“Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a
wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing
away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God
predestined before the ages to our glory…” 1 Corinthians 2:6 – 7.
In verse 5 Paul writes “…that
your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.” Is
there not an irony that we often exegete this passage according to “the wisdom
of men”? We employ our scientific methods to the Divine text, putting it under
our historical-critical microscope. We subject Scripture to testing, rather
than submit our hearts to be tested by the Holy Spirit and Scripture. We want
the Judge to step down from the bench so that we may take His place.
Where might we find the mature so
that we might share God’s hidden wisdom in a mystery? In 1 Corinthians 3:1 Paul
writes, “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to
men of flesh, as to infants in Christ.” And then there is this in Hebrews:
“For though by this time you
ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the
elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and
not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the
word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature,
who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.”
(Hebrews 5:12 – 14).
Only the Christocentric can respond
to this idea of hidden wisdom in a mystery. Only those who are crucified with
Christ can cross the threshold of this mysterious wisdom. Only those who cry
out to God to deliver them from pride and vanity, and plead to be shown the
face of God, can behold Him, in some measure, on the Mount of Transfiguration,
can see His glory in the Throne Room. Only those who fear, who deeply and
greatly fear, their own ego and self-righteousness can catch a glimpse of the
glory of the mysterious wisdom of God.
A dilemma in all of this is that
we cannot know our own hearts, so all we can do is to throw ourselves, by the
grace of God, on His mercy; asking Him to transform us into the image of His
beloved Son, trusting Him to will and to work in us His good pleasure.
The great temptation, when we
learn, when we touch the hidden wisdom of God (or better yet are touched by His
wisdom), is to make merchandise of that wisdom – to peddle the Word of God, to
be puffed up, to consider ourselves something special, to think of ourselves as
“insiders”. This is why a deep Christocentricity must be the taproot of our soul
lest we turn into Gnostics. Consider Paul’s words to the Colossians:
“For I want you to know how great
a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all
those who have not personally seen my face, that their hearts may be
encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth
that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true
knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this so that no one will
delude you with persuasive argument. For even though I am absent in body,
nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and
the stability of your faith in Christ.
Therefore as you have received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now
being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were
instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.”
It must be Christ today, Christ
yesterday, and Christ tomorrow. It must be Jesus Christ and Him crucified so
that our faith and lives do not rest on the wisdom of men, or the pseudo wisdom
of Gnostics (even though they be “Christian” Gnostics), but on the power of God
in the Person of Jesus Christ. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 8:1, “…Knowledge
puffs up, but love edifies.”
Lest we think, “That would never
happen to me. I would never be puffed up. I can handle God’s mysterious wisdom responsibly”,
consider what Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12:7:
“Because of the surpassing
greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself,
there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to
keep me from exalting myself!”
Well now, if this was the case
with Paul, are we fools enough to think that we can touch the mysterious wisdom
of God without the extreme danger of exalting ourselves?
Perhaps this danger is greater
today than it was in Paul’s time. After all, today we have mass marketing. We
have social media. We are driven by numbers and fame (all of course to the
glory of God). Why not induce others to marvel at our wisdom and special understanding
as we market ourselves and mass produce books and ancillary material? Surely
God will understand that it is all for His glory.
Yes, to be sure there is a danger
in touching the holy things of God, in being touched by God’s mysterious wisdom
in Jesus Christ. Yes, there will always be caricatures of God’s hidden wisdom
(hidden in Jesus Christ). But this must not mean that we do not pursue Christ
with all that we are, it must not mean that we do not seek Him and His
mysterious wisdom, hidden in Him, with all that we are.
It must mean that we live lives
that are looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith – it must
mean that our lives belong to Him, it must mean that for us life is: Jesus
first, Jesus last, Jesus always.
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