Knowing God

I've recently started reading Knowing God by J.I. Packer, and while I can't claim to be in agreement with him on some points (especially concerning graven images), his stuff is well thought out, thorough, and interesting. I think his definition of wisdom is beautiful, from a chapter called "God Only Wise."

What does the Bible mean when it calls God wise? In Scripture, wisdom is a moral as well as an intellectual quality, more than mere intelligence or knowledge, just as it is more than mere cleverness or cunning. For us to be truly wise, in the Bible sense, our intelligence and cleverness must be harnessed to a right end. Wisdom is the power to see, and the inclination to choose, the best and highest goal, together with the surest means of attaining it.

Wisdom is, in fact, the practical side of moral goodness. As such, it is found in its fullness only in God. He alone is naturally and entirely and invariably wise. "His wisdom ever waketh," says the hymn, and it is true. God is never other than wise in anything that he does. Wisdom, as the old theologians used to say, is his essence, just as power, and truth, and goodness, are his essence-- integral elements, that is in his character.

I think this is a beautiful illustration of wisdom, with the capacity and will accompanying the ability to move, but all of these contingent on their alignment with "the best and highest goal." I'll have to dig up Augustine's writing on Satan's great sin (and subsequently Adam's and the rest of humanity): to choose to elevate lessers goods to the position of highest good.

Wisdom is the power to see, and the inclination to choose, the best and highest goal, together with the surest means of attaining it.