is condemned as folly and weakness, and yet has infinitely more
wisdom in it, than is to be found in the best concertedschemesofthe wisest
philosophers; and has had a greaterinfluence 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,
calledin 1 Corinthians 1:27.
the foolishand weak things of the world; and yet even these, in the business of
salvation, how foolishsoeverthey may be in other respects, are wiserthan the
wisestof men destitute of the grace of God; and howeverweak they are in
themselves, in their own esteem, and in the accountof 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 seemto be a
sort of proverbial ones;and the sense of them is, that whatever, in things
divine and spiritual, has the appearance offolly and weakness, oris judged to
be so by carnal men, is wiserand strongernot only than the wisdom and
strength of men, but than men themselves with all their wisdomand strength.
It is very likely, that proverbial expressions ofthis kind, with a little
alteration, were used by the Jews. The advice the young men gave to
Rehoboamis thus paraphrasedby the Targumist (o), , "my weaknessis
strongerthan the strength of my father"; which is very near the same with the
last clause ofthis verse,
(o) In 2 Chron. 10.
Geneva Study Bible
Becausethe foolishness ofGod is wiserthan men; and the weaknessofGod is
strongerthan men.

EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
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
secondto the Θεοῦ δύναμιν.
τὸ μωρὸντοῦ 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., aftera 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:
wiserthan men; men possessless wisdomthan is containedin the foolish thing
of God.
τὸ ἀσθενὲς τοῦ Θεοῦ] whateverin God’s appointments is, to human
estimation, powerless and resultless. The concrete instance whichPaul has in
view when employing the generalterms ΤῸ ΜΩΡΌΝ andΤῸ ἈΣΘΕΝῈς
ΤΟῦ ΘΕΟῦ, is the death of Christ on the cross, throughwhich God has
fulfilled the counselof 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-knownuse 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 ofGod—the weaknessofGod. So τὸ μωρόν, Eur.
Hipp. 966. But Paul had the concrete conceptionin his mind; otherwise he
would most naturally have used the abstractμωρόα employed just before. The
meaning of the concrete expression, however,is not: God Himself, in so far as
He is foolish(Hofmann); passagessuchas 2 Corinthians 4:7, Romans 1:19;
Romans 2:4; Romans 8:3, are no proof of this.—As to the different
accentuations ofμωρός and μῶρος, see Lipsius, grammat. Unters. p. 25;
Göttling, Accentl. p. 304.
Expositor's Greek Testament
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 ofGod is
wiserthan men, and the weaknessofGod is strongerthan 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 weaknessembodiedin the
cross.—ἰσχυρός (ἰσχύς)implies intrinsic strength; δύναμις is ability, as
relative to the task in view.
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
25. Becausethe foolishness ofGod is wiserthan men, &c.] What was folly in
the eyes of the Greek, or weaknessin the eyes of the Jew, was yet far wiser
and strongerthan their highest conceptions. The revelationof God in the man
Christ Jesus, the Infinite allying itself to the Finite—the foolishness ofGod—
was the perfection of the Divine Wisdom; the crucifixion of sin in the Death of
Christ; God suffering, dying—the weaknessofGod—was the highest
manifestation of Divine Power, in that it destroyedwhat nothing else could

destroy. For whosoeverunites himself to Christ by faith in His Bloodacquires
the faculty of putting sin to a lingering death.
Bengel's Gnomen
1 Corinthians 1:25. Τοῦ Θεοῦ, of God) in Christ.—σοφώτερον—ἰσχυρότερον,
wiser—stronger)1 Corinthians 1:30.—τῶνἀνθρώπων, than men) The
phraseologyis abbreviated;[12] it means, wiserthan the wisdom of men,
strongerthan the strength of men, although they may appearto 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 Commentary
Verse 25. - The foolishness ofGod... the weaknessofGod; the method, that is,
whereby God works, and which men take to be foolishand weak, becausewith
arrogantpresumption they look upon themselves as the measure of all things.
But God achieves the mightiest ends by the humblest means, and the gospelof
Christ allied itself from the first, not with the world's strength and splendour,
but with all which the world despisedas mean and feeble - with fishermen and
tax gatherers, with slaves, andwomen, and artizans. The lessonwas 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 Studies
The 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.

PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
Dr. Jack L. Arnold
Winter Park, Florida Sermon #5
FIRST CORINTHIANS
The FoolishnessOfThe 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 accepthumanism or theism? Will they acknowledge
secularismor 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 scenesin
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 answerto 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 followedPaul, glorying in their Gentile
liberty. Others followedApollos, who was the epitome of the Hellenistic
intellectual culture. Others followedPeter(Cephas), who liked a traditional
Jewishapproachto 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 calledthe “words of
human wisdom” (I Cor. 1:17). They found it particularly stimulating to enter
into debates about all kinds of theories and speculations centeredaround
certain dynamic personalities. Whenpeople beganto glory in human wisdom,
they beganto 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 whichalways leads to pride. In
First Corinthians 1:10-17, Paul establishedthe fact that there were divisions
at Corinth. In First Corinthians 1:18-3:21, Paul deals with the causes ofthose
divisions. The first cause was their glorying in human wisdom.
In First Corinthians 1:17, Paul declaredemphatically he had been calledto
preach the gospel. “ForChrist did not send me to baptize, but to preach the
gospel” (1:17). The gospelwas centralfor Paul. What is the gospel? All people
are sinners, separatedfrom 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 Saviorand Lord by faith, believing He
died for them, will be saved. That, my friends, is the gospeland it all centers
around the Cross of Christ.
In First Corinthians 1:17, Paul also declares the Cross is not to be preachedin
the words of human wisdom or the Cross is stripped of all its power to save.
“Notwith words of human wisdom, lest the cross ofChrist be emptied of its
power” (1:17). The Greeks placedtremendous emphasis on eloquence,
excellentrhetoric, gooddiction, high sounding words; colorful language, and
oratoricalability. The Greek professionalmen of wisdom had a methodology
that embellished all of their messageswith flowery eloquence. In many cases,
the Greeks wouldrather hear something said beautifully than something said
clearly. Paul's messagewas notthe messageofthe Greek philosophers, who

engagedin all sorts of speculations and disputations over theories and
hypothesis. Rather, Paul's commissionwas to preach the gospel, the message
of the Cross, the goodnews of the crucified Christ. He preachedplainly,
clearly and bluntly the Cross ofChrist so people could understand it. To
approachthe gospelphilosophically or to couchit in high sounding terms
would empty the Cross of its power. Flowerywordings and philosophical
reasoning in preaching no longermake 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 hopelesslylost. 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 gospelthen evaporates into a system, a principle, a
theory. The gospelis 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 gospelof Christ
he set his secularlearning aside. He preached Christ crucified in plain
language.
The centralaspectof Paul's preaching was the Cross of Christ. The cross has
become a modern day symbol for Christianity. People wearthe 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 thatit 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 getmuch closerto 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 closerto 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 hadsuch negative connotations that it
was not used as a symbol for over a hundred years in the early church.
COMPLETE FOOLISHNESSOF THE CROSS 1:18
For the message ofthe 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 messageofChrist as foolishness;that is, they see the gospelas
stupid, silly, absurd and nonsense. The Greek word “foolishness”is the word
from which we getthe English word “moron.” The unsaved man looks atthe
Cross as moronic. Perhaps you can now understand a little better the way
your unsaved family or friends or business associatesreactto you when you
talk about Christ to them. You appearto be a moron because “the message of
the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.” The unsaved man sees no
point to the gospelat all. “The man without the Spirit does not acceptthe
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 wastedeffort, 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 greatachievements of mankind in the realm of relieving human misery

and the technologicaladvancesofour day, that all this is worthless and that
God will not take this into accountin the area of salvation. Nonsense!”
But to us who are being savedit is the power of God. Another reactionto the
gospelis by believers in Christ who are in the process ofbeing saved; they are
not yet perfect (far from it) but they are on their way to final salvation. For
the saved, the gospelis the power of God. This message ofChrist 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 ofsin the
future. It is the Cross which releasesallthe spiritual blessings oflife; it is the
basis for all true peace and joy.
The gospelis not simply goodadvice to men, telling them what they should do,
nor is it a messageaboutGod’s power. It is God’s power! "I am not ashamed
of the gospel, becauseit is the powerof God for the salvation of everyone who
believes:first for the Jew, then for the Gentile” (Rom. 1:16). The gospelis a
declarationnot a system.
Notice carefully how Paul divides all humanity into two classes ofpeople--the
savedand 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 wayto an eternal heaven. The difference is one’s attitude and commitment
to the messageofthe Cross, whichis 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
messagealone cansave men, women, boys and girls, for it is the power of God.
CONDEMNATION OF HUMAN WISDOM 1:19-20
Man’s ReasonIs Insufficient Because ofScripture (19-20)

For it is written. These Corinthians were starting to glory in human wisdom.
There is nothing wrong with human wisdomin certaincategories, but human
wisdom has its limitations. There is one categorywhere human wisdom plays
absolutely no part--the salvation of a man’s soul. The messageofthe gospel
alone brings men salvationand a knowledge ofGod. Paul introduces four
propositions in First Corinthians 1:19-31 to prove that human wisdomhas no
part in salvation. The first reasonis 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 Testamentthat 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 wisdomand His way of salvation? None. The wise
man may be a generalreference to secularscholars who think they have all
the answers to difficult problems.
Where is the scholar(scribe)? The Jews approachedwisdomand knowledge
from a study of ancientwritings and Scripture. This would correspondto
scholarlypeople, 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

correspondto all the learned men of our day. But what can they add to God’s
way of salvationin Christ? Nothing.
Has not God made foolishthe wisdom of the world? Man’s wisdom in God’s
sight is foolishness. The bestof 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 seemto temporarily work in some situations, but ultimately it solves
nothing. This is why every generationwrestles withthe same problems, and
that remains true as far back as we can go into human history. This is why
one generationnever seems to learn from another. Men still go hungry; there
is socialinjustice; 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 ofthe ghettos of the city of New York.
Watch the panic of the world as it tries to solve a global economic crisis. See
the wisdomof man in the USA and westernculture as it crumbles away
morally, grasping at every straw to solve the AIDS
epidemic. Look at the wisdom of man in the blood-soakedstreets ofBosnia. If
the wisdomof man is faulty in the categorieswhere it is supposedto work,
then this is proof positive that human wisdom most assuredly cannotwork in
the area of salvation.
“Certainit is that while men are gathering knowledge and powerwith ever-
increasing speed, their virtues and their wisdom have not shownany 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 wellwill do the most terrible deeds, and his modern woman will back
him up” (Winston Churchill).
Man's ReasonIs Insufficient Because ofGod's Decree (21)

For since in the wisdomof God the world through its own wisdom did not
know him. In His plan, God decreedthat men, with all their wisdom, would
not come to know God through that wisdom. Why has God allowedhuman
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 allowedto
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 wisdomis faulty because it fails to recognize Godas He is revealedin
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 exposedto Christian educationso they can learn to relate
God to every area of life. Only an education that is Christian can really do
this.
God was pleasedthrough the foolishness ofwhat was preachedto save those
who believe. It pleasedGod, because He has a plan, to bless the message ofthe
gospel. He sovereignlyand freely decreedby the foolishness ofthe thing
preachedto save those who respond positively to the message. Menlook at the
doctrine of the Cross and think it is nonsense, but God has decreedthat 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 personis to be saved, have
his sins forgiven, be granted eternal life and a righteousness whichwill make
him acceptable to God, and go to heaven, this personwill enter into these
blessings through the messageofthe Cross.
The response ofthose who are calledby God is to believe. Believing does not
mean giving assentto. It means taking a risk and putting one’s whole trust in
Jesus Christ alone for salvation.

Man’s ReasonIs Insufficient Because ofSpiritual Blindness (22)
Jews demand miraculous signs. The Jews (whichcategoricallyspeaksofany
religious person) are blinded to the truth of the message ofChrist. They were
very much matter of fact and practical. They demanded evidence for
everything. Many times the Jews saidto
Christ, "Show us a sign” and then they would believe. Christ showedthem
many signs but they
still didn’t believe because ofthe hardness of their hearts. The Jews thought
they had God all figured out and that He would actin the way they thought
He should act; but He did not. They
thought the Messiahwould come with striking manifestations of power and
majesty to deliver
Israelfrom the yoke of Rome. To them a crucified Messiahwas a
contradiction of terms. They kept asking for more signs before they would
believe because theywere spiritually blind. They rejectedthe greatestofall
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 cathedralto confirm his or her faith. A very
recentsign of this nature is the Shroud of Turin which is supposedly the

burial shroud of Jesus. This has evokedmuch attention in some circles.
Another example is the searchfor Noah's Ark somewhere in Turkey. Still
another is the insatiable desire for miracles (signs and wonders)in our day to
somehow strengthenour 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 resurrectedChrist
And the Greeks look for wisdom. The unsaved, intelligent Greek took great
pride in his wisdom and reveledin his speculative philosophy. Herodotus said,
“All Greeks were zealous forevery kind of learning.” He too was spiritually
blind. The modern intellectualis 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, logicalsense to the Greek, he wanted nothing to do
with it. Any touch of the supernatural was mockedas madness.
CRUCIFIXION POWER 1:23-24
But we preach Christ crucified; a stumbling block to the Jews. To the Jew, the
death of the Messiahwould be the ultimate contradiction. Why? For them,
Messiahmeantpower, splendor, and triumph but crucifixion meant
weakness,humiliation, and defeat. A crucified Messiahwas the ultimate
stumbling block (scandal). For a personto 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). Messiahwouldbe for them a despised criminal --
a total contradiction to the Jewishmind.
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 resurrectionwas folly to the closedGreek 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 messageofChrist trips up the religious man and it is absurd to the
rational man. If the gospelwas a stumbling block and foolishness, why didn’t
Paul waterit 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 wateredit down,
then it would not have been a means of salvationto sinners. To compromise
the gospelis to give up the gospel. To give up the gospelis to give up
Christianity.
But to those whom Godhas called, both Jews and Greeks, Christthe 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 callof God to
salvation. Christianity is supernaturally based on God's calling of sinners to
Himself. We are Christians because Goddid 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 Saviorin our lives.
CONCLUSION
What lessons are we Christians to learn from this sectionof Scripture? First,
only the gospelof Christ is God’s message ofsalvation, and there is no other
way to God exceptthrough Christ. Second, human philosophy only empties
the Cross ofits real meaning; therefore, the gospelshould 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 goalshould
not be to have people go awayfrom a gospelpresentationsaying, “What a
brilliant preacher!What a splendid personality! What a dynamic orator! Oh,
he made me feel so goodinside!” 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 sentHis Son to die for sinners such as me.”
Fourth, as Christians, we must make a declarationof the whole gospelto men,
for the gospelis not a system or a philosophy to be debated, but a message
about a person who died for sinners. How often in a gospelpresentationare
we sidetrackedin philosophicaldiscussions, the right or wrong of evolution, or
the inequities of socialjustice in the world, and we forgetto present Christ
crucified to men. Fifth, while no human reasoning cansave 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 secularminds in order to destroy worldly thinking by showing
its inadequacy to save a man. Sixth, we must be careful about wanting
intellectual respectabilitywith 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 dissensionin a localchurch
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 anddissensions. The Cross makes us focus on what we
Christians have in common and not on our differences on secondary
theologicalissuesand petty personalpreferences.
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 salvationthrough Christ?
We see Christ, a crucified, sinless Savior, dying for sinful men who deserve
nothing but hell. We see salvationis not by any human works or acts but
purely by God’s grace through faith in Christ. This is too greata

conceptto 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
gospelmessageis nonsense, I canassure you it makes sense to those who are
calledby God. In fact, the gospelis God's powerto save all who believe.
"I am not ashamed of the gospel, becauseit is the power of God for the
salvationof everyone who believes.. .“ (Rom. 1:16).
BARCLAY
STUMBLING-BLOCKTO THE JEWS & FOOLISHNESS TO THE
GREEKS(1 Corinthians 1:18-25)
1:18-25 For the story of the Cross is foolishness to those who are on the way to
destruction, but it is the powerof God to those who are on the way to
salvation. For it stands written, "I will wipe out the wisdom of the wise and I
will bring to nothing the cleverness ofthe clever." Where is the wise? Where
is the expert in the law? Where is the man who debates about this world's
wisdom? Did not Godrender foolish the wisdom of this world? For when, in
God's wisdom, the world for all its wisdom did not know God, it pleasedGod
to save those who believe by, what men would call, the foolishness ofthe
Christian message.Forthe Jews ask for signs and the Greeks searchfor
wisdom, but we proclaim Christ upon his Cross;to the Jews a stumbling-
block, to the Greeks a thing of foolishness;but to those who have been called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christthe power of God and the wisdom of God, for
the foolishness ofGod is wiserthan men, and the weaknessofGod is stronger
than men.
Both to the cultured Greek and to the pious Jew the story that Christianity
had to tell sounded like the sheerestfolly. Paul begins by making free use of

Jesus was the foolishness and weakness of god'

Jesus was the foolishness and weakness of god'

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