4. (a) Whom does God use to preach his message? (b) What effect does his choosing of such persons have on the wise ones of the world?

⁴ “For you behold his calling of you, brothers, that not many wise in a fleshly way were called, not many powerful, not many of noble birth; but God chose the foolish things of the world, that he might put the wise men to shame; and God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put the strong things to shame; and God chose the ignoble things of the world and the things looked down upon, the things that are not, that he might bring to nothing the things that are, in order that no flesh might boast in the sight of God.”​—1 Corinthians 1:26-29.

8. (a) From what level of society did the majority of early Christians come? (b) Yet what effect did their preaching have on the worldly-wise?

⁸ What about early Christians? A professor of history wrote: “Most of the early Christians were persons of humble origin, coming from the lower levels of the artisan-merchant class of the large cities.” (The Ancient World, by Joseph W. Swain) Christ’s first-century followers were indeed ordinary persons, a fact that their enemies called attention to. (Acts 4:13; John 7:48) Yet the wisdom spoken by Christ’s followers put the worldly-wise to shame. They could not fathom the sacred secret of God concerning Christ and the Kingdom; to them such talk was foolishness. As the Bible says: “This wisdom not one of the rulers of this system of things came to know, for if they had known it they would not have impaled the glorious Lord.”​—1 Corinthians 2:7, 8.