The wisdom from above as seen in the life of Christ - Introduction

Many times we can gain a better practical perspective on Scripture by studying Scripture in unconventional ways. In the next few posts I would like to look at the life of Christ through the lens of James 3:17, and see how He manifested in a practical way these attributes of the wisdom from above. In doing this I hope to gain insight for myself and those reading of what God's wisdom really looks like in a practical sense. Christ is the best person to study in this sense because He is the embodiment of God's wisdom.

When John declared that Christ was the Logos (John 1:1-5), he was stating two allied things:

1. He was showing that Christ was the internalized thought of God, the logic of the Godhead, if you would put it that way. This is actually the first meaning of logos, the thought, reason and motive as it is internally expressed to the thinker. This is how Christ is shown in Proverbs chapter 8, the all-pervading Wisdom of God which enables proper government of the world and which was with God in His forming of the world. It was by Him that He made the worlds (Heb. 1:2).
   

   
    

2. He was also showing that Christ was the thought vocalized or expressed – the Word. Every word that comes from our mouth first began as an inward thought and came out of our hearts (Luke 6:45). What we say is a very real reflection of what we are thinking, and also of who we are. In the same way Christ is a concrete expression of what is in the heart of God, vocalized to make the intentions of God's heart clear to us. This is why He could say He that has seen Me has seen the Father, because He was such a full expression of all that God is.
   

 

It is further interesting to note, when looking at thoughts and words, about the beauty of communication – that is not only are words born of thoughts, but when given utterance they plant thoughts in others, which can then give birth to more words or further thoughts. In this way, Christ Himself, His life as seen in the gospels, and all of Scripture carry the logic of God within them. They bring God's way of thinking and His motivations and feelings down to us so we can respond to them. In this way through Scripture reading and personal encounters with Christ – either in our times of prayer and worship or as we encounter Him in His people – we begin to reason as He reasons and see as He sees. It is my hope in this study for me personally to see more of how Christ flowed in the wisdom from above in His earthly life, so that I can better imitate Him in this. I further hope that it may produce a similar effect in any reading this. May God grant us all to see and follow Christ more fully! Amen.