“But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this. For if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”
– 1 Corinthians 2:7–8
This is really important for how we understand the wisdom of God. So 1 Corinthians 2:7–8 says, “We impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.” So the whole picture is here the wisdom of God involves His plans, God’s plans for the history of salvation from before the foundation of the world. Now this wisdom from God is totally different from the wisdom of man. That God would ordain the death of His son to be the means by which sinners could be reconciled to Him. What man would have thought of the incarnation? God with us, in human flesh, born in a manger, stable, to live among us, and then to die on a cross, the most cruel form of death imaginable.
God’s Wisdom Surpasses that of the World
We are faced with a question when we wake up each morning: will we live according to the wisdom of the world or according to the wisdom of God?
And yet we know from before the foundation of the world, God purposed to do this so that we might be saved from our sins. Like this is all the wisdom of God and it is contrary to the wisdom of man, to the ways of man, which is why, so verse eight says, “None of the rulers of this age understood this. For if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” If they knew or understood this was God in the flesh, then they would not have crucified Him. But the rulers of this age are blind to the wisdom of God.
1 Corinthians 2:7–8 Prays for Our Thoughts to Reflect Christ
So there’s so much we can take away from this. One particular takeaway that I want to lead us into prayer is the clear contrast between man’s wisdom and God’s wisdom. The reality is every one of us today is going to live either based on man’s wisdom or God’s wisdom, either according to the ways of this world and the ways this world thinks, or according to the word of God and the way God thinks. And you and I have a choice every day when we wake up, whose wisdom are we going to live according to? And I want to urge, even as I’m reminded in my own life, let’s live according to the wisdom of God.
God, we pray that you would help us not to think as this world thinks. Help us to think like you think. Conform our thoughts to your thoughts and our ways to your ways. Your ways are higher than our ways. Your thoughts are higher than our thoughts. There’s foolishness in this world that we call wisdom. So God deliver us from our own foolishness, all of our propensity to foolishness we pray. Help us to live with your wisdom. Help us to seek your wisdom through your word. Please help us to know your word, your thoughts, your ways revealed here.
Goodness According to the Word
Help us to know your word really, really, really well such that when we make decisions, as we speak words, as we do all that we do throughout the day, that it’d be your wisdom that’s guiding us, your thoughts, your ways, your desires, your plans, what you know is good. Not what this world says is good. God, please deliver us. Save us from ourselves. Deliver, save us from the wisdom of this world that we might live with your wisdom today. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder and Chairman of Radical, an organization that helps people follow Jesus and make him known in their neighborhood and all nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, and Don’t Hold Back.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
