I pondered on this verse yesterday, and have heard of it being expounded before. In this article, I will be sharing what I make of it.

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 Cor 1:21, KJV

The word wisdom here comes from the same Greek word used in James 1:5, and it is synonymous with the wisdom bestowed to Daniel and Solomon (please refer to Dan 1 article).

As a recap, wisdom refers to: intelligent, skilful, prudent, learned.

Broadly, it can refer to either wordly wisdom which is attained through: education / gifting, or Godly wisdom.

In this verse (and in the context of 1 Cor 1), wordly wisdom was compared with Godly wisdom.

The wisdom of the world is elaborated in v22, as pursuing educational qualifications and seeking miracles / proofs.

And the verse describes that even all these wordly wisdom, is not sufficient to bring us to know Christ.

One might have expected the gospel to be substantiated, through performing amazing signs / miracles (v22).

Or expected the gospel to be a very complicated message, requiring a high level of education and intellect to understand (v18-20, 22).

Or that the gospel speaks of a heroic Saviour with high status, and not a seemingly weak Messiah crucified hanging on the cross (v23).

However, the gospel is simply about how Jesus died for us on the cross. And there’s nothing we can do to save ourselves (e.g; our intellect, in v17).

For if we could save ourselves through our merits, say our intellect, then we wouldn’t need Jesus, hence degrading the power of the cross (v17).

But God in His wisdom, chose to use this simple and humbling message of the gospel.

(For a recap of the gospel, please refer to the last paragraph of John 1:1 article.)

And when the gospel is preached, God works in the hearts of those whom He calls (v18, v24, v30, John 6:44).