2) Jesus is Wisdom

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In the studies on Identity, we saw how many titles are attributed to Jesus in the bible [see Identity – “2) Identity and Jesus”]. Wisdom is not a title of Jesus in that sense but the bible shows that wisdom is revealed through Him:

you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God – that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:30-31)

Wisdom in Jesus is revealed in two ways: firstly, in His teaching and gospel message to His hearers; and secondly, in His Person. That is, Jesus, both instructs us in wisdom and is wisdom. This is in the same manner that Jesus is the Way, Truth and Life as He stated:

Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

It is not just that Jesus shows the Way, teaches the Truth and demonstrates the Life: He IS the Way, the Truth and the Life. When you know the Person, you have knowledge of all these three things too. In the same manner, knowing Jesus means you know Wisdom.

amazed

You may have heard people being referred to as ‘wise sages’ – that is they are known as wise or sagacious persons. This may be because they have gifts, or have spent a long time in study, or indeed have a great deal of experience through a long life. But Jesus is the embodiment of wisdom. Even when only young this was apparent:

Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it … After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers … ‘Why were you searching for me?’ he asked. ‘Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?’ … And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. (Luke 2:41-52)

All of us can learn some wisdom over our lifetimes if we allow our circumstances to teach us. We can also acquire wisdom by observing the way others live. Both these were true of Jesus too. However, because He IS Wisdom, He made such a startling impression as a boy on the religious sages of His day.

The education which Jesus had as a child would have been a combination of being taught the Torah in the synagogue, listening to the scriptures of the Old Testament being expounded every Sabbath, and, of course, a practical education in His trade as a carpenter. It was a basic education for boys. But the education which the Apostle Paul had as a privileged Jewish man went much further:

Then Paul said: ‘I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors (Acts 22:2-3)

Paul was born in what is now Turkey and was sent for intensive religious study to Jerusalem. His sage was Gamaliel who was a notable Jewish teacher in the early first century.

wise

Gamaliel was greatly respected. He not only studied and taught Torah, but he had learned something of wisdom through his life experience. This is why he counselled in the following way when the spread of the church was seen as a serious problem by the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. The Apostles had been arrested by them:

When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honoured by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. Then he addressed the Sanhedrin: ‘Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. Therefore, in the present case I advise you: leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.’ His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. (Acts 5:33-40)

Gamaliel learned from his own experiences and from seeing what happened to others. Genuine learned wisdom can harmonise with God’s Wisdom. However, merely human wisdom can only take us so far.

Perhaps, surprisingly, some worldly sages are even quoted in the bible. This is from Epimenides who was a Cretan philosopher of the first century BC:

One of Crete’s own prophets has said it: ‘Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.’ This saying is true. (Titus 1:12-13)

The validity of truth does not just depend on the degree of human integrity. Atheists can discover truth from the basic wisdom that human life brings. However, again, it can only take us so far.

persecuted

Paul was converted on the Damascus Road whilst engaged in a very unwise activity. He totally ignored the wisdom of his tutor, Gamaliel, and proceeded to persecute Christian believers wherever he could find them and imprison them. However, Jesus was gracious and confronted Paul in the middle of his angry cause:

‘On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. About noon … as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” ‘Then I asked, “Who are you, Lord?” ‘“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” the Lord replied. “Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” (Acts 26:12-18)

Paul had not listened to the learned wisdom of his teacher, Gamaliel, so he had to be confronted by the One who was Wisdom, Jesus. Maybe Paul had actually been affected to some extent by the wisdom which Gamaliel had given. Perhaps it was ignoring this advice which was what troubled his conscience as he pursued this vendetta against the Church.

Another thing that we can learn from Paul’s experience was how easily people can interpret zeal as wisdom:

I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison (Acts 22:3-4)

Zeal can camouflage personal motives which have nothing to do with wisdom. Great enthusiasm can merely demonstrate how self-important a person’s cause is. Of course, zeal is often accompanied by anger and that can be one of the most unreliable indicators that our course of action is actually wise.

power

As a consequence of all this, when Paul began to fulfil that calling to turn people to Jesus, he did so on the basis of divine wisdom:

And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)

Human wisdom will try to convert people to Jesus merely through intellectual means. But Paul had learned that divine Wisdom, in the person of Jesus, comes through the power of the Holy Spirit.

It was this divine power and wisdom from Jesus which made His message so effective. It is why we should pray for power as we share the gospel with others. There was even the case of someone who was not a disciple of Jesus who recognised this important principle:

‘Teacher,’ said John, ‘we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.’ ‘Do not stop him,’ Jesus said. ‘For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us. (Mark 9:38-40)

important

I probably should mention those who give the appearance of wisdom and power and yet who prove in the long term to be duplicitous and hypocritical people. This is inevitable. Jesus predicted it in the parable of the wheat and the weeds (Matthew 13:30). We can make judgments of others based on whether or not their wisdom accords with the bible and the traditional, orthodox practice of the church. We should look also for signs of integrity, righteous living, honesty and especially accountability to others. There have been some Christians who were clever enough to hide their hypocrisy even until after their deaths. This is extremely regrettable but sadly a manifestation of the spiritual warfare in which we are engaged.

Even though wisdom is so important, and Jesus embodies it, God still needs to open our eyes to appreciate that:

Coming to his home town, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. ‘Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?’ they asked. ‘Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? (Matthew 13:54-55)

What to the world is ordinary, is to those who know Jesus the most important thing of all – namely: “you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God”.