God only wise

To God our Saviour, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen. – Jude 1v25


Man has always sought wisdom. I guess of all cultures the ancient Greeks would have been the most obvious. They called their intellectual icons philosophers, or ‘lovers of wisdom.’ In the eighteenth century France had her philosophes whose goal was to use human reason to come to wisdom.

The Bible addresses the whole concept of Greek philosophy in 1 Corinthians 1.

Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For 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. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption that, as it is written, "He who glories let him glory in the Lord.."

It is obvious that the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God are not going to match up – they are contrary to each other. Here in Jude we read that God alone is wise and since He is the only One who is truly wise then His wisdom is the only true wisdom. True philosophers are those who love the only true wisdom found in Christ.

According to the world’s wisdom, typified here by the Greeks, the cross is foolishness. It makes no sense according to worldly philosophy that a Saviour would die on a cross of shame. It makes no sense that an all knowing, all seeing, all powerful God would choose to use the weak and base and ignorant and foolish things of this world to do His work.

But even the foolishness of God is greater than the greatest wisdom of men. The cross is the wisdom and the power of God. By means of the cross all human wisdom is made foolish.

God alone is wise. His wisdom is the only wisdom. Even, as Paul put it, if God had some measure of foolishness it would be superior the wisest of the wisdom of men.

God is not opposed to learning. We have to learn some things of the world to survive and minister. We must remember that the pursuit of that knowledge and awareness of the world does not allow us to be detracted from our pursuit of God and His wisdom. God uses Proverbs to keep our focus on His wisdom. Proverbs 4v7 puts it like this – ‘Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore, get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.’

Lets just make sure that we understand that we need to put pursue the wisdom that comes from the only One who is really wise.