The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction. | Proverbs 1:7
After church this Sunday, someone from the church came up to ask me about my claim that wisdom is absolute. What I said was:
there is simply wisdom, truth is a solid thing. God is the source of ALL of it, human beings have discovered some of it. His truth is bigger than the fear of the moment, His truth is always on the right side of history, and His truth is not based on how people feel about it…it is simply true.
It was NOT that this person had an issue with absolute truth (that there is a single objective set of facts that ARE always true), it was the idea that there is an absolute wisdom. I did not spend a lot of time going into the difference between knowledge and wisdom; I just stated this and moved on. I want to clear up what I mean when I say that truth is a solid thing. I want to answer the question: is wisdom absolute?
First, the difference between knowledge and wisdom is one of application. Knowledge is information learned; wisdom is being able to discern how that knowledge plays out in real life. There is an old saying: knowledge is knowing that a red light means stop, wisdom is pressing the brakes. As it applies to theology: knowledge is knowing what God has said, wisdom is knowing how to do it. You can have knowledge, but not be wise, but you can never be wise without knowledge.
Second, when the Bible talks about TRUTH it means more than just stated facts. Truth refers to a complete understanding, not only of what is, but in how it works together. Truth contains both knowledge and wisdom. If someone had absolute truth, they would both know what is right, but also be able to deduce what is right in every situation.
Third, when Jesus refers to Himself as TRUTH, He is saying that He is both the revelation of God that we can know, but also that He brings with Him an understanding of how to live this life. Knowing the gospel gives us the means to discern what is right in the various situations of life. As Paul states in the letter to Corinth:
And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption | 1 Corinthians 1:30
The issues of righteousness, sanctification, and redemption reframe the world in a way that bring a wisdom that is from God. This wisdom is not available without the knowledge of Jesus, and it is complete and perfect with a full understanding of Jesus.
The issue is, we do not have a perfect understanding of Jesus. As long as we live in this world, we are marred by sin and struggling with the reality of the flesh. For this reason, our wisdom is always going to incomplete. In addition to this, we live in a sinful world. The right and wise decision is confused by the chaos of sin. A perfect example of this is found in Matthew 19. The Pharisees come to Jesus with a question about divorce, hoping to get Him to side with one of the two major Rabbinic views of the time. Who is right? they ask. Jesus responds:
He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. | Matthew 19:8
So true wisdom is to never separate what God has united. Divorce is never true wisdom. However, in a sinful world, there are times when the sin in marriage is greater than the brokenness of divorce (what constitutes this is another conversation). What is temporarily wise in this situation, what is done because of the stain of sin will always be a less than true wisdom (even if it is the most right we can muster).
Is there an absolute wisdom? Yes. Are we capable of it? No. How should we live in light of this? The more we understand our inability to achieve truth, the more we will trust in what God has said. Not in some pull-quote, single issue way. We will pursue the knowledge of God, to be covered in the wisdom that He has revealed, trusting that He has given us all we need to live this life in the way He has intended. As for the rest, we rest in grace, knowing that our best is not enough, but that He is: merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness (Exodus 34:6).