σοφία

Matthew 11:19 σοφία wisdom

The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at this glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is vindicated by her actions.”

Here: God's Wisdom, pictured as a woman (as in Proverbs 8–9 and Sirach 24). Her plan is being carried out through John and Jesus.

Matthew 12:42 σοφίαν wisdom

The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and now One greater than Solomon is here.

Here: Solomon's famous God-given wisdom: insight into justice, nature, riddles and the ordering of life (1 Kgs 3–4; 10).

Matthew 13:54 σοφία wisdom

Coming to His hometown, He taught the people in their synagogue, and they were astonished. “Where did this man get such wisdom and miraculous powers?” they asked.

Here: Skill and insight in God’s ways, seen in how he handled Scripture and life. People expected it to come from long study under recognised teachers, which he was not known to have had.

Mark 6:2 σοφία wisdom

When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard Him were astonished. “Where did this man get these ideas?” they asked. “What is this wisdom He has been given? And how can He perform such miracles?

Here: Skill in understanding and applying God's ways, the quality expected of a trained teacher of the Law. They see it in someone they knew as a craftsman.

Luke 2:40 σοφίᾳ, with wisdom,

And the Child grew and became strong. He was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him.

Here: The wisdom of Israel's tradition: skill in living rightly before God, grounded in the fear of the LORD and the Torah. It is not mere cleverness. It prepares for 2:46–47, where the teachers are amazed at his understanding.

Luke 2:52 σοφίᾳ wisdom

And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.

Here: Wisdom in the biblical sense: skill in living rightly before God, grounded in the fear of the LORD. It is more than cleverness or book knowledge. It picks up 2:40 ("filled with wisdom") and 2:47 (the teachers amazed at his understanding).

Luke 7:35 σοφία wisdom

But wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”

Luke 11:31 σοφίαν wisdom

The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and now One greater than Solomon is here.

Luke 11:49 σοφία Wisdom

Because of this, the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles; some of them they will kill and others they will persecute.’

Here: This is the subject of the verb 'said'. Wisdom is pictured as a speaker who plans and sends, which matches the personified Lady Wisdom of Proverbs and later Jewish writings. It is not just a quality God has.

Luke 21:15 σοφίαν wisdom

For I will give you speech and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.

Here: God-given insight and skill that hits the mark, like the wisdom given to Joseph before Pharaoh and to Daniel before kings. It is not book learning or cleverness in debate.

Acts 6:3 σοφίας wisdom

Therefore, brothers, select from among you seven men confirmed to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will assign this responsibility to them

Here: Practical good judgement and competence: knowing how to run something fairly and well. A dispute over food distribution between two language groups needed exactly this.

Acts 6:10 σοφίᾳ wisdom

but they could not stand up to his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke.

Here: God-given insight, here shown in how Stephen interpreted Israel's Scriptures and history in debate. It recalls 6:3, where the seven were to be 'full of the Spirit and wisdom'.

Acts 7:10 σοφίαν wisdom

and rescued him from all his troubles. He granted Joseph favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and all his household.

Here: Practical, God-given insight: interpreting Pharaoh's dreams and the statesman's judgment to plan for the famine (Genesis 41:33–39).

Acts 7:22 σοφίᾳ [the] wisdom

So Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.

Here: Here this is learned knowledge: the body of Egyptian scholarship and know-how. It is not mainly moral or spiritual insight.

Romans 11:33 σοφίας of wisdom

O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!

Here: God's skill in planning and carrying out his purposes. Here it means the surprising plan Paul has just laid out: Israel partly hardened, Gentiles brought in, and in the end all Israel saved.

1 Corinthians 1:17 σοφίᾳ wisdom

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with words of wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Here: Here it is not godly wisdom but the cultivated cleverness prized in Greek public life: polished argument and skill in persuasion. This sets up the long contrast with 'God's wisdom' in 1:18–2:16.

1 Corinthians 1:19 σοφίαν wisdom

For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

Here: Wisdom in the broad ancient sense: skill, cleverness, learned sophistication, persuasive speech. In Corinth it pointed especially to the prestige of eloquence and philosophy (compare 'wisdom of word', v.17).

1 Corinthians 1:20 σοφίαν wisdom

Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

Here: Here this is the world's whole system of knowing and valuing: its criteria for what counts as clever, credible, honourable and divine. It is not ordinary practical skill or learning as such.

1 Corinthians 1:21 σοφίᾳ σοφίας wisdom

For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

Here: God's wisdom: his wise purpose and the way he has ordered and revealed things. Paul sets it deliberately against the world's 'wisdom' a few words later.

1 Corinthians 1:22 σοφίαν wisdom

Jews demand signs and Greeks search for wisdom,

Here: Not common sense or practical life-wisdom. It means intellectual sophistication: a persuasive, well-argued account of reality, delivered with the polish of a trained speaker (compare 'wisdom of speech' in 1:17 and 2:1, 4). It too comes first in its clause for emphasis.

1 Corinthians 1:24 σοφίαν. [the] wisdom.

but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Here: God's wise purpose and plan, the very thing 'Greeks' sought (v. 22). Paul claims it is found in the crucified Messiah, which human wisdom calls folly.

1 Corinthians 1:30 σοφία wisdom

It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God: our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.

Here: The prize word of the Corinthian debate. Here it means God's wise saving plan, embodied in a crucified Messiah, in contrast to the eloquence and learning that carried status in Corinth (1:17–25).

1 Corinthians 2:1 σοφίας wisdom

When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.

Here: In this argument it means the 'wisdom of the world' (1:20): learned philosophy and clever argument that brought social prestige. It is not wisdom as such, since Paul goes on to speak 'wisdom among the mature' (2:6).

1 Corinthians 2:4 σοφίας of wisdom

My message and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,

Here: In Corinth's setting this means the polished cleverness of orators and philosophers that the city prized as a mark of status, not everyday good sense.

1 Corinthians 2:5 σοφίᾳ wisdom

so that your faith would not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.

Here: Here this is not plain good sense. It means the prized Greek culture of clever speech and philosophy, the 'wise words' of verse 4 that won applause and social standing.

1 Corinthians 2:6 Σοφίαν σοφίαν Wisdom, wisdom

Among the mature, however, we speak a message of wisdom—but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

Here: Put first for emphasis. Paul has just said he did not come with 'wisdom' (2:1, 4–5). Now he turns: there is a wisdom he does speak. Verse 7 explains it as God's long-hidden plan, focused on the crucified Messiah (compare 1:24).

1 Corinthians 2:7 σοφίαν wisdom

No, we speak of the mysterious and hidden wisdom of God, which He destined for our glory before time began.

Here: The object of 'we speak'. In this letter God's wisdom has a definite content: the crucified Messiah, whom Paul calls 'the wisdom of God' (1:24, 30), and God's plan carried out through him.

1 Corinthians 2:13 σοφίας wisdom

And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.

Here: In Corinth this means the prized sophistication of rhetoric and philosophy, eloquent and persuasive speech (compare 1:17; 2:1, 4). Here it is the teacher behind the rejected kind of words.

1 Corinthians 3:19 σοφία wisdom

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness.”

Here: The subject of the sentence. In Corinth this meant prized cleverness: eloquence, philosophical sophistication and the status that came with them, the very thing the factions admired in their favourite teachers.

1 Corinthians 12:8 σοφίας, of wisdom,

To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by the same Spirit,

Here: A heavily loaded word in this letter. Corinthians prized it as rhetorical and philosophical prestige. Paul has already redefined it as God's hidden wisdom shown in the crucified Messiah (1:18–2:16). The utterance conveys that kind of wisdom.

2 Corinthians 1:12 σοφίᾳ wisdom

For this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in relation to you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God—not in worldly wisdom, but in the grace of God.

Here: Practical cleverness or skill. Here it means the calculating savvy and persuasive technique the Corinthians admired (cf. 1 Cor 1:17–2:5).

Ephesians 1:8 σοφίᾳ wisdom

that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

Here: Wisdom in the Jewish sense: insight into how God has ordered the world and his purposes, which in verse 9 turns out to be his plan, once hidden and now revealed.

Ephesians 1:17 σοφίας of wisdom

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in your knowledge of Him.

Here: Wisdom in the biblical sense: skill in seeing and living by God's purposes. In Ephesians it is tied to God's plan to unite all things in Christ (1:8–10).

Ephesians 3:10 σοφία wisdom

His purpose was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,

Here: God's skill in planning and carrying out his purpose, the 'plan for the fullness of time' (1:8–10). In Jewish tradition this is the same wisdom by which he made the world (cf. v. 9, 'who created all things').

Colossians 1:9 σοφίᾳ wisdom

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

Here: Wisdom in the Jewish sense: skill in living rightly before God. It is not abstract theorising.

Colossians 1:28 σοφίᾳ, wisdom,

We proclaim Him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.

Here: Practical, God-given understanding of how to live, rooted in Israel's wisdom tradition. In this letter it is found in Christ, "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom" (2:3). It stands against the rival teaching's mere "appearance of wisdom" (2:23).

Colossians 2:3 σοφίας of wisdom

in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Here: Wisdom in the Jewish sense: skill in living rightly within God's order. In Jewish writings it was also the figure of Wisdom, through whom God made the world, which Colossians 1:15–20 has already applied to Christ. The rival 'philosophy' (literally 'love of wisdom', 2:8) claimed this same ground.

Colossians 2:23 σοφίας of wisdom

Such restrictions indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-prescribed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body; but they are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

Here: Wisdom in the sense of religious and philosophical insight. It echoes 2:3, where all the treasures of wisdom are said to be hidden in Christ, and 2:8, where the rival teaching calls itself a 'philosophy'.

Colossians 3:16 σοφίᾳ, wisdom

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

Here: Practical, God-given skill in knowing and living the right way. Colossians says it is stored up in Christ (2:3).

Colossians 4:5 σοφίᾳ wisdom

Act wisely toward outsiders, redeeming the time.

Here: Practical, God-given skill in living, not cleverness or learning. In Colossians it picks up a running theme (1:9, 1:28, 2:3, 3:16): the wisdom found in Christ is now to show in how believers handle their neighbours. Placed first in the sentence for emphasis.

James 1:5 σοφίας, wisdom,

Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

Here: In the Jewish sense: the God-given skill of living rightly, here above all the ability to see and handle trials the way God means them (1:2–4). It is not cleverness or a store of information.

James 3:13 σοφίας. of wisdom.

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good conduct, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.

Here: 'Gentleness of wisdom': the gentleness that belongs to true wisdom and grows out of it. Real wisdom carries itself gently; this sets up the contrast between earthly and heavenly wisdom in 3:15–17.

James 3:15 σοφία wisdom

Such wisdom does not come from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.

Here: Practical skill in living and teaching, shown in conduct (3:13). James grants that his opponents have a kind of sophia, then says where it really comes from.

James 3:17 σοφία wisdom

But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peace-loving, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere.

Here: Wisdom in the Jewish sense: skill in living rightly before God, shown in conduct (3:13). Not cleverness or a stock of information.

2 Peter 3:15 σοφίαν wisdom

Consider also that our Lord’s patience brings salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom God gave him.

Here: Wisdom in the biblical sense: God-given insight into God's purposes and how to live by them. Here it vouches for Paul's teaching on God's patience and the end, which some people were twisting (3:16).

Revelation 5:12 σοφίαν wisdom

In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing!”

Here: The skill to rule rightly and carry out God's plan, here the opening of the sealed scroll that no one else could open.

Revelation 7:12 σοφία wisdom

saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

Here: God's skill and insight in governing history. In context it is the wisdom of the plan that has just brought a countless multitude out of the great tribulation (vv.9, 14).

Revelation 13:18 σοφία wisdom

Here is a call for wisdom: Let the one who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and that number is 666.

Here: Practical, God-given insight. Here it is the skill to see through the beast's disguise. It echoes the 'wise' in Daniel who understand the end-time riddles (Dan 11:33; 12:10).

Revelation 17:9 σοφίαν. wisdom.

This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits.

Here: Insight that sees through the symbols to the reality behind them, as with "the wise" in Daniel. It is not general life skill.