9 Bible Verses about Philosophy

Most Relevant Verses

Acts 17:18

Then also, some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers argued with him. Some said, “What is this pseudo-intellectual trying to say?”

Others replied, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign deities”—because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the Resurrection.

Ecclesiastes 1:2

“Absolute futility,” says the Teacher.
“Absolute futility. Everything is futile.”

Isaiah 29:14

therefore I will again confound these people
with wonder after wonder.
The wisdom of their wise men will vanish,
and the understanding of the perceptive will be hidden.

1 Corinthians 1:19-20

For it is written:

I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and I will set aside the understanding of the experts. Where is the philosopher? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish?

1 Corinthians 2:6

However, we do speak a wisdom among the mature, but not a wisdom of this age, or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

1 Corinthians 3:19-20

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, since it is written: He catches the wise in their craftiness; and again, The Lord knows that the reasonings of the wise are meaningless.

From Thematic Bible


Philosophy » Philosophical inductions and deductions relating to God and his providence

Job 5:8-20

However, if I were you, I would appeal to God and would present my case to Him. He does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number. He gives rain to the earth and sends water to the fields. read more.
He sets the lowly on high, and mourners are lifted to safety. He frustrates the schemes of the crafty so that they achieve no success. He traps the wise in their craftiness so that the plans of the deceptive are quickly brought to an end. They encounter darkness by day, and they grope at noon as if it were night. He saves the needy from their sharp words and from the clutches of the powerful. So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts its mouth. See how happy the man is God corrects; so do not reject the discipline of the Almighty. For He crushes but also binds up; He strikes, but His hands also heal. He will rescue you from six calamities; no harm will touch you in seven. In famine He will redeem you from death, and in battle, from the power of the sword.

Job 10:2-21

I will say to God: Do not declare me guilty! Let me know why You prosecute me. Is it good for You to oppress, to reject the work of Your hands, and favor the plans of the wicked? Do You have eyes of flesh, or do You see as a human sees? read more.
Are Your days like those of a human, or Your years like those of a man, that You look for my wrongdoing and search for my sin, even though You know that I am not wicked and that there is no one who can deliver from Your hand? Your hands shaped me and formed me. Will You now turn around and destroy me? Please remember that You formed me like clay. Will You now return me to dust? Did You not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese? You clothed me with skin and flesh, and wove me together with bones and tendons. You gave me life and faithful love, and Your care has guarded my life. Yet You concealed these [thoughts] in Your heart; I know that this was Your hidden plan: if I sin, You would notice, and would not acquit me of my wrongdoing. If I am wicked, woe to me! And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head. I am filled with shame and aware of my affliction. If I am proud, You hunt me like a lion and again display Your miraculous power against me. You produce new witnesses against me and multiply Your anger toward me. Hardships assault me, wave after wave. Why did You bring me out of the womb? I should have died and never been seen. I wish I had never existed but had been carried from the womb to the grave. Are my days not few? Stop [it]! Leave me alone, so that I can smile a little before I go to a land of darkness and gloom, never to return.

Job 12:6-24

The tents of robbers are safe, and those who provoke God are secure; God's power provides this. But ask the animals, and they will instruct you; [ask] the birds of the sky, and they will tell you. Or speak to the earth, and it will instruct you; let the fish of the sea inform you. read more.
Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? The life of every living thing is in His hand, as well as the breath of all mankind. Doesn't the ear test words as the palate tastes food? Wisdom is found with the elderly, and understanding comes with long life. Wisdom and strength belong to God; counsel and understanding are His. Whatever He tears down cannot be rebuilt; whoever He imprisons cannot be released. When He withholds the waters, everything dries up, and when He releases them, they destroy the land. True wisdom and power belong to Him. The deceived and the deceiver are His. He leads counselors away barefoot and makes judges go mad. He releases the bonds put on by kings and ties a cloth around their waists. He leads priests away barefoot and overthrows established leaders. He deprives trusted advisers of speech and takes away the elders' good judgment. He pours out contempt on nobles and disarms the strong. He reveals mysteries from the darkness and brings the deepest darkness into the light. He makes nations great, then destroys them; He enlarges nations, then leads them away. He deprives the world's leaders of reason, and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.

Job 33:12-30

But I tell you that you are wrong in this [matter], since God is greater than man. Why do you take Him to court for not answering anything a person asks? For God speaks time and again, but a person may not notice it. read more.
In a dream, a vision in the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they slumber on [their] beds, He uncovers their ears at that time and terrifies them with warnings, in order to turn a person [from his] actions and suppress his pride. God spares his soul from the Pit, his life from crossing the river [of death]. A person may be disciplined on his bed with pain and constant distress in his bones, so that he detests bread, and his soul [despises his] favorite food. His flesh wastes away to nothing, and his unseen bones stick out. He draws near the Pit, and his life to the executioners. If there is an angel on his side, one mediator out of a thousand, to tell a person what is right for him and to be gracious to him and say, "Spare him from going down to the Pit; I have found a ransom," then his flesh will be healthier than in his youth, and he will return to the days of his youthful vigor. He will pray to God, and God will delight in him. That man will behold His face with a shout of joy, and God will restore his righteousness to him. He will look at men and say, "I have sinned and perverted what was right; yet I did not get what I deserved. He redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit, and I will continue to see the light." God certainly does all these things two or three times to a man in order to turn him back from the Pit, so he may shine with the light of life.

Philosophy » Employment of, was not paul's method of preaching the gospel

1 Corinthians 1:19

For it is written:

I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and I will set aside the understanding of the experts.

1 Corinthians 2:1-5

When I came to you, brothers, announcing the testimony of God to you, I did not come with brilliance of speech or wisdom. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. read more.
My speech and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and power, so that your faith might not be based on men's wisdom but on God's power.

Philosophy » Rabbinical

Colossians 2:16-19

Therefore don't let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a sabbath day. These are a shadow of what was to come; the substance is the Messiah. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on ascetic practices and the worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm and inflated without cause by his fleshly mind. read more.
He doesn't hold on to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, develops with growth from God.

Philosophy » The nature of things

Philosophy » Reveals the mysteries of providence

Romans 1:19-20

since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. From the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse.

Philosophy » Is not sufficient for an adequate knowledge of God

1 Corinthians 1:21-22

For since, in God's wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of the message preached. For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom,

Philosophy » Is not enough for salvation through the atonement of jesus Christ

1 Corinthians 2:6-10

However, among the mature we do speak a wisdom, but not a wisdom of this age, or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. On the contrary, we speak God's hidden wisdom in a mystery, which God predestined before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age knew it, for if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. read more.
But as it is written: What no eye has seen and no ear has heard, and what has never come into a man's heart, is what God has prepared for those who love Him. Now God has revealed them to us by the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything, even the deep things of God.

Philosophy » Greek schools of

Acts 17:18

Then also, some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers argued with him. Some said, “What is this pseudo-intellectual trying to say?”

Others replied, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign deities”—because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the Resurrection.

Philosophy » A philosophical discussion about wisdom

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