"The world by wisdom knew not God"

      Worldly wisdom and Biblical wisdom

 

Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He takes the wise in their own craftiness.  --1 Corinthians 3:18-19  

 

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkens unto counsel is wise. --Proverbs 12:15

 

The one who is from God hears the words of God: because of this you do not hear, because you are not from God. --John 8:47

 

Even the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive because it can't see Him, or know Him. But you know Him for he dwells with you and shall be in you. --John 14:17

 

But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty gives them understanding. --Job 32:8-10

 

About EarsToHear.net

  Home About Contact Search News, Commentary, & Action Recommended Books


Worldly wisdom is not Biblical wisdom

Wisdom Challenge: Which do you subscribe to? God's design or Satan's counterfeits? Do you abide by "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God," which includes biology, or do you abide by what the "reprobate minds" (Romans 1) of a depraved secular [im]moral compass? Do you care about the mental and health well-being of your children or are you willing to risk the dire consequences?

"Those who have no master are slaves to themselves... ...you will either serve Satan or Christ, either self or the Savior. You will find sin, self, Satan and the world to be hard masters; but if you wear the livery of Christ, you will find him so meek and lowly of heart that you will find rest unto your souls." --Charles Spurgeon

"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent."  -- 1 Corinthians 1:19; Isaiah 29:14

The physical world, which is temporary, was created by the spiritual world, which is eternal. There is a difference between information and revelation. Information is of the soul or mind and of the world, while revelation from God's Holy Spirit to our spirit. A.W. Tozer stated: "It may shock some readers to suggest that there is a difference between being Bible taught and being Spirit taught ." Meaning, as the Scriptures were inspired by the Holy Spirit, the Scripture needs be enlightened by the Holy Spirit, as evident from Jesus and Scriptures below.

The Parable of the Pearl of Great Price: Matthew 13:45-46 - Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

This is the "pearl of great price." The one thing that is worth more than all the other things in life. It is the finding of the wisdom of God revealed in the Scripture by the Holy Spirit. --Derek Prince  --Derek Prince

Job 32:8-10 - But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty gives them understanding. Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgment. Therefore I said, Hearken to me; I also will show mine opinion.

Ephesians 1:17-18 - That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints...

1 Corinthians 1:18-25 - For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.  

1 Corinthians 2:6-16 - But we are speaking wisdom among those ready to apprehend divine things, but not the wisdom of this age and not of the leaders of this age of those things that are being abolished: but we are speaking wisdom of God, the wisdom hidden in a mystery, which God predestined for eternity for our glory, which none of the leaders of this age knew: for if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. But just as it has been written, "What eye did not see and ear did not hear" (Isaiah 64:3; 52:15) and did not go up upon the heart of man, what God prepared for those who love Him.
     But God has revealed them to us through the Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who of men knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man that is in him? Thus then no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
     And we did not take the spirit of the world but the Spirit which is from God, so that we would know the things freely given to us by God: and this is what we are speaking, not in teachings with words of human wisdom but in teachings of the Spirit, those thoughts joined together with spiritual teachings.
     But natural man does not take the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him and he is not able to know, because they are discerned spiritually. And the one who discerns all things by the Spirit, then is himself called to account by no one. For "Who has known the mind of the Lord, who will instruct Him?" (Isaiah 40:13) But we have the mind of Messiah; we know what He has taught.

John 17:3 - This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.

James 3:17 - But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

Matthew 11:25-27 - "...Jesus answered and said, "I thank You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in Your sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knows the Son, but the Father; neither knows any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him."

John 6:63- It is the spirit that quickens; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

2 Corinthians 4:18 - While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Proverbs 24:3-7 - A house is built through wisdom and it is established by understanding. And by knowledge will the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches. A wise man is strong. Yes, a man of knowledge increases strength. For by wise counsel you will make your war, and in a multitude of counselors there is safety. Wisdom is too high for a fool: he does not open his mouth in the gate.

Matthew 13:3-23 - And He (Y'shua) told them many things in parables saying, Behold the sower of the seed came out to sow. And while he was sowing some indeed fell by the way, and when the birds came they devoured them. But some fell upon the rocky ground where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up right away because it had no depth of soil: and when the sun rose it was burned, and because it did not have a root it was withered. But some fell upon thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them. But some fell upon good ground, and gave fruit, on the one hand a hundred times, on another sixty, and another thirty. The one who has ears must listen continually.
     Then when the disciples came they said to Him, "Why are You speaking to them in parables?" And He said to them, "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of the Heavens, but it has not been given to those. For who has, it will be given to him and he will have great abundance: but who does not have, even what he does have will be taken from him.
     I am speaking to them in parables because of this, because although they see, they do not see, and although they hear, they do not hear, and they do not understand, and the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled to them, the one saying, "To perceive by hearing, you will hear and you will not understand, and seeing you will see and will not see or understand, For the heart of this people has been made dull, and they heard in their ears with difficulty, and they closed their eyes lest they would see with their eyes and they would hear with their ears and they would understand in their heart and they would return and I would heal them."
(Isaiah 6:9,10)
   
 And blessed are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear: for truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous people desired to see what you are seeing but they did not see, and to hear what you are hearing but they did not hear."
     "Therefore you must now hear the parable of the sower. For everyone who hears the message of the kingdom and does not understand, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart, this one is what is sown by the way. And the one sown upon the stony ground, this is the one who hears the message and immediately takes it with joy, but it does not have a root in itself, but it is temporary, and when affliction or persecution comes because of the message, he is immediately caused to fall away. And the one sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the message, and the anxiety of the age and the deceitfulness of wealth (Matthew 6:24) choke the message and it becomes useless. And the one sown upon the good ground, this is the one who hears the message and understands, who indeed bears fruit and makes on the one hand one hundred times, and on another sixty and another thirty."

"Because of our lack of understanding, we have always viewed the spiritual world as that which is to come. ...Jesus told the religionists in days gone by, the deep spiritual truths and yet they did not have ears to hear. They were down in the flesh realm and He was in the realm of the Spirit. The moment He said anything they could not analyze with their critical minds, they rejected rejected His statement and repudiated Him." --"Made Alive" - By Charles S. Price

The Disciples were with Jesus three years, yet He declared: "I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth." (John 16:12-13)

Isaiah 11:2 -And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;

Isaiah 55:6-11 - You must seek the LORD* while He may be found, call to Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return to the LORD* and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My Ways, says the LORD*. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My Ways higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there, but water the earth and make it bring forth and bud so it will give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so My word will go forth out of My mouth: it will not return to Me empty-handed,2 but it will accomplish that which I please and it will succeed wherever I send it.

But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God:
for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned.
(1 Corinthians 2:14) 

2 Corinthians 4:3-4 - "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."

"Knowledge unenlightened by the truth of God is dark knowledge. We may have a B.S., an M.S., and a Ph.D., but without the Lord all we have is dark information. It may help navigate us in the world of darkness, but by itself will never lead us to the truth. Apart from the revelation of the Spirit of God, none of us could ever find our way into the light. Darkly educated people are like those whom Paul described to his young protoge', Timothy, as 'always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.'" (2 Timothy 3:7) "Rediscovering the Kingdom"- by Myles Munroe

For we were once foolish, disobedient, being deceived, serving various desires and pleasures, while we were living in wickedness and envy, hateful, hateful, hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of the Savior our God appeared, He saved us, but according to His mercy, not as the result of works of righteousness which we did, but through the washing of regeneration and of renewal by the Holy Spirit, Whom He poured out richly upon us through Jesus Messiah our Savior, so that since we have been made righteous by the grace of that One, we would become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. --Titus 3:3-8

LORD, how great are your works! and your thoughts are very deep. A brutish man does not know; neither does a fool understand this. --Psalms 92:5-6

A wise man fears, and departs from evil: but the fool rages, and is confident. --Proverbs 14:16

Answering Fools According to Their Folly - By Greg Bahnsen - ...The Bible uses the word "fool" descriptively, applying it to someone who is spiritually ill-informed, who just doesn't get it. Who is a fool in the Bible? "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'" (Ps. 14:1). I hope you can see how foolish that is. What else does the Bible tell us about fools? "The wise man builds his house upon the rock," Jesus tells us. "The foolish man builds upon the sand" (cf. Matt. 7:24-27). Jesus is saying that His words are the rock, the rock upon which everything is built. The wise man builds upon the rock foundation of God's Word, while everyone else builds his life on the foolish and destructive sand of human autonomy.

     In Proverbs 1:7, we read, "The beginning of knowledge is the fear of the LORD, but fools despise wisdom and instruction." Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 1:18 that "the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." The fool does not understand the gospel and believe, and the fool does not begin with the Word of God and reverence Him. The fool does not even believe in God or act as though there is a God. The fool builds his house upon sand, and as a result, it is easily destroyed because of the inherent instability of its foundation. The Bible is not using the word "fool" in a name-calling way. It's referring to a specific spiritual condition, spiritual stupidity, the stupidity that does not know how to live in God's world and honor God and be successful. The unbeliever is a fool.

 

Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like unto him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit. --Proverbs 26:4-5

 

Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He takes the wise in their own craftiness.  --1 Corinthians 3:18-19

 

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkens unto counsel is wise. --Proverbs 12:15

 

See Trinity: Created in His Image for insight on how it is our spirit, not our intellect, that receives "the inspiration of the Almighty gives them understanding" from God's Holy Spirit.