Human Wisdom

​​The Bible has some very harsh things to say about human wisdom.

“The wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.” (1 Corinthians 3:19).

“Such wisdom does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil” (James 3:15)

Unbelievers love the idea of having worldly wisdom because they love this world. For them, this world is the only reality that exists. But our perspective is much bigger, extending far beyond this world and this age.But on the other hand, we do live in this world and we need a certain amount of earthly knowledge to navigate on earth. It helps to understand how gravity works or when to change the oil in your car or what’s the right balance of protein and carbs in your diet. So where do we draw the line between helpful things like that, and the kind of worldly wisdom that is condemned in the Bible?Suppose you have a conflict at church, and someone comes up with an idea of how to solve it. They say, “How about if everyone in the church commits to memorizing Philippians 2:3-4 and spends at least five minutes per day praying for the people they are in disagreement with?”

Is that a human solution? Yes. There’s nothing in the Bible about praying five minutes or everyone committing to memorize a certain passage at the same time. So it’s not a biblical directive.

But does it fall into the category of demonic human wisdom? It can. In order to make sure it doesn’t, there are four principles that must be in place.

Four Tests for Human Wisdom

1) It must not violate any biblical principle and must not be based on any unbiblical assumptions or philosophies.

Check on that one. There’s nothing unbiblical about praying for your enemies or hiding God’s Word in your heart.

2) It must have the goal of applying biblical truth.

Check on that one as well. Scripture calls us to pray for one another and to meditate on Scripture as well as to reconcile broken relationships, and this is an effort to do those things.

3) It must not be elevated to the level of Scripture.

Does this plan pass that test? It depends. If the people who came up with the idea look down on anyone who doesn’t do it or accuse them of being unspiritual or in sin—that’s legalism. It’s taking a human idea and forcing it on others, and that’s wrong. But if the attitude is, “In my opinion, this is worth trying. Let’s give it a shot. If it doesn’t work, we’ll try something else. And if you don’t agree, no one’s going to look down on you for not participating.”—if that’s the attitude, then it passes this test.

4) It must not be the object of our confidence or hope.

The power of transformation and sanctification come only from the Word of God, not from even the best of human wisdom. If we try this and it works, the power for that victory came not from the human idea, but from the biblical principles underlying it.

Think of the solutions you’ve come up with for solving your problems or helping others with their problems. Do they pass these four tests?