1 Corinthians 1:18-25 (NIV)
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength

In this section Paul is not contrasting wisdom and foolishness, but two varieties of wisdom: the wisdom of man, which is foolishness to God, and God’s wisdom, which is foolishness to mankind.

The wisdom of mankind is based on the logic and intelligence of people, and so seems wise to people. The wisest of the people are elevated by the less wise, who often don’t even understand what the so-called wise are talking about, but are impressed by the high tone and the long words. And the originators of those wise thoughts are easily puffed up by the praise of their “less wise” followers.

But the wisest sayings of the most intelligent humans are spoken and written by those made from the same dust as the lowest specimens of humanity. These are people who know only the past that they have read or heard about, and who know nothing about the future aside from their conjectures. They make plans for the next five years, but are quite likely to die before any of them come to pass. They only know the natural laws that have been discovered so far, and recite theories and conjectures that seem very authoritative, only to have those theories and conjectures cast down by new discoveries that change everything.

Such wise men and philosophers look at Christianity and the cross and declare it foolish, a delusion, and even dangerous and anti-science. They boldly proclaim that the physical universe is all that exists, and so God must be relegated to the category of myth. Such men proclaim that, since there is absolutely no spiritual dimension to the universe, just the physical is real, life is utterly extinguished at death – there is nothing on the other side. And they judge as ignorant and foolish those who hold any other view.

God on the other hand created all that there is, including these wise men and philosophers who deny His existence. He exists outside of space and time and knows the end from the beginning. He knows which plans of each person will fail and which will come to pass, and He knows the moment of each person’s death with absolute certainty.

God knows the depth of sin and depravity that corrupts both soul and mind, warping the perceptions, and causing the infinitely wise and powerful to seem foolish and imaginary. And He knows the high price that He paid through the sacrificial death of Jesus to pay the penalty for the sins of the whole world, even for those of the wise men who deny His existence, if they would only turn from their foolishness and receive it.

God knows that the physical realm is only a very small part of all that exists, because He created it all from nothing. And He knows that physical life, although it seems all-encompassing to those who can only see the physical dimension, is only a blink when compared to the eternity in which He lives, and in which those who trust in Jesus can live too.

As Paul points out, Christ crucified is the biggest stumbling block to Jews, who see anyone crucified not as a holy sacrifice, but as a cursed criminal, and to materialistic gentiles, who can’t grasp the depth of sin, the need for divine atonement, or the all-encompassing love of a God who feels that the depth of personal sacrifice was worth it to save all mankind, many of whom refuse that sacrifice, or even throw it back in his face.

Father, I admit that when I was lost in sin, living in rebellion against your authority, my blinded eyes saw myself as very wise and sophisticated for doubting your word and rejecting your sacrifice. But when I surrendered to you and you opened my eyes, I suddenly saw myself as I truly was: wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked – not wise or sophisticated at all. Now I can see your wisdom for the amazing, breathtaking thing that it is. Thank you for opening my eyes, opening my heart, so that I could truly see, truly understand, and so that I can be truly saved. Amen.