«　WEEK 5　DAY 2　»

　　Col. 2:3 In whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.

　　Eph. 1:8 Which He caused to abound to us in all wisdom and prudence.

　　17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him.

　　Before we were saved, we were not wise. However, once we are saved, we can experience Christ as our wisdom. All believers should be wise. This is practical. We need to experience Christ as our wisdom in how we spend our time and our money. Christ is real wisdom. When we live by Christ, He is our wisdom. We are not wise when we do not live by Christ or when Christ is unable to live in us. Christ is always in us, but we often do not allow Him to live in us. When Christ lives in us, He becomes our wisdom. (CWWL, 1978, vol. 3, “The Recovery of Christ as Everything in the Church,” p. 229)

　　In writing Colossians Paul was fighting against the Gnostic philosophy by declaring that Christ, as the totality of all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, is far better, higher, and more profound than the Gnostic philosophy. According to history, the influence of Gnostic teaching, which is a mixture of Jewish religion and Greek philosophy, invaded the Gentile churches in Paul’s time. Those who were influenced by such teaching considered themselves as having much wisdom and knowledge, but they spoke many things concerning God and Christ that were not according to the truth. Hence, Paul told the Colossian believers that all the treasures of genuine wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ. This is the spiritual wisdom and knowledge of the divine economy concerning Christ and the church. Wisdom is related to our spirit, and knowledge is related to our mind (Eph. 1:8, 17).

　　Moreover, wisdom and knowledge refer to all the “stories” of God.... All the wisdom and knowledge pertaining to God’s stories are hidden in this Christ who is the mystery of God. Therefore, Colossians 2:6-7 indicates that we who have received Christ Jesus the Lord should walk in Him and be rooted and built up in Him and should not listen to the empty words of philosophy and philosophical doctrines of the Gnostics. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3557-3558)

　　God is the unique source of wisdom and knowledge. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in the very Christ who is the mystery of God. Because the church at Colossae had been invaded by pagan philosophy, Paul was helping the Colossians trace wisdom and knowledge to their true source in God. Christ is the mystery of God, who alone is the source of all wisdom and knowledge.

　　The fact that wisdom and knowledge are embodied in Christ is proved by His spoken words, especially those recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and John. In these books, the Lord spoke about the kingdom and about life.... None of the teachings of the philosophers, including the ethical teachings of Confucius, compare to them. The concept in the Lord’s words is too deep and profound. Anyone who makes a thorough study of philosophy will have to admit that the highest philosophy is that found in the teachings of Jesus Christ. Truly all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Him.

　　If we exercise our being to contact the Lord, Christ as the life-giving Spirit will saturate our spirit and our mind. Then we also shall have in our experience the wisdom and knowledge that are hidden in Christ. In this way we experience Him as the mystery of God. We should not be like the Colossians, who allowed pagan philosophy to defraud them of the wisdom and knowledge hidden in Christ. (Life-study of Colossians, pp. 150-151)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1978, vol. 3, “The Recovery of Christ as Everything in the Church,” ch. 1; Life-study of Colossians, msg. 18