Wisdom is a skill. How does a believer attain it? Eph 3:10; 1Co 2:10; 2Co 10:5-6

/EPH 1:8a: From which grace he [God the Father] has caused to superabound toward us [super-grace believers]\

 

EPH 1:8 which He lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight

 

EPH 1:9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him

 

/“in all wisdom” - the preposition e)n[en] plus the instrumental of two words, paj, [pas] and sofia[sophia] which means spiritual insight into things through knowledge of doctrine. “by means of all doctrine”\

 

/ Sophia is the technical word for Bible doctrine in the right lobe or the heart of the believer that is understood in relation other metabolized doctrines as well as the overall plan of God.\

 

/ Sophia can only be accomplished through the function of grace apparatus for perception (GAP). \

 

Doctrine enters the mind, left lobe of the soul, where God the HS makes it understandable as spiritual phenomenon. If that doctrine is mixed with faith then God the HS cycles it to the human spirit where it is referenced with other doctrines that are there, whether there is a little or a lot. Then the doctrine is drawn into the heart, the right lobe of the soul, again by God the HS, where it is ready for application.

 

This is the metabolization process. Doctrine in the heart is always metabolized.

 

However, a metabolized doctrine may not always be applied properly and timely and that is where wisdom comes in.

 

For example, there is a law of liberty, a law of love, and a law of supreme sacrifice. All doctrines are correct and should be fully metabolized by a positive believer. However, they each apply to unique situations. Knowing the correct way of applying them and when to apply them, combined with motivational virtue and an understanding of the plan of God for your life is called wisdom.

 

Therefore, to have wisdom, many, many doctrines must be metabolized.

 

When more and more metabolized doctrines are constructed the humble and positive believer will see how they are all connected and how they all relate to the overall plan of God for that believer’s life. When these interconnected doctrines are understood, based on a foundation of basic doctrines, their correct and timely application is now a skill in the believer’s life. It is an all powerful weapon against his enemies and a protection for his own soul, which brings prosperity. This skill of timely and correct application whose sole motivation is the glorify God is wisdom.

 

The material for wisdom is the completed cannon of scripture. The classroom for learning is the local assembly.

 

The local assembly is not a place of fellowship or bake sales. It is strictly a classroom.

 

The student of doctrine is the believer priest. All priests have the privacy to learn for themselves without interference.

 

The teacher of doctrine is the pastor teacher who is given the gift of PT by God. No one earns the right to teach. It is a grace gift given to males who possess many different personality types.

 

The other spiritual gifts of believers function in the local assembly with one goal in mind - the communication of doctrine.

 

The filling of the Holy Spirit is what makes it all possible. He is each believer’s mentor and true teacher.

 

/So this should be translated “by means of all metabolized doctrine.”\

           

/“and insight” — also an instrumental singular and also an object of the same preposition e)n.This word is fronhsij[phronesis] and it means objective thinking.\

 

The KJ translates this word as prudence - which is the application of wisdom to be judiciously or wisely cautious.

 

/Joseph Thayer translates this word, when it is matched with sophia as the “holy love of the will of God.” \

 

It is used actually for Bible doctrine on the launching pad of the right lobe. It is the divine viewpoint of life, it is the fulfillment of 2 Corinthians 10:4,5 — “bring every thought into captivity for Christ.”

 

2 Cor 10:4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.

 

2 Cor 10:5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,

 

The word weapons suggest a certain amount of skill. Modern weapons can only require the press of a button, but the weapons of the first century generally required a lot of skill.

 

Skill means repeated application or practice. That is insight.

 

/Phronesis therefore means correct and timely application of doctrine to life, which cannot occur without sophia - wisdom in the right lobe of the soul. \

 

A believer may have thousands of doctrines memorized or he may be a theologian with dozens of degrees in theology but he may lack both of these words.

 

Phronesis is the application of wisdom to life and that is way more than knowledge. That demands wisdom.

 

“but if you do not have love…”

 

Wisdom and insight go together to manufacture invisible heroes.

 

/Wisdom is the playground to the believer with insight.\

 

/Prov 10:23

Doing wickedness is like sport to a fool;

And so is wisdom to a man of understanding. \

 

Since both of these words are in reference to the mystery doctrine of the church age and are vital to your fulfillment of the plan of God for your life, I want to look at them more closely.

 

Sophia, or wisdom, goes beyond knowledge (which is gnosis in the Greek) and it is a step further than full knowledge, or metabolized knowledge, or epignosis.

 

There is a certain divine progression from knowledge (perception) to metabolized knowledge (metabolization) and wisdom (metabolized knowledge that is readily applied).

 

God the Holy Spirit is the agent of this progression. If you are not filled with the Spirit then there is no progress towards wisdom.

 

/Knowledge (gnosis): Perception of doctrine under the filling of the HS with humility, concentration, and good manners under whoever is your right pastor teacher.\

 

/Metabolized knowledge (epignosis): By applying faith to gnosis doctrine God the HS cycles that doctrine through the human spirit and into the heart (right lobe of the soul) where it is ready for application.\

 

/Wisdom (sophia): When enough epignosis doctrine is accumulated so that you understand the plan of God for your life by linking the various doctrines together into one great seamless whole then you are able to objectively apply doctrines to their correct applications.\

 

/This can also be understood as the process for personal revelation.\

 

Wisdom concerning any aspect of the plan of God has to come to your personally through this process under the mentorship of G/HS. This is personal revelation as a reward for years of making the word of God your top priority under the principle of humility.

 

1CO 2:1 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom [fancy words used by people with human wisdom], proclaiming to you the testimony of God.

 

1CO 2:2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.

 

1CO 2:3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.

 

1CO 2:4 And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom [Madison Ave. techniques = wisdom of human psychology], but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,

 

1CO 2:5 that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

 

1CO 2:6 Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away;

 

1CO 2:7 but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God predestined before the ages to our glory;

 

1CO 2:8 the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;

 

1CO 2:9 but just as it is written,

"Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard,

And which have not entered the heart of man,

All that God has prepared for those who love Him." [wisdom - not materialism]

 

1CO 2:10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit [personal revelation after years of teachability]; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

 

Personal revelation is miraculous but it is not attained by just asking for it. It is reserved for those who seek God with all their heart - meaning He is their top priority.

 

1CO 2:11For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.

 

1CO 2:12Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God,

 

1CO 2:13which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.

 

1CO 2:14But a natural man [human wisdom only] does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.

 

1Co 2:But he who is spiritual appraises all things [wisdom], yet he himself is appraised by no man [privacy of the priesthood].

 

1CO 2:16For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.

 

 

Application can also only occur under the filling of God the HS.

 

 

EPH 3:10 in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.

 

/ “manifold” - polupoikilos[polupoikilos] =   much-variegated; marked with a great variety of colors: of cloth or a painting; much varied, manifold: manifesting itself in a great variety of forms.\

 

Gaining wisdom is like learning how to paint. God gives you a canvas, a palette, colors, brushes. You learn about them individually, but that doesn’t make you a painter.