Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 1:20
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?
20. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? ] i.e. “the wise generally, the Jewish scribe, the Greek disputer.” Dean Alford. “The words ‘of this world’ apply not to the disputer alone, but to all three.” De Wette.
hath not God made foolish ] Rather, did not God make foolish, i.e. when He proclaimed the Gospel of salvation through Christ. Cf. Isa 44:25.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Where is the wise? – Language similar to this occurs in Isa 33:18, Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers? Without designing to quote these words as having an original reference to the subject now under consideration, Paul uses them as any man does language where he finds words with which he or his readers are familiar, that will convey his meaning. A man familiar with the Bible, will naturally often make use of Scripture expressions in conveying his ideas. In Isaiah, the passage refers to the deliverance of the people from the threatened invasion of Sennacherib. The 18th verse represents the people as meditating on the threatened terror of the invasion; and then in the language of exultation and thanksgiving at their deliverance, saying, where is the wise man that laid the plan of destroying the nation? Where the Inspector General (see my note on the passage in Isaiah), employed in arranging the forces? Where the receiver (margin the weigher), the paymaster of the forces? Where the man that counted the towers of Jerusalem, and calculated on their speedy overthrow? All baffled and defeated; and their schemes have all come to nothing. So the apostle uses the same language in regard to the boasted wisdom, of the world in reference to salvation. It is all baffled, and is all shown to be of no value.
The wise – sophos. The sage. At first the Greek men of learning were called wise men sophoi, like the magicians of the East. They afterward assumed a more modest appellation, and called themselves the lovers of wisdom philosophoi, or philosophers. This was the name by which they were commonly known in Greece in the time of Paul.
Where is the scribe? – grammateus. The scribe among the Jews was a learned man originally employed in transcribing the law, but subsequently the term came to denote a learned man in general. Among the Greeks the word was used to denote a public notary or a transcriber of the laws; or a secretary. It was a term, therefore nearly synonymous with a man of learning; and the apostle evidently uses it in this sense in this place. Some have supposed that he referred to the Jewish men of learning here; but he probably had reference to the Greeks.
Where is the disputer of this world? – The acute and subtle sophist of this age. The word disputer suzetetes, properly denotes one who inquires carefully into the causes and relations of things; one who is a subtle and abstruse investigator. It was applied to the ancient sophists and disputants in the Greek academics; and the apostle refers, doubtless, to them. The meaning is, that in all their professed investigations, in all their subtle and abstruse inquiries, they had failed of ascertaining the way in which man could be saved; and that God had devised a plan which had baffled all their wisdom, and in which their philosophy was disregarded. The term world, here aionos, refers, probably, not to the world as a physical structure – though Grotius supposes that it does – but to that age – the disputer of that age, or generation – an age eminently wise and learned.
Hath not God made foolish … – That is, has he not by the originality and superior efficacy of his plan of salvation, poured contempt on all the schemes of philosophers, and evinced their folly? Not only without the aid of those schemes of human beings, but in opposition to them, he has devised a plan for human salvation that evinces its efficacy and its wisdom in the conversion of sinners, and in destroying the power of wickedness. Paul here, possibly, had reference to the language in Isa 44:25. God turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 20. Where is the wise – the scribe – the disputer of this world?] These words most manifestly refer to the Jews; as the places (Isa 29:14; Isa 33:18; Isa 44:25) to which he refers cannot be understood of any but the Jews.
The wise man , of the apostle, is the chakam of the prophet; whose office it was to teach others.
The scribe, , of the apostle, is the sopher of the prophet; this signifies any man of learning, as distinguished from the common people, especially any master of the traditions.
The disputer, , answers to the derosh, or darshan, the propounder of questions; the seeker of allegorical, mystical, and cabalistical senses from the Holy Scriptures. Now as all these are characters well known among the Jews, and as the words , of this world are a simple translation of olam hazzeh, which is repeatedly used to designate the Jewish republic, there is no doubt that the apostle has the Jews immediately in view. This wisdom of theirs induced them to seek out of the sacred oracles any sense but the true one; and they made the word of God of none effect by their traditions. After them, and precisely on their model, the schoolmen arose; and they rendered the doctrine of the Gospel of no effect by their hypercritical questions, and endless distinctions without differences. By the preaching of Christ crucified God made foolish the wisdom of the Jewish wise men; and, after that the pure religion of Christ had been corrupted by a Church that was of this world, God rendered the wisdom and disputing of the schoolmen foolishness, by the revival of pure Christianity at the Reformation. The Jews themselves allow that nothing is wise, nothing strong, nothing rich, without God.
“Our rabbins teach that there were two wise men in this world; one was an Israelite, Achitophel, the other was a Gentile, Balaam; but both were miserable in this world.”
“There were also two strong men in the world; one an Israelite, Samson, the other a Gentile, Goliah; but they were both miserable in this world.”
“There were two rich men in the world; one an Israelite, Korah, the other a Gentile, Haman; but both these were miserable in this world. And why? Because their gifts came not from God.” See Schoettgen.
In truth the world has derived very little, if any, moral good, either from the Jewish rabbins or the Gentile philosophers.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Where is the wise? where is the scribe? He alludeth again to that, Isa 33:18; Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? Where are the wise men amongst the heathens? Where are the scribes, the learned men in the law, amongst the Jews?
Where is the disputer of this world? Where are those amongst Jews or Gentiles that are the great inquirers into the reasons and natures of things, and manage debates and disputes about them? They understand nothing of the mysteries of the gospel, or the way of salvation, which God holds out to the world in and through Jesus Christ. Or, where are they? What have they done by all their philosophy and moral doctrine, as to the turning of men from sin unto God, from ways of iniquity unto ways of righteousness, in comparison of what we, the ministers of Christ, have done by preaching the doctrine of the gospel, and the cross of Christ?
Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? Do not you see how God hath fooled the wisdom of the world? Making it to appear vain and contemptible, and of no use, as to the saving of mens souls; making choice of none of their doctors and great rabbis, to carry that doctrine abroad in the world; and convincing men that, without faith in Christ, all that can be learned from them will be of no avail to the soul.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
20. Wherenowhere; for God”brings them to naught” (1Co1:19).
the wisegenerally.
the scribeJewish[ALFORD].
the disputerGreek[ALFORD]. Compare the Jewand Greek of this world contrasted with the godly wise, 1Co 1:22;1Co 1:23. VITRINGAthinks the reference is to the Jewish discourses in the synagogue,daraschoth, from a Hebrew root “to dispute.”Compare “questions,” Act 26:3;Tit 3:9. If so, “wise”refers to Greek wisdom (compare 1Co1:22). Paul applies Isa 33:18here in a higher sense; there the primary reference was to temporaldeliverance, here to external; 1Co1:22, which is in threefold opposition to 1Co1:18 there, sanctions this higher application; the Lord in thethreefold character being the sole ground of glorying to His people.
of this world . . . of thisworldrather, “dispensation (or age) . . . world”;the Greek words are distinct. The former is here this ageor worldly order of things in a moral point of view, asopposed to the Christian dispensation or order of things. The latteris the world viewed externally and cosmically.
made foolishshown theworld’s philosophy to be folly, because it lacks faith in Christcrucified [CHRYSOSTOM].Has treated it as folly, and not used its help in converting andsaving men (1Co 1:26; 1Co 1:27)[ESTIUS].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Where is the wise? where is the Scribe?…. These are the apostle’s own words; though he may allude to Isa 33:18 where there are some phrases much like these, but the meaning is very different. Though they are interpreted by the Talmudists g in a sense pretty near the apostle’s; for thus they remark upon them,
“where is the Scribe? he that counts all the letters which are in the law; “where is the receiver, or weigher?” who weighs all the light and heavy things in the law; “where is he that counted the towers?” he who counts, or teaches the three hundred traditions:”
so that they understand these of their Scribes and Misnic doctors, and such that are curious searchers into the hidden senses of Scripture. The apostle also seems to allude to a distinction that obtained among the Jews, of wise men, Scribes, and mystical interpreters of the word. They had their , “wise men”, which was a general name for men of learning and knowledge; and their , “Scribes”, who interpreted the law in the literal and grammatical sense; and their , “preachers, or disputers”, who diligently searched into the hidden meaning of the Scriptures, and sought for and delivered out the mystical and allegorical sense of them, and who used to dispute about them in their schools. These three are sometimes to be met with together, and as distinct from each other. They say h that
“God showed to the first man every generation, , “and its expounders, or disputers”; and every generation,
, “and its wise men”; and every generation,
, “and its Scribes.””
And the apostle’s sense is, “where is the wise?” the man that boasts of his superior wisdom and knowledge in the things of nature, whether among the Jews or Gentiles; “where is the Scribe?” the letter learned man, who takes upon him to give the literal sense of the law;
where is the disputer of this world? the Jewish world, who pretends to the knowledge of the more abstruse and secret senses of Scripture; where are these men? they are not to be found among those that God employs in the ministration of the Gospel; he has laid them aside, and chosen others, where are they? what use have they been of to men? are men under their instructions the better, either in principle or practice? where are the thousands that have been turned to God by their wisdom, as can be shown by the faithful ministers of the Gospel? where are they? let them come and produce their cause, and bring forth their strong reasons against the Gospel they account foolishness, and try if these will stand before its superior power and wisdom; where are they? are they not fools, with all their wisdom and learning? The words may be rendered, “where is the searcher, or inquirer of this world?” and may design the same sort of persons whom the Jews call , “the wise men of search, or inquiry” i, and sometimes , “the men of search, or inquiry” k; by whom they seem to intend such who search into the nature of things, who study natural philosophy.
Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? by bringing in the Gospel scheme, which the men of the world, the greatest wits in it, are not able to understand; by laying their wisdom aside as useless in the business of salvation; by showing it to be vain and empty, and of no service in things spiritual and divine; by detecting, through the ministration of the Gospel, the sophisms of men, and showing that the schemes both Jews and Gentiles give into abound with folly, with stupid notions, and are full of gross errors and fatal mistakes.
g T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 106. 2. & Chagiga, fol. 15. 2. h Bereshit Rabba Parash. 24. fol. 21. 1. Vid. T. Bab. Avoda Zara, fol. 5. 1. & Sanhedrin, fol. 38. 2. i Kimchi in Sopher Shorashim, rad. , & in Psal. cii. 26. k Aben Ezra in Psal. civ. 29.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? ( ; ; ;). Paul makes use of Isa 33:18 without exact quotation. The sudden retreat of Sennacherib with the annihilation of his officers. “On the tablet of Shalmaneser in the Assyrian Gallery of the British Museum there is a surprisingly exact picture of the scene described by Isaiah” (Robertson and Plummer). Note the absence of the Greek article in each of these rhetorical questions though the idea is clearly definite. Probably refers to the Greek philosopher, to the Jewish scribe and suits both the Greek and the Jewish disputant and doubter (Acts 6:9; Acts 9:29; Acts 17:18; Acts 28:29). There is a note of triumph in these questions. The word occurs here alone in the N.T. and elsewhere only in Ignatius, Eph. 18 quoting this passage, but the papyri give the verb for disputing (questioning together).
Hath not God made foolish? ( ;). Strong negative form with aorist active indicative difficult of precise translation, “Did not God make foolish?” The old verb from , foolish, was to be foolish, to act foolish, then to prove one foolish as here or to make foolish as in Ro 1:22. In Matt 5:13; Luke 14:34 it is used of salt that is tasteless.
World (). Synonymous with (age), orderly arrangement, then the non-Christian cosmos.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Scribe [] . Always in the New Testament in the Jewish sense, an interpreter of the law, except Act 19:35, the town – clerk.
Disputer [] . Only here. Compare the kindred verb suzhtew to question with, Mr 1:27; Luk 22:23; Act 6:9; and suzhthsiv disputation, Act 14:2, 7. Referring to Grecian sophistical reasoners, while scribe refers to rabbinical hair – splitters.
World [] . See on Joh 1:9. More correctly, age or period.
Made foolish [] . Proved it to be practical folly; stupefied it. Compare Rom 1:22. Possibly with a latent suggestion of the judicial power of God to make it foolish.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Where is the wise?” (pou sophos) “where is the wise one? The critics of Moses, John the Baptist, Jesus, Stephen, and Paul – where are they? In whose history or civilization does their names hold esteem today – of such vanity, read, Rom 1:22; Isa 19:11, Psa 14:1.
2) “Where is the scribe?” In the area of wisdom, the scribe was humanistic, natural, according to human standards, they interpreted the law based on what Rabbis had said – Note Mat 7:29.
3) “Where is the disputer of this world?” The term “scribe” is derived from (Greek grammateus). He was an interpreter of the Law, but far too often, merely of the traditions of Rabbi elders, by which the Law was “set aside,” through the human (Greek suzetetes) disputant. Our Lord condemned such, Mar 7:1-9; Col 2:8.
4) “Hath not God made foolish.” (Greek ouchi emoranen) “Not moronic?” Rhetorically Paul asks is it not clear that God has made worldly wisdom moronic?
5) “The wisdom of this world?” (Greek tensophian tou kosmon?) The highest and finest form of human judgment and discretion, apart from divine acknowledgment and help is folly, moronic, and vain! This is the position of Divine revelation, validly established and sustained by 1) the Word of God, 2) experiences and testimony of human history, and 3) attested by millions living today, see Pro 1:7; Pro 23:4; Jer 8:9; Jas 1:5; Jas 3:17.
THE BLIND LEAD THE BLIND
A blind man with a white cane waited at an intersection for someone to help him across the busy street. Presently another man with a white cane stopped alongside him. They began to talk. Then one took the other by the arm and both men began tapping their way across the street. Neither knew that the other was blind. Only the alertness of the drivers prevented the possible death of both blind men. The pedestrians watch with bated breath until the blind men reach the opposite side of the street.
There are many blind religious guides who have a distorted sense of spiritual values – – “ungodly men denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jud 1:4). Jesus said of them: “And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch” (Mat 15:14); “Woe unto you, ye blind guides” (Mat 23:16).
-W. B. K.
YOUR WAY OR GOD’S WAY
Years ago an old Scottish woman went to country homes to sell thread, buttons and shoe strings. When she came to an unmarked crossroad, she would toss a stick in the air and go whichever way the stick pointed. One day she was seen tossing the stick into the air several times. “Why do you toss the stick several times?” someone asked. She answered, “It has pointed every time to the road going to the right, and I want to go on the road to the left. It looks smoother!” She kept on throwing up the stick until it finally pointed toward the road she wanted to go.
How like that old woman are many of God’s children!
If we want God to order our steps and stops, we must say, “Your way, dear Lord.” If you go your way, you could get into serious trouble and make a shipwreck of your life.
-W. B. K.
ABSTRACT SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE
The great scientist, Einstein, is credited with having established widely a. theory often called the law of “relativity,” which in essence is agnosticism crystallized in the 20th century. Though it may be conceded that most things in the realm of human knowledge of the universe’s existence may be known only in a relative way, there is a spiritual realm in which one may have or hold absolute, abstract, and incontestable experimental knowledge so that he can actually and factually and truthfully say, I know.”
1. 1Jn 3:14 reads, “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.”
2. 1Jn 5:13 reads, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”
3. Job 19:25-27 reads, “For I know that my redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.”
4. Joh 7:17 reads, “if any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.”
5. Joh 13:35 reads, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
6. 1Jn 4:13 affirms, “Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.”
7. 2Ti 1:12 declares, “For the which cause I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.,’
8. Rom 8:28 certifies, “And we know that A things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
– 365 Sunrays
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
20. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? This expression of triumph is added for the purpose of illustrating the Prophet’s testimony. Paul has not taken this sentiment from Isaiah, as is commonly thought, but speaks in his own person. For the passage which they point to (Isa 33:18) has nothing corresponding to the subject in hand, or nearly approaching to it. For in that passage, while he promises to the Jews deliverance from the yoke of Sennacherib, that he may magnify the more this great blessing from God, he shows how miserable is the condition of those that are oppressed by the tyranny of foreigners. He says, that they are in a constant fever of anxiety, from thinking themselves beset with scribes or questors, treasurers, and counters of towers. Nay more, he says, that the Jews were involved in such difficulties, that they were stirred up to gratitude by the very remembrance of them. (84) It is a mistake, therefore, to suppose that this sentence is taken from the Prophet. (85) The term world, ought not to be taken in connection with the last term merely, but also with the other two. Now, by the wise of this world, he means those who do not derive their wisdom from illumination by the Spirit through means of the word of God, but, endowed with mere worldly sagacity, rest on the assurance which it affords.
It is generally agreed, that by the term scribes is meant teachers. For as ספר, saphar, among the Hebrews, means to relate or recount, and the noun derived from it, ספר, sepher, , is used by them to signify a book or volume, they employ the term סופרימ, sopherim, to denote learned men, and those that are conversant with books; and, for the same reason, too, sopher regis is often used to denote a chancellor or secretary The Greeks, following the etymology of the Hebrew term, have translated it γραμματεις, scribes (86) He appropriately gives the name of investigators (87) to those that show off their acuteness by starting difficult points and involved questions. Thus in a general way he brings to nothing man’s entire intellect, so as to give it no standing in the kingdom of God. Nor is it without good reason that he inveighs so vehemently against the wisdom of men, for it is impossible to express how difficult a thing it is to eradicate from men’s minds a misdirected confidence in the flesh, that they may not claim for themselves more than is reasonable. Now there is more than ought to be, if, depending even in the slightest degree upon their own wisdom, they venture of themselves to form a judgment.
Hath not God made foolish, etc By wisdom here he means everything that man can comprehend either by the natural powers of his understanding, or as deriving aid from practice, from learning, or from a knowledge of the arts. For he contrasts the wisdom of the world with the wisdom of the Spirit. Hence, whatever knowledge a man may come to have without the illumination of the Holy Spirit, is included in the expression, the wisdom of this world This he says God has utterly made foolish, that is, He has convicted it of folly. This you may understand to be effected in two ways; for whatever a man knows and understands, is mere vanity, if it is not grounded in true wisdom; and it is in no degree better fitted for the apprehension of spiritual doctrine than the eye of a blind man is for discriminating colors. We must carefully notice these two things — that a knowledge of all the sciences is mere smoke, where the heavenly science of Christ is wanting; and man, with all his acuteness, is as stupid for obtaining of himself a knowledge of the mysteries of God, as an ass is unqualified for understanding musical harmonies. For in this way he reproves the destructive pride of those who glory in the wisdom of the world so as to despise Christ, and the entire doctrine of salvation, thinking themselves happy when they are taken up with creatures; and he beats down the arrogance of those who, trusting to their own understanding, attempt to scale heaven itself.
There is also a solution furnished at the same time to the question, how it happens that Paul in this way throws down upon the ground every kind of knowledge that is apart from Christ, and tramples, as it were, under foot what is manifestly one of the chief gifts of God in this world. For what is more noble than man’s reason, in which man excels the other animals? How richly deserving of honor are the liberal sciences, which polish man, so as to give him the dignity of true humanity! Besides this, what distinguished and choice fruits they produce! Who would not extol with the highest commendations civil prudence (88) (not to speak of other things,) by which governments, principalities, and kingdoms are maintained? A solution of this question, I say, is opened up to view from the circumstance, that Paul does not expressly condemn either man’s natural perspicacity, or wisdom acquired from practice and experience, or cultivation of mind attained by learning; but declares that all this is of no avail for acquiring spiritual wisdom. And, certainly, it is madness for any one, confiding either in his own acuteness, or the assistance of learning, to attempt to fly up to heaven, or, in other words, to judge of the secret mysteries of the kingdom of God, (89) or to break through (Exo 19:21) to a discovery of them, for they are hid from human view. Let us, then, take notice, that we must restrict to the specialities of the case in hand what Paul here teaches respecting the vanity of the wisdom of this world — that it rests in the mere elements of the world, and does not reach to heaven. In other respects, too, it holds true, that without Christ sciences in every department are vain, and that the man who knows not God is vain, though he should be conversant with every branch of learning. Nay more, we may affirm this, too, with truth, that these choice gifts of God — expertness of mind, acuteness of judgment, liberal sciences, and acquaintance with languages, are in a manner profaned in every instance in which they fall to the lot of wicked men.
(84) The passage referred to in Isaiah is happily rendered by Lowth:- Thine heart shall reflect on the past terror: Where is now the accomptant ? where the weigher of tribute ? where is he that numbered the towers ? The last of these expressions Lowth explains to mean, “the commander of the enemy’s forces, who surveyed the fortifications of the city, and took an account of the height, strength, and situation of the walls and towers, that he might know where to make the assault with the greatest advantage.” — Ed.
(85) “The words of Paul, 1Co 1:20, ποῦ σοφός; ποῦ γραμματεύς; ποῦ συζητητὴς κ.τ.λ., are not, as some have imagined, a quotation of the words of this verse,” (Isa 33:18😉 “the only points of agreement between them being merely the occurrence of γραμματεὺς, and the repetition of the interrogative τοῦ. It is not impossible, however, that the structure of the one passage may have suggested the other. ” — Henderson on Isaiah. — Ed
(86) The Hebrew phrase referred to occurs in 2Kg 12:10 ספר המלך (the king’s scribe.) It is rendered by the Septuagint, ὁ γραμματεύς τοῦ βασιλέως The corresponding Greek term, γραμματεις is employed by the classical writers to denote a clerk or secretary, (Demosth. 269.19.) The γραμματεις (notaries) “had the custody of the laws and the public records, which it was their business to write, and to repeat to the people and senate when so required. ” — Potter ’ s Grecian Antiquities, volume 1. — Ed
(87) Calvin, here has manifestly in his eye the original meaning of συζητητης, which is derived from συν and ζητεω ( to inquire together,) and comes very naturally to mean one that indulges in arguments or disputes. The term was applied to the subtle Sophists, or disputants in the Greek academies. — Ed
(88) “ La prudence civile, c’est a dire la science des lois;” — “Civil prudence, that is to say, the science of laws.”
(89) See Institutes, volume 1. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(20) To the second quotation, which was originally a song of triumph over the enemies of Israel, the Apostle gives a general application.
The wise.The general reference in this word is to those who would exalt human knowledge, while the scribe indicates the Jew, and the disputer the Greek, who discussed philosophy (Act. 6:9; Act. 9:29).
Of this world.These words qualify all three mentioned, and not exclusively the disputer. World (more literally, age) does not here mean the physical world, but, in an ethical sense, this age, in contrast to that which is to come (Mat. 12:32; Mar. 10:30). It is employed afterwards (last word of 1Co. 1:20, and in 1Co. 1:21) to designate all who are outside the Christian communion, as in the next verse it is contrasted with them that believe.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
20. Where An exclamation of assumed triumph, as if all these competitors of the cross were nowhere.
The wise The sophos, the philosoph.
The scribe As the apostle advances, his mind recognises that the Jewish parallels to the sophoi and philosophs of the heathen world, namely, the scribes, must be included in the same humiliation. He deals, mainly, with Greek philosophs because Corinth is a Greek city.
Disputer of this world A generic term including both the preceding, sage and scribe.
Made foolish Stultified, reduced to idiocy. The maxim of Socrates, said to have been inherited from Pythagoras, was, that “sophia, in truth, belongs to God alone.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has God not made foolish the wisdom of the world? For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know God, it was God’s pleasure, through the foolishness of what was preached, to save those who believe.’
These words echo Isa 19:12 and Isa 33:18, but Paul does not say ‘it is written’ and he is not citing those passages as evidence of God’s ways’ (unlike in 1Co 1:19). He is merely echoing language well known to him. ‘The wise’ probably has in mind wisdom writings, and Greek and Hebrew schools of wisdom, and the like, ‘the scribes’ has in mind the Jewish teachers, (it is not a word used of Greek teachers), and ‘the disputers’ the Greek schools of philosophy and those who admired such teaching and sought to expand on it. (This rare word ‘disputers’ was probably used by Paul deliberately as an indirect rebuff to the ‘disputing’ of the Corinthian church). There much time was spent in disputing, both by them and those affected by them. Men loved to talk about and consider what they saw as wisdom. It made them think how wise they were. And they got very hot-headed about it. And some may have contained much that was good. But it did not achieve what it set out to accomplish, the salvation of those who treasured it. All was thrust to one side by the word of the cross. None of these have brought men to a knowledge of God, have brought into effective working His glorious power, for they have failed to identify Jesus Christ or provide reconciliation with God. They are ‘of this age’, rather than of the coming age. They produce no way back to God. Spiritually therefore they are superfluous. God has set aside their efforts because they point in the wrong direction. And Paul was fearful lest this also happen with the message of Christian preachers, so that those who listened to them somehow missed the essential message of Christ and looked in the wrong direction.
(We should note here that this is not rejecting wisdom which is sought for its own sake, but wisdom which professed to offer salvation to its recipients. The Bible itself contains wisdom literature, e.g. Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job, and wisdom teaching is found within the writings of the prophets, but while helpful it does not itself save).
Indeed by working through the preaching of the cross of Christ, and demonstrating that it is essential for salvation, God has shown up the folly of all efforts of men to achieve heavenly knowledge. Only God can reveal to man the full truth.
The descriptions bring out that both Greek (that which arises from Greek culture) and Jewish wisdom are set aside. This might be seen as tying in with the references to ‘Apollos’ and ‘Cephas’ (Peter) in 1Co 1:12, with the thought being that certain in the church were even seeing them as representatives of such Greek or Jewish wisdom teaching. The implication is that they were not to do so, for as such they would be nothing. Their only importance must lay in that they preached Christ. It also ties in with the distinctions in 1Co 1:22-23. Paul’s point is that all such teaching has been set aside, whoever it comes from. Wisdom teaching is not salvation teaching.
‘In the wisdom of God.’ The result may seem baffling but it is in the wisdom of God. For God knew that the other forms of wisdom could not achieve their aim. He knew that His was the only way. This was true wisdom. So Paul contrasts the true wisdom with the false wisdom, and he does it with irony. When it comes to heavenly things, true wisdom comes from God. Man does not understand the ways of God, and man’s ‘wisdom’ therefore leads him astray in the wrong direction.
The verse indicates God’s sovereignty in that it portrays this failure as being revealed through God’s wisdom. It was the all-wise God Who knew what would happen, and indeed Who in the last analysis determined what would happen. He knew that men would be surrounded by darkness and would not see light. He knew that they would fail to be truly enlightened and to recognise the Reconciler. And He determined, in giving that enlightenment, that men would not find that enlightenment through their own wisdom, but through faith, thus making it available to all. His determination of this came out in the result.
But man’s state also, of course, resulted from the fact that man was blinded by his own sin, and thus would not, and in a sense could not, respond to God’s revelation of Himself through nature (Rom 1:18-32; Act 14:17; Act 17:27), and now through the cross, because of his own sinfulness. Man could not blame God. He was at fault for his own failure. What God determined was the way in which His gift of enlightenment would come to man.
‘The world through its wisdom did not know God.’ All man’s efforts and all his brilliance could not enable him to know God, nor ever will. There his wisdom was defeated. The reason why this was so is given in the next chapter. He could speculate, he could surmise, he could talk about God, but he could not know God. He could not go beyond the world. Thus when he pictured God he often did it in terms of ‘corruptible man, birds, four-footed beasts and creeping things’ (Rom 1:23), the utmost in folly. Nor were the Jews, who had no images, in any better state. They had their own mental images. But they too were wrong. For Jesus Himself said they neither knew the Father nor Him (Joh 8:19; Joh 16:3). Whatever God they imagined was not the true God. They did not understand His ways.
‘It was God’s good pleasure.’ Again the sovereignty of God is stressed. All that happens is of His good pleasure, and especially this. But it is also the inevitable consequence of the way of things in the moral universe which He created.
‘Through the foolishness of what was preached.’ It was not really foolish, of course. It only appeared so to foolish man. The message of the cross followed the divine logic and the divine understanding. It was the product of God’s extreme wisdom. It was the issuing forth of God’s divine power in the way He had determined. It appeared foolish because man did not have a full understanding of himself and his own inadequacy, and was not therefore aware that his need of reconciliation and atonement, which he actually showed himself to be aware of by his religious activities, could only be met by God taking on Himself all man’s iniquity (Isa 53:6). Man still clung to the belief that with a great effort and a little religion he could save himself, with, of course, a little help from God and from his own religious ordinances, and he acted accordingly.
‘To save those who believe.’ The basis of salvation is clearly emphasised. It is through faith in and response to God and what He has done in Jesus Christ, faith in the cross and in what it achieved, and faith in the crucified One through Whom it was achieved. Man can only be saved as he believes in and responds to Christ’s sacrifice of Himself, the sinless One made sin for us, thereby receiving forgiveness, being declared righteous and being reconciled to God (2Co 5:20-21). That is why there is no other name under Heaven given among men whereby we can be saved (Act 4:12).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The foolishness of God wiser than men:
v. 20. 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?
v. 21. For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
v. 22. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom;
v. 23. but we preach Christ Crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block and unto the Greeks foolishness,
v. 24. but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God.
v. 25. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. In a series of rhetorical questions the apostle brings out the foolishness of this world’s wisdom when compared with the wisdom of God. Where is the wise? Where are all the wise men of the world with all their wisdom? What has become of all the learned Greeks whose wisdom was praised so highly? Not one sinner has ever been converted by their sayings and writings; not one person has obtained salvation by following their rules of conduct. Where is the scribe? What is true of the heathen philosophers is true also of the Jewish lawyer and his insistence upon the righteousness of works. All this is false wisdom and must vanish before the light of eternal truth. Where is the disputer, the rhetorician of this world? The men that prided themselves on their ability to sway multitudes according to their will, to make them accept as right and true whatever their skill dictated, are vanished with the others that were filled with intellectual pride. Did not God render foolish the wisdom of the world? So far as God was concerned, the wisdom of this world always was folly, but through the revelation of the heavenly wisdom in the crucified Christ God has judged and condemned this world’s wisdom as foolishness. All the knowledge that has been acquired by men since the dawn of history, all the wisdom that is stored in countless minds, all the prevailing ideas of the present life, is vain where the heavenly wisdom is wanting, and utterly foolish if it attempts to measure the wisdom of God or to judge spiritual matters. This thought is carried out further by the apostle: For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom knew not God, it was God’s pleasure through the foolishness of preaching to save those that believe. Although the entire world proclaims the wisdom of God, although His wisdom is evidenced both in the works of creation, Rom 1:20, and in the history of the world, Act 17:26, yet in all this wise plan of the world’s government the world’s wisdom failed to win the knowledge of Him. Because the children of the world became wise in their own imaginations, therefore their foolish hearts were darkened, Rom 1:21. God cannot be comprehended by intellectual speculation, and all the efforts of the philosophers to penetrate into the mystery of His essence are bound to meet with abject defeat. And since thus the world, with its own wisdom, could not find the way to the wisdom of God, therefore it pleased God, according to the good pleasure of His will, to lead men to the knowledge of His essence by a way which alone can bring sinful mankind to Him. By that which is considered the foolishness of preaching, by the proclamation of a message which is ridiculed as unreasonable by the wise men of this world, God brings salvation to the believers. “God’s sovereign grace rescues man’s bankrupt wisdom: God saves by faith. ” Through the very same message of salvation which seems to man the essence of foolishness, God takes away the conceit of this human opinion and works faith in his heart.
In what way the wisdom of the world defeats its own ends is further explained by the apostle: For seeing that, while both Jews require signs, and Greeks seek after wisdom, we, on the other hand, preach Christ crucified, vv. 22 -23. That was characteristic of the Jews, they were not satisfied with the words of salvation, but demanded signs from heaven, Joh 4:48; Mat 12:39; Mat 16:4; their proud self-righteousness was not so easily brought into captivity under the obedience of Christ. And of the Greeks it was characteristic that they sought wisdom; they wanted philosophic proof, logical demonstration, they wanted to be convinced by reasonable arguments, Act 17:19; Col 2:4. The preaching of the Cross was therefore in emphatic contrast to both positions. It offered no sign, but merely referred to the greatest miracle that was ever seen in the world, the death and resurrection of Christ, Joh 2:18-19; it brought no reasonable arguments, but simply preached Christ crucified, announced the salvation of mankind through the merits of Him who died for all. This Christ is indeed, as revealed in this message, an offense, a scandal, to the Jews; they will not accept Him, and therefore their perversity causes them to fall over Him as over an obstacle placed in their path. And to the Gentiles in general, not only to the Greeks, Christ the Savior is foolishness, the way of redemption as taught in the Scriptures savors to them of madness. But to them that are called by God, chosen by Him in His great mercy, that have heard and heeded the call by grace, whether they belong to the Jewish or to the Greek nation, we preach Christ as the Power of God and as the Wisdom of God. In Christ the highest, the most glorious power of God, that of His atoning and saving love, was manifested. Christ is the Power of God unto us, because He is the Deliverer from sin, death, and the devil, because He has earned everlasting righteousness and salvation for us, because through His Spirit He sends us power from on high. And Christ is the Wisdom of God unto us, because in Him we have the fullness of spiritual understanding, because He can enlighten the darkness of our natural blindness, because He can find ways and means of leading us safely through all the temptations and dangers of this world to the eternal mansions above. And this is further substantiated: For that which is foolish in God, what seems to man’s reason a foolish, weak policy, the redemption of the world through the death of His Son on the cross, is wiser than men. All the attempts of men to find a way to the mercy of God and to the bliss of heaven were absolute failures; but the way chosen by God, foolish, unreasonable according to the opinion of men, proved the wise, the feasible way. And what is weak in God, what seemed to man’s foolish reason altogether lacking in intrinsic strength and efficiency, that is stronger than men. That is the mystery of the Cross, that Christ, in dying, conquered death, that in His yielding up the ghost death was swallowed up in victory, 2Co 13:4. The same wonderful strength has been imparted to the Church of Christ, since she, in the midst of all temptations and tribulations, when she seems all but conquered and expiring, has the divine strength to uphold her and to lead her on to final victory.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
1Co 1:20 . What this passage of Scripture promises, has occurred: Where is a wise man , etc. The force of these triumphant questions (comp 1Co 15:55 , and see on Rom 3:27 ) is: clean gone are all sages, scribes, and disputers of this world-period (they can no more hold their ground, no longer assert themselves, have, as it were, vanished); God has made the world’s wisdom to be manifest folly ! As the passages, Isa 19:12 ; Isa 33:18 , were perhaps before the apostle’s mind, the form of expression used rests probably on them. Comp Rom 3:27 , where is the answer to the ; according to classical usage, Valckenaer, a [229] Eur. Phoen. 1662. Ewald holds 1Co 1:20 to be a citation from a lost book; but we are not necessarily shut up to this conclusion by the , although the term does not occur elsewhere in Paul’s writings, for this exclamation might easily have been suggested to him by the , of Isa 33:18 . The three substantives cannot well be taken as alluding to the synagogal phrases and (Lightfoot, Vitringa), since Paul was not writing to a purely Jewish-Christian community. Attempts to explain the distinction between them have been made in a variety of ways. But it is to be noted that in what immediately follows represents all the three ideas put together; that , again, is always (excepting Act 19:35 ) used in the N. T. (even in Mat 13:52 ; Mat 23:34 , where the idea is only raised to the Christian sphere) of scribes in the Jewish sense; that the ) (Ignat. ad Eph. 18), which is not found in the Greek writers or in the LXX., is most surely interpreted disputant , in accordance with the use of (Mar 8:11 ; Mar 9:14 ; Luk 24:15 ; Act 6:9 ; Act 9:29 , al [230] ) and (Act 15:2 ; Act 15:7 ; Act 28:29 ); and further, that disputing was especially in vogue among the Sophists ( , Xen. Mem. i. 4. 1). And on these grounds we conclude that is to be taken of human wisdom in general, as then pursued on the Jewish side by the scribes, and on the Hellenic side by the sophistical disputers , so that, in this view, . and . are subordinated to the general in respect to matters of Jewish and Hellenic pursuit. Many exegetes (Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, Oecumenius, and others, including Storr, Rosenmller, Flatt, Billroth) depart from the view now stated in this respect, that they would limit to the heathen philosophers, [231] which, however, is precluded by the embracing all the three elements (comp also 1Co 1:21 ). This holds at the same time against Rckert, who finds here only the three most outstanding features in the intellectual character of the Hellenes: cleverness, erudition, and argumentativeness. But 1Co 1:22 shows that Paul is not shutting out the Jewish element; just as his Jewish-Christian readers could see in . nothing else than a name for the of their people. Schrader, with older expositors (see below), understands by . an inquirer , and in a perfectly arbitrary way makes it refer partly to the pupils of the great training-schools of Alexandria, Athens, Jerusalem, etc.; partly to the disciples of the apostles and of Jesus Himself. But . could only denote a fellow-inquirer (comp in Plat. Men. p. 90 B, Crat. p. 384 C; Diog. L. ii. 22), which would be without pertinence here; while, on the other hand, according to our view, the finds its reference in the notion of disputare .
. ] attaches to all the three subjects: who belong to the pre-Messianic period of the world (“quod totum est extra sphaeram verbi crucis,” Bengel), and are not, like the Christians, set apart by God from the to be members of the Messianic kingdom, in virtue whereof they already, ideally considered, belong to the coming . Comp 1Co 1:27 ; Gal 1:4 ; Col 1:13 ; Phi 3:20 ; Rom 12:2 . Luther and many others take . . as referring simply to .; but wrongly, for it gives an essential characteristic of the first two subjects as well. Of those who think thus, some keep the true meaning of (as Rckert and Billroth); others render: indagator rerum naturae , physical philosopher (Erasmus, Beza, Drusius, Cornelius a Lapide, Justiniani, Grotius, Clericus, and Valckenaer), which is quite contrary to the invariable sense of .
] emphatically put first: made foolish, i.e. from the context, not: He has made it into incapacity of knowledge (Hofmann), which would come in the end to the notion of callousness , but: He has shown it practically to be folly , “insaniens sapientia” (Hor. Od. i. 34. 2), (Clem. Protr. V. p. 56 A), by bringing about, namely, the salvation of believers just through that which to the wise men of this world seemed foolishness, the preaching of the cross. See 1Co 1:21 . The more foolish, therefore, this preaching is in their eyes and according to their judgment, the more they themselves are exhibited as fools (as , Lucian, Alex. 40), and put to shame (1Co 1:27 ), since the , held by them to be foolish , is that which brings salvation , not indeed to them, but to those who believe ; , ; Chrysostom. Comp Isa 44:25 , where is to be taken in precisely the same way as here.
] i.e. of profane non-Christian humanity, the two halves of which are the Jews and the heathen 1Co 1:22-24 .
[229] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.
[230] l. and others; and other passages; and other editions.
[231] In consequence of this, has been regarded as comprising the Jewish and heathen dialecticians. See especially Theodoret.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
20 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?
Ver. 20. Where is the wise? ] The teacher of traditions; the Jews had a proverb, .
Where is the scribe? ] Or the textmen, those that proceed according to the literal interpretation.
Where is the disputer? ] The teachers of allegories and mysteries, 1Ti 1:4 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
20. ] See ref. The question implies disappearance and exclusion .
, the wise , generally : ., the Jewish scribe [interpreter of the law], ., the Greek disputer [arguer] (reff.).
. . is best taken with the whole three, of this present (ungodly) world .
] , Chrys.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Co 1:20 . ; ; and (possibly) , are also Isaianic allusions to Isa 19:11 f. (mocking the vain wisdom of Pharaoh’s counsellors), and Isa 33:18 (predicting the disappearance of Sennacherib’s revenue clerks and army scouts, as a sign of his defeat). The LXX becomes , in consistence with the sophr of the latter passage; ( cf. , 1Co 1:22 ), in the third question, is Paul’s addition. unmistakably points, in the application, to the Jewish Scribe ( cf. our Lord’s denunciation in Mat 23 ); of the parl [205] terms, is supposed by most moderns to be general , comprehending Jewish and Gr [206] wise men together, to be specific to the Gr [207] philosopher a distinction better reversed, as by Lt [208] after the Gr [209] Ff [210] , with its cognates, is employed in the N.T. of Jewish discussions (Act 6:9 ; Act 28:29 , etc.), and the adjunct . gives to the term its widest scope, whereas , esp. at Cor [211] , marks the Gr [212] intellectual pride; (Thd [213] ; cf. Rom 1:23 ). (not ); . . .: “Where is a wise man? where a scribe? where a disputer of this age?” These orders of men are swept from the field; all such pretensions disappear ( cf. 1Co 1:29 ) “Did not God make foolish the wisdom of the world?” The world and God are at issue; each counts the other’s wisdom folly ( cf. 1Co 1:18 ; 1Co 1:25 ; 1Co 1:30 ). But God actually turned to foolishness ( infatuavit , Bz [214] : cf. Rom 1:21 f., for ; also Isa 44:25 ) the world’s imagined wisdom: how , 1Co 1:21-25 proceed to show. On see parls., and Ed [215] ’s note; also Trench’s Synon. , lix., and Gm [216] , for the distinction between and ; “ , like sculum , refers to the prevailing ideas and feelings of the present life, to its gross, material character” (Lt [217] ).
[205] parallel.
[206] Greek, or Grotius’ Annotationes in N.T.
[207] [208]
[209] Greek, or Grotius’ Annotationes in N.T.
[210]
[211] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.
[212] Greek, or Grotius’ Annotationes in N.T.
[213]
[214] Beza’s Nov. Testamentum: Interpretatio et Annotationes (Cantab., 1642).
[215] T. C. Edwards’ Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians . 2
[216] Grimm-Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the N.T.
[217]
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
disputer. Greek. suzetetees. Only here. Compare Act 15:2.
world = age. App-129. It was an age of speculation. Act 17:21.
made foolish. Greek. moraino. See Rom 1:22.
this = the.
world. Greek. kosmos. App-129. The wisdom of the world is human wisdom generally.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
20.] See ref. The question implies disappearance and exclusion.
, the wise, generally: ., the Jewish scribe [interpreter of the law],-., the Greek disputer [arguer] (reff.).
. . is best taken with the whole three,-of this present (ungodly) world.
] , Chrys.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Co 1:20. , ; ) Isa 33:18, LXX., ; ; . Hebr. . The first half of the verse proposes two questions, of which the former is cleared up in the second half, and the latter in the verse following (We have also a similar figure in Isa 25:6): Where is the scribe? where is the weigher (or, receiver)? where is the scribe with the towers? where is the weigher (or, receiver) with a strong people, on whom thou canst not bear to look? For the expression appears to be proverbial, which the particle , with, usually accompanies, and in this mode of speaking denotes universality, Deu 29:18. That some charge of the towers was in the hands of the scribes, may be gathered from Psa 48:12-13. The term, weighers (or receivers) is readily applicable to commanders of forces. Comp. Heinr. Scharbau Parerg. Phil. Theol. P. iv. p. 109, who has collected many facts with great erudition, and has furnished us with the handle for [the suggestion which originated] these reflections of ours. Paul brings forward both the passages in Isaiah against the Jews; but the second has the words so changed, as to apply more to recent times, and at the same time to the Gentiles, 1Co 1:22. Some think that the three classes of learned men among the Jews, , are intended. We certainly find the first and second in Mat 23:34. There is moreover a threefold antithesis, and that too a very remarkable one, in Isa 33:22, where the glorying of the saints in the Lord is represented. But this is what the apostle means to say: The wise men of the world not only do not approve and promote the Gospel, but they oppose it, and that too in vain.- ) of this world, which is quite beyond the sphere of the preaching of the cross [ , 1Co 1:18].-, made foolish) so that the world cannot understand the ground of the Divine counsel and good pleasure [], 1Co 1:21.- , the wisdom) The wisdom of this world [1Co 1:20], and in the wisdom of God [1Co 1:21], are antithetic.-[7]) of the world, in which are the Jews and the Greeks.
[7] The margin of both editions defends the pronoun as the reading in this verse, although it is omitted in the Germ. Ver.-E. B.
ABC corrected later, and D corr. later, Orig. 3, 175e, omit . But Ggf Vulg. Orig. 3, 318e; Cypr. 324: Hilary 811, 822, have .-ED.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
1Co 1:20
1Co 1:20
Where is the wise?-The wise doubtless were the Greek philosophers who sought after wisdom and claimed to be its chief upholders.
where is the scribe?-The scribes were a learned body of men, otherwise denominated lawyers, whose influence over the Jewish people was very great.
where is the disputer of this world?-The disputers were the Epicureans, Stoics, and other schools of philosophy devoted especially to disputation. None of these classes, the learned and wise of their nations, accepted the truth. Jesus said: I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding, and didst reveal them unto babes: yea, Father; for so it was well-pleasing in thy sight. (Luk 10:21).
hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?- When properly used, learning, instead of being a hindrance, is a great help in coming to a knowledge of the truth; but if a man is puffed up by it, so as to think he is wise and not dependent upon God, it hinders. God has shown by his teachings and dealings with the world that all such wisdom is foolishness.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
this world
age. kosmos = world-system. 1Co 2:12; Joh 7:7, (See Scofield “Rev 13:8”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
is the wise: Isa 33:18, Isa 53:1
hath: 1Co 1:19, 2Sa 15:31, 2Sa 16:23, 2Sa 17:14, 2Sa 17:23, Job 12:17, Job 12:20, Job 12:24, Isa 44:25, Rom 1:22
Reciprocal: 1Ki 10:1 – concerning 1Ki 12:27 – and they shall 2Ki 3:3 – he departed 2Ki 24:20 – through Ezr 7:6 – scribe Job 5:13 – taketh Job 17:4 – General Job 17:10 – for I Job 28:12 – General Ecc 7:23 – I said Isa 19:11 – the princes Isa 19:12 – where are thy Isa 51:13 – where is Jer 4:22 – they have Jer 10:7 – among Eze 28:12 – full Mat 8:19 – certain Joh 7:48 – General Joh 7:49 – General Joh 11:49 – Ye Act 6:9 – disputing Act 17:18 – philosophers Rom 9:20 – repliest 1Co 1:26 – that 1Co 3:19 – the wisdom 1Co 5:10 – of this Jam 3:15 – but
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Co 1:20. Where is the wise? etc., means what has become of the theories of these so-called wise and great ones? Made foolish means the foolishness has been made apparent by the light of truth. Only one out of the many examples will be cited here. For years the “wise” men of the world taught that the earth is flat, but today the engineers have been compelled to make certain changes in the operation of television in order to compensate for the curvature of the globe.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Co 1:20. Where is the wise?in general; but particularly, where is the scribe?to whom the Jew looks up for wisdom; where is the disputer of this world?to whom the Greek defers.hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?[1]
[1] The scholar will observe that two Greek words are here translated by the same word world; the former expressing the world in respect of its reigning character, the latter the sphere itself in which that character is displayed.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Vv. 20. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? This exclamatory form has the same triumphant tone as in the words of Isaiah of which our passage seems to be an imitation (Isa 19:12; Isa 33:18); comp. in Paul himself 1Co 15:55, and Rom 3:27. At the Divine breath the enemy has disappeared from the scene; he is sought for in vain.
Rckert thinks that we should not seek rigorously to distinguish the meaning of the three substantives, that there is here rather a simple rhetorical accumulation. He refers all three to Greek wisdom, with a slight shade of difference in meaning. The emotional tone of the passage might justify this view in any other writer than Paul. But in this apostle every word is always the presentation of a precise idea. The ancient Greek commentators apply the first term, , wise, to Gentile philosophers; the second, , scribe, to Jewish doctors; the third, , disputer, to Greek sophists; but, in this sense, the last would be already embraced in the first term. It would therefore be better, with Meyer, to give to the word a general meaning: the representatives of human wisdom, and to the two last, the more particular sense of Jewish scribe and Greek philosopher. But the term wisdom, applying throughout this whole passage to human wisdom represented by the Greeks (1Co 1:22), I think it more in keeping with the apostle’s thought to apply the first term to Greek philosophers, the second to Jewish scribes,its ordinary meaning in the New Testament; for that of secretary, Act 19:35, belongs to an altogether special case,then to unite these two classes in the third term: those in general who love to dispute, who seek truth in the way of intellectual discussion, by means either of Greek dialectic or Scripture erudition. The complement, of this world, refers undoubtedly to the three substantives, and not only to the last.
The word , age, derived either from , to breathe, or from , always, denotes a period. The Jews divided history into a period anterior to the Messiahthis was what they called , this present ageand the period of the Messianic kingdom, which they named , the age to come. But, from the Christian point of view, these two periods are not merely successive; they are partly simultaneous. For the present age still lasts even when the Messiah has appeared, His coming only transforming the actual state of things slowly and gradually. Hence it follows that for believers the two periods are superimposed, as it were, the one above the other, till at length, in consequence of the second and glorious advent of the Messiah, the old gives place entirely to the new.
The second question explains the first. How have the wise of the world thus disappeared? By the way of salvation which God gives to be preached and which has the effect of bringing human wisdom to despair.
The verb is usually taken in a declarative sense: By putting wisdom aside in the most important affair of human life, God has ipso facto declared it foolish. But this verb has a more active sense, Rom 1:22; it would require, therefore, at the least to be explained thus: He has treated it as foolish, by taking no account of its demands. But should there not be given to it a more effective meaning still? He has, as it were, befooled wisdom. By presenting to it a wholly irrational salvation, He has put it into the condition of revolting against the means chosen by Him, and by declaring them absurd, becoming itself foolish. The complement, of the world, is not absolutely synonymous with the preceding term, of this age: the latter referred rather to the time,the wisdom of the epoch anterior to the Messiah; the term world bears rather on the nature of this wisdom,that which proceeds from humanity apart from God.
But it is asked why God chose to treat human wisdom so rudely. Did He wish to extinguish the torch of reason which He had Himself lighted? 1Co 1:21 answers this question; it explains the ground of the judgment which God visits on human reason, by the irrational nature of the gospel; to wit, that in the period anterior to the coming of Christ, reason had been unfaithful to its mission.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? [triumphant questions, as at Isa 36:19] hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
20. Where is the wise man? i. e., wise man in a general sense. He is simply nowhere; i. e., his wisdom is all empty vanity. Where is the scribe? i. e., the wise man among the Jews, as he wrote the Scriptures and they were dependent on him for Bibles. There were also the teachers in synagogues, i. e., the pastors of the churches. But he is nothing in the things of God who is everything, and others only available through him. Where is the disputer of this age? i. e, the Greek philosopher. At that time the Greeks stood at the head of the worlds learning. But it is all empty vanity, destitute of substantial and available truth. Hath not God rendered foolish the wisdom of the world? This He has done by revealing the true wisdom in the Bible, which exposes the futility of the Greek philosophy and all the wisdom of the world.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 20
Where is the wise? where is the scribe? What have these philosophers and learned men accomplished towards the moral improvement of mankind?
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
1Co 1:20. Where is Wise-man? where is Scribe? where is Disputant? triumphant questions (cp. 1Co 15:55, Rom 3:27) suggested in form perhaps by Isa 19:12; Isa 33:18; but prompted by the complete failure of human wisdom to bring salvation.
Scribe: literally man of letters, Scripture-man: a class of Jews devoted to the study of the Scriptures, 2Sa 8:17; 2Ch 34:13; Ezr 7:6; Ezr 7:11; 2Ma 6:18; Mat 7:29; Mat 17:10. Cp. Mat 23:34, prophets and wise men and scribes; Mat 13:52. Also, among the Greeks, an officer of the state Act 19:35, town clerk; Thucydides, bk. vii. 10, iv. 118. It is used here probably in its common Bible sense of student of the Jewish Scriptures.
Disputant; refers probably to Greek men of learning, among whom discussion had a large place. If so, wise-man includes Jewish scribe and Gentile disputant.
This age: see Rom 12:2 : the complex realm of things around us except so far as it submits to Christ, looked upon as existing in time, and for a time. The unsaved are sons of this age, Luk 16:8; Luk 20:34 : for all they have and are belongs to this present life. Contrast the coming age, Luk 18:30; Eph 2:7; Heb 6:5.
The world: see 1Co 5:10 : the complex total of things around us, looked upon as now existing in space.
The wisdom of the world: the best knowledge possessed by those who belong to the world around, looked upon as a practical guide of life.
Has not God etc.; answers, by a question recalling a matter of fact, the previous questions; and justifies their triumphant tone. It introduces 1Co 1:21, which proves that the prophecy of 1Co 1:19 has been fulfilled in the gospel and that the assertion of 1Co 1:18, to support which the prophecy was quoted, is true.
Made foolish: equivalent to destroy the wisdom, 1Co 1:19. How God did this, is explained in 1Co 1:21.
Fuente: Beet’s Commentary on Selected Books of the New Testament
1:20 Where [is] the wise? where [is] the {o} scribe? where [is] the {p} disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
(o) Where are you, O you learned fellow, and you that spend your days in turning your books?
(p) You that spend all your time in seeking out the secret things of this world, and in expounding all hard questions: and thus he triumphs against all the men of this world, for there was not one of them that could so much as dream of this secret and hidden mystery.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The first three questions in this verse recall similar questions that Isaiah voiced when the Assyrians’ plans to destroy Jerusalem fell through (Isa 33:18; cf. Job 12:17; Isa 19:12). Paul’s references to the age (Gr. aion) and the world (kosmos) clarify that he was speaking of purely natural wisdom in contrast to the wisdom that God has revealed. God’s wisdom centers on the Cross.
"In first-century Corinth, ’wisdom’ was not understood to be practical skill in living under the fear of the Lord (as it frequently is in Proverbs), nor was it perceived to be some combination of intuition, insight, and people smarts (as it frequently is today in the West). Rather, wisdom was a public philosophy, a well-articulated world-view that made sense of life and ordered the choices, values, and priorities of those who adopted it. The ’wise man,’ then, was someone who adopted and defended one of the many competing public world-views. Those who were ’wise’ in this sense might have been Epicureans or Stoics or Sophists or Platonists, but they had this in common: they claimed to be able to ’make sense’ out of life and death and the universe." [Note: Ibid., pp. 15-16.]