Why was Paul considered a fool by the world for giving up his status?
From the world’s perspective, Paul was a fool because he gave up the power, prestige, and wealth he held as a Jewish religious leader. He had more grounds as a Jew and Pharisee than his opponents, yet he surrendered all for the gospel, which the world regards as foolishness but the saved know as God’s power.
Les explains that Paul is speaking from the world’s perspective. To the world, the gospel is foolishness, but to those who are saved it is the power of God. Paul says that from the world’s standpoint he was a fool to have chucked all the power, prestige, and wealth he had as a Jewish religious leader. Yet he says, "I speak as a fool. I am more." He was more a Jew and more a Pharisee than any of them. He then lists his labors, stripes, prisons, and near deaths: five times he received forty stripes save one, three times beaten with rods, once stoned, three times shipwrecked, and a night and a day in the deep. He endured journeyings and perils of waters, robbers, his own countrymen, and the heathen, all for the sake of the gospel.