Verse 20
Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
The wise ... refers to the worldly wise such as the Greek sophists.
The scribe ... denotes the expert in Jewish religion. "The disputer of this world ..." includes both the others as well as all others who rely upon their own intelligence and do not trust in God.
Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ... Although Paul doubtless had in mind that phase of wisdom relating to the eternal things of the spirit, there is also an undeniable application to all phases of human wisdom. History is one long dramatic denial of the world's wisdom. The pyramids of Egypt, upon which generations of men worked for centuries, are merely colossal monuments to human stupidity. The textbooks of a generation ago are worthless today. Permanence has never yet come to any human government. Every mystery ever solved unlocks a hundred others and raises infinitely more questions than are answered, leading to conviction that the ultimate wisdom on the part of people can never be attained by new formulas and gadgets, that the infinite wisdom is a person, Almighty God, and that people may know him only through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Be the first to react on this!
