I Corinthians 1:30ish

So I've been going through First Corinthians. It's been great. I've been learning a lot and I feel like I should share some of it so WOOH.

1:30 "It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus who has become for us wisdom from God- that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption."

In this verse, Paul is equating wisdom with righteousness, holiness and redemption. Since they don't mean the same thing, it occurred to me that he's not saying that they are the same thing, but that they are equal in some other way. So I looked at the things righteousness, holiness and redemption have in common. The two things that we know about them we might not know about wisdom- that they are 1. freely given by God and cannot be earned and 2. that they are vital in a relationship of intimacy with Christ.

The first idea, that they are free gifts of grace, means that we cannot earn wisdom. I didn't really know this. I mean, the book of James talks about the Lord giving wisdom to he who asks for it, but it never occurred to me that you cannot gain wisdom by your own might any more than you can gain holiness or redemption. This is important for a couple of reasons- study can make you more knowledgeable, but like the rest of 1 Corinthians says, Christ crucified is foolishness to the world. Only the Lord gives wisdom which is great because you can be the dumbest buck on the planet but be wise if you know the gospel and have an intimate relationship with God.

That brings me to my second point. The value of righteousness, holiness and redemption lies in the fact that they open up a way to the Lord and keep that channel open. I never thought that wisdom might be important to this relationship- but the more I thought about it, the more it makes sense. Wisdom is the benefit that comes from reaping the fruits of righteousness, holiness and redemption. If we come to know the Lord and continue to know him- we gain wisdom from that- which then in turn means that wisdom is our intimate knowledge of God. It cannot be gained by mere study or knowing about God- it can only be gained as we give ourselves to the Lord and he in turn gives himself back. True wisdom only has value in its ability to bring further into that relationship of intimacy.

So basically, spending time with the Lord equips you to spend even more time with him- which is what's special about heaven, which brings more heaven to earth, which means that the kingdom of God comes a little bit more as we gain wisdom and redemption and wooh.