… ³ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Jesus Christ is the “in whom.” To initial onlookers, He appeared to be just a Jew, maybe ahead of His time in terms of moral teachings and peaceful, non-violent resistance in the face of class struggle. Possibly even a mystic or guru pointing people to a high consciousness. Certainly those embracing the philosophy that came to be known in later years as Gnosticism found in Jesus a sort of spiritual being, that is, an enlightened individual, pointing toward truth. In its more developed form, Gnostic belief held that Christ was a created individual, in line with a succession of “emanations” radiating out from the Absolute Truth, the central Idea of the universe—that which is Holiness and Purity and Perfection in totality. The farther an emanation was from the Absolute, the less holy and therefore more material it was. The creater god of this earth, in Gnostic thinking, was a distant emanation, for Absolute Holiness could not have directly created that which is material, like the earth. In the same vein, Jesus could not have been deity, unless that deity was so distant from the Absolute Truth that it was sufficiently material to experience life as a man or even a savior of material man.

In the face of all this thinking that was forming in the surrounding culture and attempting to invade the church, Paul writes, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and understanding.” There is no wisdom or understanding outside of or beyond Christ. He is the central repository, the fountainhead. To use Gnostic terms, He is the Absolute Truth. He Himself said, “I am the way, the truth and the life …” (John14:6). John wrote of Him, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). There is no truth or wisdom outside of Him. Knowing Christ is the object of every Christian’s desire, it is the very goal of living. Paul expressed it this way, “That I may know Him …” (Phil 3:10). He exclaimed, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!” (Rom 11:33). This wisdom is found in Christ.

Enlightenment, therefore, occurs in knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. The Christian life is not primarily a self-help pattern of living. It is not essentially about how to do good and avoid doing bad. It is not adapting a Christian world-view—all these things are good, but they are not the central thing. The central thing is knowing Christ “in whom is hidden all wisdom and understanding.”

Lord Jesus, I seek You with all my being, for apart from You I can know nothing at all. I commit to knowing You more and more in in all of my life.