Wisdom Is a Weapon

In the early stages of my Christian life, I came upon the following verse as recorded by Luke in the book of Acts. “But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke” (Acts 6:10).

You may recognize these words referring to Stephen the first martyr. The setting is Stephen standing before a self-appointed Jewish council. Note that Stephen was alone dealing with a hostile group that wanted to kill him. But was he truly alone, since the Scriptures testify that he was full of God’s grace, power and wisdom? He clearly had the upper hand as these three gifts of grace conspired to destroy human arguments.

Let’s listen in on another portion of Scripture that gives further support to the power of wisdom. Jesus said to His disciples. “For I will give you words that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict” (Luke 21:15).

At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, we read, “For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Matt. 7:29). Then in John 7:45-47, we read this: “Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, ‘Why didn’t you bring him in?’ ‘No one ever spoke the way this man does,’ the guards replied.”

There seems to be a theme where wisdom wins the day. Why is that? Because people know what wisdom looks like when they are face to face with it. They don’t know how to counter it, even though they know it’s true. This is why believers must know the word in order to counter the vacuous arguments of the world.

For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate. Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” (1 Cor. 1:19-20).

“But he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death” (Prov. 8:36).