Wisdom Christology

How Jesus Becomes God's Wisdom for Us

Daniel J. Ebert IV

• Publisher: P Publishing
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781596388000
• Topic: Teología y religión
• Subtopic: Teología sistemática y ética

Christology functioned as wisdom in the early church. A study of selected New Testament texts reveals this apostolic pattern and equips Christians to follow Jesus, the wisdom of God.

Part 1

Wisdom’s Invitation

Come to me,

all who labor and are heavy laden,

and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you,

and learn from me,

for I am gentle and lowly in heart,

and you will find rest for your souls.

(Matt. 11:28–29)

1

An Invitation to Follow Jesus (Matthew 11:25–30)

At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Introduction

What if we could slip into a gathering where Jesus was praying? Or what if we could listen to him teach? What if we saw Jesus turn to us and invite us to be his disciples? Matthew paints just such a scene for us.

The passage displays a rich and concentrated Christology. It is a Christology of action as Jesus responds to the unrepentant cities (11:1–24), prays to the Lord of heaven and earth (11:25–26), declares his unique relationship to the Father (11:27), and then invites those listening to be his disciples and enter into rest (11:28).

Before we rush in, however, we should pause, for Jesus’ invitation is a dangerous one. He is offering an alternative wisdom, one that is hidden from the “wise” of this world (11:25; cf. 1 Cor. 1:18–31). It is a wisdom that, if rejected, brings awful judgment (11:22–24). It is a wisdom that requires repentance (11:20–21) and a humble, childlike faith (11:25; cf. Matt. 18:3–4; 19:14). It demands that we come radically teachable. This wisdom is also dangerous because if we accept the invitation, everything must change as we leave an old life behind and begin, through Jesus, to participate in the very life of the triune God.

As we consider this passage from the life of Jesus, a number of questions will guide us:

• What Is the Context of Matthew 11:25–30?

• What Is the Wisdom in Matthew 11:25–30?

• Is There a Wisdom Motif Elsewhere in Matthew?

• What Is the Text’s Literary Background?

• How Can We Summarize Wisdom’s Invitation?

• How Is This Wisdom for Us?

What Is the Context of Matthew 11:25–30?

It will help us understand this incident if we look briefly at its context and the theology of Matthew’s Gospel. The chapter begins by explaining that Jesus had gone to preach in the cities (11:1). The narrative then describes how the people had rejected both John and Jesus (11:2–19). Jesus responded by teaching that these cities of Israel would experience a more severe judgment than would Tyre, Sidon, and even Sodom (11:20–24). Our section then begins with the words, “At that time Jesus declared” (11:25).

Matthew’s message focuses on God’s saving revelation, which centers in Jesus, the Son of God. Highlights of this theme begin with Matthew 1:23, “ ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us).” Another theological high point is Peter’s confession, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus’ response to Peter uncovers the nature of divine knowledge: “flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 16:16–17). These themes are repeated in the transfiguration scene. On that occasion, while Jesus was speaking to three of his disciples, “a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him’ ” (Matt. 17:5). The Father reveals the Son through the angelic message, through Peter, and through his own voice on the mountain.

It is in the context of this revelatory theme that Matthew 11:27 must be understood: “All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” One German scholar called this text a Johannine thunderbolt, because in the midst of Matthew it sounds so much like the Gospel of John, with its high Christology and intimate relationship between the Father and the Son.26 But the theology of the Father revealing himself in the Son, as we have seen, is thoroughly Matthean as well.

The structure of Matthew 11:25–30 can be laid out in three divisions:

1. Jesus’ prayer: wisdom from the Father, vv. 25–26.

2. Jesus’ claim: wisdom mediated through the Son, v. 27.

3. Jesus’ invitation: wisdom offered by the Son, vv. 28–30.

As we investigate the wisdom of God in Christ, we must always keep these three lessons in mind: first, knowing God’s wisdom depends on the Father’s initiative; second, this wisdom is mediated through his Son; and third, some will respond in faith, while others will inevitably reject God’s wisdom.

What Is the Wisdom in Matthew 11:25–30?

“Wisdom” is referred to indirectly in this passage as “these things” (11:25), “all things” (11:27), and the things that can be “learned” from Jesus (11:29). Two characteristics of this wisdom are immediately clear from the passage and from the context of Matthew’s Gospel: (1) the wisdom is supernaturally revealed by the Father, and (2) the wisdom concerns what the Father is doing in the Son. Whatever else can be said about this divine wisdom, it originates with the Father and focuses on the Son. What the “wise and understanding” in the normal human sense cannot grasp, the Father supernaturally “reveals” (11:25). This revelation involves the teachings of Jesus about the kingdom (11:1), his mighty works (11:2, 20), and the identity of Jesus, including his unique relationship to the Father (11:27). God the Father has “handed over” this wisdom to the Son, and the Son dispenses it to his disciples (11:27–30). Any valid interpretation of the invitation to “wisdom” in Matthew must be consistent with these basic ideas. By the end of our study we will see how comprehensive this revealed wisdom is: it is found not only in Jesus’ explicit teachings, but also in his self-sacrifice on the cross and in his life as a model for his disciples, the church. We will now look at wisdom elsewhere in Matthew before considering the literary and Old Testament background for the invitation to wisdom in Matthew 11:25–30.

Is There a Wisdom Motif Elsewhere in Matthew?

The “Lady Wisdom” Question

Many scholars have suggested that Matthew reflects on the identity of Jesus in light of personified Wisdom (“Lady Wisdom”). The personification of God’s attribute of wisdom is found in the Old Testament (e.g., Prov. 8) and later developed in the literature between the Old and New Testaments. Such an approach to Matthew tends to get overstated.27 At any rate, it is insufficient to explain the wisdom wrapped up in Jesus’ invitation.

Matthew is not uninterested in the question of Jesus’ relation to God’s wisdom. He surely is interested. The question is whether or not Matthew reflects on Jesus’ identity in light of a well-developed Wisdom figure as found in the literature of the Second Temple period. While the case for identifying Jesus with “Lady Wisdom” in Matthew’s Gospel is a stretch, a brief look at the arguments helps us to focus on what Matthew is saying about Jesus.28

Wisdom Justified by Her Deeds (Matthew 11:16–19)

Earlier in Matthew 11 we find these interesting words: “wisdom is justified by her deeds” (v. 19). Does Matthew here refer to Jesus as Lady Wisdom? In the context, Jesus is rebuking the people for their failure to respond to God’s revelation. John came as an ascetic, and the people said he had a demon (11:18). Jesus came entering fully into social life, and the people said he was a glutton, a drunkard, and a friend of sinners (11:19). The verse ends with: “Yet [or and] wisdom is justified by her deeds.” What does “wisdom” refer to here? The section begins with John the Baptist questioning Jesus’ identity when John hears of “the deeds of the Christ” (11:2–3). The section ends with Jesus declaring that “wisdom is justified by her deeds.” Is Matthew drawing a parallel between “the deeds of the Christ” (v. 2) and the deeds of wisdom (v. 19), identifying Jesus explicitly with wisdom or even with Sophia, the personified Wisdom figure? The distance between verse 2 and verse 19 makes an intentional verbal echo unlikely.

The phrase itself is somewhat enigmatic. What did Jesus mean when he said that “wisdom is justified by her deeds”? There are two credible ways of interpreting this text; either one is more convincing than the “Lady Wisdom” theory. First, it might be that these are not Jesus’ words, but the quoted sarcastic words of those who are rejecting Jesus. Matthew 11:19 might be punctuated this way: “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners! And wisdom is justified by her deeds.’ ” In other words, Jesus and John are accused of violating the wisdom of the day (John’s extreme asceticism and Jesus’ implied drunkenness), so that neither of them is wise. This would make sense in light of Jesus’ statement later, that the Father had hidden the things of Christ from the “wise and understanding” of this world (11:25). The critics completely misunderstood what God was doing in John and Jesus.

If the punctuation is left in the traditional form, then Jesus is making a final comment on the people’s poor response to him and to John: “Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.” His point would simply be that both his own conduct and John’s will be vindicated when understood in light of God’s saving activity, that is, in light of the wisdom of the gospel. In this sense, the “deeds” of Christ and the “deeds” of wisdom are consonant. This may be the correct interpretation. Either way, it does not explicitly identify Jesus with the Wisdom figure. Under either interpretation, one thing is clear: the world’s wisdom and what God is doing in Christ are very different understandings of wisdom.

A Wisdom Greater than Solomon’s (Matthew 12:41–42)

The word “wisdom” occurs in Matthew in only two other places. Both are instructive. In chapter 12, Jesus is again rebuking the people for their unbelief and lack of repentance:

The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. (Matt. 12:41–42)

It is a mistake to read this as if Jesus were identifying himself as the incarnation of Lady Wisdom. Jonah was known for his preaching; Solomon was known for his wisdom. People responded positively to them. Now something greater than either of these Old Testament figures has arrived and the people are not responding. This is Jesus’ indictment. There...

Table of contents

• Explorations in Biblical Theology
• Contents
• Series Introduction
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: The Need for Wisdom
• Part 1: Wisdom’s Invitation
• Part 2: Wisdom and the Cross
• Conclusion: Learning to Live in the Wisdom of Christ
• Questions for Study and Reflection
• Select Resources on Christ and Wisdom
• Index of Scripture and Extrabiblical References
• Index of Subjects and Names