“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you” (James 1:5).

 

It’s a verse we all know and love. It seems to promise unbounded wisdom and that if we just ask for it, God will generously give it to us. But is that what this verse means?

Certainly, it is in God’s power to grant unbounded and universal wisdom to anyone he wishes, but does God really work that way?  Put the question in human terms. If you walk into your local bank branch and tell the manager “I want a big loan, just give me money” – is the banker likely to help or will he or she ask “How much do you need and for what purpose?”

What we often miss in James’ words on asking for wisdom is their context. If we look carefully at the immediately preceding verses, we see James is writing about a very specific situation. He says:  “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2-4).

James’ context is one of persecution.  He tells believers that trials can bring about spiritual maturity in which we do not lack anything needed to deal with such problems (vs. 4). But if we do lack wisdom – implying wisdom in dealing with matters of persecution and patience – we can ask God and he will help us.

Take another example – that of the archetypal story of God granting wisdom to King Solomon.  When God appeared to Solomon and offered him anything he wanted, Solomon did not simply ask for wisdom. Notice his request to God: “give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?” (1 Kings 7:9). Because Solomon asked for wisdom in a specific context – to do the work of ruling Israel – God was well pleased and granted him great wisdom (1 Kings 7:12, 29-34) as well as other blessings.

But we should remember that Solomon asked for the wisdom he needed in a specific situation. It is perhaps not surprising, then, that in the compositions believed to be written by Solomon, he often ties wisdom to particular contexts. Notice the wording of just one example: “Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm, and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure” (Ecclesiastes 8:5).    Here, we see wisdom relating to “proper times” and “procedures,” and in many of the proverbs of Solomon, wisdom is tied to other specific needs and circumstances.

So when we consider the wider biblical context, the words of James regarding wisdom become clear.  God rarely, if ever, gives unneeded gifts.  If we desire wisdom, his word indicates we should not ask to be funnel fed wisdom without specific purpose.  But we can humbly take our needs to God and ask for wisdom in the areas of life where we need it in order to best fulfill his will and our calling – and then, as James affirms, God will gladly give it to us. ​​

We are familiar with the legal requirement that a person must promise in court to tell “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,” and certainly the Scriptures clearly and repeatedly teach that lying –  saying something that is untrue –   is wrong (Psalm 31:18, 63:11, 101:7, 119:29, Proverbs 6:17, 12:22, 19:5, 9, Zechariah. 8:16, Ephesians 4:25, 1 John 2:21, Revelation 21:27, 22:15 to mention only a few examples!). But, apart from legal contexts where we promise to tell the whole truth, does the Bible teach that we must always tell all the truth – that it is lying if we do not speak everything we know about a situation?

In past articles we have shown the Scriptures make it clear that it is not wrong to word statements and answers in such a way that an impression will be created that protects innocent individuals who might be harmed if we were to tell the whole truth in a given situation.

This is the kind of situation posed by the classic moral question of “Should a person give a full and true answer if asked if they know the whereabouts of innocent individuals being hunted by those who would clearly harm them” (as in World War II Nazi hunts for Jews in hiding)?  Most Christians can see the need for withholding known facts in situations like this, and there are biblical precedents for such behavior.

The story of the midwives protecting the newborn male Israelites in Egypt (Exodus 1:15-21) and the woman Rehab protecting the Israelite spies (Joshua 2:4-6, 6:17, 25) are two such cases.  But the clearest example of this is where God himself is said to have instructed the prophet Samuel to tell King Saul that he was going to Bethlehem to offer sacrifices and to omit the detail that he would anoint the young David as king while he was there (1 Samuel 16:1-5).  Had Samuel told all the truth to Saul in this situation, Samuel’s life may well have been endangered, and at the very least he would probably have been blocked from doing what God had instructed him to do. A similar situation is found in Jeremiah 38:24-27 where the prophet Jeremiah, although asked, does not repeat all the details of a conversation that could endanger him. 

But while it is relatively easy to see the morality of withholding information in such cases, what about situations where lives are not endangered, but telling everything we know may cause unhappiness if not actual harm?  We must be particularly careful in situations such as these, but once again there may be biblical precedent to guide us.

Genesis 18 tells the story of how the patriarch Abraham was visited by three “men” – one of whom was clearly God himself in human form (Genesis 18:13-33).  In this well-known story, the Lord announces to Abraham that despite his advanced age (Abraham was some 90 years old at this time), God would give him a son and heir.  Hearing this, Abraham’s wife, Sarah, who was nearby “… laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?’” (Genesis 18:12 ESV).  

We are then told that the Lord asked Abraham “…Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’” (vs. 13).  Interestingly, the Lord did not repeat Sarah’s exact words or her complete statement, only what was necessary for his purposes.  He did not repeat Sarah’s specific comments on her own condition or Abraham’s, which would have been embarrassing and perhaps hurtful if repeated.

This would seem to be a clear example that it is sometimes not wrong to withhold the whole truth from someone – without saying anything untrue – when all of the truth might be hurtful or distressing.  In exactly this way, as parents we might not give our young children all the facts of a medical report or what a doctor tells us regarding a child’s illness. 

It is true that in withholding part of the truth we may sometimes be creating a situation in which people may get the wrong idea regarding given circumstances.  So in these cases we must always be sure that we are withholding facts for the sake of others – not to protect ourselves or for our own advantage in some way.

We see this careful withholding of information in the Gospel accounts of the life of Jesus.  John’s Gospel tells us that prior to a religious festival in Jerusalem Jesus told his family members: “You go to the festival. I am not going up to this festival, because my time has not yet fully come” (John 7:8).  However, a few verses later we read that “… after his brothers had left for the festival, he went also, not publicly, but in secret” (John 7:10).  The secrecy involved in Jesus’ actions indicate that he may well have gone separately in order to protect his family members from the danger he knew he might bring on them, but John makes it clear that in order to protect them in this way it was necessary for Jesus not to tell them all the truth regarding his plans at that point.
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We do not have the perfect character and wisdom of the Son of God, of course, so scriptures such as these are not invitations to “juggle with the truth” using our own human understanding as we go through life.  But what the biblical examples do show us is that sometimes it is not wrong to withhold specific information that might endanger, hurt, or embarrass others. The Bible shows that, of itself, is not lying.  

 

“It takes something more than intelligence to act intelligently.” 
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky

“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.”   
― Albert Einstein

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A cartoon I saw recently showed a youngster telling his parents “Great news, Dad and Mom – my intelligence test came back negative!”  Intelligence testing is a huge industry today, and many different types of test have been developed. You can find dozens of IQ tests online which will measure verbal, mathematical or other forms of raw intelligence. But, as may be seen by the quotes above,  some of the most intelligent minds have realized that unapplied intelligence is worth little and that intelligence without action can be meaningless.  

There are a couple of verses in the Book of Jeremiah which relate directly to this: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom … But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight, says the Lord” (Jeremiah 9:23-24 NKJV).  

If we think about them, these verses constitute a very real intelligence test.  Notice the admonition in verse 24: “ … but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands…”  Here, the word “understands” is translated from the Hebrew eshkl,  to “use intelligence.”  The New International Version gets a little closer to this meaning: “…  that they have the understanding to know me …”  (vs. 24 NIV, emphasis added), but we can go one step closer to the literal meaning by saying: “… that he uses intelligence to know me …” Therein lies the test. How effectively do we use the intelligence we were given?

If we think about the words of Einstein and other thinkers regarding using intelligence to change and act intelligently, we see that the smartest intelligence test is perhaps not one you may find online or purchase from some testing organization, but the test that comes to us courtesy of the Book of Jeremiah.  It’s not just asking if we “know the Lord,” however. Our score is based on how well we really come to know the character and traits of the One who exercises lovingkindness, judgment and righteousness.

Something to think about: 

“Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.” – Thomas Jefferson

The Bible shows that honesty is of primary importance in any society. It is represented by many biblical concepts such as truth and faithfulness and is used as the opposite of negative and destructive qualities such as lying, cheating and deceit.

But in today’s world we see dishonesty in every aspect of life – from “fake news” and false claims made in resumes and job applications to failure to report income that would be taxed.  Lack of honesty is so widespread that we have a situation strikingly similar to that described by the Old Testament prophets. The prophet Isaiah wrote “… justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter” (Isaiah 59:14), and Jeremiah affirmed that “Everyone deceives his neighbor, and no one speaks the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves committing iniquity” (Jeremiah 9:5).
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It is always easy to find reasons why being dishonest might seem to be advantageous, but Thomas Jefferson’s statement that “Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom” is solidly rooted in what the Bible has to say about this vital quality.  The Book of Proverbs – the Bible’s own “book of wisdom” – contains more references to aspects of what we call “honesty” than to any other quality associated with wisdom.  The proverbs reflect the fact that sooner or later dishonesty always brings unhappiness to ourselves and to others, and it is truly wiser to simply make honesty a practice in every aspect of our lives.  Anything less than honesty is not only wrong, it is also a tragic lack of wisdom.  

​The second epistle of Peter has sometimes been called the “knowledge” epistle of the New Testament.  The apostle’s short letter speaks of “knowing” and “knowledge” eleven times – five times in the first chapter alone – and focusses on the importance of what we know more than any other section of the Christian Scriptures.
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Notice how Peter begins his epistle directly after addressing his readers: 

“Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness” (2 Peter 1:2-3, emphases added).

In contrast with the false teachers of that era who taught that true knowledge was hidden and only attainable by a few, Peter stresses that ultimately, true knowledge is knowledge of God and his Son, and that we all have access to everything we need through the knowledge that God openly gives us.

After his introduction, Peter describes what we might call a “spectrum” of spiritual qualities:

“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love” (2 Peter 1:5-7, emphases added).

This “spiritual spectrum” ranges from faith through love with the “hope”-related quality of “perseverance” or “endurance” at the center (1 Thessalonians 1:3).  As such, we can see that Peter’s list is an expansion of the three qualities of faith, hope and love we know so well from Paul’s writings (1 Corinthians 13:13). 
 
But notice something else about this “spectrum.” If we look carefully, we see that Peter sets the individual qualities in groups of two:  faith/goodness, knowledge/self-control, perseverance/ godliness, mutual affection/love.   When we consider these pairs closely, we see that the first quality of each pair represents a mental attitude and the second quality involves a practical application.  So faith, knowledge, perseverance (or hope), and mutual affection are all things within our own minds, whereas goodness, self-control, godliness, and love are all things relating to what we do – that we apply in life. 

So the “spiritual spectrum” that Peter gives helps teach us that we must have action as well as knowledge. Peter summarizes this fact when he tells his readers later in his letter that we must “… grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).  We must have positive change in our lives along with the growth of knowledge or we will fail to grow spiritually as we should.
 
The pairs of qualities that Peter gives us deserve some thought.  How do the qualities relate? What is the connection between each of them?  Perhaps above all, Peter’s list shows us that a feeling of affection is not love – that we may have good feelings toward others without really loving them. Mutual affection, Peter’s list shows, is an attitude; love is an action – something we actively do for others.

It is only as we grasp and apply this fact that we will be using the knowledge God gives us as he intended. Peter himself tells us, directly after listing the qualities of his “spiritual spectrum”: “For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:8).