Wisdom and Confusion – The Christian Underground Journal

By

Mike Kovach

What does God’s Word have to say about wisdom? This can be touchy, since wisdom of men deals directly with the issue of sin. I have talked with many people the past few months on issues ranging from golf to abortion and no one subject took up more time than the issue of sin and its consequences. Most of my discussion has taken place via a BBS or bulletin board system. A lot of the people are from other states and sometimes other countries. I decided to write a response to individuals on my BBS who were active in the debate. Let’s explore wisdom, the confusion of men.

Are you really saved? What exactly is wisdom? What role does sin play in salvation? and what does God’s Word have to say about the issue.

In the Bible St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians starting with Chapter 2, verses 18 through 31 we see comments concerning the wise and the foolish. Verses 22 and 23 indicate man’s desire to remain separated from his creator. Paul implies that this is a blatant act of rebellion.

v18 for the message of the CROSS is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

v19 for it is written:

“I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE AND BRING TO NOTHING THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE PRUDENT.”

v20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

v21 for since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

v22 For Jews request a sign, and Gentiles seek after wisdom.

v23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews an obstacle and to the Gentiles foolishness, v24 but to those who are called, both Jew and Gentile, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

v25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than man, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. v26 for you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, few mighty, few noble, are called.

v27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.

v28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,

v29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.

v30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness, sanctification, and redemption

v31 that, as it is written, “HE WHO BOASTS, LET HIM BOAST IN THELORD.”

The implications of Paul’s letter are that we must cease to follow the pattern of Lucifer who by desire wanted to be God.

Looking further into the Bible we can see how man’s wisdom has played a role in our continual struggle to be like the one who created us and like the one who died for us. Our inability to accept God’s claims has brought about false doctrines which has kept man in a vicious cycle of self-destruction. In First John verses 4 through 9 this doctrine is dealt with, and our wisdom placed in judgement by the Lord. In this passage We come face-to-face with a doctrine that has led many down a path of destruction. That doctrine concerns issues about salvation. Primarily, the once saved always saved doctrine.

Again, the wisdom of man has led many to maintain a separation from God by supporting a liberal theology and by allowing man to manipulate God’s word to fit his agenda. So, let’s look at First John verses 4 through 9:

v4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.

v5 and you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. v6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.

v7 little children, let know one deceive you. He who PRACTICES righteousness if righteous, just as He is righteous.

v8 He who SINS is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

v9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.”

This can be oppressive, leading many into confusion unless it is explored more deeply. So let me share with you what I have discovered. In this Epistle, the Apostle John is striking a deadly blow at two erroneous doctrines which from his own time until now have been prevalent: antinomianism and perfectionism. Antinomians (ANTI, “against,” and NOMAS, “Law”) contend that the covenant of grace, even as the Abrahamic Covenant of the O.T., is not established on conditions; therefore, man cannot be held accountable to any moral law. It is only required for him to believe that he is justified. The so-called perfectionists believe that the sin nature is eradicated from them as though surgically removed as a cancer. The life of the believer, despite occasionally missing the mark and bearing responsibility for it, is equivalent to the Sinaitic Covenant of God in the O.T.

According to Spiros Zodhiates, TH. D, “John examines the question of whether the person who is born of God can commit sin. In I Jn. 3:6 we are told that “No one who abides in Him sins, but in v. 8 it says, “The one who practices sin is of the devil.” Then in v. 9 we have the emphatic declaration that “No one who is born of God practices sin … and he cannot sin.” But if it is possible for a Christian to sin, and experiences teaches that it is, does there not appear to be a direct contradiction between theses portions of Scripture? While, on the one hand, John says that if it is not possible for those who are really born again to sin, must it not be a fact that there can be but very few genuine Christians, if any? One doctrine appears to be prevalent; that those who Christ’s cannot be eternally lost and though they may fall into sin, this does not affect their sonship, or eternal salvation. There are two participial nouns here, Ho Agathopoion, “the one being a doer of good, a benevolent person,” and Ho Kakopoion, “the one doing evil, the malevolent person.” This is the same as in I Jn. 3:7, “the doer of or the one practicing (ho poion) righteousness is righteous.” He does not imply that an attempt at an act of goodness makes one righteous any more than someone pounding a nail into a piece of wood makes that person a skilled carpenter. We term a man an artisan who has acquired a skill and works at that trade as his calling or occupation. This is really the meaning of the Greek word POIEO rendered “practices” (I Jn. 3:4,8,9) and “does” (III Jn. 11), and hence we render I Jn. 3:8. “The one practices sin,” a worker or maker of sin. In other words, he is a habitual or customary sinner; one who sins DELIBERATELY and from a prevailing habit, WARILY. In the same sense the Apostle use the expression, practices sin, (Hamartanei) in v. 6.

The expression, “he cannot sin,” (I Jn. 3:9) simply means he cannot SIN HABITUALLY, DELIBERATELY, EASILY and MALICIOUSLY as Cain (v.12) did out of hatred of goodness. The divine nature of man, of course, cannot sin. But while John speaks of the divine nature in this abstract way, he does not, on the other hand, ignore the existence of the sinful nature in the believer, who is still in a mortal and corruptible body and living in a corrupt world. Consequently, in I Jn. 1:8 we find him saying, “If we say that we have no sin (meaning the sin nature occasionally manifesting its ugly head), we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

So, if a person sins willfully, and deliberately, they do not belong to God, no matter how hard they try to justify their actions or beliefs. Man has determined in his heart that he will not be controlled or led by any person outside himself. In effect man has said they are the creator and God is the creation. This is the result of man’s wisdom. Without God there is no hope for mankind. We can see what man’s wisdom is doing to our world. People are beginning to lose hope for the future. Many are so scared that suicide is on the rise. Our streets are filled with violence, children no longer have a sense of purpose or direction. The standard of life has been snuffed out and because of man’s foolishness the foolishness of God is destroying them.

There is hope however, we can have the assurance of our salvation and we can live in peace. There is no reason for the violence taking place on our streets. There is no need for all the sickness and disease our world is experiencing. All man must do is stop playing God.

Truth is not a matter of opinion. Or is it?