Bible Strands
1 Corinthians 1:25
For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Paul writes to the Corinthian believers, addressing both Jewish and Greek members, immediately after identifying Christ as the power and wisdom of God. He speaks at a moment of correcting their reliance on human status and rhetorical sophistication.
The words — The Greek μωρὸν (mōron) translates literally to "foolishness," directly contrasted with σοφώτερον (sophōteron), meaning "wiser," to establish a comparative hierarchy. These terms frame the crucified Messiah not as a logical error but as a superior divine metric.
The thread — The text states that God’s apparent foolishness surpasses human wisdom, a pattern repeated in 1 Corinthians 1:18 where the cross is dismissed as foolishness by those perishing. The same reversal appears in Zechariah 4:6, which declares success comes not by human might but by God’s Spirit, while Romans 11:33 notes the unsearchable depth of God’s wisdom and knowledge.
Why it lands — The verse states that divine weakness and foolishness objectively exceed human strength and intellect, requiring readers to abandon self-reliance as a measure of truth. It asks readers to evaluate spiritual reality by God’s revealed standards rather than cultural or intellectual approval.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Cross-references
- Romans 11:33 O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!
- 1 Corinthians 1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
- Zechariah 4:6 So he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD of Hosts.
- 2 Corinthians 13:4 For He was indeed crucified in weakness, yet He lives by God’s power. For we are also weak in Him, yet by God’s power we will live with Him concerning you.
- Judges 7:2 Then the LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many men for Me to deliver Midian into their hands, lest Israel glorify themselves over Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’
- Zechariah 12:7 The LORD will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and of the people of Jerusalem may not be greater than that of Judah.
- 1 Corinthians 1:27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
- Exodus 14:2 “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. You are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal-zephon.
- Joshua 6:2 And the LORD said to Joshua, “Behold, I have delivered Jericho into your hand, along with its king and its mighty men of valor.
- Judges 15:15 He found the fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and struck down a thousand men.