SERMON: “The Wisdom of God’s Choices” (1 Cor. 1:26–31)
“The
Wisdom of God’s Choices”
(1 Cor. 1:26–31)
Series: “1 Cor: Holiness from Messes” #6 Text: 1 Corinthians 1:26–31
By: Shaun Marksbury Date: November
2, 2025
Venue: Living Water Baptist Church Occasion: AM Service
I.
Introduction
Many Christians have trouble in passages like this one. Perhaps they’ve been falsely told that talk
of divine election smacks of heresy, that it is that hated word, “Calvinism.” So, the moment the word “choice” appears, their
reflex is suspicion. Yet, we should want
our doctrine and theology shaped by Scripture, not by our traditions.
This passage highlights God’s sovereignty, showing us that
His choices reflect a wisdom above anything in this world. God’s wisdom is a larger theme of this
section of Scripture, starting in v. 17 — the wisdom of God’s word should be
the proclamation of all gospel ministry.
We read that “God made foolish the wisdom of the world” (v. 20), and the
ironic words, “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the
weakness of God is stronger than men” (v. 25).
This will continue to be a major theme into the next chapter, where we
see that the witness of the Spirit of God is true wisdom, which the world
cannot understand.
The real tension, then, is not between Christians who
disagree about election; the tension is between us and the mocking lost
world. When we consider that, we might be
tempted to alleviate that tension by thinking that we can make Christianity
palatable enough, craft the perfect argument, or recruit the right celebrity. However, while God might use various means,
in general, the world will always mock us and find us foolish. And this is precisely how God chooses to
operate — He takes the foolish things and shames the world’s wisdom.
God’s choices are best, so we should bow to them. We’ll see that in three points from this
passage this morning. God chooses us for
His wise purposes (v. 26), God chooses us to display His wise purposes (vv.
27–29), and God chooses us to boast in His wise purposes (vv. 30–31). Let’s consider His wisdom this morning with
the first point:
II.
First, God Chooses Us for His Wise Purposes (v.
26)
For consider your
calling, brothers, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not
many mighty, not many noble.
Perhaps part of the reason they were wanting to impress
people around them was because they felt like they were small and of little
account to the world. Yet, God chose
them for that very purpose. Let’s
consider that for just a moment.
Paul begins here with the little word “for.”[1] He’s tying this verse to the preceding
argument: the weakness of God is stronger than men because the Corinthian
church is “living proof.”[2] Yet, the Corinthians themselves needed to see
that.
So, he commands them here to consider, to “see.” Paul wants them to gaze at the mirror of
their own conversion. He wanted them to
take a demographic survey of their church for educational purposes. Who comprises their spiritual makeup?
Of course, that would be considering the visible church, but
they must assume that they are looking at fellow believers. The noun “calling” here refers to what brought
them together — not merely to an invitation but the effectual summons by which
God brought them to faith (cf. 2 Thess. 2:14 for the effectual calling). It wasn’t something special about themselves
that brought them together; it was the calling of God.[3]
Now, that isn’t a popular message for people of this culture. As one commentary notes, “Writing to a city
and church obsessed with reputation and honor, Paul risked seriously offending
the Corinthians in this insulting reminder of the majority of the Corinthian
Christians’ humble roots and social status: he tells the Corinthians, ‘most of
you are nobodies.’ ”[4] They might have thought they made the choice
themselves, or that they had something to offer God.
Yet, God brought them into the family of God by His choice. As John says in John 1:13, we are born “not
of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” God’s calling brings together believers in
Christ, so Paul can rightly call them “brothers” or “brethren.” This word softens the tone a bit, because the
real blow to their pride is still ahead.
Paul says that “there were not many wise according to the
flesh.” That means human standards or worldly
metrics does not acknowledge most Christians as “wise.” To be Sophos or “wise”/“clever” in
Greek culture meant the to be a philosopher, rhetorician, or an elite thinker. In the Corinthian church, some were,[5] but only
a handful fit that mold. The church was
overwhelmingly blue-collar, slave, and few free.
Paul also says that not many were “mighty,” pointing to
political or military power. He also says
that not many were “noble,” meaning part of the aristocracy. In other words, there are not a lot of
senators, generals, and wealthy families in the church. These categories, along with the wise, cover
the three pillars of Greco-Roman honor: intellect, influence, and pedigree.
The point is not that God never saves the elite; He does.
The point is that He does not need
them to validate His gospel. God has His
own purposes for choosing people, which should be a comfort to most of us — we
don’t have to bring an impressive education, resume, or family tree to get into
the family of God.
God has His reasons, and one is paramount. In Ephesians 1:4, we read that “He chose us …
in love.” He not only chose us to show us His love — He
chose to display His wise purposes in us.
That brings us to the next point:
III.
Second, God Chooses Us to Display His Wise
Purposes (vv. 27–29)
But God has chosen
the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak
things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things
of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that
He may abolish the things that are, so that no flesh may boast before God.
Perhaps you’ve been listening until this point and wondering
where I’m getting all of this about God’s choice. Well, it’s right here! Three times the verb thunders forth — “God
chose… God chose… God chose.” This is His
sovereign, deliberate, selection, and we read that God chose for Himself. Paul sets up God’s choice in a series of
three contrasts,[6]
leading to a resolution.
We read first that God chose “the foolish things of the
world.” Remember when we noted that the
world has names for us, and that moros or “moron” was one? Well, in Corinth, this term described the
uneducated,[7] the
day-laborer who couldn’t quote Homer. Yet, God chose “morons,” the “foolish,” to “shame
the wise.” This verb means public humiliation, the exposure of pretended
superiority.[8]
We read second that God chose “the weak things.” Think of the slave girl, the infirm widow, and
the child. God pairs them against “the
strong things” of this world, such as generals, governors, or gladiators. God’s purpose is the same: to shame them. With God, the “weak” win every time!
But, He doesn’t stop there, as the list lengthens. God also chose the “base things of the world,”
or “what is low” (ESV), or “low-born,” like the slave class.[9] God further chose “the despised,” those
treated as refuse in the world. Finally,
He chose “the things that are not,” for He is a God who “calls into being that
which does not exist” (Rom. 4:17). This
builds to the third, climatic contrast — “so that He may abolish the things
that are.” God overturns the entire
hierarchy of human greatness.
What is the Lord doing here?
He may be referring to His choice of bringing salvation in Christ. As one commentary notes, the Father chose “to
bring salvation by sending His Son in the way He did — as a poor man from an
unimportant region in the frailty of human form — rather than in the triumphant
image of a god.”[10] This is the ultimate image of triumph in the
wisdom of God, that the gentle and lowly Christ would overcome all.
Yet, this also reflects God’s work in believers. We, too, are often low and of no account in
the world. Yet, He calls something new
into existence with us as He brings us into fellowship with Him. As we’re honest with ourselves and the power
in us to change into something more, we see that it is all of God. Moreover, as we see God abolish strongholds
through us, we come to understand that there is nothing in this world beyond
God’s wisdom.
That brings us to v. 29 and the ultimate reason of God’s
choice.[11] God chose to work in such a way that “no flesh
may boast.” No human being, in any
category, has ground for becoming proud “in the presence of God.” It may be that some “Corinthians may have
placed their confidence in their rhetorical skills or spiritual gifts.”[12] It may also be that some doubted their own
ability in Christ to confront a more educated, “nobler” world, but those great societal
pillars cannot boast before the Lord, either. In James 2:5, we read, “Listen, my beloved
brothers: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to
those who love Him?” Either way, no one
can boast.
We see something of the free choices of God here. Some think that divine election is simply God
looking down the “corridors of time” to choose only those who would believe in
Him if offered a choice, but we see that God has a plan for the choices He
makes. When we describe election as
“unconditional,” it means that we don’t contribute to the process (like our
faith or our talents), not that God doesn’t have a reason! And His reason is this: to glorify
Himself. He does this by often choosing
the low things of the world to show His glory.
And we should recognize that, leading us to the final point:
IV.
Third, God Chooses Us to Boast in His Wise
Purposes (vv. 30–31)
But by His doing
you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness
and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “Let him
who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Note once again that it is “by His doing you are in Christ
Jesus.” It’s “because of” God (ESV), and “He is the reason”
(NET). It’s His doing, not our
own! As the 2LBCF says, it is “not for
anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone” (11.1.c
Of Justification). Union with Christ is
not a human achievement; it is God’s initiative.
Now, this means that we receive the gift of Christ. This results in four realities. Christ became for us…
- Wisdom
from God. Now, this is not the speculative
philosophy of the world, but the true, practical knowledge of salvation
and Scripture. Because of Christ,
we can walk in wisdom (cf. Eph. 5:15–17).
If you want true wisdom to get through this world, you need Christ.
- Righteousness.
This is forensic, courtroom righteousness. This is where there is a case before God’s
court, but instead of a guilty verdict, we receive a full acquittal.[13]
He counts us as righteous now because
Christ bore our sin (2 Cor. 5:21).
- Sanctification.
This can refer to that positional sanctification,
where God chose to set us apart at our conversion. It can also refer to progressive sanctification,
though, wherein we are growing in holiness.[14]
In Christ, we can see our messes
begin to be transformed, by His glory.
- Redemption.
This term points to the slave
market and could have been a strong word of hope in that world. Christ paid the price (His blood) to buy
us out of sin’s dominion. The term
also looks forward to the final redemption of the body (Rom. 8:23).
What we have in Christ is so much greater than what the
world has to offer! Sometimes, it seems
odd to find a Christian who practices a godly wisdom, who has faith in the righteousness
of Christ, who seem to be growing in his sanctification, and who has been redeemed
from sin and the world. However, that
should be the standard believer in the church, for these realities are
available to all of us in Christ. Let’s
seek to walk in Christ, not in the ways of the world.
To back that up, in v. 31, Paul quotes Jeremiah 9:24. We read there, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Let not a
wise man boast in his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast in his might;
let not a rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this,
that he understands and knows Me, that I am Yahweh who shows lovingkindness,
justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares
Yahweh.’ ” Paul applies this to Christ
here.
This is the purpose.
All of this — election, union, salvation — exists so that boasting may
be turned from man unto the Lord. The
only legitimate boast is in the Lord
V.
Conclusion
Look again at the mirror Paul held up in verse 26. Most of you were not wise, mighty, or noble. Yet here you stand — chosen, shamed into
glory, united to the Wisdom of God. The
world still mocks us, but let it. The
cross is still foolishness to them, but it is the power of God to us who are
being saved (1:18).
So, feel free to boast as believers! No, don’t boast in your intellect, influence,
or inheritance. But, exercise the joy of
the Lord by boasting in Him. The Lord
who chose you when you were nothing, made you something in Christ, and will one
day abolish every rival claim to His greatness.
And on that day, He will transform one form of glory into another
one. Let’s praise Him until then!
[1] Ronald Trail, An Exegetical Summary of 1 Corinthians 1–9,
(Dallas, TX: SIL International, 2008), 60.
[2] Andrew David Naselli, Romans–Galatians, 2020, X, 235.
[3] A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament,
(Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1933), 1 Co 1:26.
[4] Roy E. Ciampa and Brian S. Rosner, The First Letter
to the Corinthians, The Pillar New Testament Commentary, (Grand
Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2010),
102–103.
[5] Ibid., 105.
[6] Ibid., 106.
[7] Andrew David Naselli.
[8] Trail, 64.
[9] Ibid., 65.
[10] John D. Barry, Douglas Mangum, Derek R. Brown, Michael
S. Heiser, Miles Custis, Elliot Ritzema, Matthew M. Whitehead, Michael R.
Grigoni, and David Bomar, Faithlife Study Bible, (Bellingham, WA:
Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), 1 Co 1:28.
[11] Robertson, 1 Co 1:29.
[12] Barry, et. al., 1 Co 1:29.
[13] Trail, 71.
[14] Ibid.