but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong,

ἀλλὰ τὰ μωρὰ τοῦ κόσμου ἐξελέξατο ὁ θεός, ἵνα καταισχύνῃ τοὺς σοφούς, καὶ τὰ ἀσθενῆ τοῦ κόσμου ἐξελέξατο ὁ θεός, ἵνα καταισχύνῃ τὰ ἰσχυρά,

Early Fathers

St. John Chrysostom (349-407)

Homilies on First Corinthians

For behold your calling, brethren, that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, [are called;] but God chose the foolish things of the world, that he might put to shame them that are wise.

He has said that the foolishness of God is wiser than men; he has showed that human wisdom is cast out, both by the testimony of the Scriptures and by the issue of events; by the testimony, where he says, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; by the event, putting his argument in the form of a question, and saying, Where is the wise? Where the Scribe? Again; he proved at the same time that the thing is not new, but ancient, as it was presignified and foretold from the beginning. For, It is written, says he, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. Withal he shows that it was neither inexpedient nor unaccountable for things to take this course: (for, seeing that in the wisdom of God the world, says he, knew not God, God was well pleased through the foolishness of preaching to save them which believe:) and that the Cross is a demonstration of ineffable power and wisdom, and that the foolishness of God is far mightier than the wisdom of man. And this again he proves not by means of the teachers, but by means of the disciples themselves. For, Behold your calling, says he: that not only teachers of an untrained sort, but disciples also of the like class, were objects of His choice; that He chose not many wise men (that is his word) according to the flesh. And so that of which he is speaking is proved to surpass both in strength and wisdom, in that it convinces both the many and the unwise: it being extremely hard to convince an ignorant person, especially when the discourse is concerning great and necessary things. However, they did work conviction. And of this he calls the Corinthians themselves as witnesses. For, behold your calling, brethren, says he: consider; examine: for that doctrines so wise, yea, wiser than all, should be received by ordinary men, testifies the greatest wisdom in the teacher.

2. But what means, according to the flesh? According to what is in sight; according to the life that now is; according to the discipline of the Gentiles. Then, lest he should seem to be at variance with himself, (for he had convinced both the Proconsul, Acts 13:12 and the Areopagite, Acts 17:34 and Apollos; Acts 18:26: through Aquila and Priscilla and other wise men, too, we have seen coming over to the Gospel;) he said not, No wise man, but, Not many wise men. For he did not designedly (ἀποκεκληρωμένως) call the ignorant and pass by the wise, but these also he received, yet the others in much larger number. And why? Because the wise man according to the flesh is full of extreme folly; and it is he who especially answers to the term foolish, when he will not cast away his corrupt doctrine. And as in the case of a physician who might wish to teach certain persons the secrets of his art, those who know a few things, having a bad and perverse mode of practicing the art which they make a point of retaining, would not endure to learn quietly, but they who knew nothing would most readily embrace what was said: even so it was here. The unlearned were more open to conviction, for they were free from the extreme madness of accounting themselves wise. For indeed the excess of folly is in these more than any, these, I say, who commit unto reasoning things which cannot be ascertained except by faith. Thus, suppose the smith by means of the tongs drawing out the red-hot iron; if any one should insist on doing it with his hand, we should vote him guilty of extreme folly: so in like manner the philosophers who insisted on finding out these things for themselves disparaged the faith. And it was owing to this that they found none of the things they sought for.

Not many mighty, not many noble; for these also are filled with pride. And nothing is so useless towards an accurate knowledge of God as arrogance, and being nailed down (προσηλῶσθαι) to wealth: for these dispose a man to admire things present, and make no account of the future; and they stop up the ears through the multitude of cares: but the foolish things of the world God chose: which thing is the greatest sign of victory, that they were uneducated by whom He conquers. For the Greeks feel not so much shame when they are defeated by means of the wise, but are then confounded, when they see the artisan and the sort of person one meets in the market more of a philosopher than themselves. Wherefore also he said himself, That He might put to shame the wise. And not in this instance alone has he done this, also in the case of the other advantages of life. For, to proceed, the weak things of the world He chose that He might put to shame the strong. For not unlearned persons only, but needy also, and contemptible and obscure He called, that He might humble those who were in high places.

Later Commentaries

George Leo Haydock (1774-1849)

Haydock Catholic Bible Commentary: 1 Corinthians

Vocation, is here used for the called, as Rom. iii. 30. circumcision for the circumcised, (ibid. xi. 7.) election for the elected. V. — Consider your manner of being called; not many, hitherto, of those who have believed, or of those who have preached the gospel, are wise according to the flesh, or as to worldly wisdom; and in the esteem of men, not many mighty, not many noble. God hath chosen such as are looked upon as illiterate, without power, without riches, without human wisdom, to confound the great and wise men: He hath chosen the things that are not, that is, says S. Chrys. men reputed as nothing, of no consideration, to confound, to destroy, to make subject to him, and to the gospel, men who had the greatest worldly advantages, that no flesh, no men how great, wise, rich, or powerful soever, might glory in his sight, or attribute their call, and their salvation to their own merits. — From him you are in Christ Jesus brought to believe in him, who is made to us wisdom, acknowledged to be the wisdom of his eternal Father, by whom we have been justified, sanctified, redeemed. We have nothing of ourselves to boast of, and can only glory in the Lord. Wi. — And the mean things. In the beginning of Christianity, it was frequently objected to the Christians, that they had none but men of the basest extraction. The emperor Julian likewise made the Catholics the same reproach. Grot. — But this objection was not founded; for we find many persons of consideration mentioned in the Scriptures, who had embraced Christianity. Witness, v. 1. of this chap. Sosthenes, the head of the synagogue at Corinth, and some in the very palace of Cæsar.