What is the context?
Paul asks the Corinthians to look at their own calling. Not many were considered wise, influential or well born. He says not many, rather than none: his point does not exclude educated, powerful or wealthy people from faith.
God has chosen people the world overlooks and treats as insignificant, exposing the limits of its judgments. That leaves no basis for claiming a superior place before Him. It also undercuts the church’s effort to gain status through attachment to a preferred teacher.
Their life in Christ comes from God. Christ is their wisdom, righteousness, holiness and redemption: what they need to be put right with God, made holy and freed comes through Him. Paul closes with Jeremiah 9:23–24, where knowing the Lord replaces boasting in wisdom, strength or riches.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Christians commonly read these verses as removing human grounds for boasting and directing gratitude to God for life in Christ. Christ’s gifts include both being put right with God and being made holy; Wesley’s note on verse 30 treats holiness as a present work of grace as well as looking ahead to complete deliverance.
Where does this fit in God's plan?
A useful parallel appears in 1 Samuel 16:6–13. Samuel first judges by appearance, but God directs him to David, the youngest son who was tending sheep. This is a parallel in how God overturns human expectations, rather than a claim that Paul is quoting that event.
Paul later describes God’s power working through his own weakness in 2 Corinthians 12:7–10. Together these passages show why the people God uses need not match the world’s measures of importance. Dependence on Him makes His work visible rather than turning the person serving into the source of glory.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.