My God and My Country

The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Church at Corinth

Chapter 1:26-28

26 For brethren, you see your calling, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.

27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world, to confound the mighty things,

28 And vile things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are.

Cross References

Corinthians 1:26 - John 7:48; Romans 11:48

Editor’s thoughts:

Verse 26 - Consider, this is to say take heed and make note of, that we who are just ordinary are the ones that He sends to bring the Gospel of Christ to the world. Did not our Redeemer choose fishermen and others of lower birth to become His first disciples? (Read Mark 3:13-15;)

Verses 27-28 - For our God has deliberately made these selections to prove to those that would be wise in their own minds, that His wisdom, which descends from above, would be of a better stripe to guide us in all of our affairs.

“Two things, however, must be observed here; that he was desirous from the example of the Corinthians to confirm the truth of what he had said: and farther, that he designed to admonish them, that they must be entirely divested of pride, if they duly considered the order of things that the Lord had observed in their calling. To put to shame, says he, the wise and noble, and to bring to naught things that are Both expressions are appropriate, for fortitude and wisdom vanish when they are put to shame, but what has an existence requires to be brought to naught By the choosing of the poor, and the foolish, and the ignoble, he means, that God has preferred them before the great, and the wise, and the noble. For it would not have sufficed, for beating down the arrogance of the flesh, if God had placed them all upon a level. Hence, those who appeared to excel he put in the background, in order that he might thoroughly abase them. That man, however, were an arrant fool, who would infer from this, that God has in this manner abased the glory of the flesh, in order that the great and noble might be shut out from the hope of salvation. There are some foolish persons that make this a pretext for not merely triumphing over the great, as if God had cast them off, but even despising them as far beneath them. Let us, however, bear in mind, that this is said to the Corinthians, who, though they had no great distinction in the world, were nevertheless, even without any occasion, puffed up. God, therefore, by confounding the mighty, and the wise, and the great, does not design to elate with pride the weak, the illiterate, and the abject, but brings down all of them together to one level. Let those, therefore, that are contemptible in the eyes of the world, think thus with themselves: “What modesty is called for on our part, when even those that have high honor in the view of the world have nothing left them?” If the effulgence of the sun is obscured, what must become of the stars? If the light of the stars is extinguished, what must become of opaque objects?” The design of these observations is, that those who have been called by the Lord, while of no estimation in the view of the world, may not abuse these words of Paul by pluming their crests, but, on the contrary, keeping in mind the exhortation.” - John Calvin

Thou standest by faith, be not high-minded, but fear