Cartea Eclesiastului si a Proverbelor pot fi comparate cu jertfele aduse de Cain şi de Abel. Jertfa lui Cain a fost religioasă. Jertfa adusă de Abel a fost spirituală. De-a lungul veacurilor, a fost un conflict constant între oameni religioşi şi oameni spirituali. Saul a fost o persoană religioasă – un om raţional. Dar David a fost o persoană spirituală – un om al inimii. Fariseii erau religioşi, dar Isus a fost duhovnicesc. Creierul nostru este important, dar a fost creat să fie supus inimii şi Duhului Sfând, tot aşa cum Eva a fost făcută pentru a i se supune lui Adam. Curentele religiozităţii şi spiritualităţii care au început cu Cain şi Abel au continuat cu Nimrod şi Avram şi se termină cu Babilonul şi Ierusalimul din Apocalipsa. Vedem un contrast similar între Eclesiatul şi Proverbe.

Eclesiastul este demonstratia faptului că un om poate avea multă cunoştinţă şi totuşi să nu fie spiritual deloc. Înţelepciunea umană găsită în psihologia de azi are multe lucruri bune în ea, dar nu este înţelepciune divină; şi este mai periculos să amesteci înţelepciunea divină cu înţelepciunea umană decât să ai doar înţelepciune umană. Dacă cineva ar vrea să te otrăveasacă, ar amesteca puţină otravă cu mult lapte. Lucurile care sunt cu totul greşite sunt uşor de detectat. Dar psihologia are multe lucruri bune în ea – şi de aceea poate fi periculoasă. Nu e înţelepciune divină. Înţelepciunea divină vine numai şi numai din Scriptură. Multe lucruri pe care le spun psihologii care nu-şi supun minţile Cuvântului lui Dumnezeu sunt greşite. Dacă îi urmezi, te vei rătăci.

Eclesiastul conţine cuvintele unui predicator (Eclesiastul 1:1). Majoritatea predicatorilor sunt interesaţi doar să predice un mesaj bun. Şi pentru aceasta, îşi folosesc doar capul. În consecinţă, predicile lor nu ajung în inimile oamenilor – pentru că nu vine din inimile lor. Cartea Proverbe nu se ocupă cu predicatul ci cu practica. Trebuie să predică doar ceea ce am împlinit deja cu fapta. Aceasta este diferenţa dintre religiozitate şi spiritualitate. Aceasta era diferenţa dintre Isus şi Farisei. Isus a zis “…Căci ei zic, dar nu fac” (Matei 23:3). Dar El a zis că nu este greşit ceea ce ei învăţau. Fariseii erau fundamentaliştii vremurilor, dar ei nu practicau ceea ce predicau în faţă.

Divine wisdom and Human Wisdom

Zac Poonen

We can get an understanding of divine wisdom from the book of Proverbs. Ecclesiastes however is human wisdom – the wisdom of the man who lives “under the sun” (Eccles 1:3). The expression ‘under the sun’ comes often in Ecclesiastes, because its writer lived under the sun. Proverbs however demonstrates the wisdom of a man who lived above the sun. This is where we are called to live – in the heavenlies. Then why has God placed the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible? The Bible describes human wisdom in order to show how much higher divine wisdom is than that. A large portion of the book of Job, consists of the speeches of three preachers who said much about God with their human wisdom, but which was mostly all wrong (Job 42:7). Yet God allowed their words to be recorded in Scripture. Ecclesiastes has been included in Scripture to show us that even the wisest man on earth can miss finding God when he depends on his human cleverness. Jesus once said, “I thank You, Father, that You have hidden these things from the clever and the intelligent, but You have revealed them unto babes” (Mt.11:25). What do babes have that clever and intelligent people do not have? Humility. It is very difficult for a clever, intelligent person to be humble. It is not wrong to be intelligent, but it is certainly ungodly to be proud of one’s intelligence. Proud men can never
understand God’s ways, no matter how intelligent they may be.

The Books of Ecclesiastes and Proverbs can be compared to the offerings of Cain and Abel. Cain’s offering was a religious offering. Abel’s was a spiritual offering. Throughout the ages, there has been a constant conflict between religious people and spiritual people. Saul was a religious person – a man of the head. But David was a spiritual person – a man of the heart. The Pharisees were religious. But Jesus was spiritual. Our brain is important. But it was created to be subservient to the heart and the Holy Spirit, even as Eve was created to submit to Adam. The streams of religiosity and spirituality that began with Cain and Abel, continued on with Nimrod and Abraham and ends with Babylon and Jerusalem in Revelation. We see a similar contrast between Ecclesiastes and Proverbs.

Ecclesiastes demonstrates how one can have a lot of knowledge and yet not be spiritual at all. The human wisdom that is found in psychology today has many good things in it. But it is not divine wisdom. And it is more dangerous when divine wisdom is mixed with human wisdom than if you had human wisdom all by itself. If someone wanted to poison you, he would mix a little bit of poison with a lot of milk. Things that are totally bad are easy to detect. But psychology has a lot of good in it – and that is why it can be dangerous. It is not divine wisdom. Divine wisdom comes from the Scriptures alone. Many things that psychologists say who do not submit their minds to God’s Word are wrong. If you follow them, you will go astray.

Ecclesiastes contains the words of a preacher (Eccles 1:1). Most preachers are interested only in preaching good sermons. And for that, they use only their heads. Therefore their sermons do not go to people’s hearts – because it does not come from their own hearts. Proverbs doesn’t deal with preaching but with practising. We must preach only what we have already practised. This is the difference between religiosity and spirituality. This was the difference between the Pharisees and Jesus. Jesus said, “The Pharisees say things but do not do them” (Matt.23:3). But He said there was nothing wrong with what they taught. The Pharisees were the fundamentalists of their time. But they did not live what they preached in the pulpit.