Hidden Wisdom
“But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” I Corinthians 2:7-8
The Apostle Paul was attempting to remind the church members at Corinth about the privilege that was theirs because of their relationship with Christ. There were many problems in this church that Paul had founded a few years prior, and his letter was to rebuke, but also to encourage the believers. He began to compare the world’s wisdom with that of Godly wisdom. Those who were born again understood clearly and without doubt the wisdom of the gospel. A conversation between two believers can be quite different that that of a believer and an unbeliever, and especially between two unbelievers. The believer and the unbeliever do not speak the same language. The two of them both live in the secular world, but the believer also lives in the spiritual realm, thus seeing things from a Biblical world view.
True believers don’t waste time in trying to analyze and figure out the solutions to the world’s problems using worldly wisdom. The world’s “wisdom” is many times what caused the problems in the first place. As former President Ronald Reagan remarked, “Government is not the solution, government is the problem.” However there are many in the political world who would have all to believe that government is our god. Man’s solutions are bound to fail without depending on the wisdom that comes from above. The problem of racism is an example of man’s attempt and failure to end prejudice and racism, which has been occurring since man walked the earth. Only God can change hearts, and until people allow Him to do a work within their hearts, nothing will really change. No amount of legislation, laws, protests, or, as one of my former pastors used to say, “taking a do-good pill”, will change a sinful, prideful heart into one of genuine love, mercy, kindness, and peace. That takes the power of God. Man’s solutions based on the wisdom of the world are bound to fail as they always have.
This “hidden wisdom” of which Paul is writing is the wisdom given to those who are born again into God’s family, which, in some respects is like any family in that there are things known and shared that are privy only to those in the family. It is a privilege to know and understand some of the mysteries of God which are hidden from the secular world. David Roper in his book, “Seasoned with Salt” wrote “Uncontaminated devotion to Christ is the source of insight into the unseen world. It enables perceptions that others cannot achieve. Such men and women glimpse the workings of God where others detect nothing.” I think sometimes we forget that fact when we see how lost people respond to situations, and we wonder why they do and say the things that they do and say, that is, purely from a secular world view. They do that because that’s all they know. They don’t have the perspective of those who, as Mr. Roper puts it, “see everything through God’s eyes, hear with His ears”, the ability of which is given to the believers by faith in the Lord and who are open to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
In II Corinthians 4:3, Paul wrote that if the gospel was hidden, it was hidden to those that are lost. Thus one who rejects the gospel is not privy to its message, its hope, and its answer to overcome the burden and guilt of sin. Consequently, until people are willing to humble themselves before God, repent, and receive forgiveness through the blood of Christ, we will still continue to have all the problems associated with worldly wisdom, which, quite frankly, is not wisdom, but the thoughts and actions of prideful and selfish people who believe they can solve problems without God’s help. How’s that been working out for them?