Chapter # 11 Paragraph # 6 Study # 2
June 30, 2019
Humble, Texas
(140)
1769 Translation:
33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable [
are] his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
36 For of him, and through him, and to him, [
are] all things: to whom [
be] glory for ever. Amen.
1901 ASV Translation:
33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!
34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
35 or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
36 For of him, and through him, and unto him, are all things. To him [
be] the glory for ever. Amen.
- I. The Concept of "Depth" Applied to "Riches".
- A. The concept of "riches" is crucial to Paul's theology; not for any focus upon material possessions (1 Timothy 6:8), but for the metaphor that material possessions provides to make it possible to understand divine wealth, as well as the appeal that wealth has with men.
- B. To grasp the metaphor, we need to grasp the focus the Bible puts upon material wealth.
- 1. What does "wealth" do to us?
- a. The first reference in the New Testament to "riches", by virtue of the use of Paul's term, is Matthew 13:22 where the phrase "the deceitfulness of riches" is used. It has a poignant impact: this "deceitfulness" chokes The Word so that it has little/no good effect. This use by Matthew is reproduced by Mark 4:19 and Luke 8:14 and there are no other uses in the four Gospels (the concept of "riches" is found in many places, but the actual word Paul chose to use is only found in the three texts listed, according to Strong's Concordance).
- b. Paul follows this particular "problem" with this comment: 1 Timothy 6:17; he tells Timothy to "charge" those who are "rich in this world" to follow two particular courses.
- 1) They are not to allow "riches" to create a mindset of "highmindedness" (the exact term/concept to which Paul referred in 11:20). It seems to be almost automatic for men who are wealthy to think that they are "more deserving" than their fellowmen who are not wealthy. This is "pride of life" stuff and is rooted in a concept of the legitimacy of self-exaltation by reason of "wealth". Needless to say, this is not a legitimate concept as revealed by the degree to which the Jews had honed it to a fine edge by using "Law" as their argument ("God", say they, "has found something in me that merits His grant of privilege in the form of monetary wealth"; "God loves me more than He loves you as is easily discerned by His favor upon me and not upon you").
- 2) They are not to allow "riches" to shift their "trust" (Authorized Version), or, rather, their "hope, away from God by the "deceit" of having "certainty" of fulfillment.
- a) "Certainty" of fulfillment is the essence of "hope" as distinct from "faith".
- b) But, material wealth has no capacity to underwrite any good future developments except for that promised by Scripture of "outcomes because of the proper use of wealth" (Luke 16:9 is one example), and this is not a case of "wealth" underwriting anything: God made the promise of "outcomes" rooted in behavior, so the "hope" is not in "wealth", but in God.
- c. Thus, the answer has at least this element: "riches" tend to create a false hope in those who possess them, by attaching itself to the base motives of the pride of life.
- 1) The "hope" element is clarified by Paul in Romans 8:24-25 as "unfulfilled expectation", and it is declared by him to have the power of "salvation" (Aorist Passive Indicative), pointing to our justification as a declaration of things that are not, as if already done, Romans 4:17).
- 2) "Riches", at the material level, tend to create a sense in us of "security" that is illusion (Luke 12:18-19).
- 2. What does "wealth" do for us?
- a. It makes life more "simple" (less stressful): the conflict of demands made upon us by our circumstances is diminished. We can satisfy demands that compete for our resources with a lot less stress (assuming a flaw in the faith of the "stressed" person).
- b. It makes life more "enjoyable" (1 Timothy 6:17): we are enabled by it to indulge ourselves without doing damage to others (self-indulgence is a dangerous, but permissable, occasional action).
- c. It provides us with opportunities to "enhance" our inheritance in the eternal kingdom while providing for the needs of others in the present time (Philippians 4:10-18).
- d. It gives us a "living metaphor" so that we might better understand the "riches" of God's "wisdom and knowledge" as our current text declares.
- C. Then, having some level of appreciation for the material aspect of "wealth" we can grasp the metaphorical impact more fully.
- 1. This begins when we get a real handle on the fact that the "metaphor" points to the reality and the material root is simply a way to provide understanding of that reality.
- a. Material wealth is not genuine, as it is more corrupting than beneficial (Luke 16:11 and 15).
- b. The true riches are relational and involve participation in the eternal glory of divine realities (Romans 9:23 and 1 Thessalonians 2:19).
- 2. The metaphorical impact results in a deeper, more dependent, interaction with God to the "end" that greater "joy" develops (2 Corinthians 9:12) as a more mature faith develops.
- II. This "Depth" in Respect to "The Wealth of Wisdom" That God Possesses.
- A. This text is the only example of Paul using the word translated "wisdom" in Romans.
- B. There are multiple references in Paul's writings regarding the wisdom of God, but, perhaps, none so significant as 1 Corinthians 1:25: "...the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men...". This text does not actually posit a "foolishness", or a "weakness" in God, but does, by hyperbolic contrast, establish that God is so profoundly wise and powerful that man has absolutely no foundations for the pride that is such an endemic part of our current state of being (1 Corinthians 1:29; "...that no flesh should glory in His presence...").
- C. But, at issue in the "wealth of wisdom" is Paul's revelation of God's Greater Plan. It involves the great "cycle" of "shutting all up into 'unpersuasion' in order that He might show mercy to all". By the revelation of this "mystery", man is revealed as in desperate need of a kind of humility that disallows any and all "boastfulness" in regard to what he thinks he "knows" and "has achieved" (11:25). This is the prelude to chapter twelve's focus upon that with which believers ought to be primarily concerned: the active pursuit of the use of the "gifts" given to them for the benefit of others.
- D. "Wisdom" at its very core is the "skill by which choices are made and actions are pursued that will bring about the results that were originally considered valuable enough to pursue". He is "wise" who can initiate actions that will bring about the desired goal(s). In this light, we would be "wise" to consider that Paul declared that God, Himself, would bring all of man's faux "wisdom" to "nothing": 1 Corinthians 1:19. He is "wisest" who understands "the depth of his foolishness".