Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, Redemption
1 Corinthians 1:30-31 - "And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.""
Paul gives us a single sentence that names four things Christ became to us. He could have stopped at one and we would have spent eternity unpacking it. He names four. They aren’t separate things you receive in installments, but four facets of the single reality of being, as Paul says in the same sentence, in Christ Jesus.
Christ became to us wisdom from God.
This is the answer to the Greek who came to Paul demanding philosophical coherence. Christ Himself is the wisdom of God. All the questions the philosophers had been asking about meaning, about the good life, about how to live in a world we didn’t make and can’t finally control, are answered in Him. Paul will write to the Colossians that "in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col 2:3). The wisdom we’re looking for is in a Person we can know.
Christ became to us righteousness.
This is the answer to the Jew who demanded that the law be kept perfectly. Christ kept the law on our behalf, and the verdict of His perfect obedience has been credited to our account. We stand before God in the very righteousness of His Son, given to us as a gift. Paul will say to the Philippians that he no longer has a righteousness of his own that comes from the law, but "the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ" (Phil 3:9). The verdict over us is final, and it was rendered by Someone else.
Christ became to us sanctification.
This is the answer to the moralist who has been trying to clean himself up. In Christ, you’ve been made holy in a way you could never make yourself. Hebrews 10:14 puts it strikingly: "by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified." You are perfected in Him already, even as the Spirit's ongoing work continues to shape you into the person He has already declared you to be. The exchanged life lives here. Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Christ became to us redemption.
This is the answer to the slave. Redemption is a market word. It meant the price paid to set a captive free. Paul tells the Ephesians that "in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses" (Eph 1:7). The price has been paid. The captive has been bought back. The chains that bound you to sin, to law, to the verdict of your past, have been cut by Someone else's purchase of you.
Now hold all four together. To the Greek who wants meaning, Christ is wisdom. To the Jew who wants righteousness, Christ is righteousness. To the moralist who wants holiness, Christ is sanctification. To the slave who wants freedom, Christ is redemption. Whatever angle of human bondage you bring, the answer is the same Person. And the verb is past tense. Became. Finished action. You don’t earn these gifts. You wake up inside them.
This is what it means to be in Christ. Your location has been changed. Your identity has been transferred. Your wisdom, your righteousness, your sanctification, your redemption are all now found inside the Person you’ve been joined to.
This is why Paul ends the chapter where he does. "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." He’s quoting Jeremiah 9:23-24. Boasting is impossible in front of the cross. Whatever you might once have boasted in has been swallowed up in what Christ became for you. The only thing left standing is Him, and now He is enough.
Today: Take a pen and a piece of paper. Write your name at the top. Then write the four words from 1 Corinthians 1:30 underneath your name, one per line.
Christ is my wisdom.
Christ is my righteousness.
Christ is my sanctification.
Christ is my redemption.
Where do you need wisdom? Where do you need righteousness, for a verdict, for a confidence, for the sense of being clean before God? Where do you need sanctification, for an ongoing pattern that still has you? Where do you need redemption, from a debt, a chain, a past?
Let the four become specific. Let the verse become the way you breathe through this Friday.
Prayer: "Father, I worship You for giving me Your Son who became to me wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, every gift my heart needs, in one Person. Thank You for Your love and unending generosity in providing me all the riches of Heaven. Empower me to boast only in You. In Jesus' name, Amen."
-PK