What the World calls Foolish God calls Power
What if the very thing the world considers foolish is the very thing God uses to reveal His power? In 1 Corinthians 1:17–28, Paul challenges the way we think about wisdom, strength, and success. The world looks for impressive words, human achievement,...
Key Takeaways
- The world often labels the message of the cross as foolishness, but God uses it to reveal His ultimate power.
- Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 1 challenges believers to reevaluate how they measure wisdom, strength, and success.
- God intentionally chooses weak and insignificant things of the world to accomplish His purposes and confound human pride.
- Believers must be careful not to judge God's work and methods by society's superficial standards.
- True confidence in the walk of faith must rest entirely in God's wisdom rather than human achievement.
What if the very thing the world considers foolish is the very thing God uses to reveal His power?
In 1 Corinthians 1:17–28, Paul challenges the way we think about wisdom, strength, and success. The world looks for impressive words, human achievement, and outward power. But God chose the preaching of the cross—a message the world considers foolish—to accomplish what human wisdom never could.
And He doesn’t stop there. God chooses the weak things, the foolish things, and the things the world considers insignificant to bring His purposes to pass.
Are we judging God’s work by the world’s standards? Have we overlooked what God can do because something—or someone—doesn’t look impressive enough?
Join us for today’s ScriptureLinks Daily Dose of Inspiration as we discover why God’s wisdom is greater than man’s wisdom and why our confidence must rest in Him, not ourselves.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does it mean that God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom?
It means that God's methods, such as the message of the cross, completely surpass the highest levels of human intellect and logic in accomplishing redemption.
Which Bible passage discusses God's power versus worldly foolishness?
This episode focuses primarily on 1 Corinthians 1:17–28, where the Apostle Paul contrasts human wisdom with the power of the cross.
Why does God choose weak and foolish things to accomplish His purposes?
God chooses the weak and insignificant things of the world so that no one may boast before Him, ensuring all glory goes to His power.
ScriptureLinks (00:00)
Good morning and welcome to this brand new day. Today I want us to take a look in First Corinthians because let me ask you a personal question. When I tell you about the the cross of Christ, is that foolishness to you? Or does that mean something to you? Let's take a look at it. First Corinthians chapter number one. Paul was writing to this church at Corinth, um, correcting a lot of
ScriptureLinks (00:29)
of mistakes that is in their teaching and in their doctrine. And one of the things he talks about here at the beginning was about about what the cross means. And Corinth, if you've done any any study, Corinth you would know was would be there in the area of modern day Greece. And so that was a epicenter for wisdom at the time of Paul.
ScriptureLinks (00:59)
And he's gonna he's gonna talk about in verses 17 through, let's see, we're gonna go down here through 17 through 27, 28. 17 through 28 is what we're gonna look at today in First Corinthians chapter number one. Paul says, For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
ScriptureLinks (01:28)
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by whom wisdom
ScriptureLinks (01:58)
knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe, for the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called. Both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, became the foolishness of God
ScriptureLinks (02:26)
Or because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty men, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of this world to confound.
ScriptureLinks (02:56)
To confound the things which are mighty, and the base things of this world, and the things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are. What's Paul telling us here? What's what's he trying to get us to understand? Well, he starts out here in the beginning. If you look at the first.
ScriptureLinks (03:23)
16 verses of chapter one of First Corinthians. You see where Paul was talking about baptism and about how people um in the church there at Corinth was saying, Well, I follow Paul, and someone else says, I follow Apollos, and someone else says, I follow this person. And today you could, for modern day um understanding, we could say, Well.
ScriptureLinks (03:46)
I follow Joel Osteen, and someone else could say, Well, I follow Dr. David Jeremiah, and someone else, I follow Charles Stanley. You know, that's that's what was going on in that church. And Paul was trying to get them to understand that none of these individual men meant anything other than Christ. And so each one of them was working together to try to bring these people to.
ScriptureLinks (04:14)
A knowledge of Christ to a saving knowledge of Christ. And he gets into verse 17 now. At the end, preceding verses, he was talking about baptism, and and he says here, he's he's making his calling clear to this church at Corinth that he wasn't called and wasn't there to baptize, but rather to preach the gospel. And and he he goes on now, starting in verse 18, he's going to be giving a compare and contrast kind of thing here.
ScriptureLinks (04:45)
He says, for the preaching of the cross to them that perish, foolishness. But unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. That's why I ask you that question in the beginning of today's episode. When you talk about the cross of Christ, is that foolishness to you, or is it power to you? Because if it's foolishness, if you look at that and say, That's just too stupid to believe, that just there's no proof of that. There's no
ScriptureLinks (05:13)
No, nothing of that, so I can't believe that. And that's what so many people say today. And Paul is saying if that's foolishness to you, if the preaching of the cross is foolishness to you, then you are perishing. You are on your way to a devil's hell. But if the power of your saved, the power of the cross or the preaching of the cross equals the power of God. It's the power of God to.
ScriptureLinks (05:42)
To break the sin in our life. It's the power of God to forgive us our sins. It's the power of God to help us walk in the paths that God has for us. And that's why we got to seriously sit down and ask ourselves what is the cross to me? What is it to me? He says in verse 19, uh, he's quoting a passage here in Isaiah.
ScriptureLinks (06:10)
When he says, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will hope bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. God is warning us here that He's going to destroy the wisdom of man. Think of what the wisdom of man thinks today. I won't even get into some of it because it's just so stupid it don't even deserve to be mentioned. But the wisdom of man is what so many people put their faith in, that so many people put their trust in.
ScriptureLinks (06:39)
And they're not putting their trust in God because they don't believe it. Let's jump down to verse number. Let's jump down to verse number 22. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. Again, compare and contrast. The Jewish person, the full blooded Jew in Paul's day, and many today don't believe that Jesus is the Messiah. They don't believe that he was the
ScriptureLinks (07:09)
The savior of the world. And people that are are Greeks, and I'm not talking about those of Greek descent. I'm talking about the people that that won't believe without a sign, that won't believe without the wisdom to back it up. And there's so many people today in our world that is living that way. They won't believe in the things of God.
ScriptureLinks (07:37)
That we read in the Bible, they look at it as foolishness, they look at it as rubbish. And they say, How can you believe in that stuff without any proof? You know, it makes me think back to the end of the Gospel of John, and it's in John chapter 20. An interesting story there. This was after the resurrection of Jesus. And he appeared to the disciples who was there in the upper room where they had the Last Supper. And Jesus had appeared to them, but one of the disciples, Thomas, wasn't there.
ScriptureLinks (08:08)
And at some point later, Thomas comes back to the group and and they were telling him how they had seen Jesus. He had appeared. And and what did Thomas say? He said, Well, unless I see him with my own eyes, and unless I touch the nail scars in his hand, unless I put my hand in his side, I'm not going to believe. He wanted a sign. He wanted proof.
ScriptureLinks (08:31)
What happened seven days later? Thomas was there. Jesus came. He appeared again to the disciples, and he went straight to Thomas and says, Hey, you see me here. Put your hand in the nail prince, put your hand in my side. And then he says, Be not faithless, but believe. And at that, Thomas, it doesn't say he put his hands in his
ScriptureLinks (08:57)
In the nail scars. Scripture doesn't say that he put his hand into his side. No, scripture says he he cried out, My Lord and my God. I'm sure he was on his knees at that moment. My Lord and my God. He saw and he believed, or he believed because he saw. And then Jesus says, Thomas, you're believing because you saw me. He says, Blessed are they which believe and have not seen.
ScriptureLinks (09:25)
You see, Thomas couldn't put his his faith into his mind, into his life, because he wanted proof. And so many of us today want proof before we believe in God. I could tell you everything that God's done in my life, things he's brought me through. But that won't be proof that's good enough. You got to see for yourself. Verse 23: But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block.
ScriptureLinks (09:54)
Unto the Greeks foolishness. Again, compare and contrast. We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews because they didn't believe in Jesus. And onto the Greeks they were saying that's foolishness. It's that that can't be believed. That's not wisdom. And he says, But to them which are called, now notice this: but to them which are called, both Jews and Greeks.
ScriptureLinks (10:24)
Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Christ is not only the power of God, but he's the wisdom of God. And we've already determined here in prior passages here that the wisdom of God is stronger than the wisdom of man. And then to finish it up here in verses twenty-six to twenty-eight, Paul again is challenging in this comparing thing here. He says, For ye see your calling, brethren.
ScriptureLinks (10:53)
How that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.
ScriptureLinks (11:03)
See that there? Look at what he says.
ScriptureLinks (11:08)
Not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble. These are people that's not putting their faith in there. These are the people that want that proof. Then he says in verse 27 and 28, but God hath chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of this world to confound the things which are mighty, and the base things of this world.
ScriptureLinks (11:37)
Which are depon despised has God chosen and the things which are not to bring to naught the things that are. So Paul here is saying, God is calling the things which the world considers foolish.
ScriptureLinks (11:53)
To believe the gospel, to prove the gospel, to prove the Lord, to do the work of the Lord. There was a spot in Acts. I want to say it's around Acts chapter chapter 10, 11, in there somewhere. I didn't look it up. But there's a passage in Acts that that Peter and John was arrested for preaching the gospel. And when they preached the gospel again to the religious leaders who had arrested them, they said, Well, these guys are unlearned people.
ScriptureLinks (12:23)
that was with Jesus. Jesus, the wisdom of God.
ScriptureLinks (12:31)
Friends, let me ask you this again. Is the preaching of the cross of Jesus, is is Jesus foolishness to you?
ScriptureLinks (12:43)
Is it foolishness? Are you willing to bet all eternity on the wisdom of man?
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Are you willing to do that today? Think about that as you go through this day and remember, get into God's word and allow God's word to get into you. And then share that word with someone today. Have a blessed day.
