Jesus was the greatest wise man

JESUS WAS THE GREATEST WISE MAN
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
1 Corinthians 1:30
Verse Concepts
But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from
God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,
1 Corinthians 1:24
Verse Concepts
but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christthe power of
God and the wisdom of God.
Colossians 2:3
Verse Concepts
in whom are hidden all the treasures ofwisdom and knowledge.
Luke 2:40
Verse Concepts
The Child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and
the grace ofGod was upon Him.
Luke 2:52

Verse Concepts
And Jesus keptincreasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and
men.
Matthew 13:54
Verse Concepts
He came to His hometownand beganteaching them in their synagogue, so
that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man getthis wisdom and
these miraculous powers?
Source:https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Christ~s-Wisdom
Jesus:The Wisdom of God
Nicholas T. Batzig/0/Christology, Featured, Headline, JonathanEdwards
Wisdom of God
In his Unpublished Essayon the Trinity Jonathan Edwards gives one of the
strongestarguments for the idea that Christ is the very “wisdomof God.” He
wrote:

But that the Son of God is God’s owneternal and perfect idea is a thing we
have yet much more expresslyrevealedin God’s Word. First, in that Christ is
called“the wisdom of God.” If we are taught in the Scripture that Christ is
the same with God’s wisdom or knowledge, then it teaches us that He is the
same with God’s perfect and eternal idea. They are the same as we have
already observedand I suppose none will deny. But Christ is said to be the
wisdom of God (I Cor. 1:24, Luke 11:49, compare with Matt. 23:34); and how
much doth Christ speak in Proverbs under the name of Wisdom especiallyin
the 8th chapter.1
While some might take issue with Edwards language of the Son of God being
“God’s own eternaland perfect idea,” his scripture proofs for Christ being
the wisdomof God canhardly be disputed. In Luke 11:49-51 we read,
“Therefore also the Wisdom of Godsaid, ‘I will send them prophets and
apostles, some ofwhom they will kill and persecute,’so thatthe blood of all the
prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be chargedagainstthis
generation,fromthe blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished
betweenthe altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this
generation.” In Matthew 23:34-35 we read, “Therefore Isend you prophets
and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some
you will flog in your synagogues andpersecute from town to town, so that on
you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of
innocent Abel to the blood of Zechariah the sonof Barachiah, whomyou
murdered betweenthe sanctuary and the altar.”
The Lord Jesus is speaking in both of these accounts. He is tying the past
history of the Jewishleaders to His present ministry by reminding them of
their spiritual predecessors murdered the ministers of the word of God. In
Luke’s accountJesus says, “The wisdomof God said, ‘I will send them.” In
Matthew’s accountJesus says, “Isend you prophets, wise men and scribes..”
It is a fairly straightforwardconclusion. Jesus referredto Himself as “the
wisdom of God” in this passage.

Of course we are all comfortable saying that in Christ are hidden all the
treasures of wisdomand knowledge, but are we as comfortable calling Jesus
“the wisdom of God.” The other text to which Edwards appeals provides
further support of this idea. In 1 Corinthians 1:22-24 we read, “ForJews
demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a
stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christthe power of God and the wisdom of God. ”
Later in 1 Corinthians 1, we are told that Jesus “has become for us wisdom”
(1 Cor. 1:30). The Holy Spirit indicates that Christ is the powerof God and
the wisdomof God. This also has implications for how we read Proverbs 8.
Mostof the older Reformed theologians were unashamedof interpreting it
Christologically. Theyhad solid support in Scripture for doing so.
In the incarnation and the work of redemption that Son of God–who is the
eternal wisdom of God–“has become forus wisdom from God” Do we think of
Jesus in this way? Do our lives in the workplace, athome, and in our
conversations reflectthat we believe Jesus Christ to be the wisdom of God–
and our wisdom? If we want wisdom and knowledge we must see that He is
that to us in His death, burial and resurrection. If anyone lacks wisdomlet
him ask of God who gives liberally and without reproach and it will be given
to him. But let him ask in faith.
1. JonathanEdwards An Unpublished Essayon the Trinity (New York:
Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1903)p. 75 ff.

The Wisdom of Jesus
Jesus was a story-teller and a speakerofgreat"one-liners."
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Excerpted from "Wisdomof the Carpenter" by Ron Miller, with permission
from Ulysses Press.
Jesus'wisdomteaching takes two classic forms:parables and aphorisms.
Jesus'parables were provocative and often surprising short stories that
invited reflection, and his aphorisms were brief, memorable, arresting
sayings. They are invitational forms of speech, inviting people to see in a
particular way, or to see something they might not otherwise.
Thus, one of the most certain things that we know about Jesus is that he was a
story-teller and a speakerofgreat"one-liners." Moreover, he used these
invitational forms of speechto suggesta way of seeing that was most often
quite different from conventional wisdom. Conventional wisdom is "what
everybody knows," the cultural consensus ofa given time and place. Jesus'
stories and one-liners undermine the conventional wisdomof his time and
every time, and invite us, like his original hearers, to see life quite differently.
In this sense, they are subversive wisdom.
In the gospels, the short sayings of Jesus are most often collectedinto a series
of sayings. This is perfectly natural in written documents.
But this is not how Jesus would have spokenthem. Jesus was an oralteacher.
As an oral teacher, Jesus wouldnot have strung a bunch of unrelated sayings
togetherin an extended series. To follow a greatone-liner like "Leave the

dead to bury the dead" with another one-liner like "No one who puts his hand
to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God" with another one-
liner like "Foxes have holes, and birds have nests, but humans have nowhere
to lay their heads" would have been pedagogicallycounterproductive. It is
impossible to imagine in an oralsituation. His hearers neededtime to digest
what had just been said.
[There is a] distinction betweenthe historical Jesus and the Jesus we meet in
the pages ofthe gospel. The former (sometimes called"the pre-EasterJesus")
is the subjectof the quest for the historicalJesus. The Jesus we meeton the
pages of the gospels (calledvariously "the post-EasterJesus" or"the
canonicalJesus")is what Jesus became in the experience and developing
traditions of the early Christian movement in the decades afterJesus'
death..Thus, in some of these sayings, we hearthe voice of Jesus, orat leastan
echo of it. In others, we hear what he had become in the experience and
thought of his first followers.
Jesus was more than a wisdom teacher, of course. In the judgment of most
historicalscholars, he was also a remarkable healer-more healing stories are
told about him than about any other figure in the Jewishtradition.
Mostscholars also see him as a prophet, like the great socialprophets of the
Hebrew Bible, figures like Amos, Micah, and Jeremiah. Like them, Jesus was
a voice of God-intoxicated religious socialprotestagainst"the powers that
be"-an economicallyexploitative domination system not only ruled but
designedby elites of wealth and power in their own narrow self-interest.
And, in the judgment of some scholars (including me), Jesus was also a Jewish
mystic for whom God was an experiential reality. Indeed, I think Jesus'

mystical experience, coupledwith a brilliant and poetic intellect, is the best
explanation of his wisdom teaching. He taught differently because he had seen
differently.
For Christians, both in the first century and today, Jesus is more than even
this, of course. In the language ofChristian affirmation, he is also the messiah,
Lord, Son of God, Word of God, lamb of God, light of the world, bread of life,
way and truth, resurrection and life, and more. The carpenterfrom Nazareth
made it big.
And, of course, he was killed. Even though Jesus'death is at the very center of
Christian perceptions of Jesus, we seldomtake sufficiently seriously that he
didn't simply die-he was executed. Christians live in the only major religious
tradition in the world whose founder was executedby establishedauthority.
We have domesticatedthat fact in many ways-by speaking of it as the will of
God, as the necessarysacrificeforsin, and so forth.
But it was not Jesus'wisdomteaching alone that gothim killed. Indeed, had
he been only a wisdom teacher, he almost certainly would not have been
arrestedand executed. We need to remember that there was something about
this figure that moved the authorities-the elites of power and wealth-to do
awaywith him. They were not simply mistakenin their perceptionof him as
an advocate of a vision that threatened the "normalcy" of the socialorder
they had created. "The wisdomof the carpenter" is the wisdom of one who
was executedby the powers that rule this world. Jesus'wisdomdoes subvert
the normalcy of life.
In his novel The Last Temptation of Christ, Nikos Kazantzakis imagines that
Jesus as a carpenter sometimes made crossesforthe Romans to use to execute

Jews suspectedof subversion. It is a haunting image:Jesus making his own
cross.
Of course, it is fiction, but metaphorically it works well. The wisdom of the
carpenteris crystallized in the way of the cross:"If any want to become my
followers, letthem deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me"
(Mark 8:34). And the wisdom of Jesus, along with what else he was, led to the
cross. The story of Jesus, and the wisdom of Jesus, is both personaland
political, both spiritual and social.
https://www.beliefnet.com/faiths/christianity/2003/01/the-wisdom-of-
jesus.aspx
The Wisdom of Jesus
July 19, 2020 BackgroundScripture: Mark 6:1 – 6; 7:1 – 23 LessonPassage:
Mark 6:1 – 6 Many young adults have been frustrated while trying to lead
ministries in congregations theyhad grown up around. The members of those
congregations were initially very complimentary of them. However, when they
attempted to show some true leadership of the ministry, they were quickly
reprimanded and reminded that the older members remembered when they
were born. They didn’t mind cheering you own for getting involved in some
church work, but they were not about to let you tell them how to do it
differently. They knew your place and they expectedyou to stay in your place.
They were happy that you “went off to college and graduated” and came back
home. They don’t know why you are acting different now and appearing to
know more than they know. Many young adults were frustrated to the point
of either giving up on ministry or finding a totally different church to join.
They could not continue to do what they were doing without some answers to

their dilemma. What they needed more than anything was the wisdom of
Jesus. It is difficult deciding where to start when it comes to talking about the
wisdom of Jesus. Everything we think we know about salvationis because of
Jesus’teaching. Certainly, everything we know about God is basedon the
knowledge Jesussharedabout the Father. We didn’t even know that we could
call God “our Father”. Jesus taughtthat a person’s connectionwith God
should not be a religionbut rather a personalrelationship. Yes, it is difficult
for us, and yet, this is the only way we have known Jesus. Whatabout those
who knew Jesus “back in the day”? How about the ones who saw him growing
up as a boy? Our lesson’s textgives the answerto those questions. People who
knew Jesus as a boy could not readily accepthim as a man. The wisdom he
shared with them while he taught astonishedthem. The problem was they
could not receive his wisdom because they thought they alreadyknew him.
And the Jesus they knew did not have this type of wisdom. They knew
everything there was to know about him. They knew his daddy, momma,
brothers, and sisters. Where does he getoff acting like he’s somebodyelse?
Sadly, they were so familiar with the boy Jesus in Nazareththat they could
not acceptthe man who was teaching an uncommon doctrine and working
miracles. Before Jesus’trip home, he had healeda woman who had been
hemorrhaging for twelve years and raiseda little girl from the dead in
Jerusalem. But after he arrived at home, he could only lay hands on a few sick
people and heal them. There was too much doubt and mental rejectionof his
ministry for the homefolks to receive the miracles that perfect strangers had
glorified God for in Jerusalem. This prompted Jesus to say that a prophet is
honored except at home and among his relatives. It requires wisdom to know
that there are some people who cannot bring themselves to allow you to bless
them. It requires wisdom to be able to help a few people when so many need it
but will not receive it. It requires wisdomto know when it is time to move on
to other places where your gifts will make room for you. Jesus demonstrated
that type of wisdom. RobertC. Hudson June 29, 2020
Postedby Robert C. Hudson, Pastorat 9:28 AM

Jesus as Wisdom Teacherby Cynthia Bourgeault
When I talk about Jesus as a wisdom master, I need to mention that in the
NearEast“wisdomteacher” is a recognizedspiritual occupation. In seminary
I was taught that there were only two categories ofreligious authority: one
could be a priest or a prophet. That may be how the tradition filtered down to
us in the West. But within the wider NearEast(including Judaism itself),
there was also a third, albeit unofficial, category:a moshel moshelim, or
teacherof wisdom, one who taught the ancient traditions of the
transformation of the human being.
These teachers oftransformation—among whom I would place the authors of
the Hebrew wisdomliterature such as Ecclesiastes, Job, and Proverbs—may
be the early precursors to the rabbi whose task it was to interpret the law and
lore of Judaism (often creating their owninnovations of each). The hallmark
of these wisdom teachers was their use of pithy sayings, puzzles, and parables
rather than prophetic pronouncements or divine decree. Theyspoke to people
in the language that people spoke, the language of story rather than law.
Wisdom JesusParables, suchas the stories Jesus told, are a wisdom genre
belonging to mashal, the Jewishbranch of universal wisdom tradition. As we
shall see shortly, Jesus not only taught within this tradition, he turned it end
for end. But before we canappreciate the extraordinary nuances he brought
to understanding human transformation, we need first to know something
about the context in which he was working.
There has been a strong tendency among Christians to turn Jesus into a
priest—“ourgreathigh priest” (see Letter to the Hebrews). The image of
Christos Pantokrator(“Lord of All Creation”)dressedin splendid

sacramentalrobes has dominated the iconography of both Easternand
WesternChristendom. But Jesus was not a priest. He had nothing to do with
the temple hierarchy in Jerusalem, and he kept a respectful distance from
most ritual observances.Norwas he a prophet in the usual sense ofthe term:
a messengersentto the people of Israelto warn them of impending political
catastrophe in an attempt to redirect their hearts to God. Jesus was not that
interestedin the political fate of Israel, nor would he acceptthe role of
Messiahcontinuouslybeing thrust upon him.
His messagewas notone of repentance (at leastin the usual way we
understand it; more on that later this week)and return to the covenant.
Rather, he stayedclose to the ground of wisdom: the transformation of human
consciousness. He askedthose timeless and deeply personalquestions:What
does it mean to die before you die? How do you go about losing your little life
to find the biggerone? Is it possible to live on this planet with a generosity,
abundance, fearlessness, andbeauty that mirror Divine Being itself?
These are the wisdomquestions, and they are the entire field of Jesus’
concern.
Reference:
Adapted from Cynthia Bourgeault, The Wisdom Jesus:Transforming Heart
and Mind—A New Perspective onChrist and His Message(Shambhala:
2008), 23-24.
The wisdom and teachings of Jesus

Sunday SchoolLesson
July 14, 2020
Rev. James Temples
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Mark 6:1-6
The Biblical accounts ofthe life and ministry of Jesus Christ of Nazareth are
found in the books knownas The Gospels. The four books, that carry this
message, were writtenby men who were “inspired by the Holy Spirit” (see II
Timothy 3:16; I1 Peter1:21) as they penned the various scenes. The first three
books have been described by Biblical scholars as the “synoptic Gospels.”
These accounts give an overview of the works and ministry of the Son of God.
Of the four writers, two — Matthew and John — were disciples, who followed
Jesus, as He ministered in the towns and cities of that day. It is, generally,
acceptedthat Mark — thought he might have been a part of the “multitude”
— receivedmost of his Recordfrom the Apostle Peter. Luke gathered his
material from “eyewitnesses.”Luke 1:2. The messageofthe Apostle John
focusedon the teachings givenby Jesus. Byreading all of the accounts, and
observing the scenes through the eyes of various individuals, we can obtain a
clearerpicture of the events that unfolded at that time in history.
The early part of the fast-moving Gospelof Mark shows the ministry of our
Lord, as He focusedHis messageonthe “kingdom of God.” This was not the
first time many of these hearers had heard this phrase. This theme had been

first introduced by John the Baptist. This young followerof our Lord
addressedhis accountto the Romans. These people — being greatwarriors —
would expect to see events unfold in a “rapid-fire” rate. In his account, Mark
used the term “immediately” seventeentimes. He used the word
“straightway” nineteentimes in this inspired Book. These two words are
translated from the same Greek word.
Many miracles were performed by the Son of God. Obviously, this factwould
draw much attention to the “Carpenterfrom Nazareth.” His early ministry
carried Jesus to many different areas ofthe country. After some time, “he
went out from thence (‘there’ was, probably, Capernaum [Davis]), and came
into his own country [Nazareth]; and his disciples did follow him.” Mark 6:1.
The Recordis clearconcerning the actions of our Lord. Mark recorded, “And
when the sabbath day was come, he began to teachin the synagogue…”Mark
6:2. As Luke recordedthis scene, he reminded his readers — the Greeks —
saying, “as his custom was, he went into the synagogue onthe sabbath day,
and stoodup for to read.” Luke 4:16. The scrolls were givento our Lord.
These scrolls were the Book of Isaiah. “And when he opened the book, he
found the place where it was written…” Luke 4:17b. He read from the portion
we know as Isaiah61:1, 2a. These hearers ofold were familiar with these
gracious words. Theyhad been taught that these words described the coming
PromisedOne — the Messiah. Whenthe “HometownBoy” said, “This day is
this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4:21), the lethargic hearers paid
closerattention than usual. Mark recorded, “and many hearing him were
astonished, saying, From whence (where) hath this man these things?” Mark
6:2b. Since these people had “knownHim all of this life”, they continued their
inward — and possibly outward — questions. “…And what wisdom is this
which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought (worked)
by his hands?” Mark 6:2c.

The adage “Familiaritybreeds contempt” carries some accuracy. These
people asked, “Is not this the carpenter, the sonof Mary, the brother of
James, and Joses, and of Judah, and Simon? and are not his sisters with us?”
Mark 6:3a, b. This “personalknowledge” would not allow these hearers to
apply the words that they had heard to this “one we know all about.” Mark
wrote, “And they were offended (scandalized) at him.” Mark 6:3c.
Luke recordedthe discussionthat followed this “feeling of contempt.” Jesus
mentioned two Old Testamentsituations describing the mercy of God —
Jehovah— being shownto the despisedGentiles — non-Jews. Theirhistory
recordedmany needy Jews in the land, but these Gentiles were given help
because oftheir faith in the words of the prophets. These illustrations raised
greathatred in that congregation. “And [they] rose up, and thrust (expelled)
him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill whereontheir city was
built, that they might casthim down headlong. But he passing through the
midst of them went his way.” Luke 4:29, 30.
Our Lord told this agitatedcrowd, “A prophet is not without honour, but in
his owncountry, and among his own kin, and in his ownhouse.” Mark 6:4.
Even in this turmoil, there were people who needed His powerful touch. Mark
recorded, “And he could there do no mighty work, save (except) that he laid
his hands upon a few sick folk, and healedthem.” Mark 6:5.
Very few times in Scripture do we read of Jesus being “marveled” or amazed.
However, this day was one of these occasions. “Andhe marvelled because of
their unbelief.” Mark 6:6a. The Divine Recordshows that this place of
“unacceptance” did not stop the work of God in that land — “And he went
round about the villages, teaching.” Mark 6:6b. Luke gives us more detail.
“But he passing through the midst of them [those determined to lynch Him]
went his way, And he came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught
them on the sabbath days.” Luke 4:312. The messageand works continued

un-hindered. “And they [all hearers]were astonishedat his doctrine: for his
word was with power(authority).” Luke 4:32.
Years later, the Apostle Peter wrote to “the strangers scatteredthroughout”
many areas (1 Peter1:1) concerning their/our Lord, and the expected
personalresponsibility. He wrote of “Christ…leaving us an example (pattern)
that ye [we] should follow his steps…” 1 Peter2:21. We must be willing to
“share the GoodNews” with any personor group that is part of our life. Our
words might or might not be accepted. We are not responsible for the
outcome, but we are responsible for our personalfaithfulness. May we always
remember our calling — “Ye shall be witnesses unto me…” Acts 1:8.
In meditating on the various names and titles of Jesus in the Holy Scripture,
we want to meditate a bit right now on the conviction that Jesus is God’s
Wisdom, the chokhmah or the sophia of God. When the Scripture speaks
about Jesus as the Word, it’s very clearthat there’s a definite article, that
Jesus is the Word of God. But it would follow, even if we would have no
Biblical texts, that if Jesus really is the Word of God, the Son of God, the
Logos, then he must also be the Wisdom, because where God’s Word is, there
is the Wisdom of God.
According to the whole skopos ofScripture, particularly what is calledthe
“Wisdomliterature” in the Old Testament—the Psalms andthe Proverbs and
Ecclesiastes;the Wisdom of Solomon; the Wisdom of Jesus, Sonof Sirach—
the human beings are called to pursue wisdom; above all things, to get
wisdom; that the wisdomthat abides with God’s throne, as Sirachputs it, is

what human beings should seek afterand desire and want more than anything
else;that it is more precious than gold, sweeterthan honey.
In the Bible, the worst possible condition that a human being canbe in is to be
a fool—“The foolsays in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ ”—to be foolish, to go
astray, to wander, to be in darkness. And what one must get is wisdom and
understanding and knowledge.
But here we want to see from the beginning that there is a very special
characterto wisdom in the Bible. It’s different from knowledge. In fact, in the
tradition, there is always a distinction made betweenthe sophia, the wisdom,
and the gnosis, the knowledge;or, in Latin, the sapientia, the wisdom, [and]
the scientia, where you get the English word “science,” whichis knowledge.
And wisdom—we try to define it quickly for our purposes today—is not
simply factualknowledge orinformation or data. It’s insight into the very
nature of things, the reality of things. To use patristic language, it’s the
knowledge ofthe Logos ofreality whereby you know things’ significance,
their meaning, their relationship to everything else, their purpose. And
knowing those things, then you know how to relate to them, and you know
how to use them. You might even saythat wisdom is a kind of a practical
application of knowledge.
Wisdom is not only knowing things, it’s knowing what to do with them,
knowing how to deal with them, knowing how to treat them, knowing how to
use them, knowing what is appropriate, what is inappropriate, and knowing it
very existentially, vitally, in life itself. For example, what the present moment
would demand, or what would be the right solution in this particular instance,
or what would be the best wayof proceeding:this is wisdom.

Here, of course, the teaching of Scripture would be very clear, that God is
wise. “In wisdom, he creates allthings,” it says in Scripture. “In wisdomhas
he made them all.” That wisdom, in the Wisdom literature, for example, in
Proverbs 8 or in the Wisdom of Solomon, you have it said that basically, God
is always acting with his Wisdom. He is doing everything. And in the
Scriptures, there is even a personificationof Wisdom. Wisdom speaks inthe
first person: “I, Wisdom, dwell in prudence. I find knowledge anddiscretion.”
So you have this expressionof Wisdom somehow personified, Wisdom acting.
You have, for example, in Provebers 8, which was a very debated text in
understanding Jesus Christ, it being saidthat
the Lord (Kyrios, Yahweh) createdme (or fashioned me) at the begin-ning of
his work, the first of his acts of old. Ages ago I was set up. At the first, before
the beginning of the earth, when there were no depths, I, Wisdom, was
brought forth. When there were no springs abounding with water, before the
mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth. Before he
had made the earth with its fields or the first of the dust of the world.
When he establishedthe heavens, I was there. When he drew a circle on the
face of the deep; when he made firm the skies above;when he establishedthe
fountains of the deep; when he assignedto the sea its limits, so that the waters
might not transgress his command; when he marked out the foundations of
the earth, then I was beside him, I, Wisdom (Sophia, the chokhmah of God).
It says, “Like a master workman”—inGreek that would be “demi-urgos,” the
one by whom and through whom God acts—“Iwas daily his delight, rejoicing
before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world, delighting in the sons of
man.” And then Wisdom continues:

Now, my sons, listen to me: Happy are those who keepmy ways. Hear
instruction. Be wise. Do not neglectit. Happy is the man who listens to me,
Wisdom, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. Forhe who
finds me, Wisdom, finds life and obtains favor from the Lord. But he who
misses me injures himself. All who hate me, Wisdom, actually love death.
So we have this, what we could call “hypostasization” ofWisdom, in the
writings of the Old Testament. And here, because “chokhmah” is feminine in
Hebrew, the Wisdom is presented as a “she,” and so when a man or a woman,
a human being, is loving wisdom, it speaks about“her”:“I loved her as my
bride. I saw her; I wanted her. I lived for her. I did everything to gether.”
And when Wisdom is spokenof in a pronoun in the Bible, it’s often spokenof
as “she.” Forexample, in Proverbs 9, it says:
Wisdom has built her house. She has setup her seven pillars. She has
slaughteredher beasts. She has mixed her wine. She also has set her table. She
has sentout her maids to call from the highestplaces in the town: “Whoeveris
simple, let him turn in here.” To him who is without sense, she says, “Come,
eat of my bread. Drink of the wine I have mixed. Leave simpleness, and live,
and walk in the wayof insight.”
So you have this expressionof Wisdom as a bride, one to be courted, one to be
found, one to be loved.
In our modern time, of course there are movements and various places in
Russia and the West, where wisdom is somehow evenconsideredto be a
feminine element in God, a kind of divine feminine, and that “sophia” may
even be consideredto be a kind of a counterpart to “logos,”sortof a feminine
counterpart, that logos is the masculine, so chokhmah or sophia is the
feminine and so on. And there is that kind of sophiologicaltradition—Jakob

Böhme, Berdyaev in Russia, Bulgakov, Florensky, Solovyov, who had a vision
of Sophia, the Wisdom of God, as a beautiful woman, clothed in red in the
Egyptian desert and so on. So there is this contemplation of wisdom as a
feminine element.
But here [what] we have to sayvery clearly is, according to Orthodox
Christianity, there is no masculine and no feminine in God at all. God is God.
God is not like anything in creation. Godis beyond even being. You could
even say that God is not being. As Gregory Palamas said, “If God is, I am not.
If I am, God is not.” If we callGod “being,” then I should not be called
“being”;but if I am called “being,” like “human being,” then you can’t think
of God as being. And, of course, in Scripture, God and all that belongs to
God—allhis qualities, his wisdom, exactly, his love, his truth, his power, his
glory, his splendor, his peace—theyare all appropriate to God, and they are
all not like anything else. There’s nothing comparable to them in heaven[or]
on earth.
So there would be no teaching whatsoeverin classicalEasternOrthodox
Christianity as divine masculine or divine feminine. You have masculine and
feminine when you have human beings, when you have creatures, evenplants
and animals, actually. You have those gender distinctions.
Of course, Jesus ofNazareth, our Lord, is a man. He’s not a woman. But it is
certainly the teaching of Scripture and certainly that of EasternOrthodox
Tradition that the hypostatic Wisdom of God himself is Jesus Christ.
Generally speaking, in Christian theology, Jesus is the personificationof
absolutely every divine quality. He is the personificationin human form of
God’s love, of God’s truth, of God’s beauty, of God’s power, of God’s peace,
and, so too, of God’s Wisdom.

So there is no doubt whatsoeverthat in EasternOrthodox Christian classical
theology, the Wisdom of God is Jesus Christ. Jesus is this Wisdom. He is the
Wisdom that we desire. He is the Wisdom that we must have.
Now, metaphorically we could say we should seek that Wisdom who is Jesus,
as a bride, as a beautiful beloved, as one that we would adore, as one that we
would worship, the one that we would want to be togetherwith, that we would
want to be his home. We would want Wisdom to dwell in us. We would want
to become wise. But that Wisdom in the human form is Jesus Christ the God-
man.
Here, St. Athanasius the Great and others of the Church Fathers would say…
And Fr. Bulgakovin Russia pickedthis up, but he treatedit in a very strange
and idiosyncratic manner which we do not need to get into here on the radio
at all. You can read Fr. Bulgakov’s writings. A lot of them are translated into
English now. But Fr. Bulgakovsaw in Wisdom a kind of very unique thing in
the Godhead, almostto the point where you have Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, and then Wisdom somehow as a specialcharacteristic ofGod, somehow
even identified with the very nature of God himself, because ofthat quality of
Wisdom to bring everything togetherand put it proper order and to keepin
harmony.
So there [it] is, definitely; we don’t need Fr. Bulgakovfor this. You just need
the Bible and the Church Fathers to tell us that the Wisdom of God is not a
createdthing. As St. Athanasius would argue about the Logos, he would say,
you can’t imagine God as being alogos, wordless, withoutthe Logos. The
Logos is an element of the very, very being of God himself, and that element
has its personificationfor human beings in Jesus Christ our Lord.

But Athanasius says exactlythe same thing about Wisdom. He says you can’t
imagine God as asophos. He said if you read the Bible, you read the Psalms,
you read the Proverbs, you read Ecclesiastes, youread the Wisdom of
Solomon, you see that Wisdom is always with God. It “abides with his
throne,” to use Sirach’s expression. It’s always there. And it is not a creature.
Athanasius will argue againstthe Arians that God does not create Wisdom.
There is the Wisdom that is God’s ownWisdom, an elementof the very being
of God, the person of God, that God cannever, ever, ever be without. There is
divine Wisdom.
But—I should say And Athanasius, however, and the Fathers would also say,
“Nevertheless, this Wisdom is revealedin createdform,” in human form, in
creaturely form, we should say. And, of course, that Wisdom that God made
at the beginning of the age, by whom he createdall things, is Jesus Christ.
If we just followedthis type of argumentation: if, according to the Scripture,
God does everything by his Wisdom—he creates in Wisdom, sanctifies in
Wisdom; he acts in Wisdom; he is not a fool; God is not foolish. God is not
stupid. God is not dark; God is truth—therefore there’s always the Wisdom in
the divine activity. But if you just took a sentence like “Godcreatedall things
through his Wisdom,” well, the New Testament, St. Paul, for example, would
say very clearlythat God creates everything by Christ—by Christ, through
Christ, in Christ, for Christ—just exactly in the same way as the Old
Testamentwould speak about the divine Wisdom.
So St. Athanasius would saythat when you’re reading Holy Scripture and
reading about Wisdom, you have to keeptwo things in mind: the divine,
eternal, uncreated, ever-existing Wisdom that is the Wisdom of God himself
that is truly divine and uncreated; and then you have Wisdom as expressedin
creation, Wisdom in its createdforms. And here St. Athanasius and the other
Fathers would say you cansee God’s Wisdom in all that exists. If you

contemplate the stars and the moon and the plants and the animals and the
trees, that you have a revelation of the very Wisdom of God in all of these
things, as well as his power, as well as his beauty, as wellas his truth, as well
as his glory and his splendor.
That Wisdom is also there, revealed. And then, according to St. Athanasius—
because he wrote about this extensively, especiallyin interpreting Proverbs 8,
because the Arians said, “The Logos is a creature, the Sonof God is a
creature, and therefore [the] Wisdom of God is a creature.” And they used the
text of Proverbs, that “the Lord createdme, fashionedme in the beginning of
his work, the first of his acts of old.” So the Arians said, “You see? It was the
first creative actof God: to create Wisdom, and then God uses his Wisdom as
an instrument, as a kind of demi-urgos through which he does all of his
activities. It’s kind of like a tool in the hand of God.”
But here Athanasius would say, “Hey, wait a minute. The very Wisdom by
which God acts is divine. It’s always with him. God is not wisdomless.”Butat
the same time, what he is saying is that Jesus, in his humanity, is the human
expressionof this Wisdom of God. Justlike Jesus in the flesh is the expression
of everything of God. And we should remember that Jesus is always the God-
man. You can’t separate in Jesus. You canmake a distinction betweenwhat is
divine and what is human, but they are united inseparably, without division,
in Jesus.
So you have Athanasius even saying that the same way that, it says in
Scripture, God kind of redeemed the world in Christ before the foundation of
the world, so you cansay he also revealedhis Wisdom in creationand had it
in mind even before the foundation of the world; that that Wisdom that is
revealedin Christ and as Christ was with God before the foundation of the
world. And sometimes the New Testamentspeaks thatway in a very striking
manner. It would say, for example, that Jesus was the Lamb of God before the

foundation of the world. He was the redeemer of the world before the world
was even made, because thatis an element of his very being as a person, as the
Son of God, that God knew before he even createdthe world.
Another point should be made here, and that is this: In the Bible, you have
very many words for “create” or“fashion” or“form” or “make” or “do” that
are not always very technically distinguished. I think that’s very important to
know, that the Bible, when it speaks about“create” or“fashion” or “form” or
“make,” evenin the very first chapters of Genesis in the formation of the
world, you have these different words used different ways. Some of the
patristic scholars eventell us that a very clearand accurate distinction
between“coming forth from God” and “abiding with God” and “being in
God” and then “being createdby God as a ktisis, as a creature,” that that
distinction only was clearlyformulated in the fourth century when Athanasius
and Basiland Gregoryand Hilary and Ambrose were fighting with these
Arians and Eunomians who said that Jesus was a creature.
At that time, then, the words had to be defined very, very carefully. So when
you had words like “proceededfrom” or “abided in” or “were born of” or
“begottenof,” the Holy Fathers would saythese kind of words depict or
declare or affirm or testify to the fact of that which is not created, which is
ever-existing. And then, of course, the term “to make,” and in Greek “poiō,”
to make, that would then be consideredto be an act of God’s will.
So the Fathers would make a distinction [between] what exists just according
to the very being of God and then what exists according to the will of God.
What does God bring into existence which before was not? And here, when
this is applied to Jesus, you have this distinction very clearly made. For
example, the Nicene Creedmakes this distinction when it speaksabout Jesus
being “gennēthenta ou poiēthenta, begotten, not made”: born of the Father,

an element proceeding from God’s very being and not a creature of God that
God willed to make by his free act out of nothing.
The same thing is said about the Holy Spirit, that the Holy Spirit proceeds
from the Father, abides in the Son, everlastingly, eternally, unchangedly, in a
divine manner; that God didn’t decide to create forhimself a spirit. He did
not create for himself a word. He does not create for himself wisdom.
Wisdom, word, power, spirit: these are realities that are divine. Nevertheless,
certainly when it comes to Jesus Christ, who is a man, born and becoming
man [by] the Virgin Mary, then you have all of these realities now being
shown forth, depicted, and revealedin human form.
So you have Jesus as the Wisdom that God fashioned for humanity from
before the foundation of the world, revealedin the world in human form, but
that very Wisdom itself was before, as we heard in Proverbs, before the
mountains had been shaped, before the hills, before he made the earth with its
fields, or [before] there was any dust in the world. When he establishedthe
heavens, that Wisdom was alreadythere, and that Wisdom is the very
Wisdom of God himself.
Now, it’s also said in Scripture, it’s probably most beautifully put in the book
called“the Wisdom of Solomon,” that this Wisdom which is always there with
God, that this Wisdom which is divine, the Wisdom that is not a creature, that
Wisdom which according to the Wisdom of Solomonis radiant and unfading,
found by those who seek herwhen those hunger and thirst for God, they have
a fear of God and they come and discoverthe very divine Wisdom that is the
Wisdom of God himself, but what you also have in the Wisdom of Solomonis
that this [this is the] Wisdom by which God acts, the Wisdom that is inherent
in every one of his actions, that is called “the Fashionerof all things.”

For example, in Solomon, it says, “Ilearned both what is secretand what is
manifest,” and the holy Fathers would say[that] what is secretis in the depth
of God, divine; what is manifest is what is revealedto us through the divine
energies, and, ultimately, most perfectly, through the very humanity in
createdform, in Jesus himself. Then it says, “ForWisdom(chokhmah), the
fashionerof all things, taught me”: the maker of all things, the former of all
things.
And then it adds a very wonderful thing. It speaks aboutthe spirit that is in
Wisdom, or “the spirit of Wisdom.” The Prophets used that expressionalso.
For example, in Isaiah, when speaking about Jesus, it says, “Onhim was the
spirit of understanding, the spirit of Wisdom, the spirit of the fear of God.”
That’s the kind of language that you find in the Scripture: the Holy Spirit, the
ruach of God, the breath of God. You find this throughout the Bible so that
you cannotthink of God without his Spirit, and you cannotthink of God
without his Word or his Wisdom.
But then the Spirit is the spirit of the Word. It’s the spirit that vivifies the
Word, but it’s also the spirit of Wisdom. It’s the living, existential, vital aspect
of Wisdom itself. [It] is what it is because ofthe spirit that dwells within
Wisdom. Here againwe have that same teaching that we have all the time:
there is no Word without Spirit. There is no Wisdom without Spirit. There is
no truth without Spirit. There is no life without Spirit. So, concerning Wisdom
specifically, it says in the Wisdom of Solomon7: “Forin her”—Sophia,
Wisdom…”
And here of course, the “her” is used because it’s feminine in Hebrew; and, by
the way, so is the word “spirit” feminine, but as Gregorythe Theologiansays,
we never draw theologicalconclusions by the genderof nouns in any
language. He pointed out with St. Jerome [who] did the same thing, that when
it comes to the word “spirit,” for example, it’s feminine in Hebrew and

Aramaic, it’s masculine in Latin, and it’s neuter in Greek, so we don’t build
theologies onthe basis of gender. In fact, even in [the] Russianlanguage, the
very word “trinity,” troitsa, is a feminine; it takes feminine adjectives. But
that’s how language works. Youdon’t draw conclusions aboutmasculinity
and femininity in that same sense.
However, here you have: “in Wisdom there is a Spirit that is”—andthis is
really amazing, what is said—
In Wisdom there is a Spirit that is intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle,
mobile, clear, unpolluted, distinct, invulnerable, loving the good, keen,
irresistible, beneficent, humane, steadfast, sure, free from anxiety, all-
powerful, overseeing all, penetrating through all spirits that are intelligent
and pure and most subtle. ForWisdom itself is more mobile than any motion.
Becauseofher pureness she pervades and penetrates all things. For she is a
breath, a wind of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the
Almighty. Therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her. ForWisdom is a
reflectionof eternallight, a spotless mirror of the working of God, an image of
his goodness.
And here we will see that logos (word) and chokhma (wisdom, sophia) [are]
identified with eikona, with icon, with image. We will talk about that later.
Though Wisdom is but one, she cando all things. And while remaining in
herself, she renews all things. In every generation, Wisdompasses into holy
souls and makes them friends of God and prophets, for Godloves nothing so
much as the man who lives with Wisdom. Forshe is more beautiful than the
sun and excels every constellationof the stars. Compared with the light, she is
found to be superior, for it is succeededby the night, but againstWisdom, evil
does not prevail.

She reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other, and she orders all
things well. I loved her and soughther from my youth. I desired to take her
for my bride. I became enamoredof her beauty. She glorifies her noble birth
by living with God, and the Lord of all loves her. She is an initiate in the
knowledge ofGod, an associate inhis works.
And it goes onand on and on about these qualities of Wisdom and the Spirit
that dwells within Wisdom, and in this book it even speaksaboutthat spirit
being the Holy Spirit. For example, it says in the ninth chapter: “He who has
learned the counselof the Lord, who has been given wisdomand is sent by the
Holy Spirit from on high,” and that we were taught and were saved by
wisdom. So wisdom is saving. Wisdom is illumining. Wisdom is empowering.
All these things of the Old Covenantabout Wisdom, in the New Testamentare
clearly applied to Jesus the Christ, Jesus the Messiah, the Sonof God, and
[this is] undoubtedly in the New Testament, where you have that most
specificallystated. Besides [this], you have lines in the New Testamentthat
say, for example, that in Christ there dwells all of the fullness of knowledge
and wisdom; you have those kinds of expressions in the New Testament. For
example, in the Letter to the Colossians is written the following line; it says, “I
want you to know how greatly I strive for you,” St. Paul writes, “that your
hearts may be encouragedandknit togetherin love, have all riches of assured
understanding, and the knowledge of God’s mystery of Christ in whom are
hidden all the treasures ofwisdom and of knowledge.”So wisdomand
knowledge are always going togetherthere.
You have that, and there are many other such texts, but the one that seems to
have really taken preeminence in the Church’s understanding about Jesus as
God’s Wisdom is in the opening chapters of the first letter of the Apostle Paul
to the Corinthians, where St. Paul is writing in that very first chapter. He says

that “Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the Gospel, and not
with eloquent wisdom lest the Cross of Christ be emptied of its power” (I
Corinthians 1:17). So St. Paul says that his teaching is not by human wisdom;
it’s not by eloquence. It’s not like a rhetorician.
In the Letter to the Galatians, he will say this Gospelis not his; it’s God’s, it’s
divine. And what he imparts from God, including the wisdom and knowledge
of God, is of God, and it’s not human. The Cross, however, is the revelation of
God and the revelation of all of God’s qualities, including Wisdom. So here in
Corinthians, he continues:
For the Word of the Cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who
are being saved, it is the powerof God, for it is written: “I will destroythe
wisdom of the wise, and the clevernessofthe cleverI will thwart.” Where is
the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has God
not made foolishthe wisdom of the world?
He sophia tou kosmou, the wisdom of this world, which in the letter of James
will be called“earthly, psychic,” and even “demonic.”
For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through
wisdom.
So St. Paul says that human beings gave up their wisdom. They violated their
wisdom. They became fools. If there is any teaching of the Old Covenant, it is
that human beings all became fools. By sinning againstGod and not following
his commandments, everybody became foolish, even to the point of saying,
“There is no God”: “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ ” So here
you have St. Paul saying,

Has not God made foolishthe wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom
of God, the world did not know God through wisdom. It pleasedGod, through
the folly of what we preach, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs,
and Greeks seek wisdom.
And of course, “philosophia” means “the love of wisdom.” And so St. Paul will
write, “We don’t follow the philosophia of this world; we follow the sophia of
God, and that’s the real philosophia. The love of wisdom is the wisdom of
God. God’s own divine wisdom, not the wisdom of men, or what is called “the
wisdom of this world,” or what is calledin James, “the wisdom from below.”
We seek andfollow the wisdom from on high, the wisdom that comes to us
from God.
So the Apostle continues:
Jews demand signs;Greeks seekwisdom, but we preachChrist crucified, a
stumbling-block to Jews…
“Skandalon” in Greek:“scandal.”
...and folly to Gentiles…
“Mōria”:that’s where you getthe word “moronic.” Simply, “stupid,” to the
philosophical Hellenes.
...but to those who are called…

And here you have it:
...both Jews and Greeks, Christ:God’s power and God’s wisdom.
We will speak about power. We’ll speak about Jesus as the power of God. But
for now we want to see that it says “God’s wisdom.”
It has to be said that in this sentence there is no definite article. In English,
both in the RSV and in the King James Versionof the Bible, it is translated:
“Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” But in Greek it actually
says, “Christ, God’s power and God’s wisdom—theoudynamis kai theou
sophia”:God’s powerand God’s wisdom.
So there you have it. Christ is God’s wisdom. He is the Wisdom of God. He is
God’s Wisdom. And that would be the Christian conviction. So it [continues]:
The foolishness ofGod is wiserthan men; the weaknessofGod is stronger
than men.
And the same waythat God’s poweris revealedthrough weakness, so God’s
wisdom will be revealedthrough the foolishness andthe scandalof the Cross.
That’s where you will really see the wisdom of God revealed:in Christ
crucified. That’s what the Apostle Paul is going to say:
We preachChrist crucified: scandalto those who want power, and folly to
those who want earthly wisdom and knowledge,but for those who are called,

those who believe in Christ, Jews and Greeks, Christ:God’s power and God’s
wisdom.
And then at the end of that very same first chapter, the Apostle continues to
say:
God chose whatis weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose whatis
low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing
things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
And then he says:
He (God) is the source ofyour life in Christ Jesus, whomGod made…
And there you have that same verb as in Proverbs 8:22, as St. Athanasius
points out: God made Christ in human form, the same Wisdom that was with
God before anything was createdand the very instrument by which God
creates allthings, his own divine Wisdom. Then it says:
God is the source ofyour life in Christ Jesus, whomGod made our wisdom,
our righteousness,and our sanctificationand our redemption.
So here you have Jesus being calledwisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and
redemption. And we’ll talk about those things later on.

But sticking now here with wisdom, the Apostle even then continues to say
that his very message ofChrist crucified is the expressionof that very
Wisdom. So he says:
I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God in lofty words or
human wisdom. I decided to know nothing among you exceptJesus Christ,
and him crucified.
And then he says
My speechand my messagewere notimplausible words of wisdom in a human
way, but in the demonstration of the spirit and of power, that your faith might
not restin the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
And then he continues, and this is very important:
Yet, among the mature, we do impart wisdom.
Now there you go. He’s blasting all this human wisdom, wisdom of this world,
wisdom of the ungodly, the wisdom of the philosophers and so on. But then he
continues:
Yet, among the mature (the believers, the chosen), we do impart wisdom,
though it not a wisdom of this age, or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed
to pass away.

And here you have that expression“wisdomof this age,” and you also have
the expression“wisdomof this world,” and those are two different words in
Greek. “World” is “kosmos”;“age” is “aiōn.” So you have a wisdom of this
age or this time, and a wisdom of this world or this place. But that’s not what
Christians impart or profess. “We impart,” the Apostle continues writing, “a
secretand hidden wisdom of God.” Secretand hidden wisdom of God. And it
is that wisdom that is revealedin human form, in Jesus.
We impart a secretand hidden wisdom of God which Goddecreedbefore the
ages forour glorification.
That’s what it says in the Proverbs: God fashionedthis wisdom before the
foundation of the world for the sake ofour illumination and glorification.
Then the Apostle continues:
None of the rulers of this age understood this wisdom, for if they had, they
would not have crucified the Lord of glory, but as it is written, “Whatno eye
has seennor ear heard nor the heart of man conceive, whatGod has prepared
for those who love him,” God has revealedto us through the spirit.
And so the spirit, which is the Spirit of God, which, according to Scripture, is
the spirit of Wisdom, he says it’s not the spirit of this world. He says we have
receivednot the spirit of this world, but the spirit which is from God, which
according to Scripture is the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of truth, the spirit of
life, that we understand the gifts bestowedon us by God. And we impart this
in words not taught by human wisdom he insists again, but taught by the
spirit, interpreting the spiritual truths to those who possess the Spirit. And
then he ends that whole chapter by saying simply:

We have the mind of Christ.
There is no doubt at all that in the EasternOrthodox Church, the Wisdom of
God is Jesus. The Wisdom of God in human form, personified, is the God-
man Jesus. And everything that Jesus is in human form, we believe he is and
possesses,so to speak, in divine form, before the Incarnation. So he is the
eternal divine Wisdom of God who takes human form and reveals this divine
Wisdom to us in human form. So he is the Wisdom of God.
In our prayers in the Church, we pray this way. The example that comes to
mind most readily, most quickly, is that troparion from the Paschalservice,
where we say, “O Pascha ofthe Lord, O Pascha greatand holy (O Passoverof
the Lord, O Passovergreatand holy), O Wisdom and Word of God and
Power”—andsometimes it’s translated“O Wisdom and Word and Powerof
God”—“Jesus Christ. Allow us to commune with you more truly in the never-
ending day of your kingdom.”
And it’s interesting that in the canonon Holy Thursday, the day of the Lord’s
MysticalSupper in church, one whole ode of the canonis speaking to Jesus as
Wisdom, and they see the Eucharistas the meal, the table that Wisdom has
set. Becauseit says in the proverb writing that Wisdom has built herself a
home, that Wisdom has set the table, that Wisdom becomes the food for the
faithful. And so you have in the Holy Thursday service—Idon’t have the text
in front of me at the moment, but it’s very vivid in my mind about how
Wisdom comes to the world, and Wisdom reveals itself, and Wisdom sets this
meal, and when you participate in the Holy Eucharist, you are eating and
drinking the Wisdom and the Word of God, that that Wisdom comes into you,
that Wisdom is acting in you, that Wisdom that Jesus Christ himself is.

But certainly in the prayers of the Church… Just go to church and pay
attention. You’ll see how Jesus is addressedas the Wisdom of God. And of
course, in the liturgical services, everytime we are calling out, “Wisdom! Let
us attend! Wisdom! Let us attend!” we’re calling people to focus on Christ, to
focus on the Gospel, to focus on his Person, whichaccording to St. Paul, is the
embodiment of the very Law of God in which wisdom is found. So Wisdom is
enfleshed.
Here you have a very interesting thing in the ancient Christian tradition, the
ancient faith, and that is that in Proverbs, when it says, “Wisdomhas built a
home for itself, for herself,” that Wisdom has made a temple, the Eastern
Orthodox tradition has been bold enough to identify that with the Theotokos,
with the Virgin Mary; that Wisdom tabernacles on earth and becomes flesh
through Mary; the Word and Wisdom of Godbecomes flesh through Mary.
And so it’s an interesting thing, that Mary is often called, in the tradition, the
temple of Wisdom or the throne of Wisdom. For example, one great patristics
scholar, a French man, Louis Bouyer, wrote a book about Mary, and the title
French was Le Trône de la Sagesse:The Seatof Wisdom. And that is a name
for Mary in the Akathistos:the seatof Wisdom, the throne of Wisdom. In
Latin it was calledthe sedes sapientiae, the seatof Wisdom, where Wisdom is
enthroned. And in Christian tradition, you had churches, church buildings,
dedicatedto Christ as Wisdom. The most famous of which, of course, in the
Orthodox Church, is the Church of Holy Wisdom in Constantinople.
The big, huge church that was in Constantinople as the cathedralwas always
calledHoly Wisdom: Hagia Sophia. And then Justinian in the fifth century,
built this magnificent building, the most amazing building, that still stands.
Sadly, right now, it’s a museum. It was a mosque for a while after the
Muslims took Constantinople. Now it’s a museum. You could go there and see
it. It’s Holy Wisdom. But it was dedicatedto Christ.

Sometimes you read in books that the Holy Wisdom cathedralin
Constantinople was dedicatedto “St. Sophia.” Sometimes it’s even calledSt.
Sophia Church as if [for] some woman martyr, or something, named Sophia,
but it doesn’t mean that; it means Christ. It means Christ.
Just like the church in Constantinople, calledHagia Eirēnē, is not the church
of St. Irene. It’s the church of the Holy Peace. And the church, that little
church that Gregorythe Theologianwas in when the Arians held the capitol
and the imperial city was calledAnastasia. Thatwasn’t St. Anastasia Church.
It was the church of the Resurrection, also dedicatedto Christ.
So you had the church of Wisdom, the temple of Wisdom, the temple of peace,
the temple of resurrection, all dedicatedto Christ. Sometimes if you even ask,
“What would be the feastdayfor a church dedicated to the Holy Wisdom?” I
believe that traditionally it would be the feastof Mid-Pentecost, where,
betweenPascha andPentecost, the Church remembers Jesus as a child being
in the Temple, debating with the scribes and the lawyers and the rabbis and
showing forth himself as the incarnate Wisdom of God. And that would even
be the icon of Jesus as a twelve-year-oldchild in the teacher’s seatsurrounded
by the teachers ofthe Law, imparting to them the Wisdom of God.
However, another interesting thing happened in Christian tradition. Certainly
in the middle ages and in Russia, Slavic lands—Ukraine, Russia;Novgorod,
Kiev—there were churches that were called Holy Wisdom Church, but their
festival days were not days—for example, was not Mid-Pentecost—butwere
festivals of the Theotokos.Forexample, the church of Holy Wisdom in
Novgorod, I believe, had its festalday on the Dormition of the Theotokos. And
why was that? Well, it was because ofthe conviction that Mary was the
tabernacle or the ark or the temple in which Wisdom had built its home. She
was Wisdom’s home. And that led some Russiantheologians, including those

of the early 20th century, like Solovyov, Florensky, and Bulgakov, to see Mary
as Wisdom in its createdform, which would then be a body, a feminine type of
image. So you would have Jesus as the God-man, as a divine sophia, the
uncreated sophia, and then Mary kind of imaging the creaturelysophia as a
deified Christian, as a person who became truly holy and all-holy. Therefore
she herselfbecomes a kind of personificationof an expressionof Wisdom in
human form.
Howeverthat may be, still the fact of the matter is—it is a fact—thatin some
of the churches in Slavic lands, temples, church buildings, that were dedicated
and calledthe church of Holy Wisdom, their festival day was a feastof the
Theotokosandnot a feastof Christ. Then, of course, that led to some further
reflections and meditations about what Bulgakovcalled“netvarnaya sophia”
and “tvarnaya sophia”: the uncreated wisdom of God who is incarnate as
Jesus Christ and then the creaturely wisdom, wisdom in createdform as
somehow hypostasizedor personified in the Virgin Mary. But that’s a
theologicalpoetry. It’s theologicalreflection, meditation, and so on. And very
beautiful in its own way.
But what we want to see right now, certainly, for certain, is that in classical,
ancient Christianity, the Wisdom of God is Jesus Christ. The Wisdom of God
is not some type of “Godis feminine” wisdom or some feminine expressionof
deity. That would not be the classicaltradition. Nor would the Wisdom of God
be identified simply with the Virgin Mary or the Theotokos atall. The
Wisdom of God is Jesus Christ.
Christ is Wisdom incarnate. He is the Word incarnate. He is Wisdom
incarnate. He is the Son of God incarnate. He is God’s peace incarnate, God’s
truth incarnate, God’s life incarnate, as we will see as we continue our
meditations on the names and titles of Jesus. Butfor today and for right now,
what we must see is that in ancient Christianity, according to the Scripture

and the traditions of the Church in interpreting that Scripture, God’s
Wisdom hypostasized, God’s Wisdom personified, God’s Wisdom revealed,
God’s Wisdom shown to us in its ultimate, perfect form, the Wisdom that is
given to us that we can understand and know and experience whatthat
Wisdom of God really is, is Jesus Christ, because that Wisdom of God is not
only what it is, it is who it is.
And Jesus Christ is the Wisdom of God. He is what that Wisdom is, and he is
who that Wisdom is. Jesus Christis God’s Wisdom. And that would be the
deepestconvictionof the Scriptures as understood in the ancient Christian
faith in the EasternOrthodox Church. Jesus Christ, God’s Wisdom, God’s
power, God’s Logos, God’s truth, God’s Son, and being all those things and
everything that he is, he expresses andactualizes and realizes for us the
uncreated Wisdom of God himself and is given to us in his flesh and in his
blood, in his human life on the PlanetEarth. We confess our Lord Jesus
Christ as truly and genuinely the Wisdom of God the Father himself.
https://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/namesofjesus/jesus_-
_the_wisdom_of_god
KENNETHCOPELAND
Five Amazing Truths About the Wisdom of God
May 16, 2017
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Five Truths About the Wisdom of God
As a Christian, you have a mighty resource atyour disposal—the wisdom of
God. Notonly can the wisdom of God help you make gooddecisions in your

life, but God’s Word promises that it brings joy, long life, riches and honor.
Just look at what King Solomonwrote about wisdom in Proverbs 3:
Joyful is the person who finds wisdom, the one who gains understanding. For
wisdom is more profitable than silver, and her wages are betterthan gold.
Wisdom is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with
her. She offers you long life in her right hand, and riches and honor in her
left. She will guide you down delightful paths; all her ways are satisfying.
Wisdom is a tree of life to those who embrace her; happy are those who hold
her tightly. (verses 13-18)
Moreover, Solomongoes onto tell us that we should make getting godly
wisdom the principal thing (Proverbs 4:7, NKJV). What’s that mean? It
means we should make seeking wisdomfrom the Word of God “first in
importance.” If you are struggling with a situation and you seemto be going
around and around in circles, notgetting anywhere…youneed godly wisdom.
If you are sick in your physical body, and you can’t seemto get well…you
need godly wisdom. If your finances are out of control…you need godly
wisdom. No matter what your problem, the wisdom of God, found in His
Word, is the place to start.

Below are five amazing truths about the wisdom of God that will help you
every day of your life. Study them, meditate and then begin applying them,
and you will get wisdom for whateveryou’re facing today.
Truth No. 1: God’s Wisdom Is Available to Every Believer
“ForGod does not show favoritism.” –Romans 2:11
Every believer has the right to access the blessings ofGod. He does not give
wisdom to some and not to others. He doesn’t withhold any goodthings from
His people. If you desire the wisdom of God regarding any situation or simply
as a consistentpart of your life (and this is best!), then you can have it. It
doesn’t require that you be a Christian for a certain number of years. It isn’t
necessarythat you get straightA’s on some celestialreportcard. You don’t
have to attend church every time the doors are open or go through some
lengthy prayer process. The lack of any of these doesn’t preclude you from
receiving God’s wisdom.
Truth No. 2: You Simply Need to Ask for the Wisdom of God
“If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will
not rebuke you for asking.” –James1:5

As a child, did you everhear the words “you should know better”?
Thankfully, that is not the response you will ever hear from God when you
ask for wisdom. If you are facing a decisionor are questioning how to handle
a situation, God will not respond with an eye roll and shake ofHis head. He
will not be disappointed in you for asking orangry that you can’t figure
things out on your own. No, His Word promises that if you ask for wisdom,
He’ll give it to you.
However, He does have on prerequisite when you ask. Verses 6-7 say:
But when you ask him [for wisdom], be sure that your faith is in God alone.
Do not waver, for a personwith divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the
sea that is blown and tossedby the wind. Such people should not expectto
receive anything from the Lord.
What does this mean? It means that when you ask God for wisdom, believe
that He is going to give it to you. Take the wisdom of God as soonas you ask
for it, and declare that you do not doubt it. Thank the Lord that you receive it,
and you have it!

Live in God's BestPkg
Truth No. 3: God’s Word Is Full of His Wisdom
“Forthe Lord grants wisdom! From his mouth come knowledge and
understanding.”
–Proverbs 2:6
God has alreadygiven a lot of wisdom in His Word. Throughout the Bible,
you canlearn many lessons, suchas:how to face adversity with faith, how to
handle difficult people, and how to manage your finances, just to name a few.
You can learn by reading about others’ interactions with God (i.e. the
Israelites, apostlesand early Church members) and how He workedin their
lives. So, dig into the Word. Study about Jesus’ministry. Study about Paul’s
journeys. Study about Moses’leadership. Study Solomon’s wisdom. God’s
Word is full of the insights and advice you can directly apply to your life and
the situations you face every day.
When you sit down to study the Word of God, praise the Lord for His
wisdom, and thank Him that He gives it to you. Ask Him to grant you wisdom,
knowledge and understanding. Ask Him to show you how what you’re
reading applies to your life, and how you can put it into action.

Truth No. 4: The Wisdom of God and the World’s Wisdom Are NOT the
Same
“Fearof the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise
wisdom and discipline.” –Proverbs 1:7
If you have been following the Lord for longer than two minutes, you know
that the world’s ways do not reflect God’s ways. The world will tell you to
look out for yourself at the expense of others. The world will tell you that
immediate happiness is the most important goalfor your life. The world will
tell you to do whatevermakes you happy. The world will tell you there is no
absolute truth. However, God’s wisdom surpasses allof the world’s wisdom.
The truth is that acknowledging and honoring the Lord with your life is the
foundation and the start of true wisdom. The world choosesnotto fearthe
Lord, so its wisdom is limited to man’s thinking. This is how the Lord puts it:
“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways
are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher

than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher
than your thoughts.” – Isaiah 55:8-9
As a child of God, He wants you to understand His ways and thoughts, so you
can apply His wisdom to your life. But to the people in the world who reject
Him, His wisdom is much higher than theirs. So, if you are seeking God’s
wisdom, recognize that you may have to relinquish what is commonly
acceptedby everyone else. Family, friends and co-workersmay look at you
sideways, but trust that God’s way is best.
Truth No. 5: The Enemy Will Try to DistractYou From the Wisdom of God
“Stayalert! Watchout for your greatenemy, the devil. He prowls around like
a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” –1 Peter5:8
The enemy will do his best to confuse you about following God’s wisdom by
reminding you of past mistakes orcompeting options. Therefore, it’s
necessaryto getquiet before the Lord by spending time in Bible study and
prayer. When the enemy comes atyou with condemnation for past mistakes
or confusion because the Lord is leading you in an unconventional direction,
use the Word to combat him. It’s also wise to speak with trusted, mature
believers, possibly a pastorat your church, small group leaderor a spiritual
mentor.

Wisdom is the principal thing, and these five truths about it will help you
navigate from the small to the big issues of everyday life. Remember, if you
seek the wisdom of God—if you want to have it—then you can count on
receiving it. God won’t withhold it from you. You simply need to ask Him for
it. Then spend time in His Word, in prayer and listening to His Holy Spirit,
understanding that His way may look different from the world’s. Then refuse
to let the enemy distract or confuse you. The wisdom you need—God’s
wisdom—is available to help you live successfullyno matter what you face.
Jesus Revealsthe “WisdomFrom God”
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1-3. How did Jesus’former neighbors respond to his teaching, and what did
they fail to recognize abouthim?
THE audience was stunned. The young man Jesus was standing before them
in the synagogue andteaching. He was no strangerto them—he had grown up
in their city, and for years he had workedamong them as a carpenter.
Perhaps some of them lived in houses that Jesus had helped to build, or maybe
they workedtheir land with plows and yokes that he had made with his own

hands. * But how would they respond to the teaching of this former
carpenter?
2 Mostof those listening were astounded, asking:“Where did this man get
this wisdom?” But they also remarked:“This is the carpenter the son of
Mary.” (Matthew 13:54-58;Mark 6:1-3) Sadly, Jesus’onetime neighbors
reasoned, ‘This carpenter is just a localman like us.’ Despite the wisdom in
his words, they rejectedhim. Little did they know that the wisdom he shared
was not his own.
3 Where did Jesus getthis wisdom? “What I teach is not mine,” he said, “but
belongs to him that sent me.” (John 7:16) The apostle Paul explained that
Jesus “has become to us wisdomfrom God.” (1 Corinthians 1:30) Jehovah’s
own wisdom is revealedthrough his Son, Jesus. Indeed, this was true to such
an extent that Jesus couldsay: “I and the Fatherare one.” (John 10:30)Let us
examine three areas in which Jesus manifestedthe “wisdomfrom God.”
What He Taught
4. (a) What was the theme of Jesus’message, andwhy was that highly
important? (b) Why was Jesus’counselalways practical and in the best
interests of his listeners?
4 First, considerwhat Jesus taught. The theme of his message was“the good
news of the kingdom.” (Luke 4:43) That was highly important because ofthe
role the Kingdom would play in vindicating Jehovah’s sovereigntyand in
bringing lasting blessings to mankind. In his teaching, Jesus also offeredwise
counselfor everyday living. He proved himself to be the foretold “Wonderful
Counselor.” (Isaiah9:6) Indeed, how could his counselbe anything but
wonderful? He had a profound knowledge ofGod’s Word and will, a keen
understanding of human nature, and a deep love for humankind. Hence, his

counselwas always practicaland in the best interests of his listeners. Jesus
uttered “sayings ofeverlasting life.” Yes, when followed, his counselleads to
salvation.—John6:68.
5. What were some of the subjects that Jesus coveredin the Sermon on the
Mount?
5 The Sermon on the Mount is an outstanding example of the unparalleled
wisdom found in the teachings of Jesus. This sermon, as recorded at Matthew
5:3–7:27, would likely take only 20 minutes to deliver. Its counsel, however, is
timeless—as relevanttoday as when it was first given. Jesus covereda wide
range of subjects, including how to improve relations with others (5:23-26, 38-
42; 7:1-5, 12), how to keepmorally clean(5:27-32), and how to live a
meaningful life (6:19-24;7:24-27). But Jesus did more than just tell his
listeners what the course ofwisdom is; he showedthem by explaining,
reasoning, and offering proof.
6-8. (a) What compelling reasons foravoiding anxiety does Jesus give? (b)
What shows that Jesus’counselreflects wisdomfrom above?
6 Consider, for example, Jesus’wise counselon how to deal with anxiety
about material things, as statedin Matthew chapter 6. “Stop being anxious
about your souls as to what you will eator what you will drink, or about your
bodies as to what you will wear,” Jesusadvises us. (Verse 25) Foodand
clothing are basic necessities,and it is only natural to be concernedabout
obtaining these. But Jesus tells us to “stopbeing anxious” about such things. *
Why?

7 Listen as Jesus reasons convincingly. Since Jehovahhas given us life and a
body, canhe not provide food to sustain that life and raiment to clothe that
body? (Verse 25) If God provides birds with food and he clothes flowers with
beauty, how much more will he care for his human worshipers!(Verses 26,
28-30)Really, undue anxiety is pointless anyway. It cannot extend our life
even by a fraction. * (Verse 27) How can we avoid anxiety? Jesus counselsus:
Continue giving worship of God priority in life. Those who do so can be
confident that all their daily needs “will be added” to them by their heavenly
Father. (Verse 33)Finally, Jesus gives a most practicalsuggestion—takeone
day at a time. Why add tomorrow’s anxieties to those of today? (Verse 34)
Besides, whyworry unduly about things that may never happen? Applying
such wise counselcanspare us much heartache in this stressfulworld.
8 Clearly, the counselJesus provided is as practical today as it was when it
was given nearly 2,000 years ago. Is that not evidence of wisdom from above?
Even the best advice from human counselors tends to become outdated and is
soonrevised or replaced. The teachings ofJesus, however, have stoodthe test
of time. But that should not surprise us, for this Wonderful Counselorspoke
“the sayings of God.”—John3:34.
His Manner of Teaching
9. What did some soldiers sayabout Jesus’teaching, and why was this no
exaggeration?
9 A secondarea in which Jesus reflectedGod’s wisdom was his manner of
teaching. On one occasion, some soldiers who had been sent to arresthim
returned empty-handed, saying:“Neverhas another man spokenlike this.”
(John 7:45, 46)This was no exaggeration. Ofall the humans who have ever
lived, Jesus, who was “from the realms above,” had the greatestreservoirof
knowledge and experience from which to draw. (John 8:23) He truly taught as

no other human could teach. Considerjust two of the methods of this wise
Teacher.
“The crowds were astounded at his way of teaching”
10, 11. (a) Why canwe not help but marvel at Jesus’use of illustrations? (b)
What are parables, and what example shows why Jesus’parables are so
effective for teaching?
10 Effective use of illustrations. “Jesus spoketo the crowds by illustrations,”
we are told. “Indeed, without an illustration he would not speak to them.”
(Matthew 13:34) We cannothelp but marvel at his matchless ability to teach
profound truths through everyday things. Farmers planting seeds, women
preparing to bake bread, children playing in the marketplace, fishermen
hauling in nets, shepherds searching for lost sheep—these were things his
listeners had seenmany times. When important truths are tied in with
familiar things, such truths are etched quickly and deeply on the mind and
heart.—Matthew 11:16-19;13:3-8, 33, 47-50;18:12-14.
11 Jesus often used parables, short stories from which moral or spiritual
truths are drawn. Since stories are easierto graspand remember than
abstractideas, the parables helped to preserve Jesus’teaching. In many
parables, Jesus describedhis Father with vivid word pictures that could not
easilybe forgotten. Forexample, who cannot comprehend the point of the
parable of the prodigal son—thatwhen one who has gone astrayshows
genuine repentance, Jehovahwill feel pity and tenderly acceptthat one
back?—Luke 15:11-32.

12. (a) In what way did Jesus use questions in his teaching? (b) How did Jesus
silence those who questionedhis authority?
12 Skillful use of questions. Jesus usedquestions to gethis listeners to arrive
at their own conclusions, examine their motives, or make decisions. (Matthew
12:24-30;17:24-27;22:41-46)Whenthe religious leaders questioned whether
he had God-given authority, Jesus replied: “Was the baptism by John from
heaven or from men?” Stunned by the question, they reasonedamong
themselves:“If we say, ‘From heaven,’he will say to us, ‘Why, then, did you
not believe him?’ If, though, we say, ‘From men,’ we have the crowdto fear,
for they all hold John as a prophet.” Finally, they answered:“We do not
know.” (Mark 11:27-33;Matthew 21:23-27)With a simple question, Jesus left
them speechlessandrevealed the treachery in their hearts.
13-15. How does the parable of the neighborly Samaritan reflectthe wisdom
of Jesus?
13 Jesus sometimes combined methods by weaving thought-provoking
questions into his illustrations. When a JewishlawyeraskedJesus whatwas
required to gain everlasting life, Jesus referred him to the Mosaic Law, which
commands love of God and neighbor. Wanting to prove himself righteous, the
man asked:“Who really is my neighbor?” Jesus answeredby telling a story.
A certain Jewishman was traveling alone when he was assaultedby robbers,
who left him half dead. Along came two Jews, first a priest and then a Levite.
Both ignored him. But then a certain Samaritancame upon the scene. Moved
with pity, he gently dressedthe victim’s wounds and lovingly carried the man
to the safetyof an inn where he could recover. Concluding the story, Jesus
askedhis inquirer: “Who of these three seems to you to have made himself
neighbor to the man that fell among the robbers?” The man was compelledto
answer:“The one that actedmercifully toward him.”—Luke 10:25-37.

14 How does the parable reflectthe wisdom of Jesus? In Jesus’day, the Jews
applied the term “neighbor” only to those who kept their traditions—
certainly not to Samaritans. (John 4:9) Had Jesus told the story with a
Samaritan victim and a Jewishhelper, would that have overturned the
prejudice? Jesus wisely framed the story so that a Samaritan tenderly cared
for a Jew. Notice,too, the question Jesus askedatthe end of the story. He
shifted the focus of the term “neighbor.” The lawyerhad, in effect, asked:
‘Who should be the objectof my neighborly love?’But Jesus asked:“Who of
these three seems to you to have made himself neighbor?” Jesus focused, not
on the one who receivedthe kindness, the victim, but on the one who showed
the kindness, the Samaritan. A true neighbor takes the initiative to show love
to others regardless oftheir ethnic background. Jesus couldhardly have made
his point more effectively.
15 Is it any wonder that people were astoundedat Jesus’“wayof teaching”
and were drawn to him? (Matthew 7:28, 29)On one occasion“a big crowd”
remained near him for three days, even going without food!—Mark 8:1, 2.
His Way of Life
16. In what way did Jesus give “practicalproof” that he was governedby
divine wisdom?
16 A third area in which Jesus reflectedJehovah’s wisdomwas his manner of
life. Wisdom is practical; it works. “Who among you is wise?” askedthe
disciple James. Thenhe answeredhis own question, saying: “Let his right
conduct give practicalproof of it.” (James 3:13, The New EnglishBible) The
way Jesus conductedhimself gave “practicalproof” that he was governedby
divine wisdom. Let us considerhow he demonstrated sound judgment, both in
his wayof life and in his dealings with others.

17. What indications are there that Jesus had perfectbalance in his life?
17 Have you noticed that people who lack goodjudgment often go to
extremes? Yes, it takes wisdomto be balanced. Reflecting godlywisdom, Jesus
had perfectbalance. Above all else, he gave spiritual things first place in his
life. He was intensely occupiedwith the work of declaring the goodnews. “It is
for this purpose I have gone out,” he said. (Mark 1:38) Naturally, material
things were not of primary importance to him; it seems that he had very little
materially. (Matthew 8:20) However, he was not an ascetic.Like his Father,
“the happy God,” Jesus was a joyful person, and he added to the joy of others.
(1 Timothy 1:11; 6:15) When he attended a wedding feast—typicallyan event
marked by music, singing, and rejoicing—he was notthere to casta pall over
the occasion. Whenthe wine ran out, he turned water into fine wine, a
beverage that “makes the heart of mortal man rejoice.” (Psalm104:15;John
2:1-11) Jesus acceptedmany invitations to meals, and he often used such
occasions to teach.—Luke 10:38-42;14:1-6.
18. How did Jesus manifestflawless judgment in his dealings with his
disciples?
18 Jesus manifestedflawless judgment in his dealings with others. His insight
into human nature gave him a clear-sightedview of his disciples. He well
knew that they were not perfect. Yet, he discernedtheir goodqualities. He
saw the potential in these men whom Jehovahhad drawn. (John 6:44) Despite
their shortcomings, Jesus showeda willingness to trust them. Demonstrating
that trust, he delegateda heavy responsibility to his disciples. He
commissionedthem to preach the goodnews, and he had confidence in their
ability to fulfill that commission. (Matthew 28:19, 20)The book of Acts
testifies that they faithfully followedthrough on the work he had commanded
them to do. (Acts 2:41, 42; 4:33; 5:27-32)Clearly, then, Jesus had been wise to
trust them.

19. How did Jesus demonstrate that he was “mild-tempered and lowly in
heart”?
19 As we noted in Chapter 20, the Bible associateshumility and mildness with
wisdom. Jehovah, of course, sets the best example in this regard. But what
about Jesus? It is heartwarming to see the humility Jesus showedin dealing
with his disciples. As a perfectman, he was superior to them. Yet, he did not
look down on his disciples. Neverdid he seek to make them feelinferior or
incompetent. On the contrary, he was considerate oftheir limitations and
patient with their shortcomings. (Mark 14:34-38;John 16:12)Is it not
significant that evenchildren felt at ease with Jesus? Surelythey felt drawn to
him because they sensedthat he was “mild-tempered and lowly in heart.”—
Matthew 11:29; Mark 10:13-16.
20. How did Jesus display reasonablenessin dealing with the Gentile woman
whose daughter was demonized?
20 Jesus showedgodly humility in yet anotherimportant way. He was
reasonable, oryielding, when mercy made this proper. Recall, for example,
the time when a Gentile woman beggedhim to cure her badly demonized
daughter. In three different ways, Jesus initially indicated that he was not
going to help her—first, by refraining from answering her; second, by stating
directly that he had been sent forth, not to the Gentiles, but to the Jews;and
third, by giving an illustration that kindly made the same point. However, the
woman persisted, giving evidence of extraordinary faith. In the light of this
exceptionalcircumstance, how did Jesus respond? He did exactly what he had
indicated he would not do. He cured the woman’s daughter. (Matthew 15:21-
28) Remarkable humility, is it not? And remember, humility is at the root of
genuine wisdom.

21. Why should we endeavorto imitate the personality, speech, and ways of
Jesus?
21 How thankful we can be that the Gospels revealto us the words and actions
of the wisestman who ever lived! Let us remember that Jesus was a perfect
reflectionof his Father. By imitating the personality, speech, and ways of
Jesus, we will be cultivating the wisdom from above. In the next chapter, we
will see how we canput godly wisdom to work in our life.
Questions for Meditation
Proverbs 8:22-31 How does the description of wisdom personified match what
the Bible says about Jehovah’s firstborn Son?
Matthew 13:10-15 How were Jesus’illustrations effective in revealing the
heart attitude of his listeners?
John 1:9-18 Why was Jesus able to revealthe wisdom of God?
John 13:2-5, 12-17 How did Jesus employ an objectlesson, and what did he
thereby teachhis apostles?
https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/draw-close/wisdom/jesus-life-wisdom-
from-god/

SUNDAY, JULY 19, 2020:“THE WISDOM OF JESUS” COMMENTARY
July 12, 2020 Clarence Price,JrInternational Sunday School0 Comments
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Sunday, July 19, 2020
Lesson:Mark 6:1-6; Time of Action: 28 A.D.; Place of Action: Nazareth and
Galilee
Golden Text: “And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teachin the
synagogue:and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence
hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him,
that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? Is not this the
carpenter, the sonof Mary, the brother of James, and Joses,and of Juda, and
Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.”
(Mark 6:2-3).
I. THE INTRODUCTION. Evenwhen Jesus demonstratedHis wisdom
among the teachers in the synagogue, theystill rejectedHim. We can hinder
the work of God in our lives by our unbelief. This week’s lessontells us that
Jesus couldnot do many miracles in His hometownof Nazarethbecause ofthe
people’s unbelief. What makes this statementeven more striking is that it is
found in the Gospelof Mark, the book that emphasizes the many works of
Jesus.

II. THE BACKGROUND FOR THE LESSON. While the Gospelof John
gives us a considerable amount of information concerning the early ministry
of Jesus, Mark and the other Synoptic Gospels (Matthew and Luke) focus on
events that occurred from the middle to the end of His ministry. This week’s
lessontakes place during Jesus’early ministry (see Matthew 4:12-25;Luke 4:
14-15). At the time of our lesson, Jesushad returned to His hometownof
Nazareth. His earlier ministry in Nazarethresulted in an attempt by the
townspeople to kill Him (see Luke 4:16-30). So Jesus moved on to Capernaum
(see Luke 4:31) to minister. Then He crossedoverthe Sea of Galilee and went
into the country of the Gadarenes where He castout a demon from one of
them (see Mark 5:1-19). Later, Jesus crossedback overthe sea to Capernaum
where He raisedJairus’ daughter and cured the woman with the issue of
blood (see Mark 5:21-43). Our lessonbegins with Jesus there in Capernaum.
III. THE RETURN HOME (Mark 6:1). Our first verse says “And he went
out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him.”
The phrase “And he went out from thence” refers to Capernaum where Jesus
had raisedJairus’ daughter from the dead (see Mark 5:22, 35-43). He left
Capernaum “and came into his own country” which was Nazareth, the village
where Jesus had grown to manhood. We are also told that “his disciples
follow him.” Of course, “his disciples” refer to the Twelve whom Jesus had
earlier selectedto be with Him as specialemissaries (seeMark 3:13-19).
IV. THE NEIGHBORS’COMMENTS(Mark 6:2-3)

A. What they didn’t know about Jesus (Mark 6:2). This verse says
“And when the sabbath day was come, he beganto teach in the synagogue:
and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man
these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such
mighty works are wrought by his hands?” Being a law-abiding Jew, Jesus
kept the “Sabbath,” the weeklyday of the Jewishworship. Mark writes “And
when the sabbath day was come, he began to teachin the synagogue.” Jesus,
the Sonof Man, the LORD of the Sabbath (see Mark 2:28), felt the need to be
with His fellow worshipers in “the synagogue.” The word“synagogue”refers
literally to a gathering place. It was the localplace of worship for Jews at this
time. It is believed that the conceptof the synagogue came aboutduring the
time of the Babylonian Captivity when Jews were unable to worship in the
Jerusalemtemple. By the time of Jesus, “synagogues” were found in almost
all towns and villages not just in Palestine (Israel)but whereverJews had
been dispersedsince the Captivity. It was common practice for a visiting
rabbi, or teacherto be invited by the localJewishelders “to teachin the
synagogue”(see Luke 4:15-17);so Jesus was given that opportunity.
Apparently, Jesus was more welcome in some “synagogues”than others. This
was the secondand lasttime that Jesus would come to Nazareth after He
beganHis ministry. The first time is when He was invited “to teach” and He
read from Isaiah61:1-2 confirming that it spoke aboutHim. This resulted in
an attempt by the townspeople to kill Jesus (see Luke 4:16-30). After that
episode, Jesus leftNazareth and returned to Capernaum to continue His
ministry (see Luke 4:31). Now He returned to Nazareth and “he began to
teachin the synagogue:and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From
whence hath this man these things?” We could also translate this question as
“Where did this man get these things, this knowledge andspiritual insight?”
The fact that the people of Nazarethwere “astonished” oramazed at Jesus’
words confirms that His life in the village had been like any other Jewishboy.
Everyone in Nazarethwho knew Jesus also knew that He never went off to
Jerusalemto study under one of the greatrabbis of that day. Consequently,
they wonderedabout the “wisdom” with which He spoke, forthe people also
askedamong themselves, “and what wisdom is this which is given unto him,

that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?” The fact of the
matter was that the people in Jesus’hometownwere surprised when He came
back to town and “beganto teachin their synagogue.” Theyknew that Jesus
had never been formally trained or educated as a scribe. But He spoke with
such “wisdom” and performed “mighty works” ormiracles causing them to
be “astonished.”
B. What they knew about Jesus (Acts 6:3). This verse says “Is not this
the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, andof Juda,
and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at
him.” Like other Jewishboys, Jesus learnedthe trade of His earthly father,
Josephwho was a carpenter. So in their amazement, the people who knew
Jesus’backgroundsaidamong themselves “Is not this the carpenter?” In
Matthew 13:55 this question is worded slightly differently: “Is not this the
carpenter’s son?” While being a “carpenter” was certainlyan honorable
occupation, the townspeople could not understand how a mere “carpenter”
from their village was able to perform the miracles that Jesus did. They were
impressed by Jesus’preaching and His “mighty works” but they questioned
the source ofHis power. To further support their amazement with Jesus’
wisdom and mighty works (see verse 2), the people also asked, is He “not the
son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, andof Juda, and Simon? and
are not his sisters here with us?” This all led the people to resentthe fact that
someone as common as they were was being recognizedas a greatteacher.
This entire situation confirms the adage that “familiarity breeds contempt.”
This is seenin the words “And they were offended at (by) him.” The people
were “offended at (by) him” because they reasonedthat Jesus, who taught
with “wisdom” (see verse 2) was just a common workerwho didn’t have any
religious or academic credentials. Note: Since Josephis not mentioned after
the incident in the temple when Jesus was twelve (see Luke 2:41-52), he
probably had died by this time. However, we do learn that Josephand Mary
had four sons and some daughters. Although Jesus was born of a virgin (see
Matthew 1:18-25), afterwardshe and Josephhad a normal family life that
produced severalmore children. The idea that Mary remained a perpetual
virgin throughout her life cannotbe supported by Scripture. Indeed, there is

no reasonto suggestit was necessaryfor Mary to remain a virgin once Jesus
was born. Of course, Maryshould be honored as a godly womanand one who
had a unique relationship with Jesus;but she should not be worshiped.
V. THE WORKS OF JESUS HINDERED (Mark 6:4-6)
A. An unacceptedProphet (Acts 6:4). This verse says “But Jesus, said
unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and
among his own kin, and in his own house.” Realizing how the people felt
about Him, Jesus quoted a common proverb to the people of Nazareth, His
hometown. He said “A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country,
and among his own kin, and in his own house.” In other words, “A prophet is
honored everywhere except in his hometown and among his relatives and by
his ownfamily.” As the greatestprophet(see Acts 3:22) to speak to the
human race, Jesus was experiencing a rejectionunlike any experiencedby
those who had come before Him as God’s spokesmen. EvenHis brothers did
not believe in Him at this time (see John 7:1-5). Note: Jesus was not
surprised by their rejectionof Him. His words indicate that He viewed His
rejectionby family and friends as more the rule than the exceptionto the rule.
Jesus realizedthat He would never be “honored” or respectedin His own
hometown. But this does not mean that a man or woman should never try to
serve as the pastorof his or her hometown church. It may be someone’s
experience that those who knew you from childhood—family, friends and
neighbors—are the ones most reluctant to acceptyour Christian values.
When we realize that the LORD Jesus was met with this same attitude, as well
as an intense hatred by His own countrymen and kinsman, we should be
encouragedto continue the work He has sent us to do.

B. The results of unbelief (Acts 6:5-6).
1. (vs. 5). This verse says “And he could there do no mighty work,
save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healedthem.” Becauseof
the coldreception Jesus receivedin Nazareth, His ministry of miracles was
limited. Mark wrote “And he could there do no mighty work.” This was
certainly not because Jesusdidn’t have the power. It was the people’s lack of
faith or unbelief that hindered Jesus from doing His “mighty work” ofgreat
miracles. Lack of faith often prompts God not to show His power(see James
1:6-7). Even though the people’s unbelief hindered Jesus from doing “mighty
works,” He still “laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healedthem.” In
other words, Jesus still did some goodamong the people, although through
unbelief they had slighted Him. Jesus proved Himself to be kind even to those
who were evil and ungrateful for “He laid his hands upon a few sick folks, and
healed them.”
2. (vs. 6). Our final verse says “And he marvelled because oftheir
unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.” It’s interesting
that while Jesus once “marvelled” at the greatfaith of a Gentile (see Matthew
8:8-10), here “he marvelled because of their (Jews’)unbelief.” Notice the
irony of the situation. The people should have been marveling at Jesus’
power. Instead, it was Jesus who “marvelled” at the people’s “unbelief.”
Obviously, faith does make a difference in what God accomplishes in our lives
(see Mark 9:23; Luke 17:6). However, we should not assume that if healing
does not occur, it is because faith is lacking on the part of those seeking divine
help. Paul and other people of faith in the Bible were not healed, and it is not
always God’s will to heal us (see II Corinthians 12:7-9; I Timothy 5:23; II
Timothy 4:20; I John 5:14). Even though Jesus was rejectedin His hometown
of Nazareth, He continued His ministry for “he went round about the villages,
teaching.” Jesuswouldnot be deterred from His mission just because some
rejectedHim, and neither should we!

VI. Conclusion. This week’s lessondealtwith Jesus’short-lived ministry in
Nazareth, His hometown. As a result of the people’s unbelief, greatthings
were prevented from happening there. God’s power is withheld wherever
there is unbelief, but it abounds when we believe and obey.
***The InternationalSunday SchoolLessonCurriculum***
Christ Our Wisdom
“In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”(Col. 2:3).
- Colossians 2:3
As we begin our study today, againnote that the historicalbackgroundof
Colossians is essentialto understanding Paul’s purposes in writing as well as
applying his teaching rightly. False teachers in Colossaepromoteda “higher
spirituality” that, besides Jesus, demandedsubmission to heavenly
intermediaries and asceticrules, among other things, for true holiness (Col.
2:16–23). Consequently, the apostle wrote to the Colossians to stress the
preeminence and sufficiency of Christ, not so that Christians might think true
spirituality has to do only with having a personalrelationship with Jesus (at
the exclusionof fellowship with His church), but to show that salvationrests
on Christ alone, as proclaimed in the apostolic gospel(1:1–23).

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