Beckett explores 1 Corinthians 1:30 to examine how Christ becomes wisdom to believers, arguing that true spiritual wisdom comes exclusively through God's sovereign action in regeneration rather than through human effort or worldly understanding. She emphasizes that natural man cannot receive divine things through his own will or reasoning (1 Cor 2:14), but only through God's gracious enlightenment, which transforms believers from darkness to light and grants them spiritual discernment that transcends human wisdom. The author concludes that genuine wisdom consists in knowing Christ himself—the repository of all spiritual knowledge—whose person and redemptive work constitute the foundation for all Christian understanding and guidance.
What does the Bible say about wisdom in Christ?
The Bible teaches that Christ is the source of true wisdom, contrasting it with worldly wisdom, which is deemed foolishness by God.
1 Corinthians 1:30, 1 Corinthians 1:20, Proverbs 3:5-6
How do we know regeneration is necessary for salvation?
Regeneration is essential for salvation as it is by God's doing that we are made spiritually alive and able to receive the things of God.
Ephesians 2:12, 1 Corinthians 2:14, 2 Timothy 3:15
Why is the concept of being 'in Christ' important for Christians?
'In Christ' signifies our union with Him, which encompasses our identity, righteousness, and sanctification before God.
1 Corinthians 1:30, Ephesians 2:12-13
“But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption” 1 Corinthians 1:30
I love different translations of the Scriptures. My favorite to read is the New American Standard Bible (NASB) and the one I have doesn’t have cross references or notes or commentary, it is simply the Scripture. It is such a joy to read and to trust the Spirit to teach as He wills. This verse in the KJV & the NKJV says “But of Him” which certainly means the same but how simplified and direct is ‘by His doing”, who could make that mean something that is doesn’t? So often we skim over our reading but I love this verse and so decided to do some study on it. It’s easy to read it and be thankful for it but I wondered, what does it mean? What does it mean for Christ Jesus to have become all the above to me? So I’ve isolated each one and have begun to look into the Word for the answers. Isn’t it amazing that we have all the answers in one book!
Wisdom
Wisdom = ‘the quality or state of being wise; knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action, discernment, or insight!
The first thing we can know as believers is that true wisdom is not the wisdom of the world. In fact in the same chapter of Corinthians we are told that God has made foolish the wisdom of the world (1 Cor 1:20) with the Gospel. Men’s wisdom is vain and empty because men, by their own nature, cannot know Christ who is the wisdom of God. They cannot know Him with their own wisdom, their own free will, their own choosing or their own doing, it is by His doing alone! The natural man cannot receive the things of God and actually counts them as foolish. (1 Cor 2:14)
By His doing (His action) is by His Grace in regeneration when our minds are enlightened in the knowledge of Christ, our first taste of the wisdom of God. Before regeneration we were separate from Christ and strangers to the covenant (Eph 2:12), but now in Him we are brought near and in all wisdom and insight He has made known to us the mystery of His will, Christ! Christ has made us wise unto salvation through faith (2 Ti 3:15) and we are made alive spiritually (our first resurrection) and turned from darkness to light!
It is by His doing that we receive the Spirit so that we may know the things freely given to us and these things we know are not known by human wisdom but by spiritual wisdom only. (1 Cor 2:12-13) It is wisdom to know that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation and that salvation is of the Lord so that when we boast we boast only in the Lord. The book of Proverbs tells us to pursue wisdom, to now incline our hearts to understanding and to cry out for discernment in all things, for the Lord gives wisdom. (Proverbs 3)
It is only unto those who are the called that Christ crucified, the wisdom of God, is revealed and who are made truly wise. The wisdom of the world stumbles at Christ and denies Him and mocks the very wisdom that we are given in Him. As we grow in grace and in knowledge we grow in wisdom and we grow in His thoughts as our thoughts are brought captive to His. Our highest wisdom is in knowing Him because He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. He is our wisdom and in regeneration we have been given a sound mind, to be taught by Him and to trust Him for all things. The greatest wisdom we can attain to in this life is to know Him in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; Christ my wisdom from whom I derive all spiritual knowledge, who directs my path, guides me in His way and orders my step day by day.
Grace and Peace!
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