A wise person is often thought to be one whose understandings enable successful pursuits in life. However, life is more than receiving rewards for good decisions. Real wisdom is spiritual. While a person may think and act wisely, wisdom is more than good thoughts and activities. Wisdom is a mindset that looks to God for guidance. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 1:7; 9:10; 15:13; see also Job 28:28; Psalm 111:10).
THEISM
“The Lord gives wisdom” (Proverbs 2:6). When Joseph was sold into Egypt, the “LORD was with Joseph” (Genesis 39:2, 21). When Joseph interpreted Pharoah’s dream, Joseph gave full credit to God (Genesis 41:16). Afterward, Pharoah told Joseph, “there is no one as discerning and wise as you” (Genesis 41:39). Joseph was wise because “God was with him . . . and give him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt” (Acts 7:9-10). When the Israelite were at Mt. Sinai, the LORD gave wisdom to Bezalel and Aholiab and other gifted artisans in order that they could make priestly garments for Aaron and his sons (Exodus 28:3) and also gold and silver furnishings for the Tabernacle (Exodus 31:2-11). After Solomon prayed for “an understanding heart” to judge the people (1 Kings 3:9; see also 2 Chronicles 1:10), “God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding and largeness of heart like the sand of the seashore. . . . Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the men of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt” (1 Kings 4:29-30; see also 2 Chronicles 11-12). “All the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart” (1 Kings 10:24; see also 2 Chronicles 9:23). Solomon realized that “God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight” (Ecclesiastes 2:26). When Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego were taken into Babylonian captivity, “God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom” (Daniel 1:7, 17). Their God-given wisdom and understanding was realized by Nebuchadnezzar to be “ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm” (Daniel 1:20). When Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and wanted it interpreted, God revealed it to Daniel. Daniel said, “Blessed be the name of God forever, for wisdom and might are His. . . . He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding” (Daniel 2:1, 19-21). He acknowledged that “You, O God . . . have given me wisdom and might.” (Daniel 2:23). King Artaxerxes recognized that Ezra had “God-given wisdom” (Ezra 7:25). When the Apostle Paul described differing gifts of the Holy Spirit to the Corinthians, he noted that “to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:8). Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians was “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him” (Ephesians 1:17). James instructed early disciples that “if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5). The Apostle Peter realized that the writings of Paul was “according to the wisdom given to him” (2 Peter 3:15).
God can give wisdom because He is wise and mighty. Job said, “God is wise in heart” (Job 9:4). “With Him are wisdom and strength, He has counsel and understanding” (Job 12:13). The Psalmist declared that “Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite” (147:5). In reflecting on the greatness of God’s understanding, Paul wrote, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!” (Romans 11:33). Scripture not only declares that God is wise, but insists that God alone is wise. Paul concluded the Roman letter with the exclamination, “to God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen (16:27). A similar declaration was made to Timothy, “Now to the King eternal, . . . to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen (1 Timothy 1:17). Jude declared, “To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, . . . both now and forever. Amen” (Jude 25).
Creation was accomplished by the wisdom of God. The Psalmist exclaimed, “O LORD, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all” (Psalm 104:24). By wisdom, God “made the heavens” (Psalm 136:5). “The LORD by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding He established the heavens” (Proverbs 3:19). “He has made the earth by His power, He has established the world by His wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens at His discretion” (Jeremiah 10:12; 51:15).
The wisdom of God was manifested through Christ’s work in redeeming mankind from sin. “Since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe” (1 Corinthians 1:21). Although the Jews considered the preaching of Christ a stumbling block and the Greeks thought it foolish, Paul wrote that “to those who are called” Christ is “the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24). Christ “became for us wisdom from God” (1 Corinthians 1:29). Paul declared that he came not to speak “with words of human wisdom,” but “the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory” (1 Corinthians 2:4, 7). To the Ephesians, Paul wrote that in Christ “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence” (Ephesians 1:7-8). Moreover, God intended that “the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ephesians 3:10-11).
In Christ is “hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). During His earthly ministry, the wisdom of Jesus was recognized by those who heard him. When He taught in the synagogue, “many hearing Him were astonished, saying, ‘Where did this man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands!’” (Mark 6:2; see also Matthew 13:54). Jesus Himself declared that “whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall” (Matthew 7:24-27).
Since God alone is wise, since God gives wisdom, since all the treasures of widom and knowledge are in Christ, and since one is wise only if when he hears the words of Jesus he does them, then surely we need to “be doers of the word and not hearers only” (James 1:22). After Moses had instructed the ancient Israelites in the statutes of the LORD, he said, “Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding” (Deuteronomy 4:5-6). Similarly, James wrote that wisdom requires not just understanding, but also righteous activity, “The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy” (James 3:17). “He who gets wisdom loves his own soul; he who keeps understanding will find good” (Proverbs 19:8).
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Copyright ©, April, 2007, by Robert L. Waggoner. Permission is granted to copy and distribute this document for non-profit educational purposes if reproduced in full without additions or deletions. Why not distribute this document to others? For other essays about God and additional information regarding biblical theism, go to the website www.biblicaltheism.com
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