"For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength."

1 Corinthians 1:25.

I was just reading 1 Corinthians 1:18-25, and when I got to verses 22-24, Paul's wording became confusing to me. Verse 24 was especially confusing because, to me, it sounded like Paul was writing an incomplete sentence, ending without a verb. But no. Listen:

"Jews demand miraculous 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" (v. 23-24).

Can you see how that might have been confusing? Well, God finally cleared it up for me just a few minutes ago. The answer is in the colon (:) after crucified. This wording is more understandable for me: "... but we preach Christ crucified, which is a stumbling block and foolishness to Jews and Gentiles, but power and wisdom to those whom God has called, whether they be Jew or Greek." To those who refuse to accept the gospel, the message of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection is foolishness; but to those who believe—"those whom God has called"—it is a message of God's awesome power and wisdom. It cannot be understood unless God has revealed it to you. In other words, "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" (v. 18).

My favorite verse in this passage, after verse 25, is verse 21: "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." Now to understand this verse, we need to look at verse 25 again: "For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom"— If God's foolishness is wiser than man's wisdom, how can we ever hope to understand God's wisdom? Because the wisdom of man could not understand God's infinite wisdom, God took pleasure in giving us the simplest path to salvation possible; in so doing, God made the wisest men on earth look foolish because they could not recognize that the God they thought they had been worshiping had sent the Messiah right under their noses. If you don't think God has a sense of humor, here's proof that you're probably wrong: "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" (v. 27). The wisdom of the world cannot recognize the Messiah, but "[we] have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us" (1 Corinthians 2:12).

So for those of you who have been called a nutcase for believing in a God who sent His Son to die for the sins of mankind (and I'm one of you), be proud to be a nutcase for God, because the foolishness of God is smarter than all the intelligence Harvard has to offer.