I always loved this verse for the implications it gives about the mind of God vs the mind of man…
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). In other words, if we had been tasked with coming up with a plan to save humanity, we would never have done it the way God did, and we wouldn’t have created such a perfect system to do it, either. How do you balance God’s need for justice and vengeance with His desire for mercy and grace? How do you maintain a sense of righteousness while, at the same time, pardoning the unrighteous sins of the people? The collective wisdom of the whole world could never have figured it out, but God–in His wisdom–did.
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, and instead told us to be selfless, to sacrifice, to give without any expectation in return.
His message—now preached by His disciples—is seen as “foolishness” to those who rejected it. Why? Because it’s not what they would think of. Because it’s not how they would do it. Those who do believe His message, however, find in it salvation from sins and life-everlasting. So-called wise people who are searching for a way to atone their sins need not rely on their wisdom to do it. They aren’t being asked to devise a plan for salvation. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. We don’t need 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.
~ Matthew