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Read the Bible
THE MESSAGE
1 Corinthians 3:18
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
- Nave'sDictionaries:
- AmericanEncyclopedias:
- InternationalParallel Translations
Don't fool yourselves. Whoever thinks they are wise in this world should become a fool. That's the only way they can be wise.
Let no one deceive himself. If any one among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.
Let no man deceave him silfe. Yf eny man seme wyse amonge you let him be a fole in this worlde that he maye be wyse.
Let no one deceive himself. If anyone thinks that he is wise among you in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise.
Let no one deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is wise in the ways ofthe ways of">[fn] this world, he must become a fool to become really wise.Proverbs 5:7; Isaiah 5:21;">[xr]
Take care that no one deceives himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise.
Do not fool yourselves. If you think you are wise in this world, you should become a fool so that you can become truly wise,
Let no man deceive himself. If any man thinks that he is wise among you in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise.
Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.
Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.
Let no one deceive himself. If anyone thinks that he is wise among you in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise.
Let none deceive himself: if any one among you thinketh himself to be wise, let him become a fool in this world, that he may become wise.
Let no one deceive himself. If any man imagines that he is wise, compared with the rest of you, with the wisdom of the present age, let him become "foolish" so that he may be wise.
No man disseyue hym silf. If ony man among you is seyn to be wiys in this world, be he maad a fool, that he be wijs.
Let no man deceive himself. If any man thinketh that he is wise among you in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise.
Let no one deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is wise in this age, he should become a fool, so that he may become wise.
Don't fool yourselves! If any of you think you are wise in the things of this world, you will have to become foolish before you can be truly wise.
Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool [discarding his worldly pretensions and acknowledging his lack of wisdom], so that he may become [truly] wise.
Let no man deceive himself. If any man thinketh that he is wise among you in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise.
Let no man have a false idea. If any man seems to himself to be wise among you, let him become foolish, so that he may be wise.
Let no one fool himself. If someone among you thinks he is wise (by this world's standards), let him become "foolish," so that he may become really wise.
Let no one deceive himself: if any one thinks himself to be wise among you in this world, let him become foolish, that he may be wise.
Let no man deceive himself. Whoever among you supposeth himself wise in this world, let him become foolish, that he may be wise.
Let no one deceive himself. Whoever among you thinketh that he is wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.
Let no man deceiue himselfe: If any man among you seemeth to bee wise in this world, let him become a foole, that he may be wise.
Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world's standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise.
Do not fool yourself. If anyone thinks he knows a lot about the things of this world, he had better become a fool. Then he may become wise.
Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise.
Let no man deceiue himselfe: If any man among you seeme to be wise in this world, let him be a foole, that he may be wise.
Let no man deceive himself. Whoever among you thinks he is wise in this world, let him consider himself a fool so that he may become wise.
Let no one be deceiving himself: - if anyone imagineth himself to be wise among you, in this age, let him become foolish, that he may become wise;
Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seem to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.
Let no man deceaue him selfe. Yf any man among you seeme to be wise in this worlde, let hym be a foole, that he may be wyse.
You should not fool yourself. If any of you think that you are wise by this world's standards, you should become a fool, in order to be really wise.
Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks he is wise in this age, let him become a fool so that he can become wise.
Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.
Let no one deceive himself. If anyone thinks himself to be wise among you in this age, let him become a fool, in order that he may become wise.
Let no one deceive himself. If anyone thinks to be wise among you in this age, let him become foolish, that he may become wise.
Let no one deceive himself; if any one doth seem to be wise among you in this age -- let him become a fool, that he may become wise,
Let no ma disceaue himselfe. Yf eny man thinke himselfe wyse amoge you, let him become a foole in this worlde, that he maye be wyse.
let no man deceive himself: if any among you pretends to worldly wisdom, let him commence fool, in order to be truly wise.
Guard against self-deception, each of you. If someone among you thinks he is wise in this age, let him become foolish so that he can become wise.
Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.
So don't be pulling the wool over your own eyes. Wisdom doesn't come from clever ideas or fancy words. If this is your wisdom then you should try to become fools. Only then will you know what it takes to become wise.
Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise.
Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
deceive: 1 Corinthians 6:9, 1 Corinthians 15:33, Proverbs 5:7, Isaiah 44:20, Jeremiah 37:9, Luke 21:8, Galatians 6:3, Galatians 6:7, Ephesians 5:6, 2 Timothy 3:13, Titus 3:3, James 1:22, James 1:26, 1 John 1:8
If: 1 Corinthians 1:18-21, 1 Corinthians 4:10, 1 Corinthians 8:1, 1 Corinthians 8:2, Proverbs 3:5, Proverbs 3:7, Proverbs 26:12, Isaiah 5:21, Jeremiah 8:8, Romans 11:25, Romans 12:16
let: Matthew 18:4, Mark 10:15, Luke 18:17
Reciprocal: Genesis 41:8 - but there Exodus 1:10 - wisely 2 Samuel 15:31 - turn the counsel 2 Kings 5:11 - Behold Job 11:12 - would Job 32:13 - We Proverbs 2:7 - layeth Proverbs 14:6 - scorner Proverbs 28:11 - rich Proverbs 30:2 - I am Ecclesiastes 1:18 - For in Ecclesiastes 7:16 - neither Jeremiah 9:23 - wise Matthew 6:23 - If Matthew 11:25 - because Luke 8:18 - seemeth to have Luke 10:21 - thou hast Luke 11:35 - General Luke 16:8 - children of this John 7:49 - General John 11:49 - Ye Acts 8:31 - How Acts 10:33 - are we Acts 17:18 - babbler Acts 18:26 - expounded Romans 1:14 - both to Romans 1:22 - General Romans 2:19 - art confident 1 Corinthians 1:26 - that 1 Corinthians 6:5 - Is it 2 Corinthians 11:1 - in Colossians 2:8 - philosophy 1 Timothy 6:4 - He
Cross-References
God told the serpent: "Because you've done this, you're cursed, cursed beyond all cattle and wild animals, Cursed to slink on your belly and eat dirt all your life. I'm declaring war between you and the Woman, between your offspring and hers. He'll wound your head, you'll wound his heel."
Naked I came from my mother's womb, naked I'll return to the womb of the earth. God gives, God takes. God's name be ever blessed.
So don't return us to mud, saying, "Back to where you came from!" Patience! You've got all the time in the world—whether a thousand years or a day, it's all the same to you. Are we no more to you than a wispy dream, no more than a blade of grass That springs up gloriously with the rising sun and is cut down without a second thought? Your anger is far and away too much for us; we're at the end of our rope. You keep track of all our sins; every misdeed since we were children is entered in your books. All we can remember is that frown on your face. Is that all we're ever going to get? We live for seventy years or so (with luck we might make it to eighty), And what do we have to show for it? Trouble. Toil and trouble and a marker in the graveyard. Who can make sense of such rage, such anger against the very ones who fear you?
The perverse travel a dangerous road, potholed and mud-slick; if you know what's good for you, stay clear of it.
But that's not the end of it. This country that used to be covered with fine vineyards—thousands of them, worth millions!—will revert to a weed patch. Weeds and thornbushes everywhere! Good for nothing except, perhaps, hunting rabbits. Cattle and sheep will forage as best they can in the fields of weeds—but there won't be a trace of all those fertile and well-tended gardens and fields.
Here's another Message from God to the people of Judah and Jerusalem: "Plow your unplowed fields, but then don't plant weeds in the soil! Yes, circumcise your lives for God's sake. Plow your unplowed hearts, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem. Prevent fire—the fire of my anger— for once it starts it can't be put out. Your wicked ways are fuel for the fire.
A Harvest Story At about that same time Jesus left the house and sat on the beach. In no time at all a crowd gathered along the shoreline, forcing him to get into a boat. Using the boat as a pulpit, he addressed his congregation, telling stories. "What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road, and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn't put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled by the weeds. Some fell on good earth, and produced a harvest beyond his wildest dreams. "Are you listening to this? Really listening?" The disciples came up and asked, "Why do you tell stories?" He replied, "You've been given insight into God's kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn't been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That's why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward receptive insight. In their present state they can stare till doomsday and not see it, listen till they're blue in the face and not get it. I don't want Isaiah's forecast repeated all over again: Your ears are open but you don't hear a thing. Your eyes are awake but you don't see a thing. The people are blockheads! They stick their fingers in their ears so they won't have to listen; They screw their eyes shut so they won't have to look, so they won't have to deal with me face-to-face and let me heal them. "But you have God-blessed eyes—eyes that see! And God-blessed ears—ears that hear! A lot of people, prophets and humble believers among them, would have given anything to see what you are seeing, to hear what you are hearing, but never had the chance. "Study this story of the farmer planting seed. When anyone hears news of the kingdom and doesn't take it in, it just remains on the surface, and so the Evil One comes along and plucks it right out of that person's heart. This is the seed the farmer scatters on the road. "The seed cast in the gravel—this is the person who hears and instantly responds with enthusiasm. But there is no soil of character, and so when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it. "The seed cast in the weeds is the person who hears the kingdom news, but weeds of worry and illusions about getting more and wanting everything under the sun strangle what was heard, and nothing comes of it. "The seed cast on good earth is the person who hears and takes in the News, and then produces a harvest beyond his wildest dreams." He told another story. "God's kingdom is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. That night, while his hired men were asleep, his enemy sowed thistles all through the wheat and slipped away before dawn. When the first green shoots appeared and the grain began to form, the thistles showed up, too. "The farmhands came to the farmer and said, ‘Master, that was clean seed you planted, wasn't it? Where did these thistles come from?' "He answered, ‘Some enemy did this.' "The farmhands asked, ‘Should we weed out the thistles?' "He said, ‘No, if you weed the thistles, you'll pull up the wheat, too. Let them grow together until harvest time. Then I'll instruct the harvesters to pull up the thistles and tie them in bundles for the fire, then gather the wheat and put it in the barn.'" Another story. "God's kingdom is like a pine nut that a farmer plants. It is quite small as seeds go, but in the course of years it grows into a huge pine tree, and eagles build nests in it." Another story. "God's kingdom is like yeast that a woman works into the dough for dozens of loaves of barley bread—and waits while the dough rises." All Jesus did that day was tell stories—a long storytelling afternoon. His storytelling fulfilled the prophecy: I will open my mouth and tell stories; I will bring out into the open things hidden since the world's first day. Jesus dismissed the congregation and went into the house. His disciples came in and said, "Explain to us that story of the thistles in the field." So he explained. "The farmer who sows the pure seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the pure seeds are subjects of the kingdom, the thistles are subjects of the Devil, and the enemy who sows them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, the curtain of history. The harvest hands are angels. "The picture of thistles pulled up and burned is a scene from the final act. The Son of Man will send his angels, weed out the thistles from his kingdom, pitch them in the trash, and be done with them. They are going to complain to high heaven, but nobody is going to listen. At the same time, ripe, holy lives will mature and adorn the kingdom of their Father. "Are you listening to this? Really listening? "God's kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field for years and then accidentally found by a trespasser. The finder is ecstatic—what a find!—and proceeds to sell everything he owns to raise money and buy that field. "Or, God's kingdom is like a jewel merchant on the hunt for excellent pearls. Finding one that is flawless, he immediately sells everything and buys it. "Or, God's kingdom is like a fishnet cast into the sea, catching all kinds of fish. When it is full, it is hauled onto the beach. The good fish are picked out and put in a tub; those unfit to eat are thrown away. That's how it will be when the curtain comes down on history. The angels will come and cull the bad fish and throw them in the garbage. There will be a lot of desperate complaining, but it won't do any good." Jesus asked, "Are you starting to get a handle on all this?" They answered, "Yes." He said, "Then you see how every student well-trained in God's kingdom is like the owner of a general store who can put his hands on anything you need, old or new, exactly when you need it." When Jesus finished telling these stories, he left there, returned to his hometown, and gave a lecture in the meetinghouse. He made a real hit, impressing everyone. "We had no idea he was this good!" they said. "How did he get so wise, get such ability?" But in the next breath they were cutting him down: "We've known him since he was a kid; he's the carpenter's son. We know his mother, Mary. We know his brothers James and Joseph, Simon and Judas. All his sisters live here. Who does he think he is?" They got their noses all out of joint. But Jesus said, "A prophet is taken for granted in his hometown and his family." He didn't do many miracles there because of their hostile indifference.
For instance, a person who has been around for a while might well be convinced that he can eat anything on the table, while another, with a different background, might assume he should only be a vegetarian and eat accordingly. But since both are guests at Christ's table, wouldn't it be terribly rude if they fell to criticizing what the other ate or didn't eat? God, after all, invited them both to the table. Do you have any business crossing people off the guest list or interfering with God's welcome? If there are corrections to be made or manners to be learned, God can handle that without your help.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Let no man deceive himself,.... With vain notions of serving God and religion, and of doing the churches good by his carnal and worldly wisdom, and with false hopes of escaping the vengeance of God for sowing the tares of error, heresy, and discord among his people.
If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world; either a member of them, or a preacher among them, who thought himself wise in worldly wisdom; or was desirous to be thought so by others; or would be a truly wise man in this world, whilst he lives in it, and before he goes out of it:
let him become a fool that he may be wise; not that, properly speaking, folly is the way to wisdom; but that that man that would be wise in a spiritual sense, must first learn to know himself; must be convinced of, and acknowledge his own folly, embrace the Gospel of Christ, which is esteemed foolishness by the world; submit to the ordinances of Christ, which are despised by men; and take up the cross of Christ, and follow him, bear reproach and persecution for his sake, than which nothing is more ridiculous with carnal men: he must deny his worldly wisdom, his carnal and righteous self, and wholly rest and rely on Christ, and his righteousness, for eternal life and happiness, and so will he become truly wise unto salvation. The Jews p have a saying,
"that everyone המנבל עצמו, "that makes himself a fool", for the words of the law, at the end, shall be exalted.''
p Raya Mehimua in Zohar in Numb. fol. 104. 2.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Let no man deceive himself - The apostle here proceeds to make a practical application of the truths which he had stated, and to urge on them humility, and to endeavor to repress the broils and contentions into which they had fallen. Let no man be puffed up with a vain conceit of his own wisdom, for this had been the real cause of all the evils which they had experienced. Grotius renders this, “See that you do not attribute too much to your wisdom and learning, by resting on it, and thus deceive your own selves.” “All human philosophy,” says Grotius, “that is repugnant to the gospel is but vain deceit” - Probably there were many among them who would despise this admonition as coming from Paul, but he exhorts them to take care that they did not deceive themselves. We are taught here:
(1) The danger of self-deception - a danger that besets all on the subject of religion.
(2) The fact that false philosophy is the most fruitful source of self-deception in the business of religion. So it was among the Corinthians; and so it has been in all ages since.
If any man among you - Any teacher, whatever may be his rank or his confidence in his own abilities; or any private member of the church.
Seemeth to be wise - Seems to himself; or is thought to be, has the credit, or reputation of being wise. The word “seems” δοκεῖ dokei implies this idea - if anyone seems, or is supposed to be a man of wisdom; if this is his reputation; and if he seeks that this should be his reputation among people. See instances of this construction in Bloomfield.
In this world - In this “age,” or “world” (ἐν τῷ αἰῶν τούτῳ en tō aiōn toutō). There is considerable variety in the interpretation of this passage among critics. It may be taken either with the preceding or the following words. Origen, Cyprian, Beza, Grotius, Hammond, and Locke adopt the latter method, and understand it thus: “If any man among you thinks himself to be wise, let him not hesitate to be a fool in the opinion of this age in order that he may be truly wise” - But the interpretation conveyed in our translation, is probably the correct one. “If any man has the reputation of wisdom among the people of this generation, and prides himself on it,” etc. If he is esteemed wise in the sense in which the people of this world are, as a philosopher, a man of science, learning, etc.
Let him become a fool -
(1) Let him be willing to be regarded as a fool.
(2) Let him sincerely embrace this gospel, which will inevitably expose him to the charge of being a fool.
(3) Let all his earthly wisdom be esteemed in his own eyes as valueless and as folly in the great matters of salvation.
That he may be wise - That he may have true wisdom - that which is of God. It is implied here:
(1) That the wisdom of this world will not make a man truly wise.
(2) That a “reputation” for wisdom may contribute nothing to a man’s true wisdom, but may stand in the way of it.
(3) That for such a man to embrace the gospel it is necessary that he should be willing to cast away dependence on his own wisdom, and come with the temper of a child to the Saviour.
(4) That to do this will expose him to the charge of folly, and the derision of those who are wise in their own conceit.
(5) That true wisdom is found only in that science which teaches people to live unto God, and to be prepared for death and for heaven - and that science is found only in the gospel.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse 18. If any man among you seemeth to be wise — Ει τις δοκει σοφος ειναι· If any pretend or affect to be wise. This seems to refer to some individual in the Church of Corinth, who had been very troublesome to its peace and unity: probably Diotrephes (1 Corinthians 1:14 (note)) or some one of a similar spirit, who wished to have the pre-eminence, and thought himself wiser than seven men that could render a reason. Every Christian Church has less or more of these.
Let him become a fool — Let him divest himself of his worldly wisdom, and be contented to be called a fool, and esteemed one, that he may become wise unto salvation, by renouncing his own wisdom, and seeking that which comes from God. But probably the apostle refers to him who, pretending to great wisdom and information, taught doctrines contrary to the Gospel; endeavouring to show reasons for them, and to support his own opinions with arguments which he thought unanswerable. This man brought his worldly wisdom to bear against the doctrines of Christ; and probably through such teaching many of the scandalous things which the apostle reprehends among the Corinthians originated.
