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Confounding the Mighty

By R. J. Rushdoony
February 22, 2007

California Farmer 262:7 (Apr. 6, 1985), p. 25.

St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:27 declares, “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.” The meaning of the word “confound” is very important to this verse. It is kataischuno in the Greek, and it means to confound and put to shame, to bring down to defeat and dishonor.

Paul tells the early church (and us) that the ungodly regard us as foolish and weak. They see themselves as the elite, and as both mighty and wise. It is their self-appointed duty to rule the world and us for our own good.

Their plans are doomed to fail. We who believe and act in the power of God are chosen by God to overturn and confound these elitist and ungodly leaders. We are ordained by God “to bring to nought” the powers that be (1 Cor. 1:28). We are destined to be overcomers and overturners.

We have thus a remarkable future in Christ, and we must prepare for it. God’s plan is to use us to break the hold of the ungodly on history and to convert all things to Christ.

To found something is to establish it; to confound something is to disestablish and destroy it. In the New Testament, the words “foundation” and “founded” are the same. One of the two Greek words can mean both to conceive seed (as in Heb. 11:11) and to lay a foundation. Because Jesus Christ is our foundation, we are empowered to confound and disestablish all false faiths. We build on Christ; repentance, faith, and good works are the blocks wherewith we build (Heb. 6:1; 1 Tim. 6:19). As we build, we confound or break down the powers of evil.

The meaning is clear: to build our lives on Christ is the means of confounding the false rulers of this world.


Topics: Christian Reconstruction, Dominion

R. J. Rushdoony

Rev. R.J. Rushdoony (1916–2001), was a leading theologian, church/state expert, and author of numerous works on the application of Biblical law to society. He started the Chalcedon Foundation in 1965. His Institutes of Biblical Law (1973) began the contemporary theonomy movement which posits the validity of Biblical law as God’s standard of obedience for all. He therefore saw God’s law as the basis of the modern Christian response to the cultural decline, one he attributed to the church’s false view of God’s law being opposed to His grace. This broad Christian response he described as “Christian Reconstruction.” He is credited with igniting the modern Christian school and homeschooling movements in the mid to late 20th century. He also traveled extensively lecturing and serving as an expert witness in numerous court cases regarding religious liberty. Many ministry and educational efforts that continue today, took their philosophical and Biblical roots from his lectures and books.

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