They are despised because they do not count for much. Suppose you had some stock and it had dropped so low on the stock market that it was virtually worthies. In fact, it was hardly worth your time to cash it in. That is the concept of this word "despised." It is some thing you consider but then push aside. God chose also the things "which are not, to bring to nought things that are." Paul includes the things that people do not even consider— the things "which are not." Have you ever thought about the things in your waste basket? Of course, you do not consider those things. Paul says that God has selected people that the world does not even consider. They do not even add them up when they are totaling the members of soci ety. Why are these selected? To confound the wise, to confound the mighty. Only Christ will re ceive the glory, only God Himself. It is His work. I cannot say how great I am. You cannot say how great you are. By the world's stand ards we are not outstanding. The only thing that allows us to glory is that God has done a work in us. That is the essence of verse 30— all our deficiencies are corrected in Christ. In the end, if we glory at all, we must glory in Christ. It is through Him alone that we have all that we need in life. "Glory" in these vers es expressed the idea of "loud boasting." Paul is simply saying "boast about Christ. Proclaim Him because all the glory is due Him. He not only called us, He trans formed us."
not many mighty have been called. Along with the reference to power, verse 26 mentions nobility. In the Greek this refers to a man who was born into a family that had position in the community. The Greeks felt it was almost im possible for a person to be happy unless there were certain things that he possessed. One of them was good birth. Paul is simply say ing that God has not called many from the upper levels of society. What did God choose then, if He did not choose a large group of individuals from the wise or from the mighty or from the no ble? He chose the foolish instead of the wise. The Greek word trans lated foolish also gives us our word "moron." If you will, God chose the dull, the foolish, the moronic. That is not to belittle us. It is sim ply that the Gospel was referred to by the world as foolish or moronic. God did not collect the greatest philosophers or the greatest re search scientists and say, "Now, I will make my church out of these individuals." God chose those who had a need and recognized they needed God's help. Paul goes on to say for our second contrast that God chose the weak things of the world instead of the mighty. May be the Christian was weaker in character. He certainly was not self-sufficient. He was open to God's help. In verse 28, we find that God chose the "base things of the world, and things which are de spised." The base things are not a reference to that which was im moral. He simply uses this expres sion as a contrast to good birth or the noble of verse 26. The Greek helps us understand the expression of things despised.
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