1 Corinthians 1:19, commentary and pictures

God sets aside and brings to nothing the skill and insight of thoughtful people whenever they oppose His purpose and His wisdom. This is shown most clearly in the message of Christ crucified, which looks like folly to those who are perishing but is God's power to those who are being saved. No learning, philosophy, eloquence, or reasoning can by itself give true knowledge of God or make anyone wise unto salvation, for spiritual truth is discerned spiritually and the world by its own wisdom did not know God. Instead God saves those who believe through what the world calls the foolishness of preaching, and He uses what is weak, lowly, and despised to shame the mighty so that no one may boast in His presence. Believers are therefore in Christ Jesus, who is made to them wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so faith rests on God's power rather than human wisdom and all glory belongs in the Lord.

Wording and Immediate Context

God destroys the wisdom of the wise and brings to nothing the understanding of the prudent when that wisdom and understanding are set against His purposes and His wisdom. What worldly wisdom calls foolishness is His power and wisdom in the message of Christ crucified, and He uses what the world regards as weak, base, despised and insignificant to confound the wise and mighty, so that no flesh can boast before Him. Christ is made to the believer wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, and faith must rest on God's power rather than on human wisdom, with all boasting in the Lord. Education, eloquence, learning and ability cannot replace dependence on Christ or make the cross effective, and man's ideas of education are not to be exalted as supreme, especially when learned men are disloyal to God and do not keep His commandments.

Its immediate setting is the preaching of the cross, which is foolishness to those who are perishing but the power of God to those who are being saved. Through successive ages of darkness in the midnight of heathenism men were permitted to try to find God by their own wisdom, not to prove their inability to Him but so that they themselves might see they could not obtain that knowledge except through revelation of His word by the Holy Spirit, and when Christ came the experiment had been fully tried and proved that the world by wisdom knew not God. Those who undertake to carry forward His work in their own strength will certainly fail, for it pleased God to save those who believe by the foolishness of preaching rather than by wisdom of words.

In that setting Jews require a sign and Greeks seek after wisdom, so Christ crucified is a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Greeks. Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, for the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and the weak things to confound the mighty, and base and despised things, even things which are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no flesh should glory in His presence. Not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, and true knowledge of God and Christ comes through searching the Scriptures.

The wise, the scribe, and the disputer of this world have no standing before God, for God has made foolish the wisdom of this world and in His wisdom the world by its wisdom did not know Him. People shaped by worldly pursuits may regard the preaching of the cross as foolishness, but worldly cleverness is exposed as unable to bring people to know Him. Schooling must not crowd out study of the Bible for the future welfare of the soul, for knowledge of God stands above everything else and students must put it first, and education pursued line after line as the way to attain perfection is deficient in every way when it absorbs every spiritual interest.

The verse stands in instruction against division in the church, condemning envy and strife cherished by members, which makes believers carnal and walking as men, with prejudice, jealousy, evil surmisings, withdrawing from some for no reason but imagination and binding up with others, and with party cries of I am of Paul and I am of Apollos. Ministers are only ministers by whom people believed, one planting and another watering with the same object while God alone gives the increase, and every man receives his own reward according to his own labor, so a minister who emphasizes a different phase of truth or presents the Word in a different way must not be condemned or feared, but the different works and gifts entrusted are to be blended together in His work. Believers shaped by the Holy Spirit must all speak the same thing on a plain thus saith the Lord, with no divisions, perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment, loving as brethren, pitiful and courteous. Yielding to discord separates from brethren and from God and greatly hinders the manifestation of the Spirit of God, who is not sent as Comforter and Strengthener until His people obey to be all of one mind, and preaching is not to be with enticing words of man's wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God, so the cross keeps its power.

Cross Exposes Human Wisdom

Pride and self-conceit blind people to their need of Christ, making the preaching of the cross seem foolish to them, while God brings the wisdom of those who consider themselves wise and the understanding of those who consider themselves prudent to nothing so that no one can boast before Him. Trust in rank, ability, and worldly pursuits leaves people unable to grasp or overturn God's saving purpose, for He uses what the world calls foolish, weak, base and lowly to confound the wise and mighty. Those who are proud of their supposed wisdom and consider themselves too wise to learn from Him do not recognize their need of Christ or understand the preaching of the cross, and warn against trusting worldly cleverness as true wisdom. At Athens learning and refinement did not keep people from idolatry and vice, and pride in their own wisdom made the message of the cross seem foolish and left them unreceptive, while the Greeks regarded it as foolishness because they prized their own understanding above God's wisdom. Those who come to Christ as lost sinners can receive the wisdom that leads to salvation and the light God alone gives, but those who rely on their own learning fail to receive it, since worldly wisdom cannot make people wise unto salvation.

Human learning, philosophy, logic, eloquence, reason, argument and logical powers cannot move hearts, give true knowledge of God, or make people wise unto salvation, for God brings such wisdom and understanding to nothing when they oppose the gospel. The preaching of Christ crucified is God's power to save those who believe, and it pleased God to save those who believe through the preaching of the gospel because in His wisdom the world by its own wisdom did not know God. A lifetime spent trying to find God by reason, argument and logical powers leaves a person ignorant and confused, and true knowledge of God is found alone in the Bible and through Scripture and knowledge of God rather than through human interpretations. Paul's experience at Athens, where learned arguments brought few converts, led him to proclaim the gospel simply rather than rely on worldly wisdom. In the last days many eminent scholars and statesmen will reject the light because the world by human wisdom does not know God, while some will acknowledge their ignorance of God and become humble learners of Jesus.

Spiritual truth is discerned spiritually, not by human wisdom or status, for the world cannot know God through its own wisdom. The cross, which human wisdom treats as foolishness, is God's power and wisdom, revealing God's power and wisdom and overturning human claims to superiority so that no one can boast before God. Human learning and prudence cannot lead people to know God or recognize Christ's saving work when worldly attractions blind them to the truth. Those who receive Christ's light in humble obedience find in Him the wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption and salvation they need, while those blinded by worldly attractions fail to recognize Him.

The preaching of the cross divides those who are perishing, to whom it is foolishness, from those being saved, to whom it is the power of God, and God sets aside the wisdom of the wise and the understanding of the prudent that opposes the cross. It exposes professed converts who are not truly converted, who carry their old dispositions and character into the church and are not conformed to the Spirit of Christ. That same condition leaves the church dwarfed and spiritually feeble, unable to bear advanced truths, offended by messages that condemn selfishness and expose defects of character, becoming enemies of their brethren and of the church, ruining their own souls and deceiving others under the spell of Satan.

Christ Our Wisdom Without Boasting

Of God believers are in Christ Jesus, who is made to them wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, and true wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption are found in Him alone. Faith must therefore rest on God's power rather than on human wisdom, and all boasting belongs in the Lord and not in human wisdom. God overturns human wisdom and nullifies human understanding when they oppose His purposes, and what worldly wisdom calls foolishness in the message of Christ crucified is God's power and wisdom to those who are saved. Pride and self-conceit blind people to their need of Christ and make the preaching of the cross seem foolish to those who are perishing, while God's wisdom is greater than human wisdom and His apparent weakness is stronger than human strength. Because knowledge of God stands above everything else, students must put it first, and he who glories must glory in the Lord.

God uses what the world regards as foolish, weak, base, despised, and insignificant, even things which are not, to confound the wise and mighty and to bring to nothing things that are, so that no flesh should glory in His presence. Human standards cannot grasp or overturn God's saving purpose, and human rank, ability, and wisdom cannot secure grounds for pride before God. Man's ideas of education are not to be exalted as supreme, and the inclination to exalt and extol learned men is foolishness in God's sight, especially when those men are disloyal to Him and do not know God and keep His commandments. God has made foolish the wisdom of this world, for in God's wisdom the world by its wisdom did not know God, and it pleased Him to save believers by the preaching of Christ crucified, which is foolishness to the perishing but power and wisdom to the called. To Jews who require a sign Christ crucified is a stumbling block, and to Greeks who seek after wisdom He is foolishness, yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Christ's humble, unpretending life exemplifies this way of God.

Not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, and no human status, rank, or wisdom gives grounds for pride or glory before God. God does not count the wisdom of the world as of great value though many men do, and He overturns the understanding of the self-confident wise. The Lord has higher aims for His people than the study of man, and those who teach must keep greater heights before them, turn minds to God and not to man, and refuse to make worldly authors the pattern or fill their papers with worldly ideas. Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness are to look for the Holy Spirit whom the Lord waits to bestow, and to be content with nothing less than the best and highest character formed after the divine similitude.

Looking to Jesus as Author and Finisher of faith and contemplating the cross of Calvary gives the proper level to the human mind. Seeing God in Christ and Christ in God levels human exaltation and pride, laying all desire for self-glorification, exaltation, and pride in the dust. In its place comes a spirit of self-abasement that promotes lowliness and humbleness of mind, producing self-abasement, lowliness, and true humility, so that no flesh glories in His presence but only in the Lord. This is revealed in the wonderful provision brought to every believer, for the Creator of all worlds, rich in heaven's treasure, humbled Himself to human nature in meekness and lowliness and clothed His divinity with humanity in the days of His humiliation, becoming poor in humanity that believers through His poverty might be made rich. Whoever cherishes high-mindedness, self-trust, self-sufficiency, and self-complacency dishonors his Maker and will surely be humbled.

Education Cannot Know God

Education alone, advanced learning, eloquence, and human ability cannot fit a person for a place in God's work, give knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ His Son, secure true success, or take the place of dependence on Christ, faith, and prayer. When education absorbs every spiritual interest and displaces God's word, faith, and prayer, it becomes harmful and deficient in every way, for schooling must not crowd out study of the Bible for the future welfare of the soul. What worldly wisdom calls foolish — the preaching of the cross — is God's power to save those who believe, for God has made foolish the wisdom of this world and chosen what the world calls foolish, weak, base, despised, and lowly to confound the wise and mighty so that no flesh should glory in His presence. True wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption are found in Christ alone, who is made wisdom to believers, so there is no ground for boasting in human attainments.

Through successive ages of darkness in the midnight of heathenism God permitted men to try finding out God by their own wisdom, not to prove their inability to Himself but so that men themselves might see they could not obtain that knowledge except through revelation of His word by the Holy Spirit. When Christ came the experiment had been fully tried and proved that the world by wisdom knew not God, and those who undertake to carry forward the work in their own strength will certainly fail.

Man's ideas of education are not to be exalted as supreme, and the inclination of educators to exalt and extol learned men is foolishness in God's sight, especially when those men are disloyal to Him and do not know God and keep His commandments. The Lord has higher aims for His people than the study of man, and those who teach God's people must keep greater heights before them, hungering and thirsting after righteousness and the Holy Spirit whom the Lord waits to bestow. They must turn minds to God and not to man, and refuse to make worldly authors the pattern or to fill their papers with worldly ideas of education.

Advising students to pursue one line of education after another in hope of attaining perfection is positive peril, and the education so obtained is deficient in every way when spiritual interests are neglected. The verse rebukes rich and learned people who exalt themselves above poor sinners who come to Jesus to be saved. God's devised plan is to save those who believe by the foolishness of preaching rather than by wisdom of words, and that plan was carried forward through successive generations and through centuries of heathenism not as an experiment but as the approved way for spreading the gospel, by which from the beginning conviction came upon people and the world was enlightened concerning the gospel of God.

True knowledge of God and of Christ comes through searching the Scriptures, for a lifetime spent trying to find God by reason, argument, and logical powers leaves a person ignorant and confused. The education that knows the only true God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life, is of more value than gold and silver and precious stones, more to be desired than worldly honor and the empty applause of frivolous mortals. Worldly wisdom and understanding without that practical knowledge is rejected, for God brings human wisdom to nothing when it is set against His wisdom and relied on to know Him.

The highest grade of schooling any human being can attain is the schooling given by the divine Teacher. It is the knowledge specially needed as the close of this earth's history draws near, requiring men to be under God's training and by living faith to be brought out of darkness into God's marvelous light as vessels prepared for every good work. As His human instrumentalities they are thus fitted to carry out His plans and to carry the gospel to others, bringing human minds out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Preaching Appointed to Save

God devised the plan to save those who believe by the foolishness of preaching rather than by wisdom of words, because the world by its wisdom did not know God. Through successive ages of darkness in the midnight of heathenism He permitted men to try finding God by their own wisdom, not to prove their inability to Himself but so men themselves might see they could not obtain that knowledge except through revelation of His word by the Holy Spirit. When Christ came that trial had been fully made and had proved that the world by wisdom knew not God, and those who undertake to carry forward His work in their own strength will certainly fail. Education and eloquence cannot replace dependence on Christ or make the cross effective, and man's ideas of education are not to be exalted as supreme, especially when learned men are disloyal to Him and do not keep His commandments. The preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who perish but power and wisdom to the called, for God has made foolish the wisdom of this world and has chosen the foolish, weak, base and despised things, even things which are not, to shame the wise and mighty and to bring to nothing things that are, so that no flesh should glory in His presence.

That plan was carried forward through successive generations and through centuries of heathenism not as an experiment but as the approved way for spreading the gospel. By that method from the beginning conviction came upon people and the world was enlightened concerning the gospel of God, bringing minds out of darkness into His marvelous light. The highest grade of schooling is the schooling given by the divine Teacher, the knowledge specially needed as the close of this earth's history draws near, when men must be under God's training and by living faith become vessels prepared for every good work to carry out His plans as His human instrumentalities. Extended pursuit of one line of education after another in hope of attaining perfection is positive peril and leaves education deficient in every way when it absorbs every spiritual interest and crowds out study of the Bible for the future welfare of the soul.

Preaching is not to be with enticing words of man's wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. The gospel must be preached without dependence on wise words so the cross of Christ keeps its power, for to those who are perishing it looks like foolishness while to those who are saved it is the power of God. All who are engaged in the various branches of God's work are to study the first and second chapters of First Corinthians where this is taught, holding perfect unity with no divisions while the different works and gifts He entrusts are blended together in His work.

Paul's experience at Athens, where his learned arguments brought few converts, led him to proclaim the gospel simply rather than rely on worldly wisdom. There learning and refinement did not keep people from idolatry and vice, and pride in their own wisdom made the message of the cross seem foolish and left them unreceptive to the wisdom God gives. Human learning, philosophy, logic, and eloquence cannot move hearts or give true knowledge unto salvation, while God's truth can humble even the learned and lead them to become learners of Christ.

History Prophecy and Warning

In the last days the greatest scholars, statesmen, and most eminent men turn from the light because the world by its own wisdom does not know God, and to those who are perishing the preaching of the cross is foolishness while to those being saved it is the power of God. God sets aside and nullifies the wisdom of the wise and the understanding of the prudent when they turn from truth, and worldly wisdom cannot bring people to know God or make them wise unto salvation. Men learned in worldly wisdom may think they can explain the mysteries of the world, yet babes and children in Christ are far ahead of them in explaining the mysteries of the gospel. God chooses foolish things to confound the wise, weak things to confound the mighty, and base and despised things and things that are not to bring to nothing things that are, choosing unlearned men willing to learn as well as to teach so that the excellence of the power and the success of the work is of God and not of men, while some eminent ones will acknowledge their ignorance and become humble learners of Jesus.

At the Diet of Worms the wisdom of popes, kings, prelates, sovereigns, and professed wise men was defeated and publicly confounded by the power of truth through a humble person relying on God. That defeat of the papacy would be felt among all nations and in all ages and in every age. God brought the powerful together at Worms so that their wisdom would be openly confounded and the strength of humble dependence on God made clear.

What appears foolish or inadequate to the proud and self-confident can succeed when God sanctions it, as simple acts such as blowing trumpets at Jericho and against Midian became effective through His power. Human wisdom and plans separated from God's power and wisdom cannot accomplish His work, and the lesson is dependence on God rather than confidence in human ability. Seeking personal honor instead of recognizing God as the source of victory is warned against.

Yielding to the influence of Satan's agents brings a bewitching power that takes away good judgment and discernment from those regarded as wise. Yielding to deceptive, ambitious influences leaves people prejudiced, misled, and deceived. This takes place when unconsecrated elements among professed supporters unite with enemies and weaken the hands of God's servants by listening to, repeating, and half believing slanders, boasts, and threats. God's people avoid this loss by neither fearing nor despising enemies, but by trusting in God, going steadily forward in unselfish work, and committing their cause to His providence.

Laying plans without Him who is mighty in counsel and feeling mighty in one's own strength while criticizing and condemning God's work stands condemned, for God binds the arm of the mighty and brings the plans and counsels of the prudent who flatter themselves that they are prudent to nothing. Even when such plans look unobjectionable from the world's point of view, they are not to be adopted by those who have heaven's light, cannot be sustained by the Lord, and cannot be followed by His remnant people. A course decided in council in a decided, defiant, un-Christlike spirit of strife, without the controlling influence of the Spirit of God and without the aid of the One mighty in counsel, shows minds and hearts not under God's control and not presided over by Him. God Himself will work, bind the arm of the mighty, and overthrow such human ideas unless error is seen and the wrong made right, and human judgment even when reasonable cannot replace the guidance of His Spirit or overturn the work He will do.

This applies to church counselors who in a strong, unchristlike spirit of strife, accusation, and condemnation plan in their own strength to weaken the American Sentinel by leaving out or changing passages that make the Sabbath prominent in order to please worldlings. Such a course is not presided over by the Lord, dishonors God, endangers the church, and cannot be sustained by Him or followed by the remnant people of God. Those who feel mighty in their own strength and wisdom while accusing God's work need spiritual eyesalve, for there is One mighty in counsel who will still work out His own purpose, and the light He has given must be respected for the safety of individuals and of the church.

Human wisdom that works in opposition to the mysteries of the gospel will be brought to nothing, and those who take that wisdom as their dependence will perish together with the vain schemes they use to oppose the wisdom that comes from God. Human reasoning cannot discover God or discover the things God reveals, nor judge the work of His Spirit by its own finite standards. God saves believers through the preaching of Christ crucified, which worldly wisdom calls foolishness, for Christ is the power and wisdom of God.

Therefore schooling must not crowd out study of the Bible for the future welfare of the soul, for knowledge of God stands above everything else and students must put it first. Man's ideas of education are not to be exalted as supreme, and the inclination of educators to exalt and extol learned men, especially when disloyal to God and not knowing Him and keeping His commandments, is foolishness in God's sight. Education pursued line after line as the way to attain perfection is deficient in every way when it absorbs every spiritual interest, and the wise, the scribe, and the disputer of this world cannot by wisdom know God. Those who teach God's people must keep greater heights before them, hunger and thirst after righteousness and the Holy Spirit whom the Lord waits to bestow, turn minds to God and not to man, and refuse to make worldly authors the pattern or fill their papers with worldly ideas. Looking to Jesus as Author and Finisher of faith by the cross of Calvary gives the proper level to the human mind, laying all desire for self-glorification, exaltation, and pride in the dust and producing self-abasement, lowliness, and true humility after the Creator who humbled Himself from heaven's riches to poverty in humanity. Whoever cherishes high-mindedness, self-trust, self-sufficiency, and self-complacency dishonors the Maker and will surely be humbled, while those content with nothing less than the best and highest character formed after the divine similitude glory only in the Lord.