Bible Lexicons

σοφία, σοφίας, ἡ (σοφός), Hebrew חָכְמָה, wisdom, broad and full intelligence (from Homer down); used of the knowledge of very diverse matters, so that the shade of meaning in which the word is taken must be discovered from the context in every particular case.

a. the wisdom which belongs to men: universally, Luke 2:40, 52; specifically, the varied knowledge of things human and divine, acquired by acuteness and experience, and summed up in maxims and proverbs, as was ἡ σοφία τοῦ Σολομῶνος, Matthew 12:42; Luke 11:31; the science and learning τῶν Αἰγυπτίων, Acts 7:22 (cf. Winers Grammar, 227 (213) n.; Buttmann, § 134, 6); the art of interpreting dreams and always giving the sagest advice, Acts 7:10; the intelligence evinced in discovering the meaning of some mysterious number or vision, Revelation 13:18; Revelation 17:9; skill in the management of affairs, Acts 6:3; a devout and proper prudence in contact with men not disciples of Christ, Colossians 4:5; skill and discretion in imparting Christian truth, Colossians 1:28; Colossians 3:16; (2 Peter 3:15); the knowledge and practice of the requisites for godly and upright living, James 1:5; James 3:13, 17; with which σοφία ἄνωθεν κατερχομένη is put in contrast the σοφία ἐπίγειος, ψυχική, δαιμονιώδης, such as is the craftiness of envious and quarrelsome men. James 3:15, or σαρκικῇ σοφία (see σαρκικός, 1), craftiness, 2 Corinthians 1:12 (for the context shows that it does not differ essentially from the πανουργία of ; in Greek writings also σοφία is not infrequently used of shrewdness and cunning; cf. Passow (or Liddell and Scott), under the word, 2); the knowledge and skill in affairs requisite for the successful defense of the Christian cause against hostile accusations, Luke 21:15; an acquaintance with divine things and human duties, joined to a power of discoursing concerning them and of interpreting and applying sacred Scripture, Matthew 13:54; Mark 6:2; Acts 6:10; the wisdom or instruction with which John the Baptist and Jesus taught men the way to obtain salvation, Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:35 (on these passages, see δικαιόω, 2). In Paul's Epistles: a knowledge of the divine plan, previously hidden, of providing salvation for men by the expiatory death of Christ, 1 Corinthians 1:30; 1 Corinthians 2:6; Ephesians 1:8 (Winer's Grammar, 111 (105f)); hence, all the treasures of wisdom are said to be hidden in Christ, Colossians 2:3; with the addition of Θεοῦ (genitive of the author), 1 Corinthians 1:24; 1 Corinthians 2:7; πνευματικῇ, Colossians 1:9; πνεῦμα σοφίας καί ἀποκαλύψεως, Ephesians 1:17; λόγος σοφίας, the ability to discourse eloquently of this wisdom, 1 Corinthians 12:8; opposed to this wisdom is — the empty conceit of wisdom which men make a parade of, a knowledge more specious than real of lofty and hidden subjects: such as the theosophy of certain Jewish Christians, Colossians 2:23; the philosophy of the Greeks, 1 Corinthians 1:21; 1 Corinthians 2:1; with τοῦ κόσμου added, 1 Corinthians 1:20; 1 Corinthians 3:19; τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου, 1 Corinthians 2:6; τῶν σοφῶν, 1 Corinthians 1:19; ἀνθρώπων, 1 Corinthians 2:5 (in each of these last passages the word includes also the rhetorical art, such as is taught in the schools), cf. Fritzsche, Romans, vol. i, p. 67f; σοφία τοῦ λόγου, the wisdom which shows itself in speaking (R. V. wisdom of words), the art of the rhetorician, 1 Corinthians 1:17; λόγοι (ἀνθρωπίνης (so R in 1 Corinthians 1:4 (all texts in 1 Corinthians 1:13))) σοφίας, discourse conformed to philosophy and the art of rhetoric, 1 Corinthians 2:4, 13.

b. supreme intelligence, such as belongs to God: Revelation 7:12, also to Christ, exalted to God's right hand, Revelation 5:12; the wisdom of God as evinced in forming and executing his counsels, Romans 11:33; with the addition of τοῦ Θεοῦ, as manifested in the formation and government of the world, and to the Jews, moreover, in the Scriptures, 1 Corinthians 1:21; it is called πολυποίκιλος from the great variety of ways and methods by which he devised and achieved salvation through Christ, Ephesians 3:10. In the noteworthy passage, Luke 11:49 (where Christ ascribes to 'the wisdom of God' what in the parallel, Matthew 23:34, he utters himself), the words ἡ σοφία τοῦ Θεοῦ εἶπεν seem to denote the wisdom of God which is operative and embodied as it were in Jesus, so that the primitive Christians, when to comfort themselves under persecution they recalled the saying of Christ, employed that formula of quotation (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:24, 30,etc.); but Luke, in ignorance of this fact, took the phrase for a part of Christ's saying. So Eusebius (h. e. 3, 32, 8), perhaps in the words of Hegesippus, calls those who had personally heard Christ οἱ αὐταῖς ἀκοαῖς τῆς ἐνθεου σοφίας ἐπακοῦσαι κατηξιώμενοι; cf. Grimm in the Studien und Kritiken for 1853, p. 332ff. (For other explanations of the phenomenon, see the commentaries on Luke, the passage cited Cf. Schürer, Zeitgesch. § 33, V. 1 and references.) [SYNONYMS: on the relation of σοφία to γνῶσις see γνῶσις, at the end. "While σοφία is 'mental excellence in its highest and fullest sense' (Aristotle, eth. Nic. 6, 7), σύνεσις and φρόνησις are both derivative and special — applications of σοφία to details: σύνεσις, critical, apprehending the bearing of things, φρόνησις, practical, suggesting lines of action" (Lightfoot on Colossians 1:9); but cf. Meyer on Colossians, the passage cited; Schmidt, chapter 13 § 10; chapter 147 § 8. See σοφός, at the end]