God’s wisdom is revealed in the God-man

That Jesus is fully man and fully God is incomprehensible even to Christians who believe it. The divine and the human are the Son of God and Son of Man. Little wonder that this union is the “wisdom of God.”

To those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ (is) the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:24)

First I must remember that God’s thoughts are higher than my thoughts. If I could fathom His mind, then I would be closer to being equal to Him — which is utter nonsense. God is God and no one can grasp the totality of who He is or how He thinks and works.

Yet God became man so I could know Him. He retained His distinct properties and so this Man was fully a man. Both were unchanged by the union, even though human wisdom cannot comprehend how this works, nor adjust the connection between them without muddling both.

This amazing reality is the first revelation God gave me. I knew, without any explanation or description from others, that all that is glorious in God and all that is excellent in humanity belonged to Christ. I knew instantly that He is God yet also human. The heavenly became one of us, without ceasing to be God. The Creator became the creature, yet in doing so, He remained deity, a being of time, yet eternal, finite yet infinite, mortal yet immortal.

My life changed at that revelation. Even though I cannot make a perfect link in my mind, I know that the two parts of the universe are linked by incarnation. Earth knows what the Godhead is because God the Son came here to live with us, and heaven knows humanity as deeply as possible because human nature now sits at God’s right hand in the person of Jesus Christ.

This is why He is called the wisdom of God. Who could dream up such a scheme? No mortal would devise a plan that God would come to earth, live among us and die for our sin, because in the first place, no mortal would readily admit that our sin is so serious that it requires that sort of radical punishment.

Also, only God could and would determine to unite Himself with us, then come as baby besides. He entered the womb and began life where we begin it. God did that? Such humility. He joined Himself to us at the beginning of human existence. He was made of a woman, linked to woman and woman to him. He is a man, linked to man and man to him. He was an infant, a child, a boy, a youth, and that links all ages to Him, the God-man who united himself to us, knows our trials, joys and sorrows, even consecrated all stages of our development.

And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:30–31)

What a marvel of wisdom in the incarnation. Jesus spreads before us treasures of knowledge that link our earthly lives to heaven and eternity. Because of His grace, we can know that He is God — and that this life is not all there is. Truly, Jesus is the wisdom of God!

The fullness of wisdom

Those who sell products through a business in their home are positive that that Amway, Avon, certain vitamins, or whatever they are selling is the best there is, otherwise they would not be selling it. They have used the product and are convinced of its value and quality, or at least that they can make a living convincing others.

Those called by God to follow Jesus Christ are also convinced that Christ is the best there is, not because of personal benefits in the relationship (even though that is a factor), but because God has revealed something to them that others do not see. This man is not a mere man, but is “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” (Hebrews 1:3)

To the world, Jesus Christ appears as a teacher or a prophet, even a myth. Some think He was a mad man, or a liar, but the people who are in a personal relationship with Him by faith know better.

But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ (is) the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:24)

Horatius Bonar says that the expression, “the wisdom of God,” does not mean that Christ is wise but something more comprehensive. Yes, He is infinitely wise, but to say He is the wisdom of God goes beyond that. The Father is infinitely wise, but we cannot say He is the wisdom of God. This description belongs only to the Son because all that is in God and that can come forth from God is contained in Christ.

Jesus is the full representative of the invisible and incomprehensible Almighty God. He is the brightness of Jehovah’s glory and the express image of His person. In all He does, God displays portions of His wisdom, but in Christ He puts forth all of it. That is, the wisdom of God is totally expressed in His Son.

Why is that said in the Bible? It seems to me that God’s wisdom is seen in how spiders spin a web or in the way stars move in the heavens. I see His wisdom displayed in the way He uses all things, even bad things, for good in the lives of His people, or how He humbles hard hearts and brings even the worst of sinners to the cross.

But the Bible says clearly that Christ is the wisdom of God. All that God is can be seen in this One who consented to become a man, a servant of God to do His Father’s will.

Christ Jesus who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:6–8)

This is God’s wisdom. He became a man and died for sinners. If I want to be wise, I must know this One who did this for me, but also, as Philippians 2:5 says, have His mind in me and be willing to let God, in His wisdom, direct me in an obedient life of serving others.