1 Corinthians 1:19,20

For it is written, I will destroy, &c.— See Isaiah 29:11, &c. and Isaiah 33:17. By the words wise, scribe, disputer, the Apostle probably meant persons most eminent for their learning and sagacity, whether among Jews or Gentiles. The sages of the latter, and the scribes of the former, are well known: and the disputer of the age may include such of both, as, proud of their natural sagacity, were fond of engaging in controversies, and fancied that they could confute every adversary. If, according to Mr. Locke's supposition, the false apostle, or chief leader of the faction against St. Paul, called himself a scribe, there will be a peculiar propriety in the use of the word here. But without that supposition it might easily be understood by the Corinthians, who had so considerable a synagogue of Jews among them: see Doddridge, Locke, and Godwin's Heb. Antiq. lib. 2: cap. 6.