What Does 1 Corinthians 1:28 Mean?
And God picked out the lowborn things of the world, and the things treated as nothing, the things that are not, so that he might make idle the things that are.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:THE KEY
The verse turns the world’s verdict inside out: those counted as nothing are chosen, and the things counted as everything lose their force.
THE MEANING
The rankings that decide who counts are not ultimate here: God chooses those the world treats as negligible. What seems established and substantial can lose its power, while the overlooked remain within the field of God’s choice. Being unrecognized does not make you nothing.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that being overlooked puts you outside what God can choose.
THE ROOT
ἐξουθενημένα
exouthenēmena
GROWS FROM
οὐθέν
outhen
Nothing; no value counted.
“treated as nothing” in this verse is exouthenēmena. The Greek word for “despised” carries the sense of treating someone as nothing. The next phrase, “things which are not,” echoes that same verdict, so contempt and being counted as nonexistent sit side by side in the verse.
ALSO GROWS
exoutheneō: To regard as nothing; to set at nought.
ἐξουθενέω
This is the verb form of the word translated “despised” here, and it appears again in Romans 14:10.
ouden: Nothing; not one thing.
οὐδέν
This related form makes plain the “nothing” carried inside the contempt expressed by the verse.
τὰ μὴ ὄντα
ta mē onta
GROWS FROM
εἰμί
eimi
To be; to exist.
The verse contrasts “things which are not” with “things that are” using matching forms of the same Greek verb, εἰμί (eimi), meaning “to be.” That pairing lets the verse expose how the world’s judgment can treat some people as nonentities and others as the ones who count.
ALSO GROWS
onta: Things that are; existing things.
ὄντα
This is the matching phrase later in the verse, making the contrast hinge on the same word for being.
ousia: Being; substance or existence.
οὐσία
This related form keeps the root’s sense of being and substance visible beneath the English wording.
καταργήσῃ
katargēsē
GROWS FROM
ἀργός (argos), in καταργέω (katargeō)
Inactive; rendered ineffective.
“make idle” in this verse is katargēsē. The verb can describe making something inactive or ineffective. What the world treats as firmly established need not disappear to be brought to nought; its power to operate or define what counts can be undone.
ALSO GROWS
argos: Idle; inactive.
ἀργός
This form carries the sense of something no longer at work, which deepens the force of “bring to nought.”
energeō: To work; to be active.
ἐνεργέω
This related erg-root word makes the contrast between what is active and what has been rendered ineffective clearer.
THE PATTERN
God overturns the world’s rankings by raising those it counts as low and bringing down what it elevates.
He raises the bowed one from the dust, and lifts the one in want from the ash heap;He raises the bowed from the dust, and lifts the one in want from the ash heap, to seat them among the openhanded, and to make them hold the seat of weight. For the pillars of the earth are the LORD's, and he sets the world upon them.He has pulled the mighty down from their seats, and lifted up the low.THE THREAD
But why do you judge your brother? And why do you make nothing of your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of the Anointed One.Romans uses the same Greek verb, ἐξουθενέω (exoutheneō), translated here as “despised” and there as “set at nought.” The shared root reveals that the “nothing” this verse says God chooses is also the verdict by which one person can diminish another.
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