It's not what you know, but who you know

"And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God." (1 Corinthians 2. 1-5)

There are two types of wisdom which Paul compares and contrasts in his letter to the Corinthians. The first is 'wordly' and the second 'Godly'. Wordly wisdom is espoused in our centres of learning and throughout the media. It's the type of wisdom we most often glorify as it depends on the sophisicated telling of 'experts'. It makes us feel good when we hear and understand it because we are part of the select few who 'get it'. It builds our self-esteem and we can quickly become addicted to it. But this kind of wisdom, intellectual and rational, is not the best basis for faith. Despite what the intellectual movement of the enlightenment would have us believe, our heads are not the best place to begin when seeking to know God. We cannot function as isolated intellects.

Unfortunately, much of the theology ('words about God') we hear is only wordly wisdom dressed up in holy clothes. Godly wisdom begins and ends with the power of God, seen through God's action in human history. But the best theology is always an affair of the heart as much as it's an affair of the mind. Real faith is more about having an encounter than simply amassing greater head-knowledge. So how can we begin to meet the God who acts in human history again and again?

I would suggest the bible is a good place to start as it is the record we have made of God's story. How he made a beautiful creation then chose a nation. And how he then spent himself in reversing the tendency of his creation to harm itself, culminating in the cross. We find there that man chooses to destroy God's work of creation, then chooses to destroy the climax of his creation, His own Son Jesus.

Paul says in the above passage that he is only interested in looking to God's action in the story of Christ's death and resurrection. This story is the only proper basis for faith in God. Head knowledge is useful, but the rational will let us down when it comes to God. Someone will always have a better argument or more sophisticated philosophy. Head knowledge can't bear the wait of faith, whilst the cross can.

The key thing about encounter is that when we meet someone, we involve our whole selves, our minds and intellects as well as our emotions and our senses. So let us take Paul's advice and seek to know God with everything we have. It is this that Jesus is pointing at when he tells the teacher of the law that the greatest commandment is to 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' (Matt 22.37)