1 Corinthians 1:26-31 (NIV)
Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”
The city of Corinth was famous for its pervasive moral corruption. In fact, in the Greek language, the verb “to corinthianize” was a colloquial way of saying “to morally corrupt”! So, the people that Paul had reached with the gospel were not pinnacles of morality and human wisdom. They were people who were living in a sea of corruption that they had drunk in since infancy, idolaters and, from God’s standpoint, complete fools.
But now, every one of those who had chosen to follow Jesus, to turn away from the moral corruption and the worship of powerless idols, had been completely transformed. Their eyes had been opened to the real truth of who God is and what He had done in the world. They had become wise!
As Paul points out here, none of the Corinthians could boast about their wisdom. They had been made wise through the transformation they had experienced in Jesus, and by their continuing relationship with God through Him. For that reason, he encourages the Corinthians to not boast about their wisdom, but to only boast about the Lord from whom and through whom it had come.
Paul does not define wisdom as knowledge or mere intelligence. There were and are many knowledgeable and intelligent people in the world who are not wise at all, but are fools, denying God (Psalm 14:1), and stupid because they consistently refuse God’s correction (Proverbs 12:1).
Instead, Paul defines true wisdom as being and remaining in Christ. That is because in order to be in Jesus, one must reject human wisdom and accept wholeheartedly God’s supernatural wisdom. And in order to remain in Jesus, one must continue to abide in God’s wisdom, and never allow themselves to be sidetracked by leaning on mere human intelligence and achievement.
The results of receiving and abiding in God’s wisdom are righteousness, right standing in God through a continuous relationship with Jesus; holiness, right attitudes and actions empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit; and redemption, a hope in a future that includes the current reality of living in God’s kingdom, and the knowledge that that reality will continue forever. To possess all these things while those who only possess the wisdom of the world, shows clearly where the true wisdom resides.
Father, I thank you for that moment more than thirty years ago that I turned away from worldly wisdom and surrendered completely to Jesus. By doing that, I was not only redeemed, saved to the uttermost, I was instantly able to access the true wisdom and understanding that only comes from you. Thank you, Lord, that I have been given hope and a future, as well as Your grace and peace, and grace and peace that the wise of this world cannot see or understand. Amen.