The story of the cross is foolishness to the lost, but to us, who are saved, it is the power of God. Scripture says, ‘I shall destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the learning of the learned.’ Where is the wise man now? Where is the scribe? Where is the investigator of this present age? Has not God made the wisdom of the world look foolish? Through God's wisdom the world did not know God through its own wisdom, and God saw fit to save believers by the foolishness of our preaching. Jews ask for signs, Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, an obstacle to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human beings, and the weakness of God is stronger.

Victorinus, so Simplicianus said, read Holy Scripture and all kinds of Christian literature with the most careful attention. He used to say to Simplicianus, not openly but in private conversation, ‘You should know that I am already a Christian.’ Simplicianus would reply, ‘I shall not believe it, or count you as a Christian, unless I see you in Christ's church.’ Victorinus would laugh at him and say, ‘So walls make Christians?’