JESUS OUR WISDOM

I have already said that wisdom relates to action – action that leads to success.  In the Old Testament we learn about wisdom.  Wisdom is about practical results – a theological understanding of Godly ethics – the end justifies the means.

Proverbs 9:9-12

9 Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning.

10 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

11 For through me your days will be many, and years will be added to your life.

12 If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you; if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer.”

From the above – who is ‘righteous’?  There is a massive difference between ‘righteous’ and rightness”. Those who think they are righteous are probably self-righteous – they are deluded by pride.  What does the Psalmist record.

Psalm 111:10

10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.

There are several comments to be made about the above:

• The fear of the LORD – this is Holy fear and means the respecting of God’s authority as Sovereign God and thus requiring man’s obedience to His precepts. Precepts are part of God’s commands that man has an option – to obey or to disobey.  This is what God’s preceptive will means.
• Precepts when disobeyed condemn.
• ‘Understanding’ see again Mark 4:12. Born-again ‘understanding’ has to do with the reality that Jesus is your Lord and Saviour and you know this truth in your heart through His Holy Spirit who guides you in Holy Faith (Jude 20-21).

Thus, we come to know what the Apostle Paul had to say –

1 Corinthians 1:18-30

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

19 For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.’

20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

22 Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom,

23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,

24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.

26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.

27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are,

29 so that no one may boast before him.

30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

This is a greatly encouraging truth.  Jesus, God’s Son, is our wisdom from His Father – our Father.  Jesus thus is the born-again elect’s wisdom – the true believer’s total success for now and all eternity – indeed as Paul records Jesus is:

• Our righteousness.  What does ‘righteousness’ actually mean theologically?  It is to do with God’s righteousness not mankind’s ‘rightness’ or ‘self-righteousness’.  Not many people really ‘understand’ this truth.  It is God’s righteousness.
• Thus God’s righteousness is His commitment to do for His people what they cannot do for themselves.  It is the side of His perfect justice that deals with His elects’ rescue and acquittal.  When we trust in Jesus as Lord and Saviour, the Father does not see us – He sees our atoning sacrifice – His Son, for Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
• This word comes from the Hebrew in the Old Testament, Old Covenant.  In Hebrew the word is ‘qds’.  This is defined as ‘cut off’ or ‘separate’. Christians are thus mean to be separate from sin, sins of an evil world that hates God. (Romans 6:1-18).
•   This is a word that in the time of Jesus had to do with paying a price for freedom. A person in slavery – or in this case a slavery to sin and evil – was freed by the paying of a price.  Jesus paid the price.

1 John 1:5

5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.

1 John 2:1-6 AKJV

1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

2 and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.

6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

In the above reference you will notice that Jesus is ‘the atoning sacrifice’.  The Greek word is translated ‘propitiation’.  When this was translated into English a question arose – how to convey the meaning?  Some translations translate ‘expiation’.  However, ‘propitiation’ means the person making the sacrifice – makes the sacrifice, whereas ‘expiation’ means someone else did.  No!!  Jesus is our substitute – no-one else!  He died for you and me!  Do you believe this?  Your eternity depends on this truth from John’s first letter.