What is Wisdom?
We live in a complex world. At any given moment, there are an incredible number of possible courses of action we could take. We all have goals in life, and those who seek moral goodness do their best to have morally worthy goals. But how do we determine how we should go about achieving those goals? In a complex world, we often find ourselves in complex situations, where the correct course of action is far from obvious. Simplistic principles and platitudes are not enough to provide guidance for ethically correct practical decision-making.
If we want to live morally good lives in the world, we need to develop the virtue of wisdom (or prudence). Wisdom is the ability to reason rightly and to judge correctly about what we should do and what action is morally correct, not just in a theoretical or abstract way, but practically, with regards to the particular situation we are facing. Wisdom is thus both an intellectual and a moral virtue. It does not by itself enable us to overcome our passions (e.g., fear, lust) in order to do the right thing when the time comes, but it does enable us to perceive what the right thing to do is in our practical, concrete situation.
Having wisdom requires that we have an adequate understanding of how the world works so that we can adequately predict the consequences of our actions. Thus, acquiring wisdom requires knowledge and life experience, or at least instruction from others who possess greater knowledge and life experience than our own. However, knowledge by itself does not automatically translate into wisdom. It is the ability to use the knowledge we have in order to make decisions that will achieve good goals at the practical level that makes us wise.
Wisdom is inextricably interconnected with the other virtues. In fact, it is often considered the primary moral virtue, since it is the virtue that enables us to judge what the virtuous and unvirtuous course of action is in any given situation. Without wisdom to properly guide it, courage can become foolhardiness or recklessness, bringing benefit to no one. Without wisdom to properly guide it, self-control can become an extreme asceticism that benefits no one. Without wisdom to properly guide it, justice can become ineffectual, as we are never able to take the correct course of action that will actually bring about a just outcome.
Christian Wisdom
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov 1:7, 9:10). So teaches the book of Proverbs, one of the wisdom literature books of the Old Testament. This may seem like a puzzling statement. Other Ancient Near Eastern cultures had their own wisdom literature, some of which has significant similarities to the content of the book of Proverbs (some scholars would even argue that the author of Proverbs used these other writings as a source). And other cultures in other civilizations have their own wisdom traditions. For example, in Chinese culture there are the teachings of Confucius and other ancient sages.
Yet, Scripture insists that knowing and fearing the God of Israel is the beginning and foundation of true wisdom. Of course, those who are not part of God’s covenant people will have their own concepts of wisdom. All human societies recognize that, in order to live effectively in the world and to accomplish the goals we have, we must have knowledge about how the world works and insight into predicting the consequences of our actions. Because of universal aspects of human nature, there will be some significant overlap between the Christian concept of wisdom and non-Christian concepts of wisdom.
Yet, from a Christian perspective, only Christians are able to possess true wisdom. In order to be wise, we must have a correct understanding of the way the world works. For example, in order to act wisely with regards to a nearby cliff, we must have an adequate understanding of how gravity works. Now, Christians know that the world is created, sustained, and governed by the LORD, the God of Israel. Further, they know that the purpose of human life is to know, love, obey and serve the LORD. This is knowledge that non-Christians do not possess. With such an important piece of knowledge about the world missing, there is no way that non-Christians can have a true understanding of what wisdom is. They may have some inkling of what it means to be wise, based upon their experiences, but ultimately their understanding of wisdom will fall far short of true, Christian wisdom.
“For the message of the cross is foolishness for those who are perishing,” writes the apostle Paul, “but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (I Cor 1:18). He goes on to write that through Christ God has “made foolish the wisdom of the wise” (v. 20) and that Christ “has become for us wisdom from God” (v. 30). It is by knowing and looking to Jesus that we understand what true wisdom is. To those who reject the Gospel, Christian wisdom will often seem like foolishness, but Christians know that it is worldly “wisdom” that is truly foolish.
Christian wisdom is distinctive because it has to do with thinking and living in light of the Gospel, a Gospel that the world does not acknowledge. From the world’s perspective, nothing could be more foolish than to choose to suffer and die rather than deny the name of Jesus. But for Christians, choosing to suffer and die as a martyr rather than denying the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ is the wisest thing a Christian can do when faced with that situation. Christians’ unique beliefs about the nature of reality give them a unique perspective on what is considered wise or prudent. Because of Christians’ hope in the resurrection and the renewal of all of creation, they can consider it wise to give up their temporal happiness and even their very lives for the sake of the advancement of God’s Kingdom. This is not foolishness but is true wisdom indeed.