Lessons #103 and 104
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Self-deception regarding worldly wisdom (1 Cor 3:18-20)
18 Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; 20 and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”
Recall the message of this section that we are considering is that you should avoid thinking you are wise by world’s standard but be wise by following God’s word. In our last study we indicated that the solution to being in self-deception regarding worldly wisdom is to humble oneself to learn God’s word so that a person would become wise in keeping with divine standard. We posed the question: Why is the solution of being in self-deception regarding worldly wisdom is to become a fool, that is, to humble oneself to learn God’s word? To which we indicated there are two general reasons the Holy Spirit supplied through Apostle Paul in the passage we are considering. A first reason a believer should humble self to learn the word of God as a way of avoiding being in self-deception regarding worldly wisdom, as we stated in previous study, is because of God’s evaluation of the wisdom of the world system as absurd or nonsense. We also began the consideration of the second reason a believer should humble self to learn the word of God as a way of avoiding being in self-deception regarding worldly wisdom which is the testimony of the Scripture. This testimony is introduced in the clause of 1 Corinthians 3:19 As it is written. We, of course, argued that it is better to begin the clause with the word “for” instead of the word “as” used in the NIV since it is not clear in what sense it is used. But the use of the word “for” makes it easier to recognize the clause provides the second reason a believer should humble self to learn the word of God to get divine wisdom.
The apostle in providing the second reason in the clause in the NIV of 1 Corinthians 3:19 As it is written or literally for it is written did what we should form the habit of doing, which is to appeal to the Scripture quite often. There is no greater authority for justifying any position one takes or a practice one adopts in the spiritual life than the Scripture. It is unfortunate that many Christians are not concerned that they could not provide scriptural justification for their position or for what they practice. They are content by saying “that is how it has always been done” or “that is what our forefathers did.” The right approach to any position that a believer holds or to what such a person practices in the Christian life is justification from the Scripture. Thus, it is not surprising that the next sentence in 1 Corinthians 3:19 is it is written.
The word “written” is translated from a Greek word (graphō) that may mean “to write” in the sense of to inscribe characters on a surface. This is the sense in which Apostle Paul used it to describe what is tantamount to appending his signature to his epistle to authenticate that a secretary he used wrote exactly what he wanted in 2 Thessalonians 3:17:
I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters. This is how I write.
The word may mean “to record, write down” of pronouncements and solemn proceedings as Apostle John used it to indicate that he did not write down many of the miracles of Jesus Christ in John 20:30:
Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.
The word may mean “to compose, write” as in a literary composition as that is the sense Apostle Peter used it to reference his epistles in 2 Peter 3:1:
Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.
It is in the sense of “to become set down in writing” that the word is used in our passage of 1 Corinthians 3:19. However, the sentence it is written in the NT is a formula for introducing quotations from the OT or appealing to a passage in the OT Scripture.
Appealing to the Scripture to support a position one holds or a practice that one follows is very important. This practice of appealing to the Scripture can be traced back to the OT times. The priests of the time of the returnees from exile justified their practice of casting lot for wood burnt in the altar by citing the OT Scripture as their authority for their action in Nehemiah 10:34:
“We—the priests, the Levites and the people—have cast lots to determine when each of our families is to bring to the house of our God at set times each year a contribution of wood to burn on the altar of the LORD our God, as it is written in the Law.
Daniel explained the suffering of Israel in exile by citing the OT Scripture, as recorded in Daniel 9:13:
Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth.
This practice of appealing to the Scripture was one practiced by the Lord Jesus during His earthly ministry and by the apostles. The Lord Jesus demonstrated the importance of quoting the Scripture several times. He continuously cited the Scripture during His temptation. Take for example, when Satan tempted Him to turn stone into bread. He could do so, but He did not; instead, He quoted from the Scripture, as narrated in Matthew 4:4:
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
The same approach is followed when Satan tempted Jesus to bow down before him in order to receive the glory of this world. The Lord Jesus responded by quoting the Scripture, as we read in Matthew 4:10:
Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
When the Lord informed His disciples that they would deny Him. He did not spend any time trying to convince them that that would be the case, instead He quoted the Scripture in support of His assertion to them, according to Mark 14:27:
“You will all fall away,” Jesus told them, “for it is written: “‘I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered.’
The Lord Jesus justified His action of driving away those who were selling things in the temple area by quoting from the OT Scripture, as in we read in Luke 19:46:
“It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”
Interestingly, the Jews understood the importance of quoting the Scripture when a point is made that they quoted to Jesus Scripture when they wanted Him to prove through miracles that He is who He claims, as we read in John 6:31:
Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
Apostle Peter in support of the replacement of Judas Iscariot appealed to the Scripture, as we can gather from Acts 1:20:
“For,” said Peter, “it is written in the book of Psalms, “‘May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,’ and, “‘May another take his place of leadership.’
James in support of his position regarding how to deal with Gentile Christians regarding the law cited, the Scripture as the basis for his position, as we read in Acts 15:13–19:
13 When they finished, James spoke up: “Brothers, listen to me. 14 Simon has described to us how God at first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself. 15 The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written: 16 “‘After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, 17that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things’ 18that have been known for ages. 19 “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.
Apostle Paul when he was slapped on the order of the high priest, responded that God will strike him back because he did not know he was the high priest. But when he was informed that the man who ordered to strike him was the high priest, he in effect apologized; in doing so he cited the Scripture that would have kept him from responding the way he did if he knew that the one who ordered striking him was the high priest, as recorded in Acts 23:5:
Paul replied, “Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: ‘Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.’”
Apostle Paul in his defense of the doctrine of election quotes the OT Scripture, according to Romans 9:13:
Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
When the apostle instructed the Roman believers regarding not being revengeful, he could have stopped with his instruction since he was directed by the Holy Spirit to write but that was not what he did. Instead, he appealed to the Scripture, as we read in Romans 12:19:
Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.
Of course, as we have already indicated, when the apostle states some doctrines, he would justify them by citing existing Scripture. Thus, when he introduced the doctrine of judgment seat of God, he cited the Scripture to justify it as we read in Romans 14:10–11:
10 You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11 It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’ ”
We have already noted that Apostle Peter quoted the Scripture to justify replacing Judas Iscariot, but he also quoted Scripture in his instruction regarding moral conduct of believers, as stated in 1 Peter 1:15–16:
15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
The human author of Hebrews although he did not use the formula it is written but he cited the Scripture, specifically Psalm 2:7 and 2 Samuel 7:14, to prove his point regarding the superiority of Jesus Christ over angels, as we read in Hebrews 1:4–5:
4 So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. 5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father”? Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son”?
These examples we have cited convey clearly the importance of appealing to the Scripture to support one’s position in any matter. You should appeal to the Scripture when Satan brings temptation to you. I mean you should resist him by citing Scripture to him. This, of course, requires that you be knowledgeable with the Scripture. You should also appeal to Scripture when you advocate a position or a view. This is particularly of great importance to those who teach God’s word. You see, those who teach God’s word are prone to making many pronouncements that their audience may take to be the truth. Therefore, it is important that when those who teach make points that they want the audience to accept as true, they should support them from the Scripture. If this does not happen, it is possible that those who hear the teacher may think that what the person asserted is God’s truth when it may not be. A person who teaches would be prone to make pronouncements that may not be accurate when subjected to the scrutiny of the Scripture. This should not surprise you when you recognize that when a person says too much that the individual can say something that may not be true. This is in keeping with the fact that the Holy Spirit informs us that when we talk too much we are likely going to sin, as implied in Proverbs 10:19:
When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.
Application of this statement in Proverbs leads to our assertion that those who teach so much may in fact state things that may not be the truth. Therefore, to guard against such possibility it is important that those who teach support their assertions from the Scripture. That aside, we are emphasizing the importance of appealing to the Scripture to support the position we advocate. It is also important that we should justify our actions by appealing to the Scripture. If we cannot, then we should avoid such actions as they may very likely contrast with God’s will.
In any case, the point we are stressing is that it is important that we appeal to the Scripture to support our position in any matter that requires action on our part or in any view we express. It is this practice that is demonstrated by Apostle Paul when he wrote in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 3:19 it is written to introduce his second reason a believer should humble self to learn the word of God as a way of avoiding being in self-deception regarding worldly wisdom.
Recall that the second reason a believer should humble self to learn the word of God as a way of avoiding being in self-deception regarding worldly wisdom, as we stated previously, is the testimony of the Scripture. This testimony of the Scripture concerns God’s action and His knowledge as the apostle stated in the passage of 1 Corinthians 3:19-20 that we are considering.
The action contained in the testimony of the Scripture that the apostle referred is God’s ability to thwart human wisdom in such a way as to harm the one who relies on it. This action is the concern of the next sentence of 1 Corinthians 3:19“He catches the wise in their craftiness.” This sentence is quoted from Job 5:13:
He catches the wise in their craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are swept away.
Before we comment on the quotation from Job, we should observe that it is only this passage in the book of Job that we are certain is directly quoted in the NT Scripture. There is the possibility that Apostle had in mind Job 41:11
Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me
when he wrote Romans 11:35:
“Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?”
But we cannot be certain. However, we are certain that the quotation found in our passage of 1 Corinthians 3:19 is directly quoted from Job 5:13. You see, there are those who want to dispute that a specific book in the OT is not inspired because it is not quoted in the NT but that, of course, is a wrong principle. However, by Holy Spirit directing Apostle Paul to quote from this passage in Job, we have a clear support that the book of Job is inspired word of God.
Be that as it may, the apostle quoted only the first sentence of Job 5:13 He catches the wise in their craftiness. What is the apostle conveying in this quotation? The answer is to be found in the original passage the apostle quoted. But before we consider the original passage, we should note the words used in the quotation. The first word “catches” in 1 Corinthians 3:19 is translated from a Greek word (drassomai) that appears only here in Greek NT; it means “to catch, seize, trap.” However, the Greek word appears several times in the Septuagint with the meaning “to take, to grasp, to lay hold of” as the word is used with the meaning “to take” to describe the activity of the priest in sacrifices, as recorded Leviticus 5:12:
He is to bring it to the priest, who shall take a handful of it as a memorial portion and burn it on the altar on top of the offerings made to the LORD by fire. It is a sin offering.
This word is not used in the Septuagint of Job 5:13 instead the translators used a Greek word (katalambanō) that may mean to gain control of someone through pursuit, that is, “to catch up with, seize” or “to catch” in the sense of to come upon someone, with the implication of surprise, to translate the Hebrew word used in Job 5:13. We are not sure the reason the apostle did not use the Greek word that appears in the Septuagint of Job 5:13 unless he had a different copy of the Septuagint than the one available to us. Of course, it is suggested that the Greek word used in the Septuagint is not as strong as the word the apostle used in 1 Corinthians 3:19 in conveying the image the apostle intended to convey. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 3:19 the word is used in the sense of “to catch” probably catching someone in a mistake.
The word “craftiness” used in 1 Corinthians 3:19 is translated from a Greek word (panourgia) that may mean “cunning, craftiness, trickery, duplicity.” It is in the sense of “duplicity” that it is used to describe those who pretended to be honest when they approached Jesus with a question regarding paying taxes, as the word is used in Luke 20:23:
He saw through their duplicity and said to them,
The word “duplicity” may be translated “craftiness.” It is in the sense of “cunning” that the word is used to describe the serpent in 2 Corinthians 11:3:
But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 3:19, the word is used in the sense of “cunning,” that is, deceitfulness usually characterizing an especially wicked person. The implication is that the person described as “wise” in the quotation is viewed in a negative light.
In any case, our concern is to understand what the apostle meant to convey in the quotation of 1 Corinthians 3:19“He catches the wise in their craftiness.” As we have indicated, the apostle quoted the first sentence of Job 5:13; so, to understand what he meant we need to consider the original text of Job 5:13:
He catches the wise in their craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are swept away.
We will consider the key words used in the passage beginning with the first sentence of the verse He catches the wise in their craftiness. The first key word “catches” is translated from a Hebrew word (lāḵǎḏ) that may mean “to capture, seize, take, catch,” especially in the capture of a person or a city in a war as it is used in Judges 1:12:
And Caleb said, “I will give my daughter Acsah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher.”
Figuratively, the word is used of entrapping of men, as in Jeremiah 5:26:
“Among my people are wicked men who lie in wait like men who snare birds and like those who set traps to catch men.
In the context of Job 5:13, the word is used in the sense of entrapping someone.
A second key word “wise” is translated from a Hebrew word (ḥāḵām) that as an adjective means “skilled” as it pertains to the knowledge of a craftsman in some technical work. This is the sense the word is used to describe the men involved in the construction of the Tabernacle in Exodus 28:3:
Tell all the skilled men to whom I have given wisdom in such matters that they are to make garments for Aaron, for his consecration, so he may serve me as priest.
The word may mean “wise, shrewd,” that is, a capacity for understanding and discernment as the word is used in God’s promise to Solomon in 1 Kings 3:12:
I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.
The Hebrew word may mean “shrewd, crafty, cunning” as in the description of Jonadab the son of David’s brother in 2 Samuel 13:3:
Now Amnon had a friend named Jonadab son of Shimeah, David’s brother. Jonadab was a very shrewd man.
It is the sense of “shrewd, cunning” that it is used in our Job 5:13.
A third key word is “craftiness” that is translated from a Hebrew verb (ʿārǎm) that means “to be crafty” as it is used by Saul to describe David in 1 Samuel 23:22:
Go and make further preparation. Find out where David usually goes and who has seen him there. They tell me he is very crafty.
The word may mean “to show prudence, be clever” as it is used to describe a person who heeds to instruction in Proverbs 15:5:
A fool spurns his father’s discipline, but whoever heeds correction shows prudence.
It is in the sense of “being cunning”, that is, being marked by skill in deception that the word is used in our passage.
The key three words we have noted indicate that Eliphaz described God as one that entraps those who are wise in their cunning attitude or actions. But it is not that clear what he meant in describing God in the sentence. Therefore, he proceeded to explain what he meant in the next clause and the schemes of the wily are swept away of Job 5:13. The reason we indicate that our clause helps to understand what the first sentence means is first because of the word “and.” It is translated from a Hebrew word (we-) that often is translated “and” in our English versions but it has several other usages. For example, it may be used as a marker of result in which case it may be translated “so that, therefore.” Another usage is as a marker of explanation with the meaning “that is, namely.” Both usages are possible in the clause we are considering. In other words, it is possible to consider the second clause to be stating the result that stems from the first clause or that it is an explanation of the first clause. This notwithstanding, it is used here for explanation for two reasons. First, the result of what God does to those who are cunning is given in the next verse, that is, in Job 5:14:
Darkness comes upon them in the daytime; at noon they grope as in the night.
Second, there is similarity between the word “craftiness” translated from a Hebrew verb used in the first clause that we indicated had the sense of “to be cunning” in our passage and the word “wily” of the second clause. You see the word “wily” is translated from a Hebrew verb (pāṯǎl) that may mean “to twist, wrestle, have struggle” but it also means “to be crafty, deceitful” or “to be wily, be crooked,” that is, being morally perverse with a focus on the deceptive shrewdness. It is in this sense of moral perversion that the word is used in Proverbs 8:8:
All the words of my mouth are just; none of them is crooked or perverse.
It is in the sense of being marked by skill in deception that the word is used in Job 5:13 so that it may mean “to be cunning or crafty.” Thus, the similarity of the two verbs used in first and second clauses of Job 5:13 supports our interpretation of taking the second clause to be providing an explanation to the first clause since both words are concerned with the same concept of being cunning.
The explanation of the first clause is that God has the power to use the very schemes of the crafty as a means to ensnare them or that God can cause the schemes of cunning people to fail. This we can understand from the words used in the second clause of Job 5:13 and the schemes of the wily are swept away. The word “schemes” is translated from a Hebrew word (ʿēṣāh) that may mean “advice, counsel” or “plan, scheme, purpose.” It is used in Job 5:13 in the sense of “plan.” The expression “swept away” is translated from a Hebrew verb (māhǎr) that may mean “to hasten” but in the Hebrew form (Niphal) used in Job 5:13 it may mean to “be impetuous, be rash” as it is used to describe the Chaldeans or Babylonians in Habakkuk 1:6:
I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own.
The word may mean “to be fearful, disturbed, anxious” as it is used in the encouragement given by the Lord to some in Judah through Prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 35:4:
say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.”
The phrase to those with fearful hearts is literally to the hastened of heart. In Job 5:13 the word is used in the sense of to be hurried away, that is, to be moved away very fast or be done away quickly. Hence, the schemes or the plan of the cunning would be done away.
The Scripture provides examples of where the plan or advice of the cunning is done away by God acting on an individual or a situation using the cunning way involved. During the Absalom revolt, Ahithophel, David’s trusted advisor betrayed his loyalty by joining the camp of Absalom. When David heard this, he prayed for the Lord to turn his counsel into foolishness, as recorded in 2 Samuel 15:31:
Now David had been told, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” So David prayed, “O LORD, turn Ahithophel’s counsel into foolishness.”
The Lord answered David’s prayer so that the sound military advice of Ahithophel was rejected, as stated in 2 Samuel 17:14:
Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Arkite is better than that of Ahithophel.” For the LORD had determined to frustrate the good advice of Ahithophel in order to bring disaster on Absalom.
Thus, we have a case of God doing something to do away with the advice of Ahithophel. We also have an example of God doing away with the schemes or plan of Haman who wanted to get rid of Mordecai. He was caught in his own evil scheme in that the very gallows he planned to hang Mordecai was used to hang him, according to Esther 7:9–10:
9 Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, “A gallows seventy-five feet high stands by Haman’s house. He had it made for Mordecai, who spoke up to help the king.” The king said, “Hang him on it!” 10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s fury subsided.
In any case, we have considered the passage the apostle quoted in support of his second reason a believer should humble self to learn the word of God as a way of avoiding being in self-deception regarding worldly wisdom that we said is the testimony of the Scripture. The apostle in quoting the Job 5:13 in 1 Corinthian 3:19 meant to convey that the reason to avoid being in self-deception regarding worldly wisdom is that God can thwart, destroy worldly wisdom and so punish those who are worldly wise. A person who relies on human wisdom is building a castle on the sand that is easily destroyed. Hence, the apostle cautions against reliance on human wisdom.
Be that as it may, we have indicated the second reason a believer should humble self to learn the word of God as a way of avoiding being in self-deception regarding worldly wisdom is the testimony of the Scripture. This testimony of the Scripture we asserted concerns God’s action and knowledge as the apostle stated in the passage of 1 Corinthians 3:19-20 that we are considering. We have considered God’s action of thwarting worldly wisdom, so we move to God’s knowledge. The apostle once more reminds us of the importance of appealing to the Scripture to support our position or practice. This he did with the phrase and again that begins 1 Corinthians 3:20. The word “again” is translated from a Greek adverb (palin) that may mean “back” as it pertains to a return to a previous position or state. It also may mean “again, once more, anew” regarding repetition in the same (or similar) manner of something that one has already done. However, it is used with the meaning “again” in our passage to mark an additional quotation from the Scripture in support of the apostle’s declaration in the section of 1 Corinthians 3:18-20 that we are considering.
The second quotation of the apostle from the Scripture concerns God’s knowledge of content of the thoughts of those who are worldly wise as we read in 1 Corinthians 3:20“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise that they are futile.” Before we consider the source of the quotation, we need to examine the key words the apostle used in our text.
The first key word is “knows” that is translated from a Greek verb (ginōskō) that may mean to arrive at a knowledge of someone or something, hence “to know, know about, make acquaintance of.” If the word under this meaning is used of things, it may be used in the sense of identifying a thing by something, as in the recognizing a tree by its fruit in Matthew 12:33:
“Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.
If the word under this meaning is used of personal objects, it may mean not only to be acquainted with a person but to come to know who the person really is, that should involve understanding the character of a person, as it is used regarding the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father in John 14:7:
If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
The word may mean to acquire information through some means and so means “to learn (of), ascertain, find out.” Hence, it is in the sense of “to find out” or “to learn” something about individuals that Apostle Paul used it to state one of his reasons for sending Tychicus to the Colossians was for them to learn about his and his team’s condition, as we read in Colossians 4:8:
I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts.
The word may mean to grasp the significance or meaning of something and so means “to understand, comprehend” as it is used to indicate the disciples of Jesus did not comprehend what He said to them about His coming death and resurrection when they were on their way to Jerusalem, as reported by Luke in Luke 18:34:
The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.
Of course, it is in this meaning of grasping the significance of something that our Greek word was used in the apostolic prayer of Paul for the Ephesians to comprehend Christ’s love for them although our word is translated “know” in Ephesians 3:19:
and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
The word may mean to be aware of something, that is, “to perceive, notice, realize”, as it is used to describe that the woman Jesus healed of her bleeding realized or perceived it, as recorded in Mark 5:29:
Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
The sentence she felt is more literally she knew, that is, she realized or perceived that she had been healed because her bleeding stopped. The word may mean “to acknowledge, recognize” as it is used in Galatians 4:9:
But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?
Although the NIV translated our Greek word with “know” twice but the sense of the Greek word in this passage is that of “to acknowledge.” Thus, the clause now that you know God is translated in the NEB as now that you do acknowledge God. It is in the sense of “to have the knowledge about someone” that the word is used in our passage of 1 Corinthians 3:20.
The second key word is “thoughts” that is translated from a Greek word (dialogismos) that may refer to the content of reasoning or conclusion reached through use of reason and so means “thought, opinion.” It is with the meaning of “thought” that the word is used in Matthew 15:19:
For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
The word may mean “doubts” as the word is used in Jesus’ question following His resurrection and the difficulty of the disciples to believe He was the One standing before them in Luke 24:38:
He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?
The question why do doubts rise in your minds? is literally wherefore do reasonings come up in your hearts? Reasonings here refer to doubts. The word may mean the process of reasoning hence means “reasoning” as it is used to describe those who reject God in Romans 1:21:
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
The statement their thinking became futile is literally were made vain in their reasonings or they became futile in their reasoning. The word may mean “dispute, argument” in the instruction of Apostle Paul regarding a prayer condition in 1 Timothy 2:8:
I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 3:20, the Greek word means “thought” as the content of what a person is to think about.
A third key word is “futile” that is translated from a Greek word (mataios) that pertains to being of no use hence means “empty or futile, useless, worthless.” It is in the sense of “worthless” or “lacking power or truth” that the word is used in the apostles’ plea to the pagans in Lystra, to abandon idolatry in Acts 14:15:
“Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them.
It is in the sense of “empty or futile” that Apostle Paul used it to describe the faith of the Corinthians if resurrection does not exist in 1 Corinthians 15:17:
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
It is in the sense of “useless” that the word is used in the apostle’s warning against arguments on the inconsequential in the Christian faith in Titus 3:9:
But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 3:20, the meaning is “empty or futile” in the sense of “devoid of significance, point, or benefit.”
The examination of the key words used in the quotation indicates that the Lord has knowledge about the worldly wise to recognize that the contents of their thoughts are devoid of significance regarding spiritual matters, especially as it pertains to obtaining eternal salvation. That aside, the apostle quoted from Psalm 94:11:
The LORD knows the thoughts of man; he knows that they are futile.
There is a slight difference between what we have in Psalm 94:11 in the Hebrew Text or in the Septuagint and what the apostle quoted in 1 Corinthians 3:20. The explanation is either the apostle had a different version of the Septuagint than we have or that he changed the word “man” in Psalm to the word “wise” in his quotation. This alternative is more likely since the apostle wrote under the Holy Spirit. This permits him to attribute what he wrote to the Holy Spirit in Psalm 94:11. Furthermore, the psalmist used the word “wise” in the question of Psalm 94:8:
Take heed, you senseless ones among the people; you fools, when will you become wise?
Still, it is also possible that the apostle used the word “wise” due to the previous quotation stated in 1 Corinthians 3:19 that contained the word “wise.” Regardless of the explanation for the change of the word “man” to “wise” in the apostle’s quotation, he intended to convey that because the contents of the thoughts of the worldly wise are of no significance as it pertains to spiritual matters, it is advisable that a believer should humble self to learn the word of God as a way of avoiding being in self-deception regarding worldly wisdom because such wisdom is of no significance in the spiritual life. With this the apostle ends the section that we have considered. Therefore, let me also end by reminding you of the message we have labored to expound which is: you should avoid thinking you are wise by world’s standard but be wise by following God’s word. Do not be carried away by human philosophy as the Holy Spirit warned through the apostle in Colossians 2:8:
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
Strive to learn God’s word so you can be wise as God wants.