The Mind of Christ – Wisdom

The Mind of Christ – Wisdom.

“Who is able to understand the mind of Lord Yahweh? Who is able to be His teacher? We, however, have the mind of Christ!” (1 Corinthians 2:16).

“We have…” (Greek, “echomen”), which means ‘are having,’ ‘are keeping,’ or ‘are holding;’ to have and to keep on having, an action in progress; a process that is now taking place; the present state is a continuing state. So the literal translation is, “We, however, are having the mind of Christ.” Through the Holy Spirit, we now are new creatures who were given the capacity to learn how to think like Jesus.

… the mind of Christ.” (Greek for mind is “nous,” which means the highest knowing faculty of the soul; the spirit and understanding behind all we think and do). Through the Holy Spirit, then…

We are being given the capacity to think the thoughts of the Anointed One;

We have the growing ability to reason, to be logical, and to think things through like Jesus;

We are being infused with the ability to understand God’s wisdom;

We are being equipped with the moral intelligence of the Lord;

We are being given access to the reasoning behind the actions of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit;

We are in the process of perceiving spiritual matters as Christ perceives them;

We have an increasing ability to understand life from God’s perspective;

We will be continually inspired to develop the divine common sense and street-smart shrewdness that Jesus was known for;

We are gaining insight into what truly matters according to the thinking of God;

We have a growing ability to reflect and ponder according to the will of Christ;

We enjoy an ongoing co-mingling of our mind with Christ’s mind, until the end, when the new will have completely replaced the old, and those two minds will be indistinguishable.

“O the depth of the riches and the wisdom and knowledge of God! What a deep wealth of wisdom and knowledge He has!

How incomprehensible are His decisions, how unsearchable His judgments!

How undiscoverable are His paths, how mysterious His ways, beyond finding out!

Who has understood the mind of Yahweh? Who knows how the Lord thinks, or what His thoughts are? Can anyone discern the Lord’s intentions, His motivations?

Who knows enough to give Him advice? Is there anyone qualified to be His counselor?

Who has given Him so much that He needs to pay it back? Who could ever have a claim against Him?

For everything was created by Him, everything lives through Him, and everything exists for Him; So to Him must be given the glory forever! Amen! (Romans 11:33-36, also refer to Isaiah 40:12-14).

God’s wisdom cannot be imagined by any human being, therefore it can’t be adequately described or accurately defined. We get direct revelations of God’s wisdom, though, as we read the gospels and the life and ministry of Jesus. His amazing intellect was always on full display, even at twelve years old in the Temple with the Torah scholars. We see in all His interactions with others that Jesus had perfect insight, unerring common sense, and a deep understanding of whatever needed to be understood. “God’s understanding is infinite.” (Ps. 147:5). Jesus always had sound reason and logic on His side, made shrewd decisions, and had unlimited discernment. His creative imagination was boundless as He told stories, offered object lessons, and used nature as visual aids, showing Himself to be a Master Teacher. There is an impenetrable depth of wisdom to Lord Yahweh that only His Son can reveal.

“It is of the mysterious wisdom of God that we talk, the wisdom that was hidden, that goes deep into the interiors of His purposes. This wisdom of God was once hidden from human understanding and now revealed to us by God. This is God’s secret wisdom hidden before now in a mystery which God predetermined before the ages for our glorification, to lift us into the glory of His Presence. This is the wisdom that God destined for our glory before time began.” (a weaving of 1 Corinthians 2:7 using several Bible translations).

Aspects of God’s Mysterious Wisdom:

1. God’s wisdom cannot be reached by human wisdom, and is not the fruit of human effort;
2. God’s wisdom does not depend on philosophical speculation, or verbal eloquence, or logical argument, or persuasive speech;
3. God’s wisdom appears to be utterly foolish to the unbelieving world and highly improbable to the skeptical world;
4. God’s wisdom includes the Cross, which is absurd to unbelievers: the Son of God in glory comes in the flesh, is a humble servant, poor and rejected, is weak and powerless, and submits to a sacrificial death. Nonsense!
5. God’s wisdom inspired the unexpected plan of salvation, which makes very little sense to unbelievers;
6. God’s wisdom is personified in Jesus Christ, who carries out God’s plan to perfection;
7. Believers are those who have been given the mind of Christ, and thus can begin to understand God’s wisdom;
8. God’s wisdom demonstrates the convincing power of the Holy Spirit;
9. God’s wisdom is generally not fashionable or popular, and is often misunderstood;
10. In His wisdom, God revealed Christ to become our wisdom;
11. God’s wisdom devised His secret plan of salvation before time began, and only waited to reveal it at the appointed time with Jesus;
12. God’s deep secrets can only be revealed to us through His Holy Spirit;
13. God’s wisdom planned the scheme of salvation to center on simple faith, not on skill, status, achievement or intelligence. That doesn’t make sense to the prideful human heart that wants to earn it or claim it;
14. God’s wisdom is drenched in irony, appearing to be weak and foolish but in reality is powerful and true;
15. In His secret wisdom, God is transcendently humble;
16. A key component of faith is learning to trust God’s wisdom, that He knows what He is doing, even though there is much mystery involved;
17. Christ Himself is God’s wisdom: “My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Colossians 2:2-3).
18. In other words: “In Christ all the treasures of divine wisdom, of comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God, and all the riches of spiritual knowledge and enlightenment, are stored up and lie hidden.” (Colossians 2:3, Amplified Bible).
19. High Praise for our Wise God: “Immortal, invisible, God only wise, In light inaccessible hid from our eyes, Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days, Almighty, victorious, thy great Name we praise.” (Walter Chalmers Smith).

Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:24). Jesus demonstrated all these attributes of wisdom, because He Himself is all these attributes in the flesh. Christ is embodied wisdom. Christ is wisdom incarnate. Christ isn’t merely full of wisdom… “Jesus, in Whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Col 2:3). He is not merely a source of wisdom for us. He literally is Wisdom personified in real, concrete life. Christ is the Wisdom of God. He is God’s Wisdom made manifest. He makes God’s wisdom clearly seen, visible, experiential, obvious to the senses. God wanted everyone to see what His wisdom looked like, so He sent us His Son Jesus. Christian wisdom is not acquired through human effort, but through uniting ourselves with Wisdom, Jesus Christ; through acquiring the very mind of Christ; through union with Christ, the Wisdom of God. “It is by Him that you exist in Christ Jesus, who for us was made wisdom from God.” (1 Cor. 1:30). By gaining the mind of Christ, we are also acquiring the very mind of the Almighty God.

Christ as the Wisdom of Creation. We do know that God and Wisdom created the world. From all eternity, Jesus was God’s wisdom, even before the Triune God created the world. That’s why Wisdom is a title of Christ, not merely a description of Christ.

“From eternity past, I (Lady Wisdom) was established, well before the world began. Yahweh possessed me before earth got its start. When He staked out earth’s foundation and set in place its pillars, I was right there with him, anointed from the beginning, making sure everything fit. Day after day I was there at His side as His master craftsman, joyfully applauding His efforts. He was filled with delight in me as I playfully rejoiced before Him, enjoying His company. I laughed and played, delighted with the created world of things and creatures, so happy with what He had made, joyfully celebrating the human family and finding my delight in the children of men.” (Proverbs 8:23, 29-31).

It is important to remember that early Christian tradition maintains that Wisdom in the Hebrew Bible is messianic, an anticipation of the person of Christ. (St. Justin, 150 AD). Ever since the early Church Fathers, when one reads about Wisdom personified in Jewish Scriptures, Christian believers can simply understand Christ as Wisdom. That’s the Christian tradition. Secondly, it is very clear that Christ was a co-creator of the world. He participated in creation with the Triune God. As the Orthodox Church puts it, “The Father made the world through the Son in the Spirit.” St. Paul put it this way, “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible… All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things exist.” (Col 1:16-17). And St. John declared it to be true in the famous first chapter of his gospel, “Through Him all things came into being, not one thing came into being except through Him.”” (John 1:3).

In the poetic version of creation as seen in Proverbs 8 above, we see the vital role of wisdom, or as it reads, Lady Wisdom. This was a poetic device in the Hebrew Bible that anticipated the attribute of wisdom being completed in the form of an actual Person. Wisdom as poetically seen as a person was completed in the New Testament in the real Person, Jesus Christ. What was an attribute of God in the Old Testament came to be accepted as a picture of God Himself, Jesus the Son of God, in the New Testament, early church and to the  present day. “Christ, who is the Wisdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:24). In Proverbs 8, Wisdom was an intricate part of creation, and Christians have believed ever since that Wisdom was in fact the Person of Christ participating in the creation of the world. “In Him were created all things in heaven and earth. All things were created through Him and for Him.” (Colossians 1:11). “Through Him all things came into being, not one thing came into being except through Him.”” (John 1:3).

Job Knows the Way to Wisdom. Wise man Job knows wisdom when he sees it. He says wisdom is like a secret treasure buried by God. Wisdom is a sublime mystery, says Job, and only God knows where it dwells. In Job 28, he offers fascinating thoughts in praise of wisdom. He details man’s valiant efforts to mine for silver and gold, digging deep in the mountains for precious jewels. Then he asks a question… We spend all that energy and time and ingenuity to find so-called precious materials, but what about wisdom and understanding, which are far more valuable and the most precious of all? Despite our grandest efforts, Job says, we look for wisdom in vain, unless we start with God.

Job, Wisdom, and Holy Fear. The prudent miner for wisdom starts by approaching the King of the Mountain in reverence, devotion, and trust. Holy fear of the Lord opens the door to wisdom. We honor and adore the King, His presence transforms us, and we grow in wisdom as a result. We find that wisdom is taking root in the fertile ground of our worshipful relationship with God. And in our pursuit of wisdom, much after Job’s time, we find the Father pointing us to the Son Jesus Christ, “who has become for us wisdom from God.” (I Cor. 1:30). Go to Him, says the Father, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”  (Colossians 2:3). You can’t be wise, says the King, without the Prince.

On Wisdom as a Tree of Life. “The ways of wisdom are sweet and pleasant, always drawing you into the place of wholeness and peace. Seeking wisdom brings the discovery of untold blessings, for she is a tree of life to those who grasp her. Whoever holds fast to wisdom will be made happy.” (Proverbs 3:18).

To Be Wise: to use sensible judgment; to demonstrate moral discernment; to practice biblical truth with deep understanding; to be skilled in making prudent decisions; to be spiritually intelligent and insightful; to live into the mind of Wisdom itself, the Person of Christ.

“How blessed are those who reject the advice of the wicked, who don’t stand in the path where sinners tread, or sit in company with scoffers, mockers, and cynics! The blessed ones are they who thrill to God’s Word, delighting in the instructions of the Lord; who think deeply about Scripture day and night, meditating, murmuring, and musing on God’s inspired teaching. The blessed person will be like a tree planted by God’s design and purpose, planted by streams of living water, the tree yielding its fruit in due season, its leaf always in blossom, never withering. Whatever this blessed person does will prosper, everything will succeed. But it will not be so for the wicked. All they are is dust in the wind – blown away to destruction. The wicked will not endure the day of judgment, for God will not defend them. They will not stand up in court, for they have no part with those who walk in truth. But how different it is for the righteous! The Lord intimately knows the way of the righteous, He charts the road they take as they move forward, while the way of the wicked is lost, it leads to doom and destruction.” (Psalm 1; this is a paraphrase based on many translations of this Psalm in Scripture).

Psalm 1 is written in the wisdom tradition of Scripture, and is intended to introduce the Psalter by teaching us the difference between the wise and the foolish, the blessed and the wicked. The psalm starts with a beatitude and uses the picture of a healthy tree to describe the blessed person. What could be a better image drawn than the blessed person as one with deep roots in Scripture, intentionally planted by the Lord in an ideal place, consistently productive and fruitful? Nothing communicates blessedness better than a flourishing tree nestled onto the banks of a flowing river.

To Be Blessed: to enjoy God’s favor; to experience delight in God’s blessing; to be fully satisfied and content in the Lord; to know with confidence that God is active in your life. Those who are blessed are most fortunate, to be envied. When one is blessed, it is time to celebrate one’s lot in life, time to humbly receive a hearty congratulations because of the blessings received from the hand of God.

A Final Word about Psalm 1: Early church theologians declared this psalm to be messianic. The original Hebrew begins the psalm with, “Blessed is the man...” The underlying Hebrew word for “man” is gender specific, it is referring to a particular man, not just any man. This focus on the masculine here is not to be offensive to women. Early scholars believed that the “man” referred to in Psalm 1 is Jesus Christ. Jesus is “the man.” He is the blessed person of God who indeed delighted in Scripture, meditating day and night on it; who is like that productive tree planted by the Lord in the well-irrigated waters of the Torah; whose plan of salvation was ultimately successful. Jesus is “the man,” Wisdom itself. And all who follow in His footsteps will enjoy the same blessedness as Jesus.

Closing Words of Wisdom from Proverbs 3. The following passages are a weaving together of the following translations and paraphrases: NIV, the Passion Translation, the Aramaic, the Message, the Amplified Bible, the New King James, the New Jerusalem Bible, and the Tanakh (Jewish Publication Society).

Verse 5:  Completely lean on the Lord, from the bottom of your heart. Yes, trust in the Lord wholeheartedly, and be confident in Him with all your heart and mind. Do not rely on your own insight or understanding. Put no faith in your own perception. Don’t trust in your personal opinions, and quit trying to figure out everything on your own.

Verse 6:  Listen to God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go. Acknowledge Him in every course you take. With all your heart rely on Him to guide you, and He will see that your paths are plain and straight. He will lead you wherever you go, and will keep you on track.

Verse 7:  Do not be wise in your own eyes, or think for a minute that you know it all. Do not congratulate yourself on your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord, reverently worship Him, for wisdom comes when you adore Him with undivided devotion. Run to God, and run from evil! Avoid everything that is wrong, turning your back entirely on evil.

Verse 8:  Do this, and your body will glow with health. You will find the healing refreshment your flesh and spirit long for, a health-giving cure. And you will experience nourishment, a relieving tonic. Your very bones will vibrate with life!

Follow-up Questions: Don’t rely on our own understanding? I would imagine we all have a constant temptation to rely on our own understanding, our personal perception and viewpoint, of just about everything. The Creator God gifted each human person with an amazing brain, and to be faithful, we need to use that gift to develop insight, understanding and wisdom. But our natural brain is in desperate need to be redeemed, replaced by the mind of Christ. How can we tell if we are relying too much on our own natural perception, and not the supernatural wisdom of God? Gaining the mind of Christ is a vital part of the process of redemption. In the meantime, the process of leaning on His understanding and not ours, goes on as the believer matures and continues to nurture and depend on the mind of Christ within.