📖WEB · 1 Corinthians 1:28
What does 1 Corinthians 1:28 mean?
"and God chose the lowly things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that are not, that he might bring to nothing the things that are:"
— 1 Corinthians 1:28 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
For you see your calling, brothers, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, and not many noble;
but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the things that are strong;
and God chose the lowly things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that are not, that he might bring to nothing the things that are:
that no flesh should boast before God.
Because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption:
that, according as it is written, “He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.”
Explanation
In plain language, this verse says that God deliberately selected what the world overlooks, rejects, and considers worthless — even things that seem to count for nothing — in order to nullify and expose the emptiness of what the world regards as significant, powerful, and important.
Paul wrote this letter to the church in Corinth, a congregation he had founded but which was now fractured by factions, pride, and a fascination with worldly wisdom and status. Corinth was a cosmopolitan city that prized rhetorical skill, philosophical sophistication, and social standing, and some believers there had imported these values into the church, boasting about which teacher they followed and looking down on those who seemed less impressive. In chapter 1, Paul reminds them that when he first came to them, he did not rely on eloquence or worldly wisdom but simply preached "Christ crucified" — a message that seemed foolish to Greeks and offensive to Jews, yet was in fact the power and wisdom of God. Verse 28 comes in the middle of Paul reminding them of their own calling: he tells them to look at themselves — not many were wise, powerful, or of noble birth by human standards (verse 26). Instead, God chose the foolish, weak, lowly, and despised.
Theologically, this verse reveals a pattern that runs throughout Scripture: God's ways of working invert human expectations of value and status. He does not build his kingdom by recruiting the impressive and elite so that human achievement can be credited; rather, he works through the unlikely and the overlooked so that no one can boast in themselves before God
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