“For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe” ( 1 Corinthians 1:21).

At first reading, this verse seems like an oxymoron. How could it be wise on God’s part to accomplish salvation via the spread of something foolish? And how could any message that has the power to save the souls of lost sinners be foolish? Does that mean we who have believed in the message of the gospel are fools?

The apostle Paul uses the word “foolishness” accommodatively; that is, he uses it by the understanding of those of whom he speaks. To people who have rejected the wisdom of God, the terms of the gospel — God becoming man and sacrificing His life for humankind, then rising from the grave to mediate man’s forgiveness — sound ridiculous.

The Jews of Paul’s day didn’t want to hear what appeared to them just fanciful stories. They wanted to see concrete proof: miracles and wonders being worked right before their eyes, which they could not disprove or dispute. As for the Gentiles, who were largely influenced by Greek culture, they wanted to hear lofty pontification that sounded like the wisdom of Athenian philosophers (1 Corinthians 1:22).

Simple preaching about Jesus didn’t impress either group. “Foolishness,” they called it, and moved along to other things.

Paul says that it pleased God not to cater to those who were easily impressed by flashy works or flashy words. And so His scheme of redemption relies on neither. “But,” you say, “the resurrection of Jesus was an incredible miracle.” And so it was. But was it attended with explosions, fireworks and fanfare? No, it happened in the early morning when most people were asleep. No one witnessed it but some soldiers who weren’t going to tell anyone for fear of their lives.

And when the account of this event was circulated, was it announced by learned men who would blather on about their hypotheses about the way the world is? No, it was told in plain terms by uneducated and untrained men, who were unremarkable other than in their boldness of spirit and speech, and in the fact that they had been with Jesus (Acts 4:13). They preached “Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness” (1 Corinthians 1:23).

If the majority of the religious Jews and Gentiles would not be attracted to the gospel message, who then would it reach? Certainly not those of noble birth, not the worldly-wise, not the high and mighty (1 Corinthians 1:26). No, it would be the “foolish,” the “weak” and the “base” (or at least those so perceived by the world) who would embrace the good news of salvation (1 Corinthians 1:27-28). These would recognize in Christ “the power of God and the wisdom of God” and in Christ’s death, burial and resurrection their calling to be reconciled to God (1 Corinthians 1:24; 2 Corinthians 5:20-21; Ephesians 2:14-18).

“Because,” Paul noted, “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Corinthians 1:25). That which the world called foolish — the Son of God sacrificed for sin and risen from the dead — holds greater wisdom than all the philosophies man has ever concocted, all of which combined cannot redeem a single soul. That which the world calls weak — obedient submission to the will of God and His commandments — is stronger than all the mighty deeds of men, none of which can gain anyone entrance into eternal glory (Ephesians 2:8-10).

Brother Phil Roberts will be here to preach the gospel among us later this week. May all that he teaches us be “foolish,” and may many “foolish” people come to hear and obey, as the Lord wills.