“It is because of [God] that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.”
1 Corinthians 1:30-31a
In the book of Proverbs, Solomon speaks repeatedly about the wise and the foolish. He also talks about wisdom. He talks about it as something you can gain. He also talks about wisdom as a person.
Personifying “wisdom” was a foreshadowing of an actual person. It was a statement that all of the wisdom that God possesses can be found in an actual person. Solomon refers to that person as wisdom. Paul is telling us that Jesus is that person. Jesus became the human that contained all of God’s wisdom when He became human.
To me it goes without saying that all of the wisdom that God possesses also encompasses all of the wisdom that all of humanity has ever possessed or will ever possess. We all have some level of wisdom and maturity in our lives, but no matter how powerful or successful or clever or good we are, Jesus can match what we have done and what we know. And Jesus can go beyond what we have done and what we know.
All of us were created for love, and Jesus is someone that all of humanity can look up to when it comes to that. Additionally we all have different experiences and talents and pursuits and Jesus has the wisdom necessary to fulfill any person’s view of maturity, provided that view of maturity is rooted in love.
Because Jesus has the ability to fulfill the vision that each of us possesses He is the one person we, all of humanity, can entirely agree on.
He is powerful and wise, and He is oh so very different than the vision that we often have of powerful people. He did not come to be served, but to serve. Even though it’s a greater honor to have someone waiting on His table, He was the one waiting tables (Luke 22:27).
You can even see in Proverbs 1, “Wisdom” is not simply sitting in an ivory tower asserting His superiority. Rather He is crying out in public (Proverbs 1:20) to people in need of good counsel to protect their lives (Proverbs 1:33) so they can enjoy their lives. This is just like the Jesus we know in the New Testament that is seeking out sinners to restore them (Luke 5:31-32). He did not do as the Pharisees expected. He did not always keep His distance from sinners or let them die in their sin. He did withdraw often (Luke 5:16), but He did that so He would have the strength to go out, lead sinners to the Father, live His life free from sin, and die as the pure and spotless Lamb of God.