StrongerBible

sophia

σοφία

GreekG4678wisdom, wise

Appears 51 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 11:19Mat 12:42Mat 13:54Mrk 6:2Luk 2:40Luk 2:52Luk 7:35Luk 11:31Luk 11:49Luk 21:15Act 6:3Act 6:10Act 7:10Act 7:22Rom 11:331Co 1:171Co 1:191Co 1:201Co 1:21 (2×)1Co 1:221Co 1:241Co 1:301Co 2:11Co 2:41Co 2:51Co 2:6 (2×)1Co 2:71Co 2:131Co 3:191Co 12:82Co 1:12Eph 1:8Eph 1:17Eph 3:10Col 1:9Col 1:28Col 2:3Col 2:23Col 3:16Jas 1:5Jas 3:13Jas 3:15Jas 3:172Pe 3:15Rev 5:12Rev 7:12Rev 13:18
Root family
Word studyso-FEE-ahnoun

What sophia means

wisdom: deep insight into how things truly are, joined to the skill to act rightly on it

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintyStrong

Wisdom in the New Testament is more than being clever or well-informed. It is the kind of understanding that sees to the heart of things and knows what to do, and at its root it belongs to God. The same word covers God's own perfect wisdom, the wisdom God shares with people, and the rival, do-it-yourself wisdom of a world that thinks it can manage without him.

These uses hang together because they all measure insight against the same standard: reality as God knows it. Wisdom that comes from God lines up with that reality and bears good fruit. Wisdom that sets itself up apart from God may look impressive, yet it misjudges what matters most and the New Testament writers call it foolishness.

Two less common uses grow out of this same core. Writers sometimes speak of Wisdom almost as a living person who is proved right by what she produces. And in a couple of places the word names the discernment a reader needs to crack a hidden meaning, the insight required to understand rather than the content understood.

Nuances

1aGod's own wisdom, displayed in his works and supremely in Christ
Rom 11:331Co 1:21 (2×)1Co 1:241Co 1:301Co 2:7Eph 3:10Col 2:3Rev 5:12Rev 7:12
1bthe wisdom God gives to people: insight and skill granted by him for living and serving well
Luk 2:40Luk 2:52Luk 21:15Act 6:3Act 6:10Act 7:101Co 2:6 (2×)1Co 12:82Co 1:12Eph 1:8Eph 1:17Col 1:9
1chuman or worldly wisdom: cleverness and learning pursued apart from God, which scripture often judges as shortsighted or false
Act 7:221Co 1:171Co 1:191Co 1:201Co 1:221Co 2:11Co 2:41Co 2:51Co 2:131Co 3:19Col 2:23Jas 3:15
1dWisdom spoken of as a person, who is shown to be right by what she does
Mat 11:19Luk 7:35Luk 11:49
1ethe discernment a reader needs to grasp a hidden meaning
Rev 13:18Rev 17:9

What scholars say about sophia

BDAG distinguishes the natural human capacity (with both a positive and a deprecatory sense), wisdom in the things of God granted to humans, and the transcendent wisdom of God. The Pauline polemic in 1 Corinthians 1 to 3 sets divine sophia, embodied in the crucified Christ, against the rhetorically prized sophia of the Greco-Roman world; TDNT (Wilckens) traces the background through the Hebrew chokmah of the wisdom literature and its Hellenistic-Jewish development (notably the personified Wisdom of Proverbs 8 and the Wisdom of Solomon), which informs the personification in the Synoptic sayings (Matthew 11:19 par.; Luke 11:49) and the Christological identification in 1 Corinthians 1:24, 30 and Colossians 2:3. The relationship between sophia and the Logos and Wisdom Christology more broadly is treated in the standard works; the wisdom "from above" in James 3 reflects the same Jewish wisdom tradition recast ethically.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. σοφίαlexicon
  • U. Wilckens, σοφία, σοφός, σοφίζω, in TDNT 7:465-528theological-dictionary
  • G. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (NICNT)commentary
  • J. D. G. Dunn, Christology in the Makingmonograph

All attested forms of σοφία

accusative f s

σοφίαν, Σοφίαν

Mat 12:42, Luk 11:31, Luk 21:15, Act 7:10, 1Co 1:19, 1Co 1:20, 1Co 1:22, 1Co 1:24

dative f s

σοφίᾳ

Luk 2:40, Luk 2:52, Act 6:10, Act 7:22, 1Co 1:17, 1Co 1:21, 1Co 2:5, 2Co 1:12

genitive f s

σοφίας

Act 6:3, Rom 11:33, 1Co 1:21, 1Co 2:1, 1Co 2:4, 1Co 2:13, 1Co 12:8, Eph 1:17

nominative f s

σοφία

Mat 11:19, Mat 13:54, Mrk 6:2, Luk 7:35, Luk 11:49, 1Co 1:30, 1Co 3:19, Eph 3:10