What does “as a man thinks, so he is” mean? Today we are starting a Bible study series on the 10 most misunderstood Bible verses. “As a man think, so he is” is an actual verse, or at least part of a verse, but it is one of the most understood passages in the Bible today.

The popular (and wrong) understanding of Proverbs 23:7 focuses on the first half of the verse, “For as he [a man] thinks in his heart, so is he.” I have seen a number of New Age, pagan, and even some Christian teachers take this verse and says that it refers to the “power of mind,” connecting it to affirmations and the claim that we can manifest our own reality. Sometimes the phrase is shorten to “as a man thinks, so he is.” If we only took the King James Version translation (and NKJV), we can see how people might think that this verse supports New Thought beliefs.