“Moronic Christian beliefs” are God’s wisdom.

1 Corinthians 1.17-31.

Right after Paul and Sosthenes critique the church of Corinth for dividing themselves into factions, the apostles get sidetracked into a talk about how the gospel they preach… is kinda stupid.

And yeah, making that statement is immediately gonna offend certain Christian snowflakes, so lemme explain, same as the apostles explained. To the world it’s stupid. To the world, which respects power, wealth, clever politicking (or even petty and stupid politicking, ’cause pwning your opponents counts as a win to them), popularity, fame, and especially the confusion or destruction of your foes, Christ’s victory over sin and death makes no sense.

In the Roman Empire it especially made no sense. Jesus of Nazareth was a convicted felon, who got the death penalty, and died in a nasty, embarrassing way: Buck naked, wrists and ankles nailed to a cross, left to suffocate and bleed out and die. That’s as big a defeat as any of ’em could imagine. That was a sign from the gods you were cursed. And this was the guy Christians worshiped, and called Master and King. Made no sense.

In today’s passage, the apostles kinda shrugged and said, “Yeah okay. It’s moronic. To you. Because you’re too proud to realize just how brilliant it actually is.”

1 Corinthians 1.10-31 KWL

17For Christ doesn’t send me to baptize,

but to evangelize.

And not with a wise message,

lest Christ’s cross be made irrelevant,

18for the cross’s lesson is “moronic”

to those who are destroying themselves.

To you who are being saved,

it’s God’s power—

19for it was written:

“I’ll destroy the wisdom of the wise.

I’ll nullify the thinking of the thinkers.” Is 29.14

20Where’s a wise person? Where’s a scribe?

Where’s a person who regularly disputes with this age?

Doesn’t God make the world’s wisdom “moronic”?

21Because—in God’s wisdom—

the world doesn’t come to know God through wisdom,

God is pleased through “moronic” preaching

to save those who believe in him.

22Jews ask for miraculous signs

and Greeks seek wisdom.

23We preach a Christ who was crucified;

Jews are scandalized,

and to gentiles this is “moronic.”

24To those who are invited, Jews and Greeks alike,

Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom,

25because God’s “moronic” plan is wiser than humans.

God’s “weakness” is stronger than humans.

26For look at your invitation, fellow Christians!

Not many wise—by carnal standards.

Not many powerful.

Not many noble.

27But God chooses the world’s “morons” for himself,

so he might embarrass the wise.

God chooses the world’s weak,

so he might embarrass the strong.

28God chooses the world’s inferiors and outcasts.

Things which aren’t,

so he might negate things which are,

29so no carnal person

can elevate themselves before God.

30From this, you’re all in Christ Jesus,

who becomes our wisdom from God.

And justice! And holiness. And deliverance.

31Just like it was written:

“Promoters? Promote God!” Jr 9.24

Riffing off Isaiah.

That proof text the apostles use in verse 19 comes from Isaiah, from a critique the LORD makes about the hypocrites of Isaiah’s day. God’s messages through his prophet are just going over their heads, because they don’t wanna hear it; their closed-mindedness (or as the Hebrew idiom goes, “fat hearts”) means they’re not gonna listen, Is 6.9-10 and they will be destroyed. This is just another example of their willful stupidity:

Isaiah 29.13-15 SAAS

13So the Lord said, “These people draw near to Me and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me, and they worship Me in vain, teaching the commandments and doctrines of men. 14Therefore behold, I will proceed to remove this people, and I shall remove them. I shall destroy the wisdom of the wise and hide the understanding of the intelligent.” 15Woe to those who deepen their counsel, but not through the Lord! Woe to those who take counsel in secret and whose works are in darkness! They say, “Who sees us?” and, “Who knows us or what we do?”

The apostles were quoting the Septuagint, which is why I went with the St. Athanasius Academy Septuagint translation. Possibly quoting it from memory, which is why they used the word ἀθετήσω/athetíso, “I will nullify,” instead of the Septuagint’s κρύψω/krýpso, “I will hide.” Inerrantists are gonna be bugged by the idea they quoted the Septuagint inaccurately, ’cause nullify doesn’t reflect the Septuagint’s hide—nor the Hebrew text’s תִּסְתַּתָּֽר/tisttetár, “is hiding itself.” But both verbs have to do with the fact skeptics don’t have access to wisdom, so functionally they do the same thing; chill out.

To a large degree there’s still willful stupidity going on when people dismiss Jesus as a failed wannabe prophet who died horribly and isn’t worthy of worship. And there are actually Christians who dodge the story of his death, because the cross bugs them; because any whiff of “defeat” bugs ’em.

But the apostles knew from experience: Whenever we talk about God with people who imagine themselves wise, they of course have their own ideas about who God is and what he’s like (or if he even exists). And if they believe God is wise, you’ll notice somehow he’s gonna magically think the very same way they do. We might quote the scriptures, namely the parts where God says what he actually thinks, and their response will be, “No; he doesn’t think that way,” or “You can’t be reading the bible right.” Well, honestly, maybe we’re not!—but after a few minutes of their explanations, you’ll quickly see they’re not right either. Their “wisdom” is getting in the way of seeing God as he is. (God forbid the same thing happen to us. Stay humble!)

But don’t just take the apostles’ word for it: “Where’s a wise person? Where’s a scribe? Where’s a person who regularly disputes with this age? Doesn’t God make the world’s wisdom ‘moronic’?” 1Co 1.20 The apostles are calling out any of the Corinthians who were listening to someone read their letter: “Hey, you’ve experienced this too, right?” And yeah, if you’ve ever dealt with “wise” pagans, you know exactly what they mean.

Earthly wisdom and unearthly wisdom.

There are a lot of Christian apologists who are huge fans of the idea that nature can point people to God, and like to point to nature as “evidence” of its Creator. (Plus quote the various proof texts about the skies declaring his handiwork Ps 19.1 and all that.)

They do not like when I point out if nature actually could point people to God, why would he need to reveal himself? Why would he need to send us prophets? Why would there be a bible? Or Jesus? Or a Holy Spirit to indwell every Christian? Clearly we need more than general revelation. Because plenty of pagan religions have been based on what people can deduce from nature… and they don’t get God’s character right.

Well, this passage has one of the reasons why: “Because—in God’s wisdom—the world doesn’t come to know God through wisdom.” 1Co 1.20 Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle didn’t figure out who God is. Clever people don’t. Our own depraved selfishness gets in the way, and we keep projecting our desires upon what we think of God. Even Christians do that. Shouldn’t, but it happens all the time.

Now, earthly wisdom has its place. Science and psychology definitely have their places. And should know their places: Whenever a scientist tries to say what God is like based on science, they’re using science wrong. Science tells us about creation, not the Creator. And creation is defective, so what little it can hint about the Creator is gonna be distorted.

Outside of God’s self-revelation, we’re gonna get him wrong. Every time. It’s why, once people actually hear God’s self-revelation, they think it’s dumb. Foolish. Moronic, since I’m translating the words μωραίνω/moréno and μωρία/moría kinda literally. But that’s what it sounds like to people whose standards of greatness come from popular culture instead of Jesus.

Times have changed though.

“Jews ask for miraculous signs and Greeks seek wisdom. We preach a Christ who was crucified; Jews are scandalized, and to gentiles this is ‘moronic.’” 1Co 1.22-23 Now, don’t make the mistake, as many a Christian preacher will do, that this scripture is a universal timeless truth. It’s a fixed historical truth. At that point in history, Jews largely wanted miracles and Greeks largely wanted philosophy. Is it still true? Depends on your Jews and gentiles.

Sometimes it’s not! In my experience, in American culture, this has largely flipped: Gentiles now wanna hear about spiritual experiences, and Jews now wanna talk philosophy. Although of course I’ve met plenty of gentiles who are interested in logic and science, and Jews (largely those who are into Kabbalah) who wanna talk spirituality. Everybody’s different! Figure out which sort they are, and adjust your message accordingly.

Don’t be one of those preachers who stupidly insist, “Enough of your postmodern moral relativism; everything in the bible is a universal timeless truth,” and demand every Jew they meet must be seeking miracles. Years ago I went to Israel with a Christian tour group, and since I couldn’t sleep (’cause jet lag), I went to the hotel lobby for a bit and started talking with the Israeli clerk, who was an atheist Jew. Another member of our group was there, and she was just dumbfounded that such a person even exists: “Why don’t you believe in miracles? What’s wrong with you?” I think the Israeli was a little offended; it made him extra-resistent when she then attempted to share Jesus with him. Don’t be like this evangelist! Don’t be naïve and bigoted, and alienate the people you’re speaking with. Listen to people. Listen to who they say they are. Then listen to who the Holy Spirit says they are, share that, and watch all of ’em start to believe in miracles.

Our insistence on stereotypes and bigotry—even when we think they’re based on bible!—regularly gets in the way of the gospel. Too many of our evangelists are looking for the best and brightest; for young, moldable minds whom they imagine can lead churches someday; for rich people who can start donating to churches right away and put ’em in the black. We think too often like pagans. We don’t seek God’s wisdom—and y’notice the apostles said, using the example of the Corinthian Christians, God’s wisdom is to pick outcasts. People whom the rest of society doesn’t want. The morons, the weirdos, the freaks, the dirty, the poor, the shunned, the sinners. God loves ’em. God wants ’em!

“But God chooses the world’s ‘morons’ for himself, so he might embarrass the wise. God chooses the world’s weak, so he might embarrass the strong.” 1Co 1.27 All those Christians who focus on the same things the pagans do—on power, wealth, popularity, personal charisma, and the like—have missed the point of the gospel. Those people don’t need God’s kingdom, and when they become Christian, nine times out of ten they expect the kingdom to serve them instead of them serve the kingdom. Nine times out of ten they’re bouncing from church to church, complaining, “I just don’t feel fed there,” instead of learning to feed people. We got plenty enough of those rich parasites. You wanna actually grow God’s kingdom, go seek some outcasts; they make great ministers and fantastic evangelists. But I’ll stop ranting now.