Context No. 4235 of 4322 · 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 1:26-31: in context

26For you see your calling, brothers, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, and not many noble; 27but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world that he might put to shame the things that are strong. 28God chose the lowly things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that don’t exist, that he might bring to nothing the things that exist, 29that no flesh should boast before God. 30Because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, 31that, as it is written, “He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.”

Paul reminds the Corinthians to look at themselves honestly: not many of them were wise, influential, or of noble birth by the world's standards. And this, he says, reveals God's characteristic way of working. God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, the weak things to shame the strong, the lowly and despised things, even the things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are. God delights to work through the unlikely and the overlooked.

What stands out is God's deliberate pattern of choosing the weak and lowly. He did not build his church out of the impressive, the influential, and the strong, but out of ordinary, weak, overlooked people. And there is a reason: so that no one might boast before God. When God works through the weak, the glory goes to him, not to human strength or wisdom.

There is deep comfort here for anyone who feels weak, ordinary, or overlooked. You are exactly the kind of person God delights to use. He does not require impressive credentials; he chooses the lowly and weak, working his purposes through them so that the glory is clearly his. If you feel unqualified and insignificant, you are in good company, for God chose the weak things of the world. Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.

When I feel weak, ordinary, or overlooked, do I take heart that God deliberately chooses the lowly and weak to work his purposes, so that I am exactly the kind of person he delights to use, and that all the glory goes to him rather than to human strength?

Sources

1 Corinthians 1:27: "God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world that he might put to shame the things that are strong."
1 Corinthians 1:29: "That no flesh should boast before God."
1 Corinthians 1:31: "He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord."