Have you ever had a conversation with someone where everything that they said seemed to go way over your head? Or, better yet, have you ever had a conversation where you were explaining something to someone and the person you were talking to was unable to understand what you were talking about? Have you ever had that experience when you are having a conversation about your faith? As you begin to share what you believe about Jesus and the Bible in a way that seems perfectly clear and makes perfect sense to you, the person who you are talking to looks at you and says something like “how can you believe that?” or “that doesn’t make any sense”?
How can what seems so easy to understand about Jesus and His teachings be missed by so many around us? This is nothing new. For over 2,000, people have looked at the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel and have responded by saying “this makes no sense to me”. A man named Paul reveal a simple, yet timeless truth when it comes to why some people respond the way that they do when they encounter the teachings of Jesus and the Bible. And that timeless truth is that the wisdom of God is often misunderstood. In a section of a letter that was written to a church, we see the first of three reasons why the wisdom of God is often misunderstood:
Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written, "THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM." 1 Corinthians 2:6-9
In this section, the Apostle Paul explains that the wisdom of God is often misunderstood because it is a mystery. When Paul states that the wisdom of God is a mystery, he is explaining that the wisdom of the message of the gospel is a timeless truth about God that was once previously hidden, but has now been made known.
But how could hiding the message of the wisdom of God be to our glory, as Paul claims in this passage? The reason that making known the previously hidden wisdom of God is to our glory is that God, before time began, decided to keep this timeless truth about God hidden, so that by God’s gracious choice, at just the right time, through the message of the gospel, followers of Jesus would have the opportunity to participate in a relationship with God for all eternity in the majesty and splendor of His presence.
However, Paul goes on to explain that this mystery, this timeless truth about God that was once hidden, but has now been made known through the message of the gospel, was misunderstood by the authorities of the world. In other words, those who held positions of power in the world missed the message of the gospel. Paul’s point is that if those in power would have understood the wisdom of God as seen in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel, they would not have responded by killing Jesus. The fact that they killed Jesus revealed the reality that they missed the wisdom of God. The mystery of the wisdom of God as seen in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel was missed and is often still missed today.
We will look at another reason why Paul states that the wisdom of God is often misunderstood next time. In the mean time, how have you responded to they mystery of the wisdom of God as seen in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel?
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