1 Corinthians 1:25 BSB

1 Corinthians 1:25

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

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

KJV

Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

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Commentary

2 voices

Tertullian

Against Marcion Book V (220)

The very "stumbling-block" which he declares Christ to be "to the Jews," points unmistakeably to the Creator's prophecy respecting Him, when by Isaiah He says: "Behold I lay in Sion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence." This rock or stone is Christ. This stumbling-stone Marcion retains still. Now, what is that "foolishness of God which is wiser than men," but the cross and death of Christ? What is that "weakness of God which is stronger than men," but the nativity and incarnation of God?

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Albert Barnes

1798–1870

Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)

Because the foolishness of God - That which God appoints, requires, commands, does, etc., which appears to people to be foolish. The passage is not to be understood as affirming that it is really foolish or unwise; but that it appears so to people - Perhaps the apostle here refers to those parts of the divine administration where the wisdom of the plan is not seen; or where the reason of what God does is concealed. Is wiser than men - Is better adapted to accomplish important ends, and more certainly effectual than the schemes of human wisdom.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

17 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
ὅτι	hoti	For	G3754 →
τὸ	to	the	G3588 →
μωρὸν	mōron	foolishness	G3474 →
τοῦ	tou	<the>	G3588 →
θεοῦ	theou	of God	G2316 →
σοφώτερον	sophōteron	wiser	G4680 →
τῶν	tōn	<the>	G3588 →
ἀνθρώπων	anthrōpōn	than men	G444 →
ἐστὶν	estin	is	G1510 →
καὶ	kai	and	G2532 →
τὸ	to	the	G3588 →
ἀσθενὲς	asthenes	weakness	G772 →
τοῦ	tou	<the>	G3588 →
θεοῦ	theou	of God	G2316 →
ἰσχυρότερον	ischuroteron	stronger	G2478 →
τῶν	tōn	<the>	G3588 →
ἀνθρώπων	anthrōpōn	than men	G444 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
1 Corinthians 1:18
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.
leads to
- 1 Corinthians 2:14
  The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
- Romans 1:16
  I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, then to the Greek.
- 2 Thessalonians 2:10
  and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them.
- 1 Corinthians 1:23–25
  but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
- 2 Corinthians 4:3
  And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
Through
2 Corinthians 13:4
For He was indeed crucified in weakness, yet He lives by God’s power. And though we are weak in Him, yet by God’s power we will live with Him to serve you.
leads to
- 1 Peter 3:18
  For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit,
- Romans 6:4
  We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of…
- 2 Corinthians 10:3–4
  For though we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh.