1 Corinthians 2:6-9

We live in a world of experts, and many of them have stepped outside the boundaries which once marked the limits of their expertise, limits which once provided a certain humility. The most obvious and hackneyed of these would be evolutionary theorists, who now assume that their field – when combined with the broader “science” – provides our total knowledge about all things. Evolutionary science is not enough: now they have proclamations about life, ethics, meaning, society. You name it, they know about it. This can, I suspect, have a depressing effect on Christians, and generate feelings of inadequacy; this may especially be true for preachers.

In 1 Corinthians 2:6-9 we have a sobering and reassuring anchor point. The ‘wisdom’ which preachers are called to speak, as distinct from that of the wisdom of the age, finds its source outside and before creation as we understand it (v7). I assume this refers to its content, its vehicle (Jesus), and the power and the future of the gospel - God’s work of redemption for humanity. In which case, to feel inadequate is to miss out on the sheer scale of what we preach. It is huge, in that it is outside and in effect encompasses within its understanding all other discovered and derived wisdom (science, philosophy, political theory, ethics...). We may not be experts in those fields and not called to pontificate about them, but at least we do know they are fields: they have boundaries and limits which exist despite attempts to pull down fences. Which cautions people against pretending to be able to tell us authoritative wisdom on questions and issues outside their field. And outside-and-before-the-universe, and how the eternal impacts the now, is definitely, outside their field. Having the wisdom of this age does not qualify someone to pronounce on wisdom that transcends this age.

We should treasure all true wisdom that is unearthed and formulated from this age in which we live. But not uncritically. We can grasp how a lot of such wisdom helps in life, and even feeds into our understanding of the things of God. But not so that we get confused about jurisdiction. We need to see what we as preachers proclaim: the wisdom that is beyond the ages and that will not ultimately come to nothing (v6).

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