The Foolishness of God | How God Shames the Wise

Paul the Apostle of Christ arrived in the city of Corinth, having left the great city of Athens. Athens was an ancient Greek city renowned for its libraries and intellectual pursuits. Athens was a center of knowledge, the home of the Areopagus. In the Areopagus, philosophers, scholars, poets, and rhetoricians assembled to hear, discuss, and speak on schools of learning and thought. Paul was invited to share the Gospel of Jesus at their gathering when some Epicureans and Stoics heard him speaking in the market of Athens. When we last looked at this section, we considered the factions that were developing within the church at Corinth. They were trying to rally to their favorite gospel preacher, but we soon see that the ministers of the gospel were not encouraging this division. Paul quickly begins to expose that the schisms were much deeper than personality cults. This text reveals the root of pride as the cause of the Corinthians’ behavior. Though they had come to faith in Christ, they have retained the Greek love for human philosophy and the rhetoricians who taught it. This was a common phenomenon within societies where Greek philosophy was dominant. There were as many philosophies as there were philosophers, and everyone had their favorite school of thought.