But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
Read Chapter 1
Ambrosiaster
AD 400
The two most “foolish things of the world” are in particular the virgin birth of Christ and his resurrection from the dead. The wise are confounded because they see that what a few of them deny, the many profess to be true. There is no doubt that the opinions of the many faithful take precedence over those of a small number. Likewise, those who are mighty in this world can easily see the socalled weak things of Christ overturning demons and performing miracles. To the world the injuries and sufferings of the Savior are weak things, because the world does not understand that they have become the source of power through Christ who submitted to suffering in order to overcome death. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. The words "foolish, weak, base," form a climax, and are used by S. Paul to describe the faithful who had been called to Christ, or rather the Apostles themselves, who had called them. He contrasts them as uncultivated, poor, base, and hence foolish in the eyes of the world, and the world"s laughing-stock, with the wise, strong, and powerful of the world.
Things which are not. This is applied to the same persons as being contemptible and reckoned of no account. In other words, God chose the despised Apostles, who were thought nothing of, that He might destroy, and, as it were, bring to nought things that are, i.e, which are highly esteemed, as e.g, the wise and mighty of the world.
Observe that three things which the world is wont to admire, viz, Wisdom of Solomon , power, and birth, were passed over by God when He called men to faith, righteousness, and salvation; and on the other hand that three things opposite ...
Are not), "to bring to nothing things which are "(that is, which really are).
But how remote is our (Catholic) verity from the artifices of this heretic, when it dreads to arouse the anger of God, and firmly believes that He produced all things out of nothing, and promises to us a restoration from the grave of the same flesh (that died) and holds without a blush that Christ was born of the virgin's womb! At this, philosophers, and heretics, and the very heathen, laugh and jeer. For "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise".
The foolish things also of the world hath God chosen to confound the things which are wise.".
But, Marcion, consider well this Scripture, if indeed you have not erased it: "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world, to confound the wise.".
And again, "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise? ".
Sufficient to meet each point is the divine declaration which has fore-run: "The foolish things of the world h...
