This article is part of the 10 Things You Should Know series.
We Need God’s Wisdom
We live in a world where the amount of knowledge increases at an overwhelming rate. Despite this explosion of knowledge (or perhaps because of it), we find ourselves with an even greater need for wisdom. Human wisdom has its place and its uses, but it is inevitably affected by the effects of the fall and the curse on creation that resulted. What we most desperately need is the wisdom of God.
The expression “wisdom of God” can refer to several different realities. As an attribute of God, it reminds us that God is wise. But the wisdom of God can also refer to something that God reveals and something we, as human beings, must embrace. Understood this way, wisdom refers to the ability to discern good from evil and apply knowledge, skill, and experience in order to live in right relationship with God and others within the world that God made. Finally, the wisdom of God can also refer to a person—the Lord Jesus Christ. So, keep that in mind as we consider these ten things you should know about the wisdom of God.
1. The wisdom of God is rooted in the fear of the Lord.
The Bible makes it clear that if we want to have wisdom, the starting point is the fear of the Lord. Proverbs 9:10 states this truth with refreshing clarity: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” Several other passages make a similar point, each with its own nuance (see Job 28:28; Ps. 111:10; Prov. 1:7). The kind of fear described here is not being afraid of something or someone, but a profound reverence and awe of who he is and a willing submission to his sovereign rule over us and the world.
In this addition to the Short Studies in Biblical Theology series, Matthew S. Harmon explores God’s wisdom throughout Scripture from Eden to the new creation, finding its fullest expression in the person of Christ.
2. The wisdom of God comes to us by revelation.
As the source of wisdom, God is the only one who can give wisdom. Proverbs 2:6 states it succinctly: “For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.” King Solomon understood this truth. When Yahweh appeared to him and invited Solomon to ask for anything, Solomon asked for wisdom to rule over Israel (1 Kings 3:1–14). Centuries later, Daniel, when confronted with the need to know the king’s dream and its interpretation (Dan. 2:1–16), prayed for God to reveal it to him (Dan. 2:17–19). When God answered his prayer, Daniel praised God as the one who has given him wisdom (Dan. 2:20–23). James 1:5 makes it clear that God offers wisdom to everyone: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”
3. The wisdom of God is embedded within creation itself.
While it is true that God must reveal his wisdom, it is also true that he has embedded his wisdom within creation itself. It is evident in the way he made this world. Genesis 1–2 clearly implies this by stressing the orderliness and beauty of creation. Psalm 104:24 affirms this when it states, “O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.” Proverbs 3:19–20 strikes a similar note: “The LORD by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens; by his knowledge the deeps broke open, and the clouds drop down the dew.” Simply by observing how the world around us works, we see God’s wisdom on display.
4. The wisdom of God and human wisdom sometimes align.
Because God has embedded his wisdom within creation itself, even those who do not know him can recognize his wisdom. Proverbs is full of observations about how the world generally works that even the most ardent atheist can affirm. Consider, for example, Proverbs 6:6–10:
Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest . . .
The point this passage makes is that laziness usually results in not having even the basic necessities of life, while hard work (as a general rule) enables one to have them. This truth can often be seen in our everyday experience, and it aligns with what God has revealed as wisdom in Scripture.
5. The wisdom of God and human wisdom often conflict.
But human wisdom and God’s wisdom do not always align. This contrast between God’s wisdom and human wisdom is at the heart of the gospel itself, as Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 1:21 when he writes “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.” To those who are wise in the world’s eyes, the gospel seems foolish, since it is predicated on God’s grace shown in Christ. Because of this frequent tension between human/worldly wisdom and God’s wisdom, Proverbs 3:5–7 exhorts us to “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.”
Knowing the person who is the embodiment of wisdom is far better than knowing an abstract concept of wisdom.
6. The wisdom of God is an attribute that unites his other attributes.
All that God is and all that he does is shaped by wisdom. Thus, his love is a wise love, his justice is a wise justice, etc. After a lengthy explanation of God’s redemptive purposes for both Jews and Gentiles (Rom. 9–11), Paul concludes by exclaiming “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Rom. 11:33). Even in the midst of his unexplained suffering, Job affirms that “With God are wisdom and might; he has counsel and understanding.” (Job 12:13). Thus, in the ultimate sense, God is on the only being who is truly wise (Rom. 16:27), since he alone sees the beginning from the end and knows all things.
7. The wisdom of God is routinely reviled by human beings.
Although we can look at Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God from multiple angles, one that is often neglected is that their sin was a rejection of God’s wisdom. The serpent tempts Eve by saying that if she eats from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, she “will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:5). The following verse reveals that part of her thought process is that eating from the tree would make her wise (Gen. 3:6). Instead of submitting to God’s revealed wisdom that she should not eat from the tree, she decided to determine right and wrong for herself. When Paul describes humanity’s rebellion against God, he also frames it in terms of rejecting God’s wisdom: “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things” (Rom. 1:21–23). In our natural state, we revile God’s wisdom because we want the freedom to do as we wish.
8. The wisdom of God is reverberated in this life.
God does not permit his wisdom to be reviled without consequence. He vindicates it in many ways, such as allowing the natural results of sin come to fruition. But when it comes to God’s wisdom in the gospel itself, one of the surprising ways he reverberates it is in the church. Paul argues this in Ephesians 3:8–10 when he writes, “To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”
9. The wisdom of God will be fully consummated in the new creation.
Although the pattern of God revealing his wisdom, human beings reviling, and God reverberating it runs throughout Scripture and history, there will come a day when that pattern ends. In the new creation, God’s wisdom will be fully on display as his redeemed people live out their identity as divine image-bearers. Revelation 22:3–5 gives us a glimpse of this reality: In the New Eden, “no longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.” What a glorious reality to reflect on that in the new creation there will not even be the possibility of reviling God’s wisdom!
10. The wisdom of God is embodied by Jesus Christ.
The wisdom of God is more than an attribute of God or something we as human beings need. Part of what separates Christianity from all other worldviews and belief systems is that the wisdom of God took on flesh and dwelt among us. Although Proverbs 8:22–36 foreshadowed this reality, Colossians 2:3 makes this truth crystal clear when it says that in Christ “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Knowing the person who is the embodiment of wisdom is far better than knowing an abstract concept of wisdom. Through the gospel, Jesus Christ, the wisdom of God, takes up residence in our lives not merely to know wisdom but to live it out in the power of the Spirit.
Matthew S. Harmon is the author of The Wisdom of God: Revealed, Reviled, and Reverberated.
