The Wisdom of the Bride

In Romans 16:19, Paul compliments the church at Rome, then challenges them with a vision. He said, “For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good, and innocent as to what is evil.”

This church brought great joy to the apostle because of their obedience. For Paul, this meant that they were together in unity, teaching and learning sound doctrine, and were missionary. And he challenged them with a vision of growth, “…but I want you to be wise as to what is good, and innocent as to what is evil.” The reaches back to creation and the tree in the midst of the garden, beside the tree of life.

A vision statement is a picture of a person, place, or thing. It is a preferred state of being. A mission statement is the activity of that vision, or the activity that leads to that vision. The New Testament presents the vision of the church as the Bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:25 – 33, Revelation 21:1 – 2). In the verse above you can see that the Bride has wisdom as one of her main features. She is adorned with wisdom.

The wisdom of the Bride is not the wisdom of the world, the flesh, or the devil. It is the wisdom of God. It is good and there is only One who is good (Mark 10:18). The Greek word for good is agatha and is used to describe one of the attributes of God. Jesus uses this word in Matthew 7:17 to describe how a good tree bears good fruit.

Being wise with the goodness of God is also described as being innocent as to what is evil. The word “innocent” is the Greek word akeraious. It means not having any experience or knowledge of something destructive or defiling. In other words, the wisdom of the Bride has knowledge of evil. She is pure. Her goodness is her beauty. It is the wisdom of God from the word of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, her Head and eternal Husband!

The Church was chosen before the foundations of the world and she was beside her Husband in the midst of the garden in Genesis 2:9 as a vision for Adam and Eve of what was to come! The Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil! Hallelujah!!!

Meditate on that vision today and how it relates to worshiping the Father in spirit and truth.