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Men: Two or more males, individuals of the human race. Males of bravery. We will live in honor or die like men. Persons; people; mankind; in an indefinite sense. men are apt to forget the benefactor, while they riot on the benefit.
Greek: "prudent, sensible, practically wise," Matt. 7:24; Matt. 10:16; Matt. 24:45; Matt. 25:2, 4, 8, 9; Luke 12:42; Luke 16:8; sophos is absent, in the best mss. (see the RV), the comparative degree, sophoteros, occurs in 1 Cor. 1:25, where "foolishness" is simply in the human estimate; (b) spiritual teachers in Israel, Matt. 23:34; (c) believers endowed with spiritual and practical wisdom, Rom. 16:19; 1 Cor. 3:10; 1 Cor. 6:5; Eph. 5:15; Jas. 3:13; (e) the naturally learned, Rom. 1:14, 22; 1 Cor. 1:19, 20, 26, 27: 1 Cor. 3:18-20. Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old Testament and New Testament Words.
Wise men after the flesh seems like a contradiction in terms. If a man had any benefits in the flesh, he would not be considered wise. Seeing that this Greek word can often represent the negative side of a thing, we can understand what the translators were driving at. So, we can understand that wise after the flesh may more accurately be translated the educated mind and its ability or lack thereof to interpret who and what God is. What is absent is the faith and revelation that so often applies to the rhema of God’s Word and not what comes out of the textbook.
However, what we can see here is few wise men are called because of lack of faith and a great deal of leaning on the abilities of themselves and not of God. This is the true example of the pride of man and even though he has a great deal of knowledge, he often struggles and convulses with the idea of faith and things that one can’t see. Hebrews 11:1 (KJV) Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. This is called ‘now faith’. The kind that became available at the cross and resurrection. I always describe the faith principle from the perspective of a building of a home or business building. If faith is the substance, then it must be the building material needed for the project at hand; then hope is the blueprint of what the result will come out to be. The evidence of what is not seen becomes the dream or vision of what does not seem to appear nor is it currently present.
None the less, if a man does not have the belief factor working for him, he will never walk in the faith realm no matter how much knowledge, education, information and abilities he may possess. So much so that Christ says that few will be chosen. Not that it is not the will of the Father to call everyone, but He does make us responsible for being a part of the equation and receive what is necessary to have the faith to change. Pride and lack of humility keep so many from the amazing faith story of Jesus of Nazareth and His death, burial and resurrection. One will never figure out the message of the Cross with the mind and intellect and reason or even science. Science says that if it does not make sense to the mind of man, it is not real and has no ability to sustain itself, but what is the most real aspect of the earth and all that is within it, is the realm of faith and reaching out into the universe and grab ahold of what belongs to you and it will show up. If you have been chosen, it is because of your acceptance of the principles of faith and not of yourself, it was a gift of God, less any man should boast.
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