GOD'S WISDOM VERSUS MAN'S WISDOM

GOD’S WISDOM VERSUS MAN’S WISDOM

6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:

 7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

 8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

 9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

Colossians 2: 6-9

Foundations

Foundations are very important in a building.  And foundations are used in relation to our faith in Christ.

Psalms 11:3 If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?

It is very important that we know the Biblical foundations or the truths of our faith so that we will never be deceived by the teachings of this world.

Apostle Paul exhorted the Colossian saints to be stablished in the faith.  That faith is the faith of the Scriptures  “which was once delivered unto the saints.”  (Jude 1:3).

We are living in a modern world that is shaped by the ideas, philosophies and wisdom of men.  Men would rather believe in the human findings than in divine revelation.  Our minds have been shaped and conditioned by the views and teachings we have received from this world so that when we encounter a Biblical truth that contradicts our traditional views we struggle and we dont know what to choose. But “wise” men in history have made a solution to that.  They say that we dont have to worry for the Bible is not a “science” book. If the discoveries of men of science contradict the Scriptures, these men will just say that the Bible is not for astronomy or any scientific discovery but only for religion. That is wrong!

Paul tells the Colossians and even us believers of the 21st century to:

·       walk in Christ Jesus by

·       being rooted and built up in Christ Jesus

·       being established in the faith as we have been taught

·       abounding with thanksgiving.

So these are the first things we must do after believing in Jesus.  We must walk in Christ, how?  By being rooted and built up in him. By being established in the faith. That is being rooted and built up in Christ – being established in the faith.   Then what is “the faith”? It is the body of truth given to us in the Scriptures. In other words, the truth of Scriptures or the writings.

Believers in Christ must be established and founded in the truth of the Holy Scriptures!  Because Scriptures are the words of God. And the words of God are the truth. Jesus is the truth. His words are truth. No truth apart from Jesus and his words.

If we are not firmly established in the faith of the Scriptures, then we can be easily “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness”  (Ephesians 4:14).

And thats what happened to people of this modern world: they are tossed to and fro as children and carried about with every wind of doctrine.  Doctrine simply means “teaching”. So they are carried about with every wind of teaching. You dont have to go to church to receive a “teaching”.  Go everywhere, read the newspapers and books, watch TV, browse the internet, and you will receive every wind of teaching.  There is a lot of teaching and “indoctrination” in the air!

2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

The Holy Scriptures were given to us and they are inspired of God. They are profitable for doctrine (teaching), for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

Beware lest any man spoil you

After Paul tells us to be established in the teaching of the Scriptures, he continues and say “Beware lest...”.   What does it mean? It means we must beware and if we don’t beware then we will be spoiled. So there is an anvice of being careful.  Beware.  Or “be aware”!  be aware of the deception around us.

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy. What is philosophy? Philosophy simply means “Love of wisdom/ learning”, from two greek words, filos (love) and sofia  (wisdom, learning). Philosophy in itself is not worng and is not bad.  But Paul warns us of philosophy after the teachings of men.

Who are the greatest philosophers in this world? Aristotle? Plato? Pythagoras?   The great philosophers shaped our minds into believing their “teachings” and we think that because they are philosophers and wise men, it is logical to believe everything they say.

Pythagoras (569-475 B.C.) was a mathematician who put forward the idea that the universe is made of crystal spheres that encircle the spherical earth. Anaximander (611-547 B.C.) was a Greek philosopher who made the first detailed maps of the earth and the sky. He believed that the earth was round and taught it was free floating and unsupported.

Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) believed that the earth was spherical but that the earth was the center of the universe.

Aristarchus (310-230 B.C.) was the first one who gave the idea of heliocentricity or that the sun was in the center of the unverse.

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) also a taught the sun was the center of the universe and not the earth.

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) confirmed the Copernican model of heliocentric Solar System and that the earth was a sphere.

Isaac Newton (1643-1727) taught the theory about the laws of motion and universal gravitation.

There are a lot of wise men in this earth and we commend them for all their discoveries and efforts to advance this world.  But everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God must be destroyed.  It means every teaching that doesn’t line up with the Sacred writings (Holy Scriptures) or the Bible must be set aside.

Philosophy and Science

How are men going to spoil us? Through philosophy and vain deceit. Everything that is not after the wisdom of God is “foolishness” and so that kind of philosophy is “fool-o-sophy” or “false wisdom”. 

Paul the apostle also warned Timothy of “oppositions of science falsely so called” (1 Timothy 6:20 KJV). There was a lot of “false science: during his time and also during our times there is a lot of “false science”.  If there is a “false science” then there is a “true science”. 

Science simply means “knowledge”.  It came from Latin scientia that means “knowledge, a knowing, expertness” from sciens “intelligent, skilled”, from scire “to know” which originally is “to separate one thing from another, to distinguish”.

If science is a “knowledge” or “information”, then it is something that is based on “learning” and “study”. The Bible is not against science per se. It is against “oppositions of science falsely so-called”. If that discovery of science by scientists don’t agree with Scriptures which is the basis of truth then that is false and opposing the truth of God.

False science teaches that man came from apes and that the universe started from the “Big bang”. Evolution is one of the primary teachings in the schools. Dr. Kent Hovind stood against the dangers of evolution and was sentenced to prison for ten years. Evolution is atheistic and denies that there is God who created the universe. Apostate churches in order to compromise with the world’s evolution view have devised the theory of   “theistic evolution”.  They mixed the Biblical account of creation and the Darwin’s theory of evolution.

Where in the Scriptures can we find that man came from the apes? Where in the Scriptures can we read that the earth is “round” or a “globe” and that the sun is the center of the universe?  Nowhere.  In fact, the Scriptures teach otherwise. The Scriptures teach that God stretches out the heaven as a curtain (Isaiah 40:22) and he sits upon the circle of the earth. It is not that the earth is round, but that he sits upon the circle that is over the earth, the firmament. The Scriptures teach that God stretches out the earth above the waters (Psalm 136:6). The earth is not round but it is “stretched out”.  What is the shape of a stretched out land?  Is it a sphere or a globe?  No!  That is why the earth is neither a planet, a globe nor a ball. The Scriptures teach that in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth (Genesis 1:1).  The universe has a creator and maker.  It did not come out of a big bang or a psychic phenomenon. The Scriptures teach that God formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (Genesis 2:7). Mankind has a creator and maker. Mankind did not evolve from the apes and became the “highest kind of animal”!

True and Genuine Science and Philosophy

What is the true and genuine science (knowledge)?

God is rich in knowledge and wisdom.

Romans 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

God is the source of knowledge and wisdom.

Proverbs 2:6 For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

Proverbs 2:10 When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;

Proverbs 3:6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

In God’s wisdom there is a knowledge of witty inventions.

Proverbs 8:12 I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.

In Jesus Christ is hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Colossians 2:2 That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; 3 In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Understand the fear of God and then you will find knowledge.

Proverbs 2:5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.

True wisdom (sofia) and knowledge (scientia) are the words of the Almighty God.

True philosophy is loving the wisdom of God. A true philosopher is a lover of God’s wisdom.

Proverbs 29:3 Whoso loveth wisdom rejoiceth his father: but he that keepeth company with harlots spendeth his substance.

Any “imagination” and “knowledge” that exalt against the “knowledge of God” must be cast down and every thought must be brought to the “obedience of Christ”  (2 Corinthians 10:5).

We can be spoiled by men by philosophy and vain deceit.  Deciet means to be beguiled or cheated.  If you believe that black is white and white is black, then you are deceived. If you believe that a man is a woman and a woman is a man, then you are deceived. Being deceived means “believing a lie as truth”.

2 Thessalonians 2: 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

These people believed a lie and did not believe the truth. Many people today are also conditioned in their minds and believed in a lie than in the truth.  They believe the “cunningly devised fables”  (2 Peter 1:16) rather than “the truth that is in Jesus” (Ephesians 4:21). Those who teach these fables are called “false teachers” and we must avoid them.

These philosophies and vain deceit are not after Christ but are after the “traditions” of men and “rudiments” of the world.  Tradition means “tranmission, handing over”.  A tradition is a doctrine, belief, custom, practice that is handed from generation to generation. Tradition is not a bad word. Paul the apostle used it in a positive way:

2 Thessalonians 2:15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.

So that is the apostolic tradition – the Scriptural tradition that must be handed over from generation to generation.

Jesus used also the word tradition in a negative way against the religious leaders of his days:

Mark 7:9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

And that is what the apostle Paul was telling the Colossians, beware of the traditions of men. There are many traditions especially in the institutional churches.  There are also traditions in every country and culture.  Not all traditions are bad. But we must see to it that this or that tradition doesn’t contradict the Biblical tradition.

The word “rudiment” means “early training”, “first experience”, “first principle”.  The rudiments of the world are the “elementary principles” of this world. This word is also used in Scripture as “element”.

The elements of the world

Galatians 4:3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:

Weak and beggarly elements

Galatians 4:9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

These elements are the elements of the law. And Christ made the saints them free from those elements. These elements and rudiments are “the commandments and doctrines of men” that put men in bondage.

If there must be a tradition it must be according to Christ. If there must be a “principle” it must be the doctrine of Christ in the Scriptures (Heb. 5:12; 6:1)

Being founded firmly in the Biblical teachings is very important in order for us not to be deceived by cunningly devised fables that is very common in the internet, in multimedia, in schools, in institutions, in religions and everywhere. As believers of Christ and his words, the Bible, we must apply wisdom in everything and teach others only what is genuine and true according to his words.

Finally, let me quote this very word of God as a reminder to us:

Romans 3:4 God forbid: yea, LET GOD BE TRUE, BUT EVERY MAN A LIAR; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

To the One God the Lord Jesus Christ alone be all the glory!

Pliroma Revelation Bible Ministry, Bishop Mati