The depth of God’s wisdom and knowledge
Daily Scripture
Romans 11:33-36, Col 2:2-3
Romans 11
33 God’s riches, wisdom, and knowledge are so deep! They are as mysterious as his judgments, and they are as hard to track as his paths!
34 Who has known the Lord’s mind?
Or who has been his mentor? [Isaiah 40:13]
35 Or who has given him a gift
and has been paid back by him? [Job 41:11]
36 All things are from him and through him and for him.
May the glory be to him forever. Amen.
Colossians 2
2 My goal is that their hearts would be encouraged and united together in love so that they might have all the riches of assurance that come with understanding, so that they might have the knowledge of the secret plan [or mystery] of God, namely Christ. 3 All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in him.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
This week we have taken a necessarily brief look at some major topics Paul spoke to in passages that many Bible readers find puzzling. We have pointed to evidence (clearer in some places than others) that Paul did not hold the offensive, bigoted views some attribute to him based on the puzzling passages. Today’s readings showed Paul himself leaving hard issues to God’s wisdom and mercy (cf., also 1 Corinthians 13:12). As scholar William Barclay said, “Here theology turns to poetry. Here the seeking of the mind turns to the adoration of the heart. In the end all must pass out in a mystery that man cannot now understand but at whose heart is love…. Paul had battled with a heartbreaking problem…. He does not say that he has solved it, as one might neatly solve a geometrical problem; but he does say that having done his best, he is content to leave it to the love and power of God.” *
- At Resurrection, we take the Bible seriously as a guide for our lives, so we’re willing to wrestle with the questions its human words raise at times. Pastor Hamilton wrote, “You are not judging God by wrestling with the Bible; you are asking questions of the human authors of scripture…. when you wrestle with scripture, recognize both the weight of scripture’s authority and our tendency to discard the inconvenient. Christians are meant to wrestle with and interpret difficult passages in the Bible in the light of the Bible’s clearer passages, with the help of the church’s teaching and consensus, the reflections of her scholars and leaders across the course of history, and our own intellect and experience of the Spirit in our lives.” ** Paul wrote a powerfully clear statement: “All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory, but all are treated as righteous freely by his grace because of a ransom that was paid by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23-24). How can you read his puzzling passages in the light of that clear one?
Prayer
Creating, redeeming God, your riches, wisdom, and knowledge are so deep! Thank you for a mind that can wrestle with hard questions, and for a heart that can trust you to know answers I cannot yet fathom. Amen.
GPS Insights
Dan Entwistle
Dan Entwistle serves as Managing Executive Director for Church of the Resurrection.
What a week! Starting with last weekend’s sermon, we’ve tackled some of the most perplexing and puzzling messages of Paul. But more than “dealing” with difficult passages, we’ve actually discovered a deeper appreciation for how Paul spoke to the people of his day, into the context of their lives. And along the way, to the degree we’ve allowed ourselves to see with fresh eyes, we found deeper meaning and perspective that will guide us in our own time and context.
On the list of perplexing passages this week, the book of Romans has been Exhibit A. We’ve studied challenging passages from across the book of Romans, with excerpts from chapters 1, 3, 11, 13 and 14! Romans is a beautiful, meaningful book but it also offers some of Paul’s most challenging writings. Right in the middle of all this, we discover a surprise gem in today’s passage in the concluding words of chapter 11.
As if to speak directly to places where we might find ourselves hung up, or caught in division, or debating with the text, Paul shifts gears entirely. Romans 11:33-36 offers a surprise–a doxology, a hymn of praise. Think of today’s reading as a poem about mystery sitting inside a debate about theology.
God’s riches, wisdom, and knowledge are so deep!
They are as mysterious as his judgments, and they are as hard to track as his paths!
Who has known the Lord’s mind? Or who has been his mentor?
Paul breaks his arguments to speak of the mystery of God. The passage isn’t randomly placed, and it is more than a poetic interlude. It’s an exclamation point on what must have been a confounding argument about the status of Gentiles in God’s realm. His message earlier in the chapter is that God’s mercy extends to the Gentiles, a comment that would have been beyond comprehension for some of his readers because it overturned their sense of what it meant to be chosen people. God mercy includes *them* and not just *us*.
Putting myself in the story, Paul is reminding me of something easily forgotten. In places of perplexity where human comprehension falters and debates rage, I can rely on the wisdom of God who spun the universe, the one whose understanding exceeds debate.
Today’s Prayer: Creating, redeeming God, your riches, wisdom, and knowledge are so deep! Thank you for a mind that can wrestle with hard questions, and for a heart that can trust you to know answers I cannot yet fathom. Amen.
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Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* William Barclay, Daily Study Bible Series: The Letter to the Romans (Revised Edition). Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1975, p. 155.
** Adam Hamilton, Making Sense of the Bible: Rediscovering the Power of Scripture Today (p. 299). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
