Scripture
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 (ESV)
Devotional
Man’s intellect seeks after rest, and by nature seeks it apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. Men of education are apt, even when converted, to look upon the simplicities of the cross of Christ with an eye too little reverent and loving. They are snared in the old net in which the Grecians were taken, and have a hankering to mix philosophy with revelation. The temptation with a man of refined thought and high education is to depart from the simple truth of Christ crucified, and to invent, as the term is, a more intellectual doctrine. This led the early Christian churches into Gnosticism, and bewitched them with all sorts of heresies. This is the root of Neology, and the other fine things which in days gone by were so fashionable in Germany, and are now so ensnaring to certain classes of divines. Whoever you are, good reader, and whatever your education may be, if you be the Lord’s, be assured you will find no rest in philosophizing divinity. You may receive this dogma of one great thinker, or that dream of another profound reasoner, but what the chaff is to the wheat, that will these be to the pure word of God. All that reason, when best guided, can find out is but the A B C of truth, and even that lacks certainty, while in Christ Jesus there is treasured up all the fulness of wisdom and knowledge. All attempts on the part of Christians to be content with systems such as Unitarian and Broad-church thinkers would approve of, must fail; true heirs of heaven must come back to the grandly simple reality which makes the ploughboy’s eye flash with joy, and gladens the pious pauper’s heart–“Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.” Jesus satisfies the most elevated intellect when he is believingly received, but apart from him the mind of the regenerate discovers no rest. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” “A good understanding have all they that do his commandments.”
Reflection
Educated hearts still itch to upgrade the cross into something more “intellectual.” Philosophy alone is chaff beside wheat. The regenerate mind does not finally rest in systems that sand down Jesus until sinners no longer need saving. Christ crucified satisfies the highest intellect when He is believed, and He gladdens the ploughboy the same way. Wisdom from God is a Person: righteousness, sanctification, and redemption in Him. Come back to the grandly simple reality.
Goad
What refined substitute for Christ crucified are you still nursing tonight instead of resting in the wisdom God already made Him to be for you?
Tie-In
Morning’s justifier is Evening’s wisdom. The same Jesus clears the guilty and schools the proud mind. Justification and true understanding meet at the cross.
Closing
Spurgeon’s classic text with a brief reflection to help today’s reader.
If these words have stirred something, sit with it.
NewGrapes Ministries. Making disciples, not pew-fillers. Soli Deo Gloria.