November 28, 2019 Bible Study — Time And Again God Uses Simpletons to Show the Folly of the Wise

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Corinthians 1-4

Paul discusses division in the Church in Corinth.  Some people are claiming to follow Paul, while others claim to follow Apollos, some another Apostle, and some claim to be just following Christ.  Each group claims that their way of following the Gospel makes them superior to those who chose another path.  Certain non-denominational congregations claim this passage indicates that being non-denominational is the correct way, missing the point entirely (Paul mentions here those who make their claim as following only Christ).  Paul makes here the same point he made in the Book of Romans, none of us are superior to others; we all need God’s saving grace in the same degree.

Paul writes that God chose to use those the world thinks are foolish to shame the wise.  The Jews would not accept Jesus as the Messiah because of His death on the cross.  In that they saw Him as weak, not as the conqueror they imagined the Messiah would be.  The Greeks on the other hand thought the idea of resurrection from the dead was silly and foolish.  The Jews could not see how Jesus’ death demonstrated the power of God’s love.  The Greeks were convinced that resurrection from the dead was a fairy story for simpletons.  The elites were, and are, convinced that they are smarter and wiser than the common man.  Time and again throughout history God has used the simpletons of this world to show that those society deems wise to actually be fools.