What Does 1 Corinthians 10:15 Mean?

I speak as to the sensible; judge for yourselves what I say.

1 Corinthians 10:15 · SDV

Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.

Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say.

THE KEY

Here, wisdom includes the freedom to examine what is said.

THE MEANING

These words meet you as someone capable of weighing a claim, not merely receiving it. Discernment belongs to wise hearing.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This undoes the belief that reverence requires you to suspend discernment: the words invite examination.

THE ROOT

κρίνετε

krinete

GROWS FROM

κριν

krin

To distinguish, decide, or assess.

The word translated “judge” carries the sense of making a distinction and reaching a decision. Wisdom here is active discernment: the saying is placed before the hearer to be weighed.

ALSO GROWS

krisis: Judgment or decision.

κρίσις

This branch names the act of reaching a judgment, showing that the verse calls for considered evaluation.

kritēs: A judge or evaluator.

κριτής

This branch names the one who makes a distinction, echoing the responsibility given to the hearers.

φρονίμοις

phronimois

GROWS FROM

φρον

phron

Mind, thought, or practical understanding.

“the sensible” in this verse is phronimois. The word for “wise” is connected with thought and practical understanding. The verse links wisdom with the ability to assess what is heard, rather than with unquestioning agreement.

ALSO GROWS

phroneō: To think or set one’s mind.

φρονέω

This branch shows the mental activity associated with being wise in the verse.

phronēsis: Understanding or practical wisdom.

φρόνησις

This branch brings out the practical discernment implied when the hearers are addressed as wise.

THE PATTERN

Wisdom receives words, then tests them before accepting them.

The one who returns a word before he hears it, folly and shame are his.

Proverbs 18:13 · SDVThe verse treats careful hearing before judgment as a mark of wisdom.

These were of nobler birth than those in Thessalonica, who received the word with all eagerness of heart, and sifted the writings daily, whether these things held so.

Acts 17:11 · SDVThey receive the message openly and examine whether it is true.

Test everything, and hold fast to what is good.

1 Thessalonians 5:21 · SDVThe verse joins testing a claim with keeping what proves sound.

THE THREAD

But the one of the breath judges all things, yet he himself is judged by no one.

1 Corinthians 2:15 · SDV

The word translated “judgeth” comes from the same Greek root, ⁨κριν⁩ (krin), meaning to distinguish or assess. This connection opens the verse’s invitation to weigh what is said as part of a wider picture of discernment.

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