An Alphabetical Analysis
Volume 6 - Doctrinal Truth - Page 243 of 270
INDEX
that Israel also were blinded, a veil being over their heart, which veil will
be done away in Christ when Israel shall turn to the Lord (2 Cor. 3:14 -16).
In blessed contrast, those who are led by the spirit of liberty, have
'unveiled faces' (2 Cor. 3:17,18), and those, whether Jew or Gentile to whom
the gospel is veiled, are blinded  by the god of this world.  Illumination
comes, not from human wisdom, but from the face of Jesus Christ.  At the
close of chapter 4, Paul makes a pronouncement of the greatest importance to
us all, and one of great significance to those who had acquaintance with the
teaching of philosophy concerning the world of sense and the world of ideas:
'While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things
which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal
(transient, Moffatt); but the things which are not seen are eternal' (2
Cor. 4:18).
It is of the utmost importance that we do not look upon 2 Corinthians,
chapter 5, as the introduction of a new theme.  Resurrection is the key to
the problems of Job, of Ecclesiastes, of 1 and 2 Corinthians and of all men,
and while we are here in this tabernacle, 'we walk by faith and not by
sight'.  It was to the Greeks and Corinthians that the apostle said, when he
was caught away to Paradise, that he heard 'unspeakable words, which it is
not lawful for a man to utter'.  Some things, especially those which relate
to the day of glory, are so sacred that, like some of the shameful things
that pertained to the pagan mysteries, 'it was not lawful for a man to
utter'; in the apostle's case because of their holiness, in the pagan
initiates' case, because of their depravity.  In the Epistle to the
Colossians is found the apostle's own use of the word 'philosophy', he not
only declares that it is 'not after Christ', he not only taught that, 'In Him
are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge', but again warns against
that desire to 'intrude into those things which he hath not seen' (Col.
2:18).  It is this Epistle also that stresses the fact that there is an
'invisible' creation as well as a 'visible' one (Col. 1:16), and uses the
word phaneroo, 'appear' or 'be made manifest' as a definition of the hope of
the believer and of the day when we shall know as we are known (Col. 3:1 -4).
We will not pursue this matter further.
The conclusion to which we have arrived is that Christ is the Wisdom of
God, that He is the answer to all life's riddles, even as He resolves all the
problems raised by Scripture statements or by Scripture omissions.  What
philosophers 'felt after' (Acts 17:27), said John, we have 'handled' (1 John
1:1, same word).  Human tradition and wisdom are necessarily limited, and for
the time being the believer is shut up to the Person and Work of Christ.  But
who of us that have caught a glimpse of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ would speak of limitations?  Rather would we rejoice in the fulness
that transcends our highest range of thought.  Sufficient evidence has been
brought forward to convince the unprejudiced reader that the Scriptures,
though inspired and perfect, were not given to tell us much that pertains to
the 'beginning' or to the 'end' of God's purposes.  We, therefore, refrain
from speculating on the problem of evil, and what kind of world it was that
was overthrown in Genesis 1:2.  We also refrain from dogmatizing concerning
the ultimate fate of the angels that fell, or of those cast into the lake of
fire.  'Sufficient unto the day', is the Scripture written for our learning.
We search the Scriptures and teach what we find there, but where God's Word
is silent it is of the highest wisdom for the believer to be silent too.  If
only the same zeal were manifest in attempting to understand what has been
written and revealed for our learning, that has been expended in a vain
attempt to lift the veil that God Himself has drawn, what richer lives, what