For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God.

Christianity is not populated primarily with worldly-wise and upper class people—true in Paul’s day just as it is in our day. This has stigmatized followers of Christ in the eyes of the elite and scholarly of the world. The rap is this: ignorant people believe the “myth” that Jesus, living 2,000 years ago, was God, died for our sins, and was raised from the dead. The philosophers at Mars Hill listened respectfully to Paul’s dissertation about God until he spoke of the judgement and resurrection – then they “sneered” at him (Acts 17:32). The mocking that began when Jesus was crucified continued on.

We can join the Corinthians and look around and see that our churches are not usually filled with the academic elite or the wealthy. There are not many Nobel prize winners. This is not because intelligent people are too smart to believe, but rather that true believers are less inclined to compete in the academic and high society circles for prominence. Down through the ages, wise men have still sought Him, as the saying goes. The power of the gospel can reach even the hardest places, those arrogant minds who think truth must remain mysterious and hidden to the populace, being the province of only the elite and powerful.

Paul, himself highly educated, embraced the simplicity of the gospel, and so have millions through the ages. In faith, we who believe have discovered the wisdom and power of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ who died for us. This is not something we arrived at in any way that allows us to boast in our own efforts. And that is why it seems like foolishness to a world that is bent on self-aggrandizement, building itself up. Children say, “My dad could beat your dad with his little finger,” as a way of saying the weakest part of one is more powerful than the strongest part of the other. God’s weakest part, as seen in the eyes of the world—a righteousness based on that of a substitute—turns out to be far wiser and greater than the best the world has to offer.

This turns the world completely on its ear. If it is true—and we believe it is—there is absolutely no boasting; all competitions over who is greater, better, wiser, or stronger are nullified. God’s strategy will prove to “beat” the world at its own game, on its own field. In fact, God’s strategy does away with the field altogether! The competition is over; it is undercut. That is God’s triumph.

Lord, I choose to side with You, though the world says that is weak.