A Jot From John
19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. 20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? What is this wisdom of the world of which Paul writes? Does it have reference to man’s study of science, of farming, etc.? NO. A study of the context shows that Paul has reference to the philosophies of men which set themselves against God and/or the revelation of His will (study both the first and second chapter). The wisdom of the world is man’s effort to learn the truth about God, about man, about man’s duty and man’s destiny and to learn it not only apart from divine revelation but in repudiation of divine revelation.
God has so constructed reality that when man denies God sooner or later man affirms a wisdom of the world which is self-defeating. His own wisdom is self-destructive and sooner or later reveals its own foolishness. Let us give some examples. First, there are those who deny God and affirm that man is but matter in motion. They then glorify the mind of man and view themselves as rational beings who are too intellectual to believe in God. And yet, if atheism is true, what can they mean by rationality? If man is but matter in motion, all of his thoughts are but matter in motion which has been put in motion by other motions of matter. As one atheist put it, thought is but a vibration in the brain which has been produced by material mechanisms. To say “I think” is to describe a physical sensation, just as when one says: “I itch.” Since this physical vibration is not the result of the forces of nature thinking their way through to conclusions – conclusions based on evidence and sound reasoning, it follows that the thoughts cannot be rational insights into reality, but are simple physical sensations physically produced. After glorifying the mind, and denying God, the atheist when consistent ends up denying his own rationality.
There are others who affirm that man must be intellectually honest, and that faith in God keeps one from being intellectually honest. Some of them will then say that there is no moral law – and all of them should say it for if there is no Mortal Judge of the Universe there is no moral law – and that all morality is in a state of flux and flow. If this is the case, “honesty” is a vain and misleading word, and there is no moral law which says that one ought to be honest or that one has an obligation to do anything or to desist from anything.
There are others who say that there is not God, but that man ought to serve humanity. But this is to invoke moral law, which when consistent they must repudiate. Furthermore, who is this humanity that one ought to serve? Their philosophy of life maintains that man is but matter in motion, and at the best he is just a short-lived animal. If this evaluation of man is correct, why should anyone serve man? What is man that anyone should be mindful of him?
These things illustrate that when men in their wisdom deny God, that they affirm a self-destructive wisdom and end up denying their own rationality and manhood.
Onward Rejoicing, John B. Daniels, Associate Minister
