Ministry of Grace Church

Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Truth to Learn

The wisdom of God often seems like foolishness to us.

Behind the Words

We have looked at the Greek word for foolishness (mōros) several times now. It is expressed here as a neuter noun and could be translated as “the foolish thing.”

“Wisdom” (sophos) is another word we have looked at several times. It is interesting that the great philosophical minds of the Greeks, like Aristophanes, Plato, and Aristotle, ridiculed the supposed wisdom of the debaters and rhetoricians of their day, calling their “wisdom” foolishness.

The word translated “weakness” is asthenēs. This word is made up of the privative a, meaning “without” and sthenos, which refers to “physical strength.” Thus, asthenēs literally means “without strength.”

“Stronger” is the comparative form of the Greek noun ischuros, which refers to “strength, might, or power.”

Meaning Explained

Before we go further with today’s verse, let’s talk about what Paul isn’t saying. He isn’t saying that there is any foolishness in God, nor is there any weakness in God. Instead, he is using an idiomatic expression that basically says, “That which men consider the foolishness of God is wiser than the supposed wisdom of men, and that which men consider the weakness of God is stronger that the supposed strength of men.”

Paul may, in fact, be making a reference to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon (see 2 Chronicles chapter ten). After his father’s death, the people asked Rehoboam to lighten the load which Solomon had placed on them. His father’s counselors advised him to do just that, but his own counselors advised him to make their load even heavier. Refusing the wisdom of Solomon’s counselors, Rehoboam listened to his own counselors and rejected the pleas of the people. In one of the Aramaic translations of the Hebrew Scriptures (referred to as a Targum), the writer ascribed the following proclamation to Rehoboam: “My weakness is stronger than the strength of my father.” However, the result of his counselors’ wisdom was that the ten northern tribes of Israel rejected Rehoboam as king and formed their own kingdom, making Jeroboam their king instead.

A couple of verses back, Paul made it clear that he is talking about the crucifixion of Christ. This is the “foolish thing” that he refers to in today’s verse. In the eyes of those possessing worldly wisdom, that was a foolish thing to do. After all, how could anyone believe in a Savior who is so “weak” that He couldn’t even save Himself from being crucified? However, this “foolishness” is exactly what was needed to procure the salvation of mankind and this “weakness” was strong enough to defeat both Satan and death.

Application

Many of us Christians make decisions in life based on our own wisdom without ever consulting with our Wise Counselor. Then we wonder why things don’t turn out the way we expected them to. Prayer may seem to be a foolish thing to do, but in reality it’s the wisest thing we could possibly do. Let’s seek our Counselor’s advice in everything. That’s wisdom!