TWO KINDS OF WISDOM
The issue of hearing God’s voice and reading God’s written word is summarized in the differences between the Old/First Covenant and New Covenant. It is also clarified in the following scriptures. As an aid to discerning the difference, references to the Old/First Covenant are highlighted in red, and references to the New Covenant are highlighted in bold.

1 Corinthians 2: And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, 4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

COMMENTARY: This scripture makes the point that there is a distinction between the wisdom of men, which is evident in man’s persuasive words, and the power of God which is evident through the demonstration of spiritual power of God’s spoken voice. Another way to say this is that whatever man says is deficient compared to whatever is accomplished by God’s spoken voice.

It is a difficult fact to accept, but the Bible contains the wisdom of men and the potential for people to be deceived by the literal words written in the bible. This issue has been discussed in detail in Two Kinds of Knowledge and in WHY THE BIBLE MAN WROTE IS NOT PERFECT.

When we look at scriptures about wisdom and knowledge, we see that God often compares worldly wisdom and knowledge that is found in religion with spiritual wisdom and knowledge that comes from God. Since Judaism and Christianity are based on the literal words of the Bible, it must be said that the Bible and the religions it inspires are products of human wisdom and knowledge. This conclusion agrees with what God has said about the lying pens of the scribes and deceit.

STUDY TIP: See WHY THE BIBLE MAN WROTE IS NOT PERFECT for understanding of the lying pens of the scribes.

Whatever the authors and translators of the Bible thought they heard or read was always filtered through their natural minds and recorded in the limitations of their cultural language. Limited understanding of Hebrew and Greek also compelled them to add filler words to create Biblical language that would be understandable in English or whatever language they were translating into. Their word choices were also shaped by their personal theological beliefs.  The result is a written Bible that is as much a creation of man as a creation of God.

The problem is made worse when people read man-made Bibles. Again their interpretations are colored by their personal culture and theological biases. And the religious leaders who presume to understand God’s word and presume to have authority to interpret it accurately compound the mistakes of the scribes/authors who wrote the Bible by teaching their own ideas in books and sermons. At every step along the way, man errs by considering the written words as absolute truth and failing to listen to God’s spoken voice.

God is well aware of the potential for people to be misled by human, fleshly interpretations of his spoken word. If he wanted to guard against that potential, he could do so by carefully managing every translation and interpretation of his words. But that is not what he does because he does his work in the realm of the spirit — not in the realm of the flesh.

People who interpret the Bible symbolically understand the “first the natural, then the spiritual” principle. They understand that the word that gives spiritual life comes directly from God’s spoken voice — not the written words of the physical Bible. That does not mean, however, that there is no value in reading the Bible. There is much value if you listen while reading and if you obey what you hear.

People who hear God’s word spoken directly to their hearts are New Covenant disciples who speak face to face with God as the deep calls out to deep. Those who only interpret the Bible literally are Old/First Covenant religionists who depend on human mediators to interpret the Bible for them. They are imperfect children who see through a glass darkly.

We can learn about this process by studying the story of the Israelites in the wilderness. The big picture of this history is a pattern of legalistic pursuits on the way to the Promised Land. It exists in the Bible to show us what happens when we try to attain deliverance and righteousness through observing the law and following a human religious leader such as Moses.

Believe it or not, every religious person goes through this wilderness experience. Those who cease being religious enter into the Promised Land. Those who fear the religious giants that currently occupy the Promised Land will not enter the promised land and will continue going around the mountain in the wilderness. This is a graphic picture of the fruitlessness of repetitious religion: Going around in circles but never moving up or down.

People who do successfully pass through the wilderness and enter the promised land are no longer under the law. They have the ability to hear God’s voice according to the terms of the New Covenant. With this ability to hear spiritually with their hearts, people no longer depend on religious leaders to teach them. Nevertheless, God continues to allow flawed human teachers and flawed Bible translations to teach his people because the Bible fulfills the legalistic function represented by the giving of the Law of Moses to the Israelites.

The the ongoing tension between flesh and spirit is exemplified in the difference between the Bible and God’s spoken word. There is a place for the Bible, of course, but it will never be the end objective any more than the time in the wilderness was the end objective for Israel. It is only a tutor to lead people to faith that comes by hearing God’s spoken word/voice. Promised Land. It is not the Promised Land.

6 Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away ; 7 but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory ; 8 the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood ; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory ;

COMMENTARY: God’s wisdom is hidden in his spoken voice. It is a mystery to Old/First Covenant religionists (i.e. rulers of this age) who acquire their wisdom from what they can read in the written word. God’s wisdom is only available to New Covenant disciples (i.e. those who are mature).

References to “this age” are to the age of religion. It is not, however, a chronological age, but is a season in the life of an individual who is religious. After an individual stops practicing religion, that individual lives in a new, different age in which he/she worships in spirit and truth — not through religion.

Rulers of this age are false prophets, Kings, Queens and Princes, Pharisees and Scribes, Serpent, Devil, Satan, Adversary, Demons, Evil Spirits and Anti-Christs. When people worship in spirit and truth, God rules the Kingdom of Heaven (i.e. their hearts).

9 but just as it is written, “THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.” 10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit ; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

COMMENTARY: The things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard are the spiritual words that God speaks to his people. The natural eye has seen words on the page of a Bible and heard the natural words of a religious leader, but these things are not the same truths as those that God speaks by his Spirit directly to the heart of New Covenant disciples. Immature, Old/First Covenant religionists will not understand this kind of wisdom.

11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, 13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.

COMMENTARY: Only the Spirit of God can accurately interpret and report God’s thoughts. Natural people can try, but this ability is reserved for New Covenant disciples. Any words or teachings that do not originate with the Spirit of God are only human wisdom. God combines his spiritual thoughts with his spiritual words and communicates them by his Spirit to New Covenant disciples.

The spirit of the world is religion.

14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. 16 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.

COMMENTARY: By asking “Who has known the mind of the Lord that he will instruct him?” this scripture says, in effect, that no human teacher can know the mind of God. Only the Spirit of God knows the mind of God.

Natural men who have studied the words of the Bible boldly claim to know the mind of God. With that little bit of human knowledge, they set themselves  up in ministries of one kind or another and entice ignorant people to pay them to tell what they think they know. This is the essence of Institutional Religion and  Commercial Religion. It is man’s way but is not God’s way.

Natural men are Old/First Covenant religionists. They do not understand God when God speaks to their hearts. God’s speech to natural men is like a foreign tongue. Spiritual men, on the other hand, are New Covenant disciples who can understand what God says through his Spirit to their hearts.

New Covenant disciples are spiritual men who have the mind of Christ. This is so because Christ is the living embodiment of the New Covenant. Having the mind of Christ is equal to having the mind of God because Christ is in God and God is in Christ.

New Covenant disciples receive instruction directly from God. They do not need a mediator other than Christ. This is consistent with the terms of the New Covenant which says that New Covenant disciples no longer need men to teach them because the Spirit will teach them everything they need to know.

1 Corinthians 15:40-47: There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars ; for star differs from star in glory. 42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory ; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power ; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So also it is written, “The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural ; then the spiritual. 47 The first man is from the earth, earthy ; the second man is from heaven.

COMMENTARY: See FIRST THE NATURAL, THEN THE SPIRITUAL PRINCIPLE for an explanation of 1 Corinthians 15:40-47.

These verses contrast the differences between  wisdom that comes from God and worldly wisdom that comes from man.

Finally, we must not forget that all scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. That means we dare not ignore any part of scripture if we really want to be equipped for good work.

Our conclusions from the scriptures we have discussed above are these:

STUDY TIP: See God’s Written Word and God’s Spoken Voice Part 2 for more about this topic.