Lookahead: For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”; and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” 1 Corin 3:18 – 20 So what happens when we have the wisdom of man versus the wisdom of God?…Ultimately, “the thoughts of the wise are futile.” Futile as in “vain, unreal, ineffectual, unproductive” and also “aimless, without purpose, fleeting, transitory, groundless.” Some examples of futile ideas? “H-m-m-m it seemed like a genius idea at the time” could apply to any of the following: (1) Dragging that big horse into Troy; (2) France’s Frigid Russian Invasion; (3) The Hindenburg; (4) Germany’s Frigid Russian Invasion; (5) The Titanic; (6) The Ford Edsel; (7) Disabling Fail Safes on Chernobyl To Expedite Routine Maintenance Checks; (8) Supporting the Emperor Caligula’s War on Neptune (fake sea god) with infantry attack…on waves.
But let patience have a perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting in nothing. (If now) any one of you is wanting in wisdom, let him ask from God, who gives to all liberally and upbraids not, and it shall be given to him. 1 James 1:4,5
I obtained this translation from the Codex Sinaiticus website:
This website is incredible and features digitized photos of the actual manuscript, which is one of the oldest Greek New Testament parchments available (330- 350 A.D.?). This translation, and the manuscript itself, indicate that verse 4 runs right into verse 5…in the case of the manuscript, there is no intervening punctuation (or even spaces between the Greek letters, for that matter).
In my last post, I deep dove verse 4, and was favoring the Peshitta translation: But to “patience” be the full work, to be finished and whole, something not lacking. I theorized that our comm link with God (sensitivity, yieldedness, obedience) was what was being perfected. So now in verse 5 we are seeing that there is a different CONOPS for obtaining wisdom. We don’t need trials, patience, endurance to obtain it. All we have to do is ask (while trusting). But the question then arises, if we have optimal communication with God, why would we need wisdom?
A TV pastor described his season of inter-denominational debate during which he was a young man who worked as a hospital paramedic. He worked at a hospital that was run by one denomination and he belonged to another. He had been discouraged from evangelizing and praying with the patients (there was a union rule against it because “they had a chaplaincy for that”). One time when the hospital clerk turned him in for praying for a patient who had begged him to, he was called up to “the front office,” with his disdainful union rep, to see the administrator. He recounts, “the Bible says that wisdom is cool and if you open your mouth in times of trouble, God will fill it.” He directed the administrator and union rep to their training documents that explained how to perform a doctrine-specific religious rite when no chaplain was available. He won the debate point and the administrator stood down.
So was that wisdom from the Holy Spirit? Only God knows. I can say that the pastor then went on to recount how he continued to ignore the union rules, on the sly. And then he returned to the topic of the clerk! In an animated fashion, the pastor described further persecution that he had endured at this clerk’s hands. Twenty years had elapsed and the poor pastor was still re-living the sting…Maybe it should have been a season of inter-denominational reconciliation instead of debate. But that leads me to the question, why is everybody on this quest for wisdom? Is it because “wisdom is cool?”
At a young age, King Solomon understood the major value of being wise, treasuring it more than all the riches in the land–because he was smart enough to know that he could get/keep everything he desired, if he had wisdom from God. But did Solomon, in fact, ask God for wisdom (reminder–Solomon’s brand excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt, 1 Kings 4:30)? He received wisdom, but here is actually what he asked for: Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours? 1 Kings 3:9 He asked for the ability to discern…the Truth!! And God gave him a “wise and discerning heart.” Solomon couldn’t read people’s minds. But he knew how to test their hearts in any situation–to determine the truth beneath the truth. In other words, God didn’t give Solomon the truth per se, but He gave him the ability to get at the truth. Eventually Solomon’s Godly wisdom departed, probably because of pride, and he blundered along in connubial and extra-connubial bliss for years becoming a very bitter old man…His final wisdom reference in the Bible is more-so about folly…As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. Ecclesiastes 10:1
So you knew I’d ask, but what is wisdom? The Hebrew word for wisdom is חָכְמָה or khok-maw’. The word appears 77 times in the Hebrew Old Testament. A preponderance of these references (~70%), are found in the Books of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes–with an additional ~20 references elsewhere dealing with King Solomon. So we could say that Job and Solomon held wisdom in high esteem/pursued it. (Side note: rich and richer 🙂 ) The first usage of khok-maw’ is in Exodus 28:3 when the LORD talks about giving those Levites, who were making Aaron’s priestly garments, a Spirit of Wisdom. You are to speak to all who are specially skilled, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, so that they may make Aaron’s garments to set him apart to minister as my priest.
And, I believe that wisdom was further clarified in Daniel 1:3,4. Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. The argument that wisdom comes with age goes out the window in this scripture. Also, a person might possess knowledge and understanding, and might have a useful skillset, but wisdom gives these assets the oomph, to take them from ordinary to extraordinary. Additionally, this wisdom may be for a special mission, e.g., fabricating garments or imparting societal knowledge.
As we further define wisdom, we see that there is a big difference between the wisdom of man, and the wisdom of God. Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”; and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” 1 Corin 3:18 – 20
Question: So what happens when we have the wisdom of man versus the wisdom of God? Answer: “(God) catches the wise in their own craftiness”; This quote is actually from Job 5:13. Basically it says that the wisdom of man isn’t wisdom–it’s craftiness. And possibly the difference between the two types of wisdom goes to motive. The craftiness word is “orem” in the Hebrew, and means craftiness, shrewdness, stratagem; so I guess we’re talking about a hidden scheme in a competition–probably not God-authored. And ultimately, the thoughts of the wise are futile; futile as in “vain, unreal, ineffectual, unproductive” and also “aimless, without purpose, fleeting, transitory, groundless.”
Some examples of futile ideas? “H-m-m-m it seemed like a genius idea at the time” could apply to any of the following: (1) Dragging that big horse into Troy; (2) France’s Frigid Russian Invasion; (3) The Hindenburg; (4) Germany’s Frigid Russian Invasion; (5) The Titanic; (6) The Ford Edsel; (7) Disabling Fail Safes on Chernobyl To Expedite Routine Maintenance Checks; (8) Supporting the Emperor Caligula’s War on Neptune (fake sea god) with infantry attack…on waves.
Romans 1 describes a scary auguring-in process that occurs when someone who is wise in his own mind entertains futile thoughts: For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man…Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts…they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is forever worthy of praise!…They have become filled with every kind of wickedness. Romans 1:21 – 29
Just prior to His crucifixion, Jesus told the apostles how to get at the truth beneath the truth: And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), to be with you forever—the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive [and take to its heart] because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He (the Holy Spirit) remains with you continually and will be in you. John 14:16,17 Amplified Translation
The truth is what Solomon was asking for, and, then as now, I believe truth is what we get when we ask God for wisdom. Contributing to God’s infinite wisdom is the fact that He’s not trapped in a timeline. He can spot a perfect storm situation in advance, and advise us accordingly. Plus God sees the backstory; e.g., that the con meant more than the life of the child, to a woman who was attempting to abduct him. (1 Kings 3:26) And in closing, I believe that God is delighted when we ask Him for wisdom, and ever faithful to grant our request.
Cross-Denominational Bible Study 