Colossians 2:3
As Joshua pointed out this morning, Solomon calls us to search for wisdom as for hidden treasures. Wisdom is available, open, offering herself and her food on the streets of the city; but to get wisdom, you can?t be a dabbler. You have to pursue her, court her, seek her out, with the same passion and intensity as a pirate in search of booty.
The New Testament reflects on this image of ?hidden wisdom?Eby pointing to Christ as the one in whom are hidden. He is the treasure that we should seek. In Him are found all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and through His Spirit we come to share in the wisdom that He has, the wisdom that He is.
Proverbs 2 speaks about wisdom as a hidden treasure. Elsewhere in Proverbs, wisdom and folly are described in terms of food. Wisdom prepares a meal, and invites the simple to partake. Folly also prepares a meal, though instead of feeding the simple, she feeds on the simple. Here is a simple way to describe the difference between the effects of wisdom and folly: Follow wisdom, and you will be feasted; follow folly, and you will be feasted on.
These two threads of imagery are connected in the NT as well. Jesus is the treasure chest of wisdom and knowledge, and Jesus is the food that is given to us. In this meal, we receive Christ through the Spirit, the Christ who is the wisdom of God, the Christ in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. At this meal, we commune with the body and blood of Jesus, and so we, mysteriously, miraculously, but really, grow in wisdom.
So, I invite you to eat and drink of the table of Wisdom, the table that offers you the Wisdom of God made flesh.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
