“Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, ‘he is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness’; and again, ‘the Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless.’”

He kissed his brain goodbye.” “Intellectually weak.” Such is the scorn heaped on Christians by our modern world. But God says, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Ps. 14:1–2).

Paul takes the challenge aimed at the unbelievers and directs it to the Corinthians, who had adopted unchristian ways of thinking. His comments border on satire as he plays with the concepts of foolishness and wisdom.

To be a follower of Christ means to step into the line of fire, so to speak. In other words, no matter your education, street-smarts or philosophical understandings, submitting oneself to Christ and Him crucified automatically invokes the scorn of the world. This is incomprehensible to them, like utter foolishness. And that is Paul’s point. He is not here arguing that God is smarter than the world, but that to follow God’s truth means a willingness to side with those who are mocked by the world as foolish. In that sense, then, the path to true wisdom runs through the field of worldly scorn.

What is our motivation to do so? Do we want the wisdom of God more than the praise and acceptance of those who think following the wisdom of God is foolishness? Do we want to walk through the field of world-scorn or the field of God-scorn? Indeed, God ridicules the world’s wisdom even when it is adopted by those who believe in Christ and Him crucified.

The Corinthians had been fooled into adopting worldly wisdom, and it was the cause of their problems. Paul says don’t be fooled. Like a good parent who helps a child anticipate and prepare for what will confront him or her, God warned us long ago about these things. Paul quotes from Job 5:13 and Psalm 94:11 to make his point. From God’s vantage point, the issue of wisdom and foolishness is as clear as the sky is blue. When we are enticed, like Eve, to see wisdom as attainable apart from God, the results will eventually become obvious. “When the woman saw that the tree was…desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband…the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked” (Gen. 3:6). Because we don’t always see the immediate results of our foolishness, we must learn to trust God’s wisdom—in the most difficult things or most enticing temptations.

Lord, I want the wisdom that comes from trusting You, not worldly wisdom.