For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
1 Corinthians 1:21
The old translation is a bit of a tongue-twister but the meaning is simple enough: God’s relationship with man is not seen through the prism of man’s wisdom. Why? Because it was conceived in His mind, thus it is born out of His wisdom (the wisdom of God). In His wisdom, He set up a plan to save man that is contrary to the wisdom of the world (human-level wisdom).
It pleased God, Paul says: “by the foolishness of preaching.” Actually, the text would be better translated: “by the foolishness of what was preached.” God thought well of His scheme of redemption, because it is precisely what a so-called wise person would not have done. The message of Jesus seems at first to be totally contradictory: He preached “peace to victory” when war is how men conquer. He preached loving our enemies, when the wisdom of the world said “distrust and keep them distant.” He condemned the covetousness and obsession with self-perseverance that seems so fundamental to human nature.
His message—now preached by His disciples—was seen as “foolishness” to those who rejected it. Those who believed it, however, found in it salvation from sins and life everlasting. Stop trying to reinvent the wheel. Stop trying to out-do God. He’s a lot wiser than we are. He developed the system of salvation.
All we need to do is humble ourselves and obey it.
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