1 Corinthians 1:20

τοῦ σοφός; ποῦ γραμματεύς; and (possibly) ἐμώρανεν … τήν σοφίαν, are also Isaianic allusions to Isaiah 19:11 f. (mocking the vain wisdom of Pharaoh's counsellors), and Isaiah 33:18 (predicting the disappearance of Sennacherib's revenue clerks and army scouts, as a sign of his defeat). The LXX γραμματικὸς becomes γραμματεύς, in consistence with the sophçr of the latter passage; συνζητητής (cf. ζητοῦσιν, 1 Corinthians 1:22), in the third question, is Paul's addition. γραμματεὺς unmistakably points, in the application, to the Jewish Scribe (cf. our Lord's denunciation in Matthew 23); of the parl [205] terms, σοφὸς is supposed by most moderns to be general, comprehending Jewish and Gr [206] wise men together, συνζητητὴς to be specific to the Gr [207] philosopher a distinction better reversed, as by Lt [208] after the Gr [209] Ff [210] συνζητέω, with its cognates, is employed in the N.T. of Jewish discussions (Acts 6:9; Acts 28:29, etc.), and the adjunct τ. αἰῶνος τούτου gives to the term its widest scope, whereas σοφός, esp. at Cor [211], marks the Gr [212] intellectual pride; καλεῖ σοφὸν τὸν τῇ Ἑλληνικῇ στωμυλίᾳ κοσμούμενον (Thd [213]; cf. Romans 1:23). ποῦ σοφός (not ὁ σοφός); κ. τ. λ.: “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. 1 Corinthians 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. 1 Corinthians 1:18; 1 Corinthians 1:25; 1 Corinthians 1:30). But God actually turned to foolishness (infatuavit, Bz [214] : cf. Romans 1:21 f., for μωραίνω; also Isaiah 44:25) the world's imagined wisdom: how, 1 Corinthians 1:21-25 proceed to show. On αἰὼν see parls., and Ed [215] 's note; also Trench's Synon., lix., and Gm [216], for the distinction between αἰὼν and κόσμος; “ αἰών, like sæculum, refers to the prevailing ideas and feelings of the present life, κόσμος to its gross, material character” (Lt [217]).

[205] parallel.

[206] Greek, or Grotius' Annotationes in N.T.

[207] Greek, or Grotius' Annotationes in N.T.

[208] J. B. Lightfoot's (posthumous) Notes on Epp. of St. Paul (1895).

[209] Greek, or Grotius' Annotationes in N.T.

[210] Fathers.

[211] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[212] Greek, or Grotius' Annotationes in N.T.

[213] Theodoret, Greek Commentator.

[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] J. B. Lightfoot's (posthumous) Notes on Epp. of St. Paul (1895).