We can see the cooperation between human wisdom and divine wisdom in the need to build and maintain the physical church building with primarily human wisdom, and the spiritual church building with exclusively divine wisdom (1 Corinthians 3:1-21). Blurring this distinction results in being in opposition to God. We build the temple according to God’s blueprint alone, which is both lucid and sufficient. When man’s wisdom is in play, elevated, sought, and depended on, teaching the Scripture will be marginalized.
There inevitably will be a subtle or not so subtle diminishing of the place for biblical wisdom in building the church, rhetoric to the contrary notwithstanding. This is true of human wisdom in any form, whether it is liberalism, emergent postmodern litmus tests, techniques placed above theology, tradition that strangles the spiritual growth of the church, or the personal giftedness and passion of the leader changing the nature of the church from what is set forth in Scripture.
Any form of human knowledge substituted for in-depth and comprehensive knowledge of the Scripture results in that becoming the prism through which the people see the Scripture, church, and world. Then, the totality of Scripture, the whole counsel, is quietly disregarded, and only what is consistent with the gift or interest of the pastor/s, be it prophecy, ministry, evangelism, or liberty is truly emphasized.
The replacement of divine wisdom by human wisdom is usually progressive, donned with seemingly scriptural justification. The replacement is in the life of the church but it is not an actual replacement but a total spiritual loss; for God never permits the exchange of human wisdom for building the church or rewards.
