The World-Tilting Gospel - A Study & Review Part 4c

This is a continuation of my study and review of The World-Tilting Gospel: Embracing a Biblical Worldview and Hanging on Tight by Dan Phillips. Scripture quotations are NKJV unless otherwise noted. Block quotes in italics are from the book and are used with permission.

Previous posts covered the central truths of God's love and His holiness. This post will cover a third central truth: God is Wise.

God Only Wise

Because of our sinfulness, without God's love, His holiness, in isolation, would see us condemned to eternal punishment. God can't tolerate sin and sinners and still be God.

          "But God's love gives us a glimmer of hope.
           Perhaps God, in love, could look for a way
           to deal with our plight without compromising
           His holiness. But working out something
           of that magnitude -- dealing with sin as the
           catastrophic offense that it is, while accom-
           plishing and applying some sort of rescue
           and restoration -- would take a degree of
           intelligence and wisdom that we can only
           imagine."

God embodies that sort of wisdom. Dan cites Romans 16:27, which reads, "to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ -- to Him be the glory forever! Amen" (HSCB). I Corinthians 1:24 describes Christ as "the Power of God and the Wisdom of God" (AMP), and Isaiah 11:2 says of the Holy Spirit: "...the Spirit of wisdom and understanding..." (AMP). God, alone, is the source and originator of wisdom. He is not "a wise God" or "the wise God"; He is "the only wise God.

From Genesis 1:1, we see God's wisdom in the creation story. He created everything perfectly from the beginning. God's knowledge is immeasurable, and His wisdom -- knowing how to interpret and apply that knowledge -- is likewise immense and immeasurable. God knows everything and He knows what everything means because He created and rules over everything.

          "...[W]e have neither the right nor the ability
           to redefine the universe, since it is a created
           universe, and since every fact has a value
           assigned by the Creator. Including us. We
           have neither the right nor the ability to
           assign meaning to the universe. Its Author
           is the one who assigns definition and meaning.
           At best, we discover and uncover that meaning."

Dan ends chapter 4 with the following question:

         "So how does God's wisdom combine with
           His holiness and love to have any impact
           on us in our plight?"

Which leads to chapter 5, which will be covered in the next post(s).

Personal Thoughts

This chapter, covering the attributes of God was both reinforcing and eye-opening for me. It's one thing to "know" (on a surface, "I-know-because-I-was-told" level) God is loving, holy and wise. When those attributes were explained, however, it really made me think about my own view of God, how small we are in comparison, and how our supposed goodness and wisdom are anything but. I can appreciate why we need a Savior.

Coming up next...

God's Rescue Operation Outlined