For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; (23) but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, (24) but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  (25) Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men.               

The first letter to the Corinthians was written by the Apostle Paul to address problems of strife and disunity in the church at Corinth.  The root problem there seems to have been pride and Paul answers with rebuke and rebuttal – Christ is all and salvation is of the Lord and not the work of man. There is no room for pride in the work of salvation – the gospel destroys pride because it contradicts human wisdom and human pride.

Those who are not saved are perishing. They think the gospel is foolishness.  Those believers who are saved think it is the power of God. To the unbeliever the cross is shameful but for the faithful, it is Salvation unearned by man.  The secular world has been stood on its head by God all through history.  Man never imagined Gods work – which was not to glorify man but to glorify Himself.

The Jews and the unbelieving Gentiles did agree on one thing; the cross is foolish.  The Jews expected power through signs and wonders.  The Gentiles thought power was through mans gifts. The humble life of Christ and the shame of death on a cross are to them counterintuitive – BUT it is the way of salvation and the wisdom and power of God.

All through history God uses the weak and the despised and humble instead of the honored and the highly regarded. God used the weak to shame the wise – not because the weak and foolish are better men than the powerful but so all glory goes to God and not to man.  God is sovereign and this is His purpose.

In studying the verses today I kept thinking of the episode of Seinfeld where George chooses to to the opposite of what he would normally do – and each opposite choice works beautifully.  This is a humorous way of showing that the “wisdom” of man is not so much. I think Paul is pointing out here that man would never guess the wisdom of God and man learns only through revelation from God.  The problem is not that people think too little of themselves but that they think too much of themselves.