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After Joseph and Mary presented Yahushua at the Temple, we’re told that the child grew and increased in wisdom:
Luke 2:40 The child [Yahushua] continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of Yahuwah was upon Him.
"The child [Yahushua] continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of Yahuwah was upon Him." (Luke 2:40)
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When Yahushua was twelve, he traveled with his family to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. On their return to Nazareth, his parents realized he was not among them. They searched for him and found him at the temple, seated among the teachers:
Luke 2:46-47 Then, after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers.
Luke concludes this story about the Messiah-in-training by saying, yet again, that Yahushua continued to grow in wisdom:
Luke 2:52 And Yahushua kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with Yahuwah and men.
If Yahushua is Yahuwah, as orthodoxy claims, these verses pose a severe problem. How can Wisdom-incarnate continually increase in wisdom? As Yahuwah, he would innately possess this attribute. Moreover, Luke writes that Yahushua also received Yahuwah’s grace and favor in increasing measure. If Yahushua is Yahuwah, why would Yahuwah need the grace and favor of Yahuwah? These are self-contradictory statements.
Some may counter by saying that only Yahushua’s human nature grew in wisdom, while his divine nature eternally possessed it. But the theory of Christ’s dual natures, also known as the hypostatic union, is not found in Scripture:
There are no direct discussions in the New Testament regarding the dual nature of the Person of Christ as both divine and human, and since the early days of Christianity, theologians have debated various approaches to the understanding of these natures, at times resulting in ecumenical councils, and schisms.10
The concept of Christ’s dual natures developed over a considerable period. It wasn’t until the Council of Chalcedon in 451AD that the doctrine became official Church dogma.
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Indeed, Baptist theologian, Millard Erickson, writes:
[Yahushua’s dual natures] is one of the most difficult of all theological problems, ranking with the Trinity…The issue is further complicated by the relative paucity of Biblical material with which to work. We have in the Bible no direct statements about the relationship of the two natures. 11
In addition, Biblical scholar and professor, Charles Feinberg, admits that the doctrine of Yahushua’s dual natures cannot be found in Scripture:
When we seek to understand the hypostatic union in its implications, those features and factors involved in it, it is not long before we find that the New Testament contains no systematic or formal setting forth of the doctrine of the two natures in the Person of Christ.12
That’s because the concept of Christ’s dual natures developed over a considerable period. It wasn’t until the Council of Chalcedon in 451AD that the doctrine became official Church dogma. The complexities and contradictions of this speculative doctrine have yet to be satisfactorily resolved. What is clear, however, is that Yahushua increased in wisdom.
Christ, the Wisdom of Yahuwah
The Jews believed that Yahuwah was made known through His miraculous power; therefore, they asked for signs.13 On the other hand, Greeks searched for God through philosophy (the love, pursuit, or study of sophia, i.e., wisdom). But Yahuwah said that the world would not come to know Him through its wisdom.14 How, then, does man come to know Yahuwah? Through the Christ whom He sent:
1 Corinthians 1:23-24 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, 24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of Yahuwah and the wisdom of Yahuwah.
Some interpret this to mean that Yahushua is Yahuwah since he is said to be Yahuwah’s power and wisdom. However, Scripture testifies that Yahuwah manifested or revealed both His power and His wisdom through the man, Yahushua. Unfortunately, this proved to be a stumbling block for some:
Peter said that when Yahushua performed miracles, it was Yahuwah working through him.
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Matthew 13:54-57 He came to His hometown and began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? 55 “Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 “And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” 57 And they took offense at Him. But Yahushua said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.”
Where did this man get this wisdom and miraculous powers? According to Scripture, from Yahuwah. Peter said that when Yahushua performed miracles, it was Yahuwah working through him:
Acts 2:22 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Yahushua the Nazarene, a man attested to you by Yahuwah with miracles and wonders and signs which Yahuwah performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know 15
Yahushua isn’t the all-powerful God but the vehicle through whom Yahuwah displayed His power. Regarding Christ possessing divine wisdom, the prophet Isaiah testified of this when he wrote about the coming Messiah (Christ):
Isaiah 11:2 The Spirit of Yahuwah will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of Yahuwah.
The Messiah would be given the spirit of Yahuwah and, specifically, the spirit of wisdom. Not that he is Yahuwah, but that he would operate in Yahuwah’s wisdom, enabled by Yahuwah’s Spirit. In like manner, Paul prayed that the God of Yahushua would give believers in Ephesus this same spirit of wisdom:
Ephesians 1:17 that the God of our Lord Yahushua Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.16
Yahushua became to us wisdom from Yahuwah
Paul’s letter to the Corinthians provides us with still more insight regarding Yahushua being the wisdom of Yahuwah:
1 Corinthians 1:30 But by His [Yahuwah’s] doing you are in Christ Yahushua, who became to us wisdom from Yahuwah, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption
"But by His [Yahuwah’s] doing you are in Christ Yahushua, who became to us wisdom from Yahuwah, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption." (1 Cor. 1:30)
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The context of this verse relates how Yahuwah, in His wisdom, determined that the cross of Christ would be the means of salvation. Some considered the message to be foolish, but to those who are saved, it is the power of Yahuwah.17 Therefore, Yahushua manifested and fulfilled Yahuwah’s wisdom to those who believed. This wisdom did not originate with Yahushua but came from Yahuwah, as the passage states.
In addition, Paul expressed his desire for the church in Colossae to have a true knowledge of Yahuwah’s mystery, that is, Christ, who is the hope of salvation for the Jew and also for the Gentile:18
Colossians 2:2-3 that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of Yahuwah’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Paul is not saying that Christ is the God of wisdom and knowledge but that Christ is how we can obtain them. The Good News Translation renders it thus:
In this way they will know God’s secret, Christ himself. He is the key that opens all the hidden treasures of God’s wisdom and knowledge.
Just a few verses later, Paul warns the church against trying to acquire wisdom and knowledge by some means other than Christ:
Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.
After Yahuwah raised Yahushua from the dead, the Christ was deemed worthy to receive even more wisdom...
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Yahushua Deemed Worthy to Receive Wisdom
After Yahuwah raised Yahushua from the dead and exalted him to His right hand, the Christ was deemed worthy to receive even more wisdom, among other glorious things:
Revelation 5:12 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”
If Yahushua is the wise, omniscient God, this makes no sense as he would innately and eternally possess these things. But the context helps us understand that Yahushua is considered worthy to receive these marvelous gifts from Yahuwah because he obeyed Yahuwah, even unto death.
Complex, post-Biblical Reasoning or the Inspired Texts?
The reviewed texts reveal critical flaws in the post-Biblical theory that Yahushua is a deity.
For example, if Yahushua is Yahuwah...
- Why must he be filled with the Spirit of Yahuwah?
- Moreover, why would he need the spirit of wisdom if he is Wisdom?
- How could Wisdom-incarnate become wisdom? Why would Yahushua fear Yahuwah if he is Yahuwah?
Instead of turning to complex, post-Biblical reasoning, such as the hypostatic union, to understand how Yahushua grew in wisdom, we must rely on the answers provided by the inspired texts. When we align ourselves with Yahuwah's word and accept that Yahushua is the human Messiah, we understand his need for Yahuwah's wisdom, grace, and favor.
Source https://onegodworship.com/jesus-the-wisdom-of-god/
1 Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible; Thayer’s Greek Lexicon.
2“Wisdom,” Dictionary.com, accessed 10-8-19.
3 “Wisdom,” American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition, (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company 2016), accessed online 11-13-19. https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=wisdom
4 1 Corinthians 3:19.
5 James 3:15-16.
6 James 3:13-18.
7 See also: Proverbs 2:6; Psalm 51:6 (HCSB).
8 “Wisdom,” Unger’s Bible Dictionary, (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1966), p. 1170.
9 1 Kings 3:12; 4:29-31, 34; 10:4-10, 24.
10 Christology, Wikipedia, accessed 11-11-19.
11 Millard J. Erickson, Introducing Christian Doctrine, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 2001), p. 234.
12 Charles Lee Feinberg, “The Hypostatic Union,” Bibliotheca sacra 92, no. 368 (1935): 412.
13 John 2:18; 6:30; Matthew 12:38-39; 16:1-4; Mark 8:11; Luke 11:16, 29; 23:8.
14 1 Corinthians 1:18-22.
15 See also Acts 10:38; John 10:32; 14:10, etc.
16 The definite article “a” is not present in the Greek. Thus, the phrase “a spirit of wisdom” can also rightly be translated “the spirit of wisdom.”
17 1 Corinthians 1:18-31.
18 The mystery is that Yahuwah would make salvation available to Gentiles as well. See Colossians 1:25-29 and Ephesians 3:3-13.
19 1 Corinthians 15:15-28.
20 Proverbs 9:10, Psalm 111:10.
This is a non-WLC article. Source: https://oneGodworship.com/Jesus-the-wisdom-of-God/
We have taken out from the original article all pagan names and titles of the Father and Son, and have replaced them with the original given names. Furthermore, we have restored in the Scriptures quoted the names of the Father and Son, as they were originally written by the inspired authors of the Bible. -WLC Team
