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1 Corinthians

About this book
Chapter 3

1 So, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but instead as people of the flesh,⁠ as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready. In fact, you are still not ready,⁠ 3 for you are still influenced by the flesh. For since there is still jealousy and dissension among you, are you not influenced by the flesh and behaving like unregenerate people? 4 For whenever someone says, “I am with Paul,” or “I am with Apollos,” are you not merely human? 5 What is Apollos, really? Or what is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, and each of us in the ministry the Lord gave us. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused it to grow. 7 So neither the one who plants counts for anything, nor the one who waters, but God who causes the growth. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters work as one, but each will receive his reward according to his work.⁠ 9 We are coworkers belonging to God. You are God’s field, God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master-builder I laid a foundation, but someone else builds on it. And each one must be careful how he builds. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than what is being laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, 13 each builder’s work will be plainly seen, for the Day will make it clear, because it will be revealed by fire. And the fire will test what kind of work each has done. 14 If what someone has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If someone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as through fire. 16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?⁠ 17 If someone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, which is what you are. 18 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. 19 For the wisdom of this age is foolishness with God. As it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness.”⁠ 20 And again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” 21 So then, no more boasting about mere mortals! For everything belongs to you, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future. Everything belongs to you, 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

Texts in conversation

Compare Job 5:13 and 1 Corinthians 3:19

Hebrew Bible · New Testament

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Summary

In 1 Corinthians Paul links a quote from Job about the wise caught in their craftiness with a Psalm about the limits of human plans. The pairing reflects the method later called “gezerah shava,” which connects texts through shared words or themes.

Passages

Job 5:13

Hebrew Bible
11 he sets the lowly on high, that those who mourn are raised to safety. 12 He frustrates the plans of the crafty so that their hands cannot accomplish what they had planned. 13 He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the counsel of the cunning is brought to a quick end. 14 They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope about in the noontime as if it were night. 15 So he saves from the sword that comes from their mouth, even the poor from the hand of the powerful.
500–401 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Job

1 Corinthians 3:19

New Testament
17 If someone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, which is what you are. 18 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. 19 For the wisdom of this age is foolishness with God. As it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness.” 20 And again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” 21 So then, no more boasting about mere mortals! For everything belongs to you,
55–57 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Corinthians

References

"... The first rhetorical demonstration’s third unit in 2:6–16 contains the next two explicit references to scripture. Toward the middle of the unit there is a quotation, introduced by the words “but as it is written,” based on a number of possible references to scripture (Isaiah 64:3; 52:15; 65:16; Jeremiah 3:16; Sirach 1:10): “What things eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not arisen in the heart of a human being, what things God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). At the conclusion of the unit there is an explicit reference to Isaiah 40:13 introduced simply by the word “for”: “Who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct him?” (1 Corinthians 2:16a). In the midst of the sixth unit (3:18–23) of the first rhetorical demonstration, introduced by the words “for it is written,” there is a quotation of Job 5:13: “He is the one who catches the wise in their cleverness” (1 Corinthians 3:19b). This scriptural quote is closely coupled with the next, introduced by the words “and again,” which cites from Ps 93:11 (LXX): “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise that they are futile” (1 Corinthians 3:20). The joining of these two scriptural citations by the word “wise” that they have in common exemplifies the Jewish exegetical procedure known as gezera shava ..."
John Paul Heil, The Rhetorical Role of Scripture in 1 Corinthians, SBLMS 15 (Atlanta: SBL, 2005), 11.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Job 5:13 and 1 Corinthians 3:19

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