Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 1 Corinthians 1:21

"For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God, it was God`s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe." — 1 Corinthians 1:21 (ASV)

To Paul, in God’s all-wise purpose human beings with all their philosophical and religious wisdom and searching “did not come to know God.” This is not to deny the truth that people have a certain knowledge of God through the natural creation (cf. Romans 1:18–20). But Paul says it was God’s good purpose to save those who believe by the seemingly foolish process of preaching the cross (cf. v.18).

In explaining the world’s seeking God through wisdom, Paul states that the Jews seek for “miraculous signs” (GK 4956) and the Greeks seek “wisdom” (GK 5053), and that through these means they hope to find the answers to the questions about God and life. The Jews were seeking signs to identify the Messiah and the apocalyptic deliverance they hoped God would bring them (cf. Mark 8:11). But Jesus had said that they would be given only “the sign of the prophet Jonah” (Matthew 12:39–40), pointing to his death as Messiah. The “Greeks” are primarily the native Greeks of Corinth, though in a broader sense that word also refers to the whole nonJewish world (cf. Colossians 3:11; see also Paul’s use of “Gentiles” instead of “Greeks” in v.23).