And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.
Parallel translations
- WEB But if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he doesn’t yet know as he ought to know.
- BSB The one who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.
- NKJV And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.
- NASB If anyone thinks that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know;
- NLT Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Anyone who imagines he has full knowledge does not yet know as he should. True spiritual knowing is marked by humility, not pride.
Overview
Paul punctures intellectual conceit. The person confident in his own grasp of truth has actually missed the deeper point, because genuine knowledge of God is inseparable from humble love. This rebukes a Corinthian boasting in mere information and points toward a knowing that bows before God. It prepares for the corrective of the next verse: being known and loved by God matters more than our claimed expertise.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- 1 Cor 13:12For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
- 1 Cor 3:18Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.
- Prov 26:12Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.
- Gal 6:3For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
- 1 Tim 6:3–4If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness;
- 1 Cor 13:8–9Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
- Prov 30:2–4Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man.
- 1 Tim 1:5–7Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:
- Rom 11:25For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God; he is our Passover sacrificed for us, the firstfruits of resurrection, the foundation on which everything is built.
How 1 Corinthians 8:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.