Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written: “That You may be justified in Your words, and may overcome when You are judged.” (Romans 3:4)

Let Man Be A Liar

There are two kinds of wisdom. The first kind of wisdom is human reasoning, developed through investigation and philosophical conclusions that frame the understanding of the mind. Through human wisdom, man has been able to accomplish great things, but at the height of his intellectual prowess, he lacks the knowledge to go beyond the bounds of reasoning instilled in him by his Creator. The second kind of wisdom is what comes from the mind of God, and there can be no comparison between God’s wisdom and the knowledge man possesses. Human wisdom can send men into the vast reaches of space, but can man create a canvas larger than the universe he dwells in? Certainly not. Mankind was given dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth, but he cannot control the weather, the waters, the winds, and the rotation of the earth around the sun.

In Paul’s thesis to the Roman church about the relationship between Jews and Gentiles, he reminds the saints that the wisdom of God is far above any knowledge that man can possess. God chose the Hebrews to be His special people, not because they were more in number than any other people, but because He loved them. Why would God rescue a people of Hebrew bricklayers to be His mighty nation? God promised through Abraham to bless all nations, hinting at the salvation of the Gentiles. The Jews struggled with allowing Gentiles into a covenant with God, but that was because they measured God’s wisdom by their own standards. Jesus was killed by the wisdom of human reasoning to highlight the ignorance of man. The Jews screamed for Jesus to be crucified, and Pilate, knowing Jesus was innocent, condemned Him to die. Human wisdom failed at Golgotha, and divine wisdom reigned supreme.

The first thing a man must do when he comes to God is to remove his feelings of supremacy, recognizing that, at best, he is unable to measure up to the wisdom of his Creator. It is futile for a man to compare himself to God. Human reasoning is compared to divine wisdom as futile. When Paul wrote that God be true and every man a liar, he established that there is only one truth and that truth proceeds from the throne of God. Human wisdom cannot establish truth apart from God. Human reasoning is extremely limited compared to the omniscience of the Almighty God. Man, at best, must be a liar in the presence of the One who formed, created, and designed the universe. The wisdom of man is bound by the habitation established by God. He can never go beyond those boundaries.

Jesus Christ is the greatest example of God’s wisdom. No man could have created the man called Jesus. Human reasoning has never come within a billion light-years of imagining the story of God’s Son in the gospel. When human reasoning seeks to determine what is right and wrong, it fails miserably. God gave the world the Bible to express the eternal and divine truth of righteousness. There is nothing in the annals of human reasoning that compares. Men must stop listening to human wisdom for truth. God is the only source of truth. When men follow human wisdom to understand who they are, they boast in arrogant pride that will destroy them. Truth comes from God. Untruth comes from man. Every opinion of man is false if it is not based on the word of God. Human philosophy must be abandoned for the only way, the only truth, and the only life – Jesus Christ and Him crucified.