The Wisdom of God

Acts 16:1-15

Introduction
The wisdom of God is foolishness to man – the center of this is the Cross — and we must understand deep in our bones that one of the central missions of God in the history of the world is to destroy the wisdom of man (1 Cor. 1:19). This doesn’t mean that we cannot truly grow in God’s wisdom, but it means that we must be incredibly skeptical of human wisdom. The goal of the history of the world is that no flesh would glory in His presence but all would glory in Him (1 Cor. 1:29-31). 

This wisdom is on display in Paul’s circumcision of Timothy, and in his obedience to the Holy Spirit leading him to the Philippian riverside to preach to a few Jewish women. You are practicing this heavenly wisdom when you sacrifice to provide a Christian education for your children, when you confess sin that nobody knows about, when you address sin instead of sweeping it under the carpet, tithing, joyful family worship, your commitment to do/believe whatever the Bible says. 

The Text: “Then came he to Derbe and Lystra: and behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek…” (Acts 16:1-5)

Summary of the Text
After parting ways with Barnabas, Paul and Silas began visiting the cities from the first missionary journey, coming first to Derbe, where Paul and Barnabas had ended that first trip, where Paul recovered after being stoned in Lystra (Acts 16:1, 14:20-21). This time in Derbe, Paul recruited Timothy to join them, whose mother was a believing Jew but whose father was a Gentile, and so Paul had Timothy circumcised to prevent giving offence (Acts 16:2-3). 

Together, they visited and encouraged the churches in Phrygia, delivering the decision of the Jerusalem council, before heading north and then west to the coast by the leading of the Spirit (Acts 16:4-7). There in Troas, Paul saw a vision of a man from Macedonia calling for help, and Luke apparently joined them, as they sailed to northern Greece and came to the chief imperial city Philippi (Acts 16:8-12). On the Sabbath, since there were apparently not enough Jewish men to form a synagogue, they went down to the river side where Jewish women gathered for prayers, and God opened the heart of a woman named Lydia to believe the gospel, she and her household were baptized, and she invited the missionaries to lodge with her (Acts 16:13-15).

Circumcising Timothy
At first, this might seem confusing for Paul to circumcise Timothy, but this is a glorious illustration of gospel wisdom. Remember, prior to this, Paul had worked closely with Titus, a Greek, and had specifically resisted the implication that he needed to be circumcised (Gal. 2:3). And now, the Jerusalem Council has just explicitly ruled that circumcision is not necessary for Christians (Acts 15), and he’s reporting that to the churches and then the first thing Paul does is circumcise Timothy (Acts 16:3). A reasonable person might ask: What is up with that? The answer is in Galatians: “For brethren, ye have been called to liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another” (Gal. 5:13). Paul was willing to sacrifice his freedom to avoid giving offense in order to help build up new Christians into maturity (cf. Rom. 15:2, 1 Cor. 8:1). But when people began demanding circumcision, Paul drew a fierce line, and called that a “yoke of bondage,” and being in one of his more winsome moods, wrote that he wished those who made that kind of trouble would castrate themselves (Gal. 5:1-3, 12). 

But this decision with Timothy really is remarkable. This goes against everything in our flesh. And no doubt, a bunch of the “based bros” would have snickered amongst themselves and said things like “Ok, boomer,” as though Paul was losing his edge. But far from it: this was Paul demonstrating that he understood the wisdom of the gospel: Christ crucified. And underline this point: he didn’t have to do it. Circumcision was no little, painless thing but Paul was willing, happy even, to lay down freedom/comfort for the sake of the gospel (avoiding offense). But at the point where a preference/wisdom turned into a mandate, that confused the gospel, and Paul absolutely refused. This wisdom applies to drinking alcohol, dietary preferences, educational methods, health care decisions, and liturgical details, but don’t confuse matters of freedom/wisdom with the Spirit’s clear Word in the Bible. One way to check this is by asking: who gets the glory? 

The God Who Closes Doors and Opens Hearts
The Holy Spirit is cited several times in this passage: not allowing them to go further into Asia or Bithynia (Acts 16:6-7) and He is implied in the vision of the man from Macedonia (Acts 16:9). John Calvin points out that it might have felt like a significant let down to have ended up in Philippi after such a fruitful ministry in Asia Minor and for there to be no synagogue to preach in, only a group of Jewish women gathering for prayer at a river side. But undaunted, they preach the gospel, and the Lord opened Lydia’s heart (Acts 16:14). We are not apostles and we are not ordinarily led with the same kind of direct instructions or visions, but we do have the Spirit’s authoritative word in the Bible and we have witnessed the same powerful miracle every time someone comes to faith in Christ. Unless God opens hearts, all our attempts are futile. It really is incredible that the Lord of Universe is so dedicated to using human means: the Spirit directs Paul and Paul preaches, and God opens hearts. But the reason is so that we will understand more profoundly His wisdom and His glory, and our foolishness and weakness.  

Applications
So much here is about wisdom: when to defer, when to change course, when to stand firm, and following the Spirit. We need wisdom, and James says that we should ask since God gives wisdom generously to those who ask in faith (Js. 1:5-6). Later, James contrasts the meekness of wisdom from above with the carnal wisdom that is full of bitter envying (Js. 3:13-17). So this is the fruit of the kind of wisdom you actually have versus what you might think you have. 

Wisdom is not esoteric mysticism. It is not irrational or pure luck. Wisdom is the skill or art of living well in obedience to God for the edification of His people (cf. Ex. 35:30-36:2). Obedience to God is obedience to His Word/the Bible: the wise man hears and obeys and builds his house on the rock for the glory in God. The fool hears and disobeyed and builds his house on the sand. Edification means “building up.” God gave His Spirit of wisdom to Bezalel for the construction of the tabernacle, and the Spirit has now been poured out for the construction of the Church (1 Cor. 3). Edification is not doing whatever seems best to us or even what anyone prefers. Edification is assisting others to grow in holiness. If we can give up some of our freedom to help others become more like Christ, we should be glad to. However, if deferring would be disobedient to Christ or assisting others in moving further away from Christ, we must do all in our power to refuse.

We are artisans working on God’s house, for the salvation of the world, which seems kind of silly if you think about it, but this is God’s way, His wisdom. And the principle means that God is using is the preaching of Christ crucified for sinners.

Photo by Tim Umphreys on Unsplash