1 Corinthians 1:19

1 Corinthians 1:19. For it is written (Isaiah 29:14, nearly as in LXX.), I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the prudence of the prudent will I reject. The ‘wise' are those who pride themselves on their insight, their capacity to search into principles, their speculative attainments; the ‘ prudent' pique themselves on their shrewdness, as men of affairs, their sharp-wittedness or sagacity; a distinction familiar alike to the Greek thinkers and to Jewish moralizers (see Matthew 11:25). God's purpose to expose the insufficiency of both these, as a cure for the maladies of our fallen nature and a guide to happiness, is variously held forth in the Old Testament (see Isaiah 8:20; Isaiah 29:14, here quoted; Jeremiah 8:9; Jeremiah 9:23-24, etc.); but it is only in the Gospel of Christ that this is done effectually and once for all.