As
Paul the apostle had the Corinthian church members considering their
“calling” from
God, he told them “not many wise men
after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called”,
and in chapter one and verse twenty-seven
of First Corinthians, Paul shared how “God
has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise”
where we read:
But
God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise;
and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the
things which are mighty;
The
verse begins, “But
God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise;”
Paul began
with the word, “But”
which is a disassociation conjunction that means what is about to be
written takes precedence over what was just stated “God”
which refers to “the Godhead bodily and trinity which is comprised
of God the Father, Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit” “has
chosen”
which means “picked out, elected and chose” “the
foolish things”
or “the impious, base, dull, stupid, heedless, and absurd things”
“of the world”
or “of the whole circle of earthly goods with its endowments,
riches, advantages and pleasures” “to
confound”
which means “to dishonor, disgrace, put to shame, be ashamed and
blush with shame” “the wise”
or “the skilled, expert, cultivated and learned”. God elected to
use “base and absurd” things to put the “wise”
in this world to “shame”.
The
verse continues, “...and
God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things
which are mighty;”. Paul
added the words, “and God” which
refers to “the Godhead bodily and trinity which is comprised of God
the Father, Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit” “has
chosen”
which means “picked out, elected and chose” “the
weak things”
or “the impotent, sick, without strength and feeble things” “of
the world”
which refers to “of the whole circle of earthly goods with its
endowments, riches, advantages and pleasures” “to
confound”
which means “to dishonor, disgrace, put to shame, be ashamed and
blush with shame” “the things which
are mighty”
which refers to “things which are strong, violent, forcibly
uttered, firm and sure”. God decided to use “impotent and feeble”
things to “put to shame” people who are “powerful” in the
world.
When
we consider these words from Paul, we marvel at the “wisdom and
power” of God. Because He is “stronger, wiser and of greater
status” than any person who has ever lived, He is able to use
things which seem “impotent, feeble, base and absurd” to “shame”
them. God did not use man's conventional way of thinking to bring
salvation to people. He used the “cross” of Christ as His
instrument. God employed ordinary and “base” people to bring His
Son Jesus into the world, and when the time came to make an offering
for man's sin, God used the lowest form of sacrifice known to man -
“the cross”. God desires “eternal salvation” to
be offered to every person regardless of their “power, wisdom or
status”, and since He has made His Son Jesus so readily available,
should not everyone who reads these words yield their lives to Him?
Next
time Paul shares what God has purposed for the“base
things of the world, and things that are despised”,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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