Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
    and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

• Proverbs 9:10

“The true wisdom of man consists in the knowledge of God the creator and Redeemer.”

• John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Aphorisms

Calvin did not write these aphorisms.  They are a summarization of what he wrote in Institutes of the Christian Religion.

There are 100 aphorisms.  I will at least go for a few of them while I look through my library for another book.

But for this first statement that summarizes Calvin’s first point, I could have filled a page with verses that refer to wisdom being a knowledge of God.

Can we know the inner workings of God?  No, He is too magnificent for our human intellect, but as we desire to be more like Him and dedicate ourselves to do a better job in our lives here on earth, the world becomes a better place while we become better people.

We need to understand that God is the Creator of all things, thus any earthly marvel was designed by God.  In making these discoveries, we are just seeing God’s handiwork.

But this knowledge of God goes beyond the physical world.  Our sense of right and wrong comes from God.  How are we born with this sense that this bad thing done to us deprived us of some inherent right?  We are given that code within us; it does not spring forth from our goodness.  We have no goodness apart from God.

So, the moral code of this world becomes more knowledge of God Himself.  Our Justice falls short of His, but to an extent, it is patterned after His.

But then, we have the spiritual world where we can pray and God can answer.

Thus, in any realm, knowledge of God is wisdom.

If you like these Tuesday morning essays about philosophy and other “heavy topics,” but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Tuesday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.