False And True Wisdom

by McCubbin, A. D. | Category: Key Truths From Corinthians | Mar 1983

The importance of wisdom was recognized from early times as God gave men skill in the construction of the Tabernacle (Exod. 36:1). Other well known examples were of Solomon, who sought wisdom from God in ruling Israel (1 Kin. 3:9), and Job who assessed the price of wisdom above rubies and equated it with the fear of the Lord (Job 28:18,28). Wisdom involves more than knowledge, and it has been variously defined as the understanding of ultimate things, perception, discernment. Wisdom is an essential attribute of God.

Human Wisdom

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov. 9:10), but many refused to have God in their knowledge, so merely human wisdom developed in certain ancient countries such as Egypt (Acts 7:22) and Babylon (Dan. 2:12). The Greek pursuit of wisdom seems to have begun, according to history, in the sixth century B.C. Initially it involved skill in the arts and sciences, but later as knowledge increased the studies became speculative and obsessional. The men who followed these studies became known as philosophers, which literally means lovers of wisdom. Most Philosophers were arrogant and self-centred; they despised ordinary people. Alongside the philosophies mystic cults developed, where limited numbers were initiated into secret societies. Wisdom became meaningless sophistries (Acts 17:21).

If men did not entirely close their minds to God, at least they reduced God to a part of the creation, a belief which is known as pantheism. Their prime failure was a refusal to recognize God as creator, and to acknowledge His authority over them. The Greek love of wisdom extended to the use of words, which was a speciality of men known as sophists; these were orators who indulged in rhetoric, and sought to evoke praise from their audience by cleverness with words. While Corinth was noted as a commercial rather than an academic centre, there was evidently still a considerable interest and high regard for philosophy. It is perhaps significant that the only well known philosopher who lived in Corinth was Diogenes, a dissolute man who defied conventional life and was a founder of the school known as the Cynics. The measure of the importance attached to wisdom is shown by the occurrence of no less than 26 references to the word group (wisdom/wise) in 1 Corinthians out of about 70 references in the whole of the New Testament.

There is a lengthy condemnation of human wisdom in the opening chapters of 1 Corinthians, where Paul shows that it had brought no real benefit to mankind. The Greeks sought wisdom (1:22), and thought that it would save them without any reference to God (1:21). The wisdom of the age was changing as new ideas were sought to replace those that had failed to answer human needs (2:6). To God all their efforts were foolishness (1:20): He choose the things that men considered foolish to put to shame the wise (1:27). Paul reminds them that when he first came to them he had not used excellency of speech or of wisdom when he proclaimed the testimony of God (2:1), and he emphasized that their faith should stand not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God (2:5). He repeats again that the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God (3:19), and the Lord knows that the reasonings of the wise are vain (3:20). The ultimate foolishness of mankind was shown when human rulers in their pride and wisdom rejected God's salvation, and sentenced the Lord of glory to death (2:8).

The total condemnation of worldly wisdom in this letter shows how deeply rooted was its appeal to the saints in the Church of God. So Paul needed to prove the complete inadequacy of this wisdom, which he attacked as the prime source of dissension among them. The application of human wisdom to spiritual matters is dangerous: at all times, and among other things it has led to various heresies.

The Hidden Wisdom of God

When human wisdom had patently failed and was shown by God to be foolishness, then God revealed the true wisdom, which was personified in Jesus Christ (1:24). This revelation had been planned before time began or the need arose, but in divine wisdom the nature of the revelation had been kept hidden until the appointed time. Although several prophecies had pointed to the coming of the Saviour it was to remain a mystery until the fulness of the time. The climax of the plan was attained in the death of Christ (1:23), where God dealt with the problem of sin in a way that human wisdom could not even have envisaged.

So Paul brought the gospel to Corinth in weakness, fear and much trembling (2:3). This could be partly attributed to a reaction after his encounter with the philosophers at Athens, and partly to an awareness of the proverbial wickedness in Corinth, but more certainly to a sense of insufficiency for preaching the gospel. His presentation was thus not in persuasive words (2:4), for he had no wish to project a personal charisma. He could have shown up the folly of idolatry and pagan rites, or he could have presented Christ as a teacher of wisdom, but instead he came only to preach Christ crucified as the only Saviour of mankind. The effectiveness of the preaching was entirely dependent on the power of the Holy Spirit, and it owed nothing to human presentation. God had no use for worldly wisdom, so He mainly chose those who had little to commend them naturally, that is, not many wise, mighty or noble (1:26). His power alone would transform the apparently hopeless to serve His purposes.

The nature of divine wisdom is described in a composite quotation from the Old Testament as things which eye saw not and ear heard not, and which entered not into the heart of man, whatsoever things God has prepared for those that love Him (2:9). That is, the natural senses and intellect could never appreciate the wisdom of God in Christ. This revelation is not limited to a few specially initiated persons or to the intelligentsia, but God has revealed His wisdom through the Holy Spirit to all those who love Him (2:10). The natural, unregenerate man does not have the Holy Spirit, and hence he has no access to this wisdom, which continues to remain hidden from him.

The Holy Spirit who dwells in the believer knows the deep things of God (2:10), and to such He can reveal the complete knowledge of God's will provided that there is a receptive mind. This is the fulfilment of the promise of Christ to the apostles that the Holy Spirit would teach them all things (John 14:26), but it requires maturity, not perfection, to understand divine wisdom (2:6). This wisdom was not something different from that demonstrated to them in the preaching of the cross, but a deeper understanding of the divine purposes revealed in Christ. Such wisdom will not explain all God's eternal purposes, nor the reasons for the various problems that affect our lives, for many things are set within the Father's own authority, and much is beyond the comprehension of any mortal. This wisdom will give us spiritual discernment to know God and His will for us, but we need to show that desire which moved Paul to say, "that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection" (Phil. 3:10). Then the Holy Spirit will teach us to compare spiritual things with spiritual (2:13), which is rather better expressed as interpreting spiritual truths to those who possess the Spirit (RSV), so that we can all understand the will of God more fully.

Although Paul stayed 18 months on his first visit to Corinth, and subsequently other teachers, such as Apollos, had visited this Church of God, there was a lack of wisdom and discernment, which resulted in strife and divisions. So Paul writing this letter several years later still called them babes (3:1). While Paul is therefore unable to enlarge on this hidden wisdom of God to the Corinthians because of their lack of maturity, despite their many gifts, we can learn more about wisdom and understanding from the later letters of Paul' to the Colossians and Ephesians. For the Ephesians Paul prays that God "may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power in us who believe (Eph. 1:17-19 RSV).

McCubbin, A. D. | Mar 1983
Key Truths From Corinthians