10. THE INTELLECT OF CHRIST

I. Intellectual power is the most efficient force on earth, and the advantage most esteemed. It raises men more surely than anything else, and gives them command of the minds, and thereby of the services of other men. In the world it is rated more highly than moral excellence, and still more so than spiritual. Our Lord possessed the most perfect and powerful of created minds, but He concealed its brilliance, and He employed it solely for religious ends. Still, glimpses of its power appeared at times; as when He discoursed at the age of twelve with the sages in the temple; when His enemies confessed that never had man so spoken before; when, with a single word, He eluded snares devised by the most acute and unscrupulous minds; when He laid down the laws that should govern human life; and when He organized the Church which was to defy the ravages of time, the assaults of vindictiveness, and, worse still, the tepidity and neglect of its own members. If Our Lord had not been God, His human intellect would have dominated all the affairs of men, and His law would have been accepted as a masterpiece of insight and prudence. But, because He is divine, the spirit of evil has induced so many of mankind to reject the only system which is capable of meeting their needs. The great bulk of men pin their faith on some eminent intellect, and follow its guidance implicitly. Take Jesus Christ as your master and guide; study to know His mind, and carry out His will with thorough trust and obedience.

II. “Christ Jesus in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. ii. 3). There was a double intellectual operation in Our Lord, of the divine and of the human intelligence. As God, He possessed “all the fulness of the Godhead corporally” (Col. ii. 9), including its infinite knowledge. As man, He possessed all the knowledge of the blessed in heaven, enjoying as He did in His Humanity the full sight of the Beatific Vision. He had an infused or innate supernatural and natural knowledge of all things, so that it was not necessary for Him to learn them in the ordinary way. He had also acquired knowledge, for it is said of Him as a child that He “advanced in wisdom” (Luke ii. 52); not that He really learnt anything that He was ignorant of, but His faculties apprehended different things in succession, and manifested this progressively. “He knew what was in man” (John ii. 25) and what is best for man. What folly it is to think that we can advance our best interests by our futile prudence, when it is opposed to the dictates of Christ’s wisdom!

III. The knowledge possessed by Christ was practical and efficient; it was not that vain science which puffeth up (1 Cor. viii. 1). It guided all His operations with consummate prudence, to the glory of God and the advantage of men; and was not merely an ornament or a personal gratification, or a source of pride, or of false inferences, as with men. His universal knowledge was also the basis upon which was built up His love for His Father and for us; for He knew both the perfections of God and the miseries of man, and He was moved to adoration or to pity accordingly. You have received much wonderful knowledge both spiritual and temporal; and all knowledge is in some way the knowledge of God. Yet there are many who have such knowledge of God and yet will not recognize Him. The Scripture describes them as having eyes and seeing not, ears and hearing not, hands and working not, mouths and speaking not; for they will not use their faculties for the only purpose which is ultimately profitable to God, and men, and themselves. Seek for all knowledge, and use it for God’s service and your own salvation; but, above all, seek for the knowledge of God and let it lead you to His love.