Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 1 Corinthians 3:20

"and again, The Lord knoweth the reasonings of the wise that they are vain." — 1 Corinthians 3:20 (ASV)

Paul now returns to the subject of “wisdom” (GK 5055) and warns the believers not to be deceived into thinking that the wisdom of this human age is sufficient for obtaining salvation and for building up the church of God. Rather, if any Christians think themselves to be wise by this world’s standards, they must renounce dependence on that wisdom in order to really receive God’s wisdom (v.18).

To prove this, Paul again mentions the truth of 1:18–25—the seeming foolishness of the preaching of the cross is really God’s true wisdom for salvation. Directly and forcefully he declares that the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight, and he uses two OT Scriptures to support this. The first is a free rendering of Job 5:12–13, which he applies in a special sense to God. The graphic word “catches” vividly portrays the idea that humans in their craftiness are no match for God—they set up their schemes of salvation against God’s, but he catches them up short. His second quotation is Ps 94:11 (from the LXX), showing that the Lord knows all the futile thoughts of the so-called wise men—nothing that enters their minds is beyond his understanding. All that is not in tune with God’s thoughts is vain.