Richard Davenport
June 15, 2025 – Trinity Sunday
Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
The ancient Greek philosophers, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, were three men whose work affects the Western world still today. Each had his own area of expertise, with Plato drawing on the methods and ideas of his teacher, Socrates, and Aristotle, drawing on his teacher, Plato. Among his many works, Plato wrote a book entitled, “The Republic.” In it, he envisions the perfect society. Everyone does the work they are best suited for. The society is defended by soldiers who have been educated and trained from an early age not to desire wealth or property so that they never feel the need to turn on those they protect and become tyrants. Laws and regulations are kept to a minimum because, with everyone doing what they are suited for, few feel the need to step out of line.
It’s not quite perfection, as we might think of it. Things like illness, injury, and death still occur. But, with crime and disorder being almost nonexistent, it is as close to a utopia as Plato can imagine. It’s an interesting idea, but the only way you’d be able to make a society that functioned the way he envisions would be create it from scratch, not that I’m proposing we even should.
Aristotle continued a lot of these ideas, exploring the nature of a society where everyone has a place and is given work suited to them. As the third in the line of legendary philosophers, he thought very highly of the value of philosophy, education, of the thoughtful and considered examination of everything around you.
To these men, things like crime and evil were generally attributed to a lack of education. People simply didn’t know any better. Things like laziness, hatred, theft, and all of that would all go away if people were just instructed on how much good could be done by being more industrious, by working together, by sharing and so forth. People naturally want what’s best for themselves and for others, so once they are shown what’s best, they’ll do it, and most of the evils in the world will simply melt away.
It’s a nice idea, but anyone who spends much time studying world history will see that it just doesn’t bear up. History is full of people who were quite intelligent, had good educations, lots of experience, and were still quite evil. The only way you can say the kinds of things these philosophers did is if you have a different understanding of humanity. If you think human beings are essentially good and they just need a little help to correct their bad behavior, then what they said makes sense. These ideas drive a lot of what the Catholic Church says about our works and how we can do things that are pleasing to God and earn his grace.
As Luther points out from Scripture, the world doesn’t work like that because sin doesn’t work like that. Sin corrupts everything that God made good. All of our natural inclinations now are evil, self-serving. It isn’t even an issue of knowing right and wrong, it’s that we don’t even want to do what’s right when we know what the right answer is. St. Paul’s telling statement in Romans 7 speaks to that: “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.”
Knowledge doesn’t fix people. Education doesn’t fix people. Experience doesn’t fix people. St. Paul has all of those things and still finds himself doing evil even when he knows he shouldn’t be doing it.
When we were at our board game convention in St. Louis a couple of weeks ago, I saw a young lady with a bag. The bag had a number of little slogans on it that all tend to be repeated by people who hold certain beliefs. “Love is love,” was one of them and the rest generally followed that theme.
All of the slogans on there came from a similar viewpoint on who we are as humans and what the goal of our lives is. But there was one in particular that jumped out at me more than the rest. “Science is real,” it said. By itself it doesn’t mean a whole lot, but when taken in the context of all of the other statements, you see the thought process behind it. Being married to a scientist, I think, “Of course science is real,” but that isn’t really what the statement is getting at.
As a Christian, I can affirm that science is absolutely real, and at the same time affirm that scientists don’t always tell the truth about their work. I’m sure the statement was made in reference to things like the COVID vaccine, evolution, the beginning of the universe, and other areas that many scientists would say are clearly shown in science, and yet there are many other scientists who disagree with them. We don’t usually hear about those who disagree, which leads many to believe that scientists universally agree that evolution, the Big Bang, and many other things must be just like they’ve said.
Ever since the early days of the church, theologians and pastors have read the text from Proverbs through the lens of the New Testament. The Jews of old may not have truly understood what God inspired Solomon to write here, but now, with the coming of the savior, we see what God meant.
Wisdom is the province of God. The wisdom referred to here in Proverbs isn’t just some abstract concept. Wisdom is the tool the Father uses to fashion his creation. Wisdom is the one by whom and through whom all things are made. Wisdom is the one who was there in the beginning with the Father. The wisdom who speaks here is Christ himself.
Knowledge, education, experience, all of these have been held up not just as symbols of pride, but as the pinnacle of human achievement. The ancient Greeks, and the philosophers in particular, thought of these as more important than anything else. That hasn’t really changed. Science, scientists, those who claim to have the knowledge and experience are still held up as pinnacles of our society. Engineers, doctors, scientists are all thought of as the people who have the answers.
Now, I don’t want to disparage knowledge, education, and experience. They are good and godly things. Our church body demands that its pastors have a thorough education for good reason. Learning and growth in God’s Word is an integral part of our life as disciples. No one starts out knowing all that the Bible has to say, but the expectation is that you’ll continue learning as you go.
Still, when the Bible holds something up as valuable, knowledge alone is never on the list. When God asked Solomon what he wanted, Solomon asked for wisdom, and God gave it to him. The well-known verse in Proverbs 9 reminds us, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” Knowledge must always be tempered with wisdom, with ability to discern right from wrong and how best to apply what we know.
So much of our society and so much of how we see ourselves is built on things we know, or think we know, things we’ve experienced, things we’ve done, as if that somehow makes us experts, able to answer all of the questions life might have to offer. We get so confident, so self assured in what we know, that we end up adrift, having knowledge but no wisdom. We examine what we see and we draw conclusions, but without the wisdom of Christ, without the understanding that the world was created by the Father, through Christ. Without seeing how life is impossible without the Spirit. Without the work of the Triune God, nothing we do amounts to anything. We continue drawing the same conclusions, making the same mistakes, making the same disasters. We sort through the wreckage to figure out why it all didn’t work, and then we go back and do it all over again.
Trinity Sunday is about a lot of things. At its heart, it’s a time to reflect and discuss the nature of God, who he is and what makes him different from all of the other gods out there. It is only through God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that we can make sense of this world, this life, everything. Without God’s wisdom, we will forever be thinking we can do better, reach higher, become more, only to end up making the same mistakes people have been making since the beginning of creation.
Life does not occur without God. The world does not come about without God. Our desire for more, our desire to exceed our limits is what bring destruction. Forgiveness and restoration does not occur without God. God, in his wisdom, brought about the world and everything in it. He provided order and structure for all of his creatures. He told them how to live if they want peace and joy. He told them about the duties he has given them, and what happens when we don’t carry out those duties. He told them about how we, with our human knowledge, our human wisdom, never escape the destruction we cause. Only his wisdom brings forgives and restoration. Only his wisdom brings life, because it is only through the work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit that all things are made and held together.
Trinity Sunday is a day of both humility and joy. Humility, because we constantly see how our own efforts amount to nothing. Joy, because despite all that we do to tear down, his power to restore is greater. We look to him and to his wisdom, to order and organize our days, that, through our life as disciples, we will learn and grow both in knowledge and wisdom. We will learn about God and his creation and we will trust in him to show us how best to use what he has given us.
Before you listen to anyone who claims to have it all figured out, even if that’s you, go back to the source. Look to the wisdom of God who created all things. Look to the God who established the plan for your life and salvation, who ordered events through thousands of years to make it happen, all so that you could be restored and receive the full blessings he has planned for you.