1 Corinthians 1:20

Plain English Version

So what does that tell us about the smart people in this world? And what about those people that reckon they properly know the Jewish law? And what about those people that can talk really good, so that they win arguments? None of them get to know God. They leave God out. They don’t think about him, and in the end God shows us that they are all stupid.

Cross References

2 Samuel 16:23

So Absalom took notice of that wise man’s story, just like his father used to take notice of him. They both thought that he talked straight, just like God does. So they always listened to him carefully.

2 Samuel 17:14

Absalom and the elders of Israel heard what Hushai said, and they reckoned, “Hushai from the Arek mob has a good idea. It is better than the other plan of that wise man Ahithofel.” You see, God himself made them think like that. He wanted them to follow Hushai’s plan, and so make big trouble for Absalom. God confused them, so they did not like Ahithofel’s good plan. (We have not yet translated 17:15-29.)

John 12:31

Then Jesus told them how he was going to die. He said, “Soon my enemies are going to lift me up to die on a cross, and then I will call everyone to come to me. And when I die, God will judge everyone in the world. And you know, the boss over the bad spirits is the boss over this world too, but when I die, God will stop his power so he can’t be the boss over the world any more.”

Acts 17:18

Some of that Athens mob always thought about the best way to live, and they always talked to other people about it. Some of them were called Epicurians, and some of them were called Stoics. They talked to Paul, and he told them about Jesus. Paul said that Jesus died, and that God made him alive again. Some of that mob said, “This man is just talking rubbish.” Others said, “We think he is talking about gods from other countries.”

Romans 1:20

Even though we can’t see God, we can know about him. If we look at the things he has made, we can know about him, that he is really great and really strong. Ever since he made the world, we can look at everything that he made, and we can know about him from those things. So nobody can say that they don’t know about God.

Romans 1:22

They told everybody that they could think really good, but they were fools.

1 Corinthians 1:19

It is like God says in his book, “People might think they are smart, and they might reckon they know everything, but God shows them that they are not wise, and he will stop them from doing what they are thinking about.”

1 Corinthians 1:26

My Christian friends, remember what you were like before God picked you. Most of you were not the smart sort of people. Most of you were not powerful people. Most of you didn’t belong to important families.

1 Corinthians 1:27

You see, people in this world reckon you are stupid, but God picked you anyway. He did that to show that those smart people are wrong, and they have to feel shame. Yes, God picked the weak people in this world to show that the powerful people are useless, so they have to feel shame.

1 Corinthians 1:28

And God picked people from this world that are not great, and people that are like nothing, so that in the end, those other people that reckon they are great, they will become like nothing.

1 Corinthians 11:32

But if God does punish us, he does it to teach us to do good things. So later, when God judges everyone in the world and punishes all the bad people, he will not punish us too.

1 Corinthians 2:6

You see, whenever I am with people that trust in Jesus, and are strong for him, that’s when I can talk about things that are wise and good. I don’t mean smart ideas that people in this world think up, like how the bosses in this world plan things. Those bosses will finish up anyway.

1 Corinthians 2:8

None of the bosses in this world understood those things. So they killed Jesus. They nailed our very great and good leader to a cross.

1 Corinthians 3:18

Some of you mob think you are really smart, but you are thinking wrong, like the people of this world that don’t know God. So stop tricking yourselves. Instead, you have to think God’s way. Other people might think you are fools, but really, you will be wise.

1 Corinthians 3:19

The people of this world think they are very smart, but God knows they are fools. We can read this in God’s book, “People reckon they are smart, but God uses their own smart ideas like a trap, and he catches them.”

1 Corinthians 6:2

and one day God will get us Christians to be the judges of all the other people in the world. So, if you are going to be a judge of other people one day, why can’t you sort out your own little problems now?

James 4:4

If you are like that, it shows that you left God. You stopped following him and joined the other people in the world that hate God. They are God’s enemies. So if you join up with people like that, you make yourself God’s enemy. You ran away from God. You are just like a woman that leaves her husband and runs away with another man.