This is the second in a series of blogs on The Righteousness of God as a part of the Armor of God.
According to the Oxford dictionary righteousness is “the quality of being morally right or justifiable.” But what is the basis of morally right? Is it what the world says is right, or what God says is right? God defined His righteousness through His word, and throughout history we have seen His righteousness revealed. The key to understanding why God’s righteousness is morally right is in learning about the wisdom of God.
Having learned to value the truths revealed by God in discerning what is true and what is false, we now focus on learning the wisdom of God to discern what is right and what is wrong. This keeps our view of the world focused on Jesus Christ in our thoughts, our speech, and our actions. It forms the breastplate in our armor protecting the foundations of our Christian beliefs; the vital organs of our faith in Jesus Christ.
If you ask the average person today to explain what wisdom is, what answer would you get? An individual could spend hours searching on the Internet, and other sources, reading what people around the world have to say about wisdom. A small sampling of what I found is provided in the following list:
1. The ability to discern or judge what is true, right, or lasting; insight.
2. Common sense; good judgment.
3. The sum of learning through the ages; knowledge.
4. Wise teachings of the ancient sages.
5. A wise outlook, plan, or course of action.
6. The wisdom of Solomon.
7. The wisdom in the Bible.
In this sampling, I see at least three different acknowledged sources of wisdom. First, wisdom is described in terms of our own human ability to discern or judge (items 1, 2, and 5). This appears to be a popular view as more people turn away from God and put their trust in governments, institutions, science, education, and even in one’s ability. Second, wisdom is described in terms of the knowledge learned from others; in particular those sages who lived long ago (items 3, 4, and 6). And third, the Bible is described as wisdom (items 6 and 7).
Now if we go back in time three thousand or more years and ask the average person then to explain what they think wisdom is, what answer do you think we would get? Would we get a different answer than the sample list I gave you before? Other than some books in the Bible’s Old Testament, I did not find many sources that documented what people thought that long ago. However, I suspect that they would have given more credit to God, our creator. In the Bible, Exodus 28:3 provides one example of this when Moses acknowledged that all the skilled craftsmen were filled with the spirit of wisdom from God.
In the Bible God reminds us that He is the source of true wisdom, and that His wisdom existed before He created anything else (Proverbs 8:22). Whatever we know, or think we know, has its roots in God. In fact, whatever we think of as wisdom has been thought of by others throughout the ages of history, because they lived in the same creation we do. They experienced the same wisdom that we experience today, because it has been around since before the world was. So, rather than read what someone else thinks wisdom is, go directly to wisdom’s source. Go to God our creator. His creation and His word abound with His wisdom. Proverbs 8 is a good place to start.
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All Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, Copyright 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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