Theological Term of the Week: Wisdom (of God)

wisdom (of God)
“That perfection of God whereby He applies his knowledge to the attainment of His ends in a way which glorifies Him most”;1also called omnisapience.

From scripture:

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?
Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:33–36 ESV)

O LORD, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom have you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures. (Psalm 104:24 ESV)

To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord … . (Ephesians 3:8–11 ESV)

From Knowing God by J. I. Packer:

What does the Bible mean when it calls God wise? In Scripture, wisdom is a moral as well as an intellectual quality, more than mere intelligence or knowledge, just as it is more than mere cleverness or cunning. For us to be truly wise, in the Bible sense, our intelligence and cleverness must be harnessed to a right end. Wisdom is the power to see, and the inclination to choose, the best and highest goal, together with the surest means of attaining it.

Wisdom is, in fact, the practical side of moral goodness. As such, it is found in its fullness only in God. He alone is naturally and entirely and invariably wise. “His wisdom ever waketh,” says the hymn, and it is true. God is never other than wise in anything that he does. Wisdom, as the old theologians used to say, is his essence, just as power and truth and goodness are his essence—integral elements, that is, in his character.

Learn more:

1. Theopedia: Wisdom of God
2. Bod Deffinbaugh: The Wisdom of God
3. Rev. D. H. Kuiper: The Manifold Wisdom of God
4. John Gill: The Wisdom of God
5. Stephen Charnock: Discourse on the Wisdom of God

Related terms:

• communicable attributes
• omnipotence
• omniscience
• providence

1 From Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof.

Filed under God’s Nature and His Works

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