Foolish, Weak, Low, Despised, Nothing (part 1 of 2)

But God chose what the world thinks foolish to shame the wise, and God chose what the world thinks weak to shame the strong.  God chose what is low and despised in the world, what is regarded as nothing, to set aside what is regarded as something, so that no one can boast in His presence. – 1 Corinthians 1:27-29  (NET)

As an attempt is made to come to a proper understanding of what the Apostle Paul is here attempting to communicate, we need to keep in mind what it is that he has been setting forth to this point of his letter to the congregation at Corinth.  Paul has been writing about the cross, which, in and of itself, would be taken to be odd, as crucifixion (due to the profound shame associated with it, which was of paramount concern in an honor and shame culture) was most assuredly something that generally went unmentioned in polite society. 

Paul, in a nod to cultural sensibilities of the day, has called the message of the cross “foolishness to those who are perishing” (1:18).  Indeed, if one wanted to rally a movement, it would be foolish in the utmost to make consistent reference to the fact that your leader was crucified.  Paul however, clearly unconcerned about so much foolishness, and in making reference to this same cross, reports on God’s plan to “destroy the wisdom of the wise” and “thwart the cleverness of the intelligent” (1:19).  He has reminded his readers that while the “Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks ask for wisdom” (1:22), he preaches “about a crucified Christ” (1:23).  As we should be well aware, a “crucified Christ” was an absolute oxymoron.  There could be no such thing.  In his day, crucifixion, especially for a Jew, meant precisely the opposite of “anointed one” (Messiah/Christ).  For all, Gentiles included, crucifixion implied failure.  Thus, the implication of that, echoing the “foolishness” mentioned before, is that the cross is not a miraculous sign for the Jew, nor the sign or indication of wisdom to the Greeks. 

For the Jew, as it is worth reiterating ad nauseum, in light of the fact that it would be Jews that first came to believe in Jesus as the Christ, and who also would seemingly violate their strict monolatry/monotheism to worship the crucified One, it was quite contrary to the miraculous, as the cross was a sign merely that a person had failed in their messianic quest, getting him and (most likely) his followers crucified.  The Gentiles (the Greeks) would have looked at all of these attempted overthrows and revolutions, in the face of Roman power in expectation of their God acting on their behalf, as foolishness.  The dominant Greek philosophies of stoicism and Epicureanism would have spurred a general questioning of the need for all the hope and all the bother.  

In general, stoicism postulated a God that was far away and apathetic to the plight of humanity.  Broadly speaking, the epicureans said that the purpose of life is to pursue pleasure.  Clearly, their constant expectation of God’s action in Messiah and its underlying revolutionary fervor that took thousands of the Jews to their death, fit neither one of those models.  It is for these reasons, at the very least, that the message of the cross, of the crucified Christ, was “a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (1:23b). 

In the face of all of this, Paul continues on to write that “to those who are called” (1:24a), Christ is both “the power of God” (1:24b), thus fulfilling the Jewish requirement for a miraculous sign, and “the wisdom of God” (1:24c), thus fulfilling the Greek need for wisdom.  To this, Paul adds, “Think about the circumstances of your call, brothers and sisters.  Not many were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were born to a privileged position” (1:26).  We must notice that Paul writes “not many,” which would imply that some members of the congregation that he was addressing were wise and powerful and privileged (or perhaps desired positions of power and privilege), while also making mention of the fact that this is added shortly after Paul’s mention of “those who are called.”  In this, we are able to see that to them, because the Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, it did not matter that none but a few of the called were wise or powerful or born to positions of privilege.