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Two Kinds of Wisdom



"Such 'wisdom' does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere" (James 3:15-17).

There are two kinds of wisdom:

· The wisdom of men, the world, and this age

o  Origin: earthly, of the devil

o  Character: bitter envy, jealous, unspiritual, selfishly ambitious, boastful, denying the truth, causing disorder, full of evil practice, eloquent, “wise,” and persuasive

· God’s wisdom

o  Origin: heaven.

o  Character: pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy, bearing good fruit, impartial, sincere, simple, powerful, preaching the cross, humble, spiritual, not known by the world, communicated by the Spirit of God, foolishness to those who are perishing, admonishing and teaching to present every man perfect in Christ, representing Jesus Christ Himself

The unsaved man does not understand God’s wisdom because spiritual truth requires spiritual discernment. During the Korean War, I was the communications officer on a destroyer for two years. Thousands of messages were transmitted and received. We always knew what frequency to be tuned to in order to receive messages, and we also knew which frequencies to transmit on. The enemy did not know this. If he discovered the frequencies, it still did not do him any good because all the messages were encoded, each one differently, with the code changing every day.

The enemy of our souls and all the people he has enslaved do not know the frequencies or the codes. The wisdom of God is hidden from them. Before I became a Christian, I read from the New Testament every day for twenty months. It did not make any sense to me. In October 1947, I was born again by the Spirit of God, and the Bible suddenly became English.

"No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Corinthians 2:7-8).

Just imagine—if the Enemy had understood that the crucifixion of Christ meant salvation for the world, he would not have done it!

As a Christian, you know the frequency and the code. Use them! And if you lack wisdom, remember this:

"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him" (James 1:5).

*Excerpted from Being Christian. to purchase, visit ccmbooks.org/bookstore. 

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