For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
18- Like the rest of the passage, this verse is cheifly concerned with the simple fact that the wisdom of God is not the wisdom of the world. Since the epistles consistently demonstrate submission to the laws of logic in the way that they are written, it can be safely assumed that those laws are not the issue, in which case the disagreement between the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God must lie not in the structuring of thoughts but rather in the basic axioms of the two. Basically, this means that the problem with worldly wisdom is that it starts out with a false understanding of what is good, what is trustworthy, and other such things.
At the same time that this verse discusses the contrast between worldly and heavenly wisdom, however, there is also something more subtle which sets this verse apart from the rest of the passage. That is the claim that the wisdom of God is power. This means that, unlike the wisdom with which the Greeks were accustomed, the wisdom of God is active. Not only the subject of that knowledge, but the knowledge itself is an active force upon the believer.
19- Essentially this is about the greatness of God and the fallenness of the world. On the one hand, we see how God surpasses all human wisdom, displayed here by the way in which the worldly authorities failed to recognize Jesus and the way in which He frequently proved His greatness through His teachings and discussions. The Lord also displays His supremacy by actively confounding and thus making a mockery of the wisdom of the age. However, that particular example of God's greatness occurred in response to human sin since such action would not have been necessary if the intellect of the world had not been a stumbling block and a distraction from God.
This verse also establishes the Old Testament as holy scripture for Paul's Gentile audience and shows how the Messiah was anticipated by it.
20- The particular rhetorical question of where the philosopher or teacher of the law is seems to imply a particular answer which is both obvious and favorable to Paul's argument. At this point in history, we can say that the wise men would have been the Greek philosophers and the teachers of the law would have been the Pharisees. Both of these groups are clearly past their prime at this point, overshadowed by their greater predecessors, and are also under the rule of Rome which has similarly past its prime by entering its imperial age.
21- Here is becomes particularly clear that it "pleased God" for the wisdom of the world to be blind to the Gospel. There's a lot that can be said on this, but to me it seems that this verse breaks down to the issue of pride. God wanted the wisdom of the world to be at odds with true wisdom because He did not want the gift of His Son to be a point of human pride for us. Even on an intellectual level, accepting the Gospel constitutes a complete and total surrender and an abandonment of worldly understanding.
22-23- Since the Gospels are overflowing with both wisdom and signs, it cannot be that signs and wisdom are somehow inherently sinful in God's sight. The problem is instead that the Jews were more interested in signs that in the One giving them and the Greeks were more interested in wisdom than in the One whom wisdom is ultimately about.
24- No matter how many times I look at this I still can't make sense of the grammar so I'm just going to ignore that aspect. This verse once again affirms Christ as the Savior and the one for whom we have all been waiting but it also adds on that He is the "power of God and the wisdom of God" meaning that He has all that the Jews and the Greeks were both looking for, even though they were too focused on the characteristics of the Messiah and not enough of the actual Messiah.
25- This passage is a powerful statement concerning Christian humility, love, and faith. In the eyes of the world, all these things are weak and foolish and sometimes they are if they are taken out of context, but at the same time history has shown us that these things which the world sees as foolishness and weakness can overturn the institutions of the world.
26-29- There are a lot of things packed into this passage. First of all, there is the affirmation of the Beatitudes as we see that it was the poor and the lowly of the Corinthians who have been called by Christ; the rich and esteemed have found their most renowned features to be nothing more than a stumbling block. After this there is a commentary on the way in which God functions. Throughout history, God has consistently chosen to raise up the weak and lowly as heroes of His Kingdom (David, Moses, Joan d' Arc, etc.,) and in these verses Paul tells his readers that this has not been done thoughtlessly or by accident but instead that it has been done deliberately as a demonstration of God's power and the world's futility. In fact, in describing the victory God gives His servants Paul says that He chose "the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are." This to me is a very shocking statement as he says that God (to put it in my own words) "uses the things of no substance to undo the things of great substance." It is as if the person being used was literally nothing but a shadow or a reflection in the mirror being given the power to not only defeat the "great" people of the world, but to wipe away every trace of them. And when it comes down to it, what is left of so many worldly kings anyway?
30- And now we are reminded of something we absolutely must never forget and something which we seem to never remember: that all our salvation and all our goodness comes from God. Yes, we did choose Messiah, but it was He who chose us first, it is He who transforms us into His image-bearers now, and it was God who provided us with enough goodness to want salvation in the first place. In other words, all that we have is a gift.
31- But finally, we are reminded to celebrate. In these final words we are told not just how to boast but that we are able to boast at all, that there is glory to be had and to be delighted in. And that is the glory of God.
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