1 Corinthians 1:21

ἐπειδὴ γάρ (quoniam enim, Cv [219]) introduces the when and how of God's stultifying the world's wisdom by the λόγος τοῦ σταύρου : “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not know God, God was pleased,” etc. οὐκ ἔγνω … διὰ τ. σοφίας τ. Θεὸν records Paul's experience, e.g., at Athens, in disclosing the ἄγνωστον Θεὸν to philosophers. Of the emphatic adjunct, ἐν τῇ σοφίᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ, there are two explanations, following the line of Romans 1:19 f. or Romans 11:32 f.: on the former view, the clause qualifies ἔγνω “the world did not come to know God in His wisdom,” evidenced in creation and Providence so most interpreters (“amid the wisdom of God,” Bt [220]; in media luce, Cv [221]; in nature and Scripture, addressed to Gentile and Jew, Bg [222]; Mr [223]); on the other hand, Rückert, Reuss, Al [224], Lt [225], Ev [226] attach the clause to οὐκ ἔγνω, in God's wise plan of the world's government, the world's wisdom failed to win the knowledge of Him. The latter is the sounder explanation, being (a) in accord with Paul's reff. elsewhere to σοφία Θεοῦ, (b) presenting a pointed antithesis to σοφία κόσμου, and (c) harmonising with Paul's theory of the education of mankind for Christ, expounded in Galatians 3:10 to Galatians 4:5 and Romans 5:20 f., 1Co 7:7-25; 1 Corinthians 7:11 “Through its (Greek) wisdom the world knew not God,” as through its (Jewish) righteousness it pleased not God; both results were brought about “in the wisdom of God” according to that “plan of the ages,” leading up to “the fulness of the seasons,” which embraced the Gentile “times of ignorance” (Acts 17:26-31) no less than the Jewish dispensations of covenant and law. “It is part of God's wise providence that He will not be apprehended by intellectual speculation, by ‘dry light' ” (Ev [227]). The intellectual was as signal as the moral defeat; the followers of Plato were “shut up,” along with those of Moses, εἰς τ. μέλλουσαν πίστιν (Galatians 3:22 f.).

[219] Calvin's In Nov. Testamentum Commentarii.

[220] J. A. Beet's St. Paul's Epp. to the Corinthians (1882).

[221] Calvin's In Nov. Testamentum Commentarii.

[222] Bengel's Gnomon Novi Testamenti.

[223] Meyer's Critical and Exegetical Commentary (Eng. Trans.).

[224] Alford's Greek Testament.

[225] J. B. Lightfoot's (posthumous) Notes on Epp. of St. Paul (1895).

[226] T. S. Evans in Speaker's Commentary.

[227] T. S. Evans in Speaker's Commentary.

Now that God's wisdom has reduced the self-wise world to ignorance, εὐδόκησεν σῶσαι : man's extremity, God's opportunity. “It was God's good will” (placuit Deo: see parls. for the vb [228]); εὐδοκία P. associates with θέλημα, βουλὴ on the one hand, and with χάρις, ἀγαθωσύνη on the other: God's sovereign grace rescues man's bankrupt wisdom. διὰ τ. μωρίας τ. κηρύγματος states the means, τοῦς πιστεύοντας defines the qualified objects of this deliverance. “Through the folly (as the wise world calls it, 1 Corinthians 1:18) of the κήρυγμα ” which last term signifies not the act of proclamation (κήρυξις), but the message proclaimed by God's herald (κῆρυξ, see parls.: the heralding suggests thoughts of the kingdom; cf. Acts 20:25; Luke 8:1, etc.). P. designates Christians by the act which makes them such “those that believe” (see parls.). God saves by faith. Faith here stands opposed to Greek knowledge, as in Rom. to Jewish lawworks.

[228] verb