God, he says, chose the former in order to put the latter to shame and bring them to nothing. But how? If God, after choosing the former, had left them as they were, this would not have put the latter to any shame. But while leaving the former outwardly as they had been, He filled them with perfections in the spirit. These were so lofty and so sharply manifest that the latter could not fail to notice them. They could not fail to recognize that these perfections were incomparably higher than what they possessed.
To recognize that those whom they had counted as nothing had become incomparably higher than themselves, this is the shame. When they came into contact with them, the noble saw in the despised a lofty nobility of character, feeling, and disposition. They themselves did not possess this, nor did birth according to the flesh give it to them. The strong saw in the weak a mastery over themselves which no passions disturbed. They saw a peace of spirit unshaken by any convergence of adverse outward circumstances. They saw an authority and peace alien to themselves, which their outward authority did not give them.
The wise saw in the foolish a clear understanding of everything: of God, of the world, and especially of man. They saw why he is on earth, what awaits him beyond the grave, and how to pass there not to torments but to blessedness. They saw insights before which their own, acquired with such labor, were nothing in poverty, shortness of reach, obscurity, and uncertainty.
Seeing all this, those who were prominent according to the flesh could not help feeling ashamed. Experience showed many times that, when they felt ashamed, they cast away everything they had considered precious. They turned to the faith and humbly entered the company of those whom they had formerly counted as nothing.
God arranged it so because minds could not otherwise be drawn away from the fleshly and visible. He set before their eyes the striking superiority of spiritual perfections, in outward insignificance and deprivation of the advantages of the flesh.
“The Apostle called them foolish, weak, and base according to human opinion. True foolishness is not inexperience in speech, but lack of faith. Weakness and low birth are not poverty, but impiety and corruption of morals. The God of all conquered the learned by the unlearned, the rich by the poor, and caught the world by fishermen” (Theodoret).
“A great victory is to conquer through the unwise. The pagans are not so much put to shame when they are conquered by sages as when they see men who work with their own hands and belong to the common people philosophizing better than they do. Therefore Paul also said, that He might put the wise to shame. God did the same not only with this, but also with the other advantages of life. He chose the weak things of the world, that He might put the strong to shame. He called not only the unlearned, but also the poor, the despised, and the obscure, in order to shame the powerful. And the base things of the world, and the things despised, and the things that are not, that He might bring to nothing the things that are. What is here called the things that are not? Those who are counted as nothing. Thus He manifested great power, casting down the great through those who seemed to be nothing. As He also says elsewhere: My strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). For great power is needed to teach the most despised people, who had never engaged in any learning, suddenly to philosophize about what is higher than heaven. We especially admire a physician, an orator, and all others when they successfully persuade and teach the ignorant. If it is a great thing to instill in an ignorant man instruction in some art, much more is it so with such wisdom. Yet God did this not only to cause wonder or to display His power, but also to humble those who exalt themselves. Therefore, as the Apostle said above, that He might put the wise to shame and bring to nothing the things that are, so he speaks here also” (St. Chrysostom).
THEOSIS