The Boast of a Fool
We are fools. If we do it right, being fools is more than fine. It’s something to embrace, even something to boast about.
It turns out that everyone is a fool; it’s not whether but which. It does matter significantly which sort of fool a man is. But don’t think that you can avoid being seen as a fool. That is a sign of the wrong kind of foolishness.
Paul reminded the Corinthians that the word of the cross is folly (1 Corinthians 1:18 bibref1corinthians1 bibref1corinthians1v18). It is folly to preach Christ crucified (1 Corinthians 1:21 bibref1corinthians1 bibref1corinthians1v21). All the things of the Spirit of God are folly; they are impossible to understand (1 Corinthians 2:14 bibref1corinthians2 bibref1corinthians2v14).
Believers are saved by that word (1 Corinthians 1:18 bibref1corinthians1 bibref1corinthians1v18). That crucified Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God to the called (1 Corinthians 1:24 bibref1corinthians1 bibref1corinthians1v24). The spiritual person, the one who has received the Spirit who is from God, understands the things freely given us by God (1 Corinthians 2:12 bibref1corinthians2 bibref1corinthians2v12).
And that makes the natural man the eternal fool. That demonstrates how the wisdom of the world is made foolish by God (1 Corinthians 1:20 bibref1corinthians1 bibref1corinthians1v20). The “rulers of this age,” by which I think Paul means more than just the philosophers and priests and governors of the first century, crucified the Lord of glory because they did not understand and it was their own undoing (1 Corinthians 2:8 bibref1corinthians2 bibref1corinthians2v8). Those who can’t understand are “doomed to pass away” (1 Corinthians 2:6 bibref1corinthians2 bibref1corinthians2v6).
Your faith does not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God (1 Corinthians 2:5 bibref1corinthians2 bibref1corinthians2v5). God chose us as fools, as the low and despised, to have life in Christ Jesus whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and our sanctification and redemption. “Therefore, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31 bibref1corinthians1 bibref1corinthians1v30 bibref1corinthians1v31).