1 Corinthians 1:24-30 (ESV)
24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God..."
This is one of the most used, abused and misinterpreted verse of the Bible. The point here most of the people try making after reading this verse is that "God calls only to the fools not the wise, only to weak not the mighty. A lot of people do mistake by understanding these two; weak and fools as physical, carnal or worldly. But weakness and foolishness, in this passage, are nothing but CHRISTLESSNESS.
However, when one tries to understand this text in the context; it is not physical wisdom or physical might but thoroughly spiritual, therefore, divine and Godly. There are a lot of people today in the ministry with the strong calling of God being heavily used in all the areas. They are well educated and physically strong even before they were called and also after they have been called. The noble converts mentioned in the New Testament are Joseph of Arimathaea, Nicodemus, Sergius Paulus, and Dionysius the Areopagitc.
One of the classic examples is apostle Paul, he was highly educated not only in religious education but in non-religious education as well.
Howard and Franklin informs us;
In his letters, Paul drew heavily on his knowledge of Stoic philosophy, using Stoic terms and metaphors to assist his new Gentile converts in their understanding of the revealed Word of God. Even he quotes secular poet in one instance.
He also owed much to his training in the law and the prophets, utilizing this knowledge to convince his Jewish countrymen of the unity of past Old Testament prophecy and covenants with the fulfilling of these in Jesus Christ. His wide spectrum of experiences and education (a Pharisee and student of Gamaliel as presented in Acts) gave the Apostle to the Gentiles [Rom. 1:5, 11:13, Gal. 2:8] the tools which he later would use to effectively spread the Gospel and to establish the church in the Roman Empire. He was even skilled to make tents.
Jesus chose Matthew, who was tax collector; it means he was skilled mathematician, otherwise he can't be a tax-collector in Roman period. And disciples were skilled fishermen.
And in the O.T. we have Moses;
Acts 7:22
So Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.
Born the son of a Hebrew slave, Moses survived because he was rescued, saved and eventually adopted by Pharaoh's daughter (Exodus 2:1-10). He was given the best education, training and preparation that Egypt could offer (Acts 7:22). In keeping with education given to Egyptian royalty, he was probably tutored by retired military and political leaders. It must have seemed to all who knew him that Moses' first 40 years prepared him for leadership and fame. Moses is the prime exmaple of the Old Testament. And people like Daniel and his friends can also understood as wise men in the OT to whom God called for ministry.
We see Moses (OT) and Paul (NT), there are many commonality between these two;
-Both had high education of secular field of their day.
-Both had at least of the kinds of skills (Tending & Tenting).
-Both were physically strong. (Shepherd and Horse Rider)
-Both were eloquent and qualified.
-Both wrote/caused the large portion of their testament.
-Both had good knowledge about the things they were involved in.
-Both were called by God.
-Both, not only called but also mightily used by God.
For an instance, to repair a damaged mobile you need to go to a mechanic nearby or you have to have knowledge/wisdom to repair it by yourselves. Another instance, you plan to travel to your friend's home to attend a marriage ceremony and since you wanna gift a lot of things to your friend you have got three huge suitcase full of stuffs. What would you do, you either take the help of some of the family members or hire a coolie to carry stuff to the bus or bogie. you just can't say I can do everything in Christ because he strengthens me. Even our pastors take the help of mechanic and students to repair and carry the luggage. So regardless of your position in Christ: saved or unsaved, you need physical/worldly wisdom and strength for your day today survive in this world. So whether you know Christ or not you need worldly/physical/human wisdom and strength. This is what makes you human.
After having understood the human wisdom and strength that man really needs to survive in the world. Now let's see what these foolishness and weakness meant in the context of the text.
1. THE FOOLISHNESS OF MEN
The foolishness of men is nothing but Christlessness.
Greek world, the place where apostle had ministered for a long time, was known for its philosophy and cerebral upbringing. In fact, philosophy, as discipline has its roots in Greek world; Pre-Socratic philosophers, Socrates, Plato, Aristotal, Alexander the Great and so on and so forth were the products of Greek world. We have some reasons to appreciate Ancient Greek philosophical world for at least invoking most basic questions of life, though these questions remained unanswered by the ones who raised them in the first place. Even if answered by some, the answers are limited to philosophising of the concepts in sophisticated terms but failed to cohere and correspond to reality. Consequently, Greek world with all its philosophy, could not protect its foundations from coming destruction.
Even today in the world we can see many predicaments and man with all his wisdom making all plausible attempts to find solution but they are failed in their every attempt. Problems only turn worse.
Today Men, by the process of deforestation, have completely damaged our ecosystem, causing rise in temperature, making climate too hot for human to bear; ended up inventing air conditions, and now this refrigerator, air conditions etc instead solving the problem made climate bad to worse adding more CO2 to atmosphere. This one of the many examples if one wanna find them.
This sad story tells us the inability of human agency with reference to their intellect and wisdom. When word of God informs us about the human wisdom, it tells us that it is foolishness to God. And of course, as we analyse historically, what people thought as wisdom could not rescue them and did not last for even few centuries, eventually, validated Biblical truth.
So now question comes to us, "what is true wisdom"?
Verse 24
But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Christ Jesus is the Wisdom of God.
What comes from God is true wisdom. Which can save you from very crisis is the wisdom of God. Something which can transform is the true wisdom. Something that can deliver you from your guilt is the wisdom. Something which has a coherent and existential answers to the age old question is the true wisdom. And the power of God, which is Jesus Christ meets all this criteria. Jesus is empirically verifiable, rationally consistent and existentially relevant.
Many great Giants have come to realise Jesus as true wisdom from above.
Many scientists also believed in this truth. Scholars who were philosophically trained; C S Lewis, Hugh Ross, John Lennox, Dinesh D'Souza, Stuart Mcallister, Norman Geisler, William Lane Craig, Jose McDowell, Gary Habermas, Lee Stroble, Tim Keller, RC Sproul, JP Moreland and list goes on, all of these were once non-Christians, however, stand firmly in global arena today to defend the same wisdom, which is Jesus Christ that they once rejected.
So reliance on human wisdom for your salvation or success is foolishness before God.
2. THE WEAKNESS OF MEN
The weakness of men is nothing but Christlessness.
Today, what world sees as strength is merely limited to either intellectual or physical strength. These are two popular types in the present world. Either one has to be intellectually sound or physically well built to compete the rivals and become a success story. But we saw in earlier point that how most intellectual world of all times came to dust and proved the futility of human intellect and wisdom. Here, we see another kingdom, Roman kingdom, which was, then, known for its power and glory, however, their power and glory came to nothing as we look at the pages of history. Rome would have been wiped off from the world map of church would not have been its saviour today. Vatican is what we know today is because of the church. But trying to stick to the Ancient Rome, statements like, Rome was not built in one day, talks about its glory. And the military of Rome was known as killing machine. Most popular for its might and ever ready to bring down any kingdom appears to it as threat. Subsequently, after an infamous rule of some centuries Rome empire, ridiculously, came to its history.
So question comes what is the real epitome of power or strength.
Verse 24
But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
This tells us that Jesus Christ is the Power of God. This is the real power Jesus Christ that without the point of sword made one third of the whole world His followers. Fought no empire yet dominated almost entire world. Had no army yet conquered every hearts of men. Had no muscle power but demonstrated extreme power that all powers (physical or spiritual) submitted at His feet. He had no torch in His hand but burned every heart that listened His words. Had no waters but purified every soul that came to Him. He had no medicine but cured every disease that approached Him. He had the power to make broken heart whole again, to hopeless hopeful again, to meaningless meaningful again, to weak mighty again, to fools wise, to fishermen fishers of men, to tax collector a soul collector, to persecutor a preacher, only by the Power of above.
Adolf hitler, Napoleon Bonaparte, Alexander the Great, Joseph II, known as holy emperor, queen Elizabeth and many more were known for the width and the length of their kingdoms which they had dominated for centuries but as we see today the pages of history we find their names and kingdoms only in the history. Their kingdom didn't last long it wasn't eternal. Their power could not buy them followers. But the kingdom, which Jesus established until this day has its foundation well rooted and followers ever increasing.
The foundation of this kingdom was not laid with sword and bloodshed but love and grace. So the strength Jesus demonstrated outlasted every other power of the world.
So reliance on your human strength for salvation or success is weakness before God.
In sum, this tells us that Jesus Christ is the true Wisdom and the Power descended from above for all men to see. And the best part of the story; God will give this wisdom and power to the ones who would choose to follow Jesus Christ. So if you are wise or unwise, mighty or weak you need Jesus for Salvation. And there are many educated, skilled and professional to whom God called and still calls for ministry.
For instance, my present pastor once was an engineer by profession but God called him for ministry. This tells us that God uses wise and skilled people for His purposes, in fact, it were wise men who came to find Jesus in the first place. At the same time God chooses fools and weaks to manifest His power and wisdom for the world to see because God makes them wise and mighty.
Source:
Kee, Howard and Franklin W. Young, Understanding The New Testament, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Prentice Hall, Inc. 1958, pg 208.
If the skeptic refuses to accept that Moses was much more eloquent than the prophet claimed in his meeting with God on Mount Horeb, the Bible student might also point out that Stephen’s reference to Moses being “mighty in words and deeds” was (in context) in reference to Moses during the first 40 years of his life in Egypt (Acts 7:22). In Stephen’s speech in Acts 7, he reminded his Jewish audience that Pharaoh’s daughter brought Moses up “as her own son. And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds” (Acts 7:21-22). Stephen then stated: “Now when he [Moses] was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel…” (7:23). It was after another “forty years had passed” (7:30)—after Moses had become a shepherd and had dwelt in the land of Midian for 40 years—that, at the age of 80, Moses made excuses before God of being ineloquent. Thus, in context, these statements were made about a man at two very different periods of time in his life. And, as everyone should know, two different statements cannot rationally be said to contradict each other if they are referring to two different time periods. How many of us were better at something in our younger years? Could Moses have not been a more eloquent speaker at 40 than at 80 (after spending four decades as a shepherd in a foreign land)?
http://www.apologeticspress.org/ApPubPage.aspx?pub=1&issue=1117&article=2139
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