A Heart in the Door

Paul‟s Letter to the Colossians offers a striking portrait of Christ-shaped philosophy. To that end, it offers a firm warning: “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy… and not according to Christ” (Col. 2:8; translations from NRSV). Notice the contrast between philosophy and Christ. Philosophy outside the authority of Christ, according to Paul, is dangerous to human freedom and life. The alternative is philosophy under Christ, and this involves a distinctive kind of wisdom. If philosophy is the love and pursuit of wisdom, Christian philosophy is the love and pursuit of wisdom under the authority of Christ, which calls for an ongoing union with Christ, including one‟s belonging to God in Christ.

We see more precisely God’s wisdom in the way that he operates: he saves those who believe, not the wise or the clever, and thus expresses his own determination to knock all human pride. ‘God opposes the proud’ and his set purpose is that no human being might boast in the presence of God (29). Those who prefer to rely on their own wisdom and insights may continue to do so, but not in the presence of God: they thereby excommunicate themselves.

God has made himself unknown and unknowable by human wisdom. He has made himself known in this crucified Messiah. He has decided to save from eternal destruction, not those who have particular wisdom or who do good deeds to the best of their ability, but those who believe (21) in this crucified Christ. In this way God has indeed destroyed the wisdom of the wise (19).

The wisdom - and the foolishness - of God is seen in the word of the cross (18). The parallel phrase in 1:23, we preach Christ crucified, stresses the content of this word. The phrase ‘the cross’ is often used in too vague a way, without spelling out the face of a particular Person being strung up on that Roman gibbet. God’s wisdom is seen in the Messiah hanging on a tree.

In uncovering the empty foolishness of worldly wisdom, Paul in no sense underestimates its significance or its impact. The essential characteristic of worldly wisdom is that it can empty the word of the cross of its power (1:17).

…we’re anxious and hesitant to say to God, “I will go wherever you lead and give whatever you ask.”

But how can a Christian ever be afraid to say this to God? After all he is our father. If my kids were to say to me, “Dad, this week, we will do whatever you think is best for us,” how do you think I would respond? Would I make their week miserable?

…Are you underestimating God’s care for you, as if he doesn’t know what is best for you? Or are you overestimating your wisdom before God, as if you know better than he does what is best for your life?

Writings that failed to gain acceptance into the Old and New Testament canons were described in the writings of some early Christian scholars by the term “apocrypha.” The Greek word means “hidden things,” and when applied to books it described those works which religious authorities wished to be concealed from the reading public. The reason was that such books were thought to contain mysterious or secret lore, meaningful only to the initiate and therefore unsuitable for the ordinary reader. But the word “apocrypha” was also applied in a less complimentary sense to works that deserved to be concealed. Such works contained harmful doctrines or false teachings calculated to unsettle or pervert rather than edify those who read them. The suppression of undesirable writings was comparatively easy at time when only a few copies of any book were in circulation at a given time. Offensive writings would more likely have been burned by the authorities than “hidden” (compare Acts 19:19).

Hidden or esoteric teachings were not part of the Hebrew tradition, which based its spirituality on the first five books of the Hebrew canon. Insofar as mysterious doctrines came into Hebrew life, they did so from pagan sources and generally involved magical practices which were forbidden to Israel. Only when the concept of wisdom emerged in such writings as Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job and certain psalms did Jewish teachers such as Jesus Ben Sirach advise their hearers to search out the “hidden things” of divine wisdom (Ecclus. 14:20-21; 39:1-3, 7). Even so, the emphasis was upon knowing the mind and revealed will of God, not on the study of esoteric treatises of a kind popular among Hellenistic authors and readers.

but why should I waste wisdom on a river-turtle?

To be wise, one must acquire a sense of harmony, a sensitivity to what is fitting and right, in all realms of attitude and behavior.