SIL Translator’s Notes on 1 Corinthians 1:20

1:20a Where is the wise man?

What is the position/status of wise people?
-or-
So, wise people have no special advantage ⌊before God⌋.
-or-
The wise people have no special significance/importance ⌊according to God’s thoughts⌋.

1:20b Where is the scribe?

(God’s Word) Where is the scholar?

What is the position/status of expert people?
-or-
Scholars have no special advantage ⌊before God⌋.
-or-
The scholars have no special significance/importance/have failed ⌊according to God’s thoughts⌋.

1:20c Where is the philosopher of this age?

What is the position/status of the skillful debaters of this world ⌊before God⌋ ?
-or-
The clever/skillful debaters/philosophers of this world have no special advantage ⌊before God⌋.
-or-
The clever/skillful debaters/speakers of this world have no special significance/importance/have failed ⌊according to God’s thoughts⌋.

1:20d Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

God has shown that the wisdom of this world is really foolishness.
-or-
God has turned the wise plans/schemes of ⌊those⌋ worldly people into foolishness.
-or-
God has shown that what the wise people of this world think is worthless/nonsense.

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Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

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