Bible Strands
1 Corinthians 1:20
Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul writes to the Corinthian church, confronting their reliance on human intellectual prestige during his epistolary instruction.
The words — The Greek ποῦ [pou] repeats to demand "Where," while συζητητής [suzētētēs] literally denotes a "debater" or professional arguer.
The thread — This pattern of divine frustration of human intellect runs through Romans 1:22, Job 12:17, and 1 Corinthians 3:19.
Why it lands — The text states that God has made worldly wisdom foolish, requiring readers to discard reliance on human scholarly status for spiritual truth.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
Cross-references
- Romans 1:22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,
- Job 12:17 He leads counselors away barefoot and makes fools of judges.
- 1 Corinthians 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness.”
- 1 Corinthians 1:19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
- Job 12:24 He deprives the earth’s leaders of reason and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.
- Isaiah 44:25 who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who confounds the wise and turns their knowledge into nonsense,
- 2 Samuel 15:31 Now someone told David: “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” So David pleaded, “O LORD, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness!”
- 2 Samuel 16:23 Now in those days the advice of Ahithophel was like the consultation of the word of God. Such was the regard that both David and Absalom had for Ahithophel’s advice.
- 2 Samuel 17:14 Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than that of Ahithophel.” For the LORD had purposed to thwart the good counsel of Ahithophel in order to bring disaster on Absalom.
- 2 Samuel 17:23 When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set out for his house in his hometown. He put his affairs in order and hanged himself. So he died and was buried in his father’s tomb.