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 foolish things - a general phrase for all persons and things foolish. Even things (and those, too, accounted by "the world" foolish things) are chosen by God to confound persons (and those, too, persons wise). This is the force of the change from neuter to masculine.
To confound. The Greek is stronger-`in order that He might put to shame,' etc. God confounds the wise by effecting through His instruments, without human wisdom, what the worldly wise, with it, cannot effect-namely, to save men.
Chosen ... chosen. The repetition indicates the gracious deliberateness of God's purpose (James 2:5).