It’s striking how flawed so many biblical figures were, David, Moses, Peter. Why do you think God chose to work through people who stumbled so publicly? What does that say about how He works today?
Did?
Dear sister check your verb tense. “Why DOES God continue to use so many imperfect people.”
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There has been a huge shortage of perfect people since the prototype Adam which also had some issues.
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way more challenging than just things running smoothly?
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Great way to mess with peoples heads who think they’re smart.
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I disagree @Inmate
Paul says in ~Ephesians 4:13 that we are to reach the unity of the faith and the full knowledge of the Son of God, the verb katantēsōmen (we reach) shows a process of being brought forward. God uses imperfect people because He is bringing them somewhere. He is not looking for perfect prototypes, He is forming saints.
Eph 4:11 And He gave some indeed to be apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some shepherds and teachers,
Eph 4:12 toward the perfecting of the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ,
Eph 4:13 until we all may attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a complete man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
Eph 4:14 so that no longer we might be infants, being tossed by waves and being carried about by every wind of teaching in the cunning, in the craftiness of men with a view to the scheming of deceit.
Eph 4:15 But speaking the truth in love, we should grow up in all things into Him who is the head, Christ,
In ~Philippians 1:6 Paul says God who began a good work will complete it, the verbs enarxamenos (beginning) and epitelesei (completing) show divine action from start to finish. Imperfect servants are the very material God works on so that the power is His, not ours.
Php 1:6 I am convinced and confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will [continue to] perfect and complete it until the day of Christ Jesus [the time of His return]. [Rom_14:10]
In ~2 Corinthians 3:18 we are being transformed into the image of Christ, the verb metamorphoumetha is present passive which shows God Himself is shaping us little by little.
2Co 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty [emancipation from bondage, true freedom]. [Isa_61:1-2]
2Co 3:18 And we all, with unveiled face, continually seeing as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are progressively being transformed into His image from [one degree of] glory to [even more] glory, which comes from the Lord, [who is] the Spirit.
Imperfect vessels make the transformation visible.
In ~Colossians 1:10 believers are to grow in the knowledge of God, the verb auxanomenoi shows continual increase. God uses imperfect people because He is growing them as He uses them.
In ~Hebrews 5:14 believers train their senses to discern good and evil, the verb gegymnasmena (trained) shows a process of spiritual strengthening. God uses imperfect people because He is training them through real service.
So the answer is not that God likes to confuse people or play mind games, nowhere is that in Scripture. The answer is that God chooses, calls, sanctifies, and matures His people as they walk with Him, and He displays His power through clay vessels so the excellence belongs to Him alone.
Imperfect people do not confuse God, they reveal Him, because the God who raises Christ from the dead also raises, cleanses, teaches, and uses His servants while He is still perfecting them.
No one here is trying to confuse anyone out of some sense of being clever.
It is usually those who lack wisdom who end up unsettling the faith of believers.
J.
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The only perfect person who has ever walked this good green earth is Jesus Christ. The rest of us? We’re all not only quite imperfect, but a total broken mess. Every saint of God is also a sinner. So God has always chosen to work in the midst of broken, messed up, imperfect, sinful people. So much so that He came down and walked with them, literally, even bleeding and dying for them. For us. Because that’s who God is.
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1Co 1:27 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;
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Love the AMP on this @timf
Christ the Wisdom and Power of God
1Co 1:18 For the story and message of the cross is sheer absurdity and folly to those who are perishing and on their way to perdition, but to us who are being saved it is the [manifestation of] the power of God.
1Co 1:19 For it is written, I will baffle and render useless and destroy the learning of the learned and the philosophy of the philosophers and the cleverness of the clever and the discernment of the discerning; I will frustrate and nullify [them] and bring [them] to nothing. [Isa_29:14]
1Co 1:20 Where is the wise man (the philosopher)? Where is the scribe (the scholar)? Where is the investigator (the logician, the debater) of this present time and age? Has not God shown up the nonsense and the folly of this world’s wisdom?
1Co 1:21 For when the world with all its earthly wisdom failed to perceive and recognize and know God by means of its own philosophy, God in His wisdom was pleased through the foolishness of preaching [salvation, procured by Christ and to be had through Him], to save those who believed (who clung to and trusted in and relied on Him).
1Co 1:22 For while Jews [demandingly] ask for signs and miracles and Greeks pursue philosophy and wisdom,
1Co 1:23 We preach Christ (the Messiah) crucified, [preaching which] to the Jews is a scandal and an offensive stumbling block [that springs a snare or trap], and to the Gentiles it is absurd and utterly unphilosophical nonsense.
J.
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Moses stands first as a man slow of speech yet chosen, where the LORD says, “Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say” ~Exodus 4 12, using the Hebrew verb hayah (to be) and yarah (to instruct), showing that God does not wait for eloquence but actively accompanies and instructs the flawed servant, even after Moses resisted, argued, and doubted, yet God still sent him to confront Pharaoh and lead Israel through the sea.
David follows as a man after God’s heart who nevertheless sinned grievously, yet Scripture declares, “Then David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the LORD,’ and Nathan said to David, ‘The LORD also has put away your sin, you shall not die’” ~2 Samuel 12 13, where the Hebrew verb nasa (to lift away) shows God actively removing guilt, not denying David’s failure but restoring him, and later the Psalms flow from this broken king, proving God works through repentance not perfection.
Peter is an unmistakable New Testament witness, denying the Lord three times, yet Jesus restores him, saying, “Feed My lambs” ~John 21 15, where the Greek verb boske (keep feeding, present active imperative) shows ongoing commission, not probation, and Peter later proclaims Christ crucified with boldness in Acts, demonstrating that failure did not disqualify him from apostolic service.
Paul himself testifies plainly, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost” ~1 Timothy 1 15, using the Greek verb elthen (came, aorist indicative) grounding salvation in a completed historical act, while Paul’s former violence did not nullify God’s calling, but rather magnified grace through a transformed life devoted to proclaiming the cross.
The Corinthian church collectively displays God’s patience with imperfection, as Paul writes, “But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” ~1 Corinthians 6 11, where the Greek verbs apelousasthe (you were washed), hegiasthēte (you were sanctified), and edikaiōthēte (you were justified), all aorist passives, declare that God Himself acted decisively upon deeply flawed people, grounding their identity not in past sin but in Christ’s finished work.
These testimonies converge at the cross, where God proves He redeems sinners rather than waiting for saints, since “God demonstrates His love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” ~Romans 5 8, using the Greek verb synistēsin (demonstrates, present active) to show that God continually sets forth His love through the crucifixion of His Son, making it unmistakably clear that divine purpose advances through imperfect people redeemed by a perfect Savior.
J.
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I think the answer is pretty simple. When we read the Bible, and we see who God highlights that He used, and we see them for all their flaws and problems, then we can take away from that. “If He can use someone like that, then surely I’m not so far gone that God cannot use me.” Regardless of what the devil may whisper in your ear.
Peter
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Or…
That Jesus Christ died for Paul and Peter, but not for me.
Stay strong in Messiah.
J.
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It’s so that all the honor may go to God, not to us, @ellenvera.
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If you want to make a great pizza or a great hamburger, you must start with great ingredients. Only God can take junk and make something great out of it. In Christ, you are a new creation!
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