Live Debate: Wisdom vs. Faith

 

Scripture: Proverbs 9:1-6

 

            The Scripture reading for today highlights one of the key questions in religious studies. Which is more important in discovering the true nature of God and of the world: wisdom or faith? Do we trust more in what we can work out in our own minds using the rationality that God has given us and our own experience, or in what God reveals to us through prophecy and the Holy Word?

 

            We have a special treat for you this morning: a live debate between two relatively unknown theologians. Arguing the case for wisdom, we have me. To ensure that the two sides are evenly matched, and to avoid the cost of a pulpit supply fee: my opponent arguing the case for faith will also be myself.  Since this is a real low budget affair, I am also serving as moderator.

 

            The rules of this engagement are simple: the debate will go three rounds. Each side will have equal time to present its case without interruption.  Since we in the church view the Bible as the authority on issues like this, all arguments must be made from Scripture. We ask that there be no cheering, clapping, or partisan responses from the audience.

 

            At the end of the debate, we shall have a guest analyst, and that would also be me, evaluate what took place.

 

FAITH

    This issue was settled at the get go. Way back in Genesis 2-3. Remember the story of Adam and Eve and the serpent and the knowledge of good and evil? God said to Adam and Eve, “You are free to enjoy all of creation; with just one exception. Do not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, that tree of wisdom, or you will surely die.”

            Genesis says the fruit of the tree was desirable for gaining wisdom. And they weren’t supposed to eat it. It wasn’t for them.

            What happened? They ate the fruit.

            God was furious. The humans’ pursuit of worldly wisdom was an act of selfish disobedience. They wanted to have the power to figure out everything out for themselves, to decide for themselves. That’s not the role of humans in God’s creation. The story clearly tells us that our role is to obey God. Not to try to be God. Believe God and do what he says. That is what God wants from us, and that is the only way to live as God intends.

 

WISDOM

Let me direct your attention to Deuteronomy 34. This was a crucial point in the life of the Israelite people. Their fearless leader, Moses, the one person who held the whole nation together, was dying. How were they going to survive as God’s people? Who would lead them and what would make him successful?

            It turned out the choice was Joshua, a great man and a great leader. What made him great? Listen to verse 9, “Now Joshua, the son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom. So the Israelites listened to him and did what the Lord had commanded Moses.”

            Wisdom is not disobedience; it is what helps you to obey God. Joshua did what was right in the eyes of the LORD because he was wise enough to understand what God desires. He got other people to follow him because he was wise enough to know how to lead.

 

FAITH

    Paul makes a devastating case for faith over wisdom. I refer you to I Corinthians 1, where he goes on a long rant against wisdom. Beginning in v. 19, he writes, “For it is written:

            “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;

            The intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.

            Has God not made foolish the wisdom of the world?” asks Paul. “God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. The Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a foolishness to the Gentiles.

            For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.”

            The message is clear. Those who trust in their wisdom to save them will be lost. You see, the great truths of the Gospel—love your enemies, get power by dying, giving away what you have to the poor, the idea of Almighty God submitting to the abuse by puny humans—none of that makes sense according to the logic we know. But it is the truth and only faith will get you there.

           

WISDOM

Let’s take a look at II Chronicles. Solomon is about to take over as king and God promises to grant him whatever he wants. What does he ask for? He doesn’t ask for greater faith; he says, “Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours.”

            How did God answer him? Did he say, “You foolish man, you should have asked for unshakable faith instead of wisdom and knowledge. After all if your faith is strong, I’ll just tell you what to do and you don’t have to bother thinking for yourself.”

            No, God said to Solomon, “because you have asked for wisdom and knowledge, it will be given to you. And because you had your priorities straight, you know what else will happen? I will give you wealth, riches, and honor such as no king has ever had.”

            When Solomon sought wisdom above all else, God did not turn his back on him. God rewarded him.

 

FAITH

            You can argue all you want about how great wisdom is, but you can’t deny the very words of Jesus. Matt 12, he says, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.”

            In chapter 18, when the disciples ask who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, he grabs the nearest youngster and says, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

            And in chapter 19 the disciples try to shoo away some of the kids that have been brought to him, and he says, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

            I’m sorry, children are great people but one thing they are not is wise. Jesus is saying here that your participation in the kingdom of heaven does not depend on your wisdom but on your childlike faith. And in fact, you are better off without wisdom because we have such an urge to substitute wisdom for faith.

 

WISDOM

            Except for the brief passages you mention out of context, the Bible has nothing but praise for wisdom. Proverbs 3, “Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding. Chapter 8, “Choose knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.” Nothing tops wisdom. A few verses later, we read, “Whoever finds wisdom finds life, but those who miss wisdom injure themselves. All who hate wisdom love death..”

            Ecclesiastes 7: Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing. Wisdom is a shelter and the advantage of knowledge is this: that wisdom preserves the life of its possessor.

            You quoted Paul on wisdom, but I’ll quote Paul right back at you: “Ephesians 5—

Be very careful how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity.”

            What do the gospels say about Jesus growing up as a child? Luke 2:40 “and the child grew and became strong; he was filled with what? Faith? NO. He was filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon him.

            And what about Jesus’ parables? Remember the one about the 5 wise maidens and the 5 foolish maidens? Their faith was the same; the only difference was that 5 of them got in trouble because they were stupid, and the other 5 did fine because they were wise. 

 

 

            There are several lessons to be learned from this debate. First, it is very easy to use isolated passages from the Bible to prove a great many points of view, even contradictory things. Christians are often careless about that, which is one of the main reasons why we use the lectionary as our text for most Sundays. If a pastor were to choose sermon topics before going to the Bible, the temptation would be to go hunting through the Bible to find support for whatever he thinks. The lectionary forces one to go to the Bible first, and listen to what it has to say before deciding any topic, or issue, or view.

            Second, we can see that it matters a great deal how you define the terms of the debate. The way most debate works in this country, if you can define the terms to your advantage, you will always appear to be right, and your opponent will always be wrong, and the listener will always be confused.

 

            What does the Bible mean by wisdom? Does it mean knowledge? Does it mean understanding of right and wrong? Does it mean moral wisdom? Or does it mean intelligence?

 

            If you look at the lengthy praise of wisdom that we find in Proverbs, the Hebrew word da ‘ at, translated as “knowledge,” is used almost interchangeably with wisdom. It does not specify knowledge of right or wrong as opposed to knowledge of the world.

 

            So in Proverbs, “wisdom” covers the whole range. Proverbs urges us to find out as much about the physical world as we can, to work hard at being able to distinguish right from wrong, and to value the gift of intelligence. All of this is important so that we make sound decisions governing our life and in caring for the world.

 

            And yet there is the clear admonition from Christ and from Paul that worldly wisdom is not enough, and can even pull us in the wrong direction. Without faith and trust in a loving God, our attempts at figuring everything out ourselves will lead to disaster, no matter how smart we are.

 

            How do we resolve this apparent contradiction? I think the key to understanding this whole, centuries old debate is a verse from Proverbs 1, that is repeated in the Psalms.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

 

            Put another way, “faith is the beginning of wisdom.” Faith has to be there, or true wisdom is not possible. But faith does not take the place of wisdom, it does not equal wisdom, it is not more important than wisdom. It is only the beginning of wisdom.

           

            The Crest Area Theater is putting on a play this coming week, “Inherit the Wind,” that puts all of this into clear perspective. In fact, I think a better title for the play would be “The Beginning of Wisdom.” The story concerns the famous Monkey Trial of the 1920s that pitted the faith of creationists against the wisdom of evolutionists.

            If you go to see that play, you will meet many flawed characters who wrestle with issues of faith and wisdom, but only two who are totally obnoxious and despicable. One is the Reverend Brown, a man of powerful faith, who mistakes faith for wisdom, who forgets that faith is only the beginning of wisdom and not the end.

             The other is a reporter who is both a man of great intellect and an atheist. Because he fails to recognize that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, he has no compass for steering his intelligence. He wanders through life in a smug, self-absorbed daze, wasting his talent, lost in a cruel, hollow world of cynicism.

 

            All of us struggle at times with the tension between faith and wisdom. Proverbs reminds us how to keep the two in balance. Faith is not wisdom and cannot take the place of wisdom. At Christian writers’ conferences it is common to see beginning writers with delusions of grandeur. They insist that their stuff has to be great because they opened themselves to the Holy Spirit and this is what came out. It doesn’t occur to them that it might be a good idea to learn how to write, and to actually put some time and effort into learning the wisdom they need to communicate well what the Spirit sends them.

            Many folks of strong faith see no need to pursue wisdom. They sit around expecting God to tell them what to do, to micromanage their lives. Faith is not wisdom and cannot take the place of it. God gave us the brains to pursue wisdom and figure out what we’re supposed to be doing.

 

            On the other hand, the world is filled with intelligent people making bad choices in life because they have no compass for steering their intelligence. Jesus said we will never think our way into the kingdom of God. The only way you find direction is to be like a child and trust that this is indeed God’s world.

             A trusting child doesn’t have many answers, but understands that he or she is loved, and that love is what nurtures a child on the way to wisdom and maturity.

            As adults, we need the same kind of trust: faith that we are loved by God, and to let this love is what nourishes us on the way to wisdom and maturity.

 

            The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That’s where the journey has to start. But we don’t find wisdom in the starting gate. We do not get it unless we pursue it relentlessly.

            For whoever finds wisdom finds life. It is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.