“He who heeds the word wisely will find good, And whoever trusts in the Lord, happy is he” (Proverbs 16:20)

Obey the Word of God and your life will improve, but unless you trust in Christ, you will lose your soul. The Apostle Paul, educated by the celebrated Gamaliel, was, according to worldly standards, the wisest man of the early Church. He was “a Hebrew of the Hebrews … concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ” (Philippians 3:4-7). That’s how much Paul regarded wisdom without Christ. Wisdom is great, but without the Spirit of wisdom, the Gospel doesn’t even make sense. See how he contrasts worldly wisdom and the wisdom from the indwelling Holy Spirit. 

 “My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God ... we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom … the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:4-14). “The mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints …Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:26-27).

 The wisest men on Earth who don’t know Christ say things like “if I can’t understand it with my rational mind, I won’t believe it”. If anyone has ever been saved by rational understanding, the Gospel is false. He who has faith in Christ has a diploma for wisdom that can only be granted by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:8-10).