The Foolishness of God

The Foolishness of God

Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men…

1 Corinthians 1:25 (NASB)

This sounds like a strange paradox at first reading: God in His foolishness is wiser than men. Or to put it another way – Even when God is stupid, it is still better than when man is at his smartest. God’s dumbest answer to a problem is better than the collective wisdom of the smartest men.

This concept goes against many common currents of current ideas. The first current is secular humanism. The Bible says in this verse that God is much smarter than the smartest person on earth. A person is to believe that humanity can improve itself, and that humanity can become better on its own accord. This statement puts a limit on the betterment of humanity There are limits to human wisdom. We don’t know everything, and we won’t be able to.

The second current that this statement counters it the current of scientific rationalism. No matter how well we can diagnose, and experiment and test an idea, the solution that we may derive as humans will be good. But it will not be the best solution. Science can not answer every question. In this case, science is not as smart as God. How can science explain the difficulty of suffering? How can science explain life after death? How can science explain the complexity of the human system? Science can’t answer these questions completely. In fact, science was never designed to answer all of these questions. Faith is designed to help us. Whatever situation that science can’t answer, proves this verse true. Science can be smart, and it is a wise tool. With the discipline of science, our lives would not be as rich as they are. However, science is not smart enough, and this is when we need God.

The third and final current of modern thinking that this statement counters is the current of multiculturalism. In a previous verse, the Bible describes two different cultures, and the way these cultures try to find answers. Jews look for answers in miracles that can be confirmed. Greeks look for answers in philosophical wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:22). This points to another current of modern thinking, namely multiculturalism. There are different people with different backgrounds. People from different places view ideas differently. This can be seen in the simple manners they share with others. You see that people think differently about all kinds of things: from eating practices, to cleaning habits, to language. As a result, they will come to wisdom in different ways as well. Asians and Africans think differently than Americans and Europeans. When you get all of these cultures in the same room, it can be difficult to understand how they come to the answers that they do about wisdom. Trying to get all of these different voices from different cultures to come together and arrive at the same answer is very difficult. (Just look at how difficult it is to get world leaders to find answers for the crisis that come. They don’t agree all the time.)

The Bible says here that God’s wisdom is above multiculturalism. While God works through multiculturalism, His answers are better than what we can answer even when we get every culture to agree.