The emptied sojourn; God’s foolishness wiser than humans
The Word is about to dare something and say that what sojourned in the life emptied itself, so that by its emptying the world might be filled. And if that which sojourned in the life emptied itself, that emptying was wisdom.
“Because the foolishness of God is wiser than human beings.” If I had said “the foolishness of God,” how would the fault-finders have accused me? How would they have blamed me? How—when things thought good even by them had been said, but this, as they think, not well said—could I have been accused for saying “the foolishness of God”?
But now Paul, as wise and having apostolic authority, dared to say that all earthly wisdom—and that in himself and in Peter and the apostles—all wisdom that has come into the world is “the foolishness of God.”
For as regards that wisdom which no earthly place can contain, as regards that heavenly, above-world wisdom, this sojourning foolishness of God is such.
But this: “the foolishness of God is wiser than human beings.” Than which humans? Not the foolish, I say, but it is wiser even than the wise humans. Even if you speak of the wise of this age, whether rulers or prophets—the rulers of this age—“the foolishness of God,” as I have said, “is wiser than human beings.”
Greek
Μέλλει τι ἐπιτολμᾶν ὁ λόγος καὶ λέγειν, ὅτι τὸ ἐπιδημῆσαν τῷ βίῳ ἐκώνωσεν ἑαυτό, ἵνα τῷ κενώματι αὐτοῦ πληρωθῇ ὁ κός- μος. εἰ δὲ ἐκένωσεν ἑαυτὸ ἐκεῖνο τὸ ἐπιδημῆσαν τῷ βίῳ, ἐκεῖνο τὸ κένωμα σοφία ἠν. «ὅτι τὸ μωρὸν τοῦ θεοῦ σοφώτερον τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐστίν. εἰ ἐγὼ εἰρήκειν· «τὸ μωρὸν τοῦ θεοῦ«, πῶς ἂν οἱ φιλαίτιοι ἐνεκάλεσάν μοι; πῶς ἂν ἐμέμψαντό μοι; πῶς ἂν μὲν εἰρημένων τῶν νομιξομένων καὶ αὐτοῖς καλῶν, τούτου δὲ ὡς οἴονται οὐ Ι καλῶς εἰρημένου κατηγορήθην, διότι εἶπον «τὸ μωρὸν τοῦ θεοῦ«; νυνὶ δὲ Παῦλος ὡς σοφὸς καὶ ἐξουσίαν ἔχων ἀποστολικὴν ἐτόλμησεν εἰπεῖν πᾶσαν τὴν ἐπὶ γὴν σοφίαν, καὶ τὴν ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ τὴν ἐν Πέτρῳ καὶ τοῖς ἀποστόλοις, πᾶσαν τὴν ἐπιδημήασαν τῷ κόσμῳ εἰναι «τὸ μωρὸν τοῦ θεοῦ.
ὡς γὰρ πρὸς ἐκείνην τὴν σοφίαν, ἣν οὐ χωρεῖ ἐπὶ γῆς τόπος, ὡς πρὸς ἐκείνην τὴν σοφίαν τὴν ὑπερουράνιον, τὴν ὑπερκόσμιον, τοῦτο τὸ ἐπιδημῆσαν μωρὸν τοῦ θεοῦ. ἀλλὰ τοῦτο «τὸ μωρὸν τοῦ θεοῦ σοφώτερον τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐστίν. ποίων ἀνθρώπων; οὐ τῶν μωρῶν λέγω, ἀλλὰ σοφώτερόν ἐστι καὶ τῶν σοφῶν ἀνθρώπων. κἂν τοὺς σοφοὺς εἴπῃς τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου εἴτε ἄρχοντας εἴτε προφήτας, τῶν ἀρχόντων τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου «τὸ μωρὸν τοῦ θεοῦ«, ὅ διηγησάμην, «σοφώτερον τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐστίν.