THE WISDOM OF THE SERPENT

Jesus makes a very strange remark to his disciples when he is sending them to preach. He tells them that they needed to be as wise as serpents. We know that wisdom comes from God, so what did he mean, and what is the wisdom of the serpent?

Matthew 10:16-18 (ESV) 
16. “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, 18. and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.

The context of this statement was given when Jesus was warning his apostles concerning persecution from evil men. At that point they would need to be as wise as serpents. At a later stage in this teaching we shall go into the book of acts and see examples of the wisdom of the serpent in actual use.

Two Kinds of Wisdom

In the Greek language there are two words which are translated as wisdom. The two words are PHRONIMOS and SOPHIA.

PHRONIMOS

Phronimos word refers to practical wisdom. It refers to thinking carefully about the outcome of your actions before you do them, and choosing to do that which will benefit you later. It describes a person who makes decisions today that will help their personal interest in the future.
To get a better understanding of this type of wisdom we see the places where it’s used.

Matthew 7:24-25 (ESV) 
24. “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise [PHRONISMOS] man who built his house on the rock. 25. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

Matthew 25:1-4 (ESV) 
1. “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4. but the wise [PHRONISMOS] took flasks of oil with their lamps.

This type of wisdom is rooted in self preservation. This is the kind of wisdom seen in Jacob, when he asks for his brother’s birthright in exchange for food. He was looking out for his own future.

This Pronimos is the wisdom referred to in Mathew 10, which the original serpent who is Satan has, and uses to trick and deceive people in order to expand his kingdom of Darkness.

Genesis 3:1 (BBE) 
1. Now the snake was wiser than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Has God truly said that you may not take of the fruit of any tree in the garden?

Revelation 12:9 (NKJV) 
9. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

SOPHIA

This is wisdom in the broad sense that we understand it. It’s a wisdom that comes from having a lot of experience, knowledge and understanding of how things operate and how they are connected. 
This is the wisdom that Solomon had.

Matthew 12:42 (ESV) 
42. The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom [SOPHIA] of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

This is the wisdom that the book of proverbs talks about, the wisdom that God used to create the world, the wisdom that brings wealth, the wisdom that is needed to rule the world. 

This wisdom comes from two sources. It can come from the world, through science, through academics, philosophy, discoveries and intelligence. This is known as the wisdom of the world.

1 Corinthians 3:18-20 (ESV) 
18. Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. 19. For the wisdom [SOPHIA] of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” 20. and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”

Then there is the wisdom of God, which is found in the word of God and accessed through his Spirit.

2 Timothy 3:15 (WEB) 15. From infancy, you have known the holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.

1 Corinthians 2:6-7 (ESV) 6. Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom [SOPHIA], although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.

What Serpents is Jesus talking About

The serpents that Jesus is talking about, are the religious sons of the devil that stand to persecute the saints.

Matthew 10:16-18 (ESV) 
16. “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, 18. and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.

These men who fight against the saints of Christ, are the ones Jesus is referring to as serpents because they follow the works of their father Satan. This is made clear when Jesus addresses these serpents.

Matthew 23:32-34 (NKJV) 
32. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. 33. Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? 34. Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city,

Do you see that? These men who will persecute the messengers of Christ are the serpents that Jesus is saying we must be as wise as. But why would Jesus say that?

It’s because when you are under the roof of a serpent, you have to learn to match the shrewdness of the serpent. The children of darkness have a certain prudence and shrewdness to preserve their kingdom, that we too can learn.

AS SHREWD AS THE DEVIL’s CHILDREN

Yes, The Lord Jesus wants us to exercise shrewdness in our dealing with the world. The same shrewdness that Satan and his children use to preserve their own kingdom.

There is a certain shrewdness that the devil and his sons of darkness have, in looking out for their own interest. We as Christians must exercise that same shrewdness in looking out for the interest of our kingdom.

The Lord Jesus makes it clear in the parable of the unjust steward.

Luke 16:8-9 (RV) 
8. And his lord commended the unrighteous steward because he had done wisely: for the sons of this world are for their own generation wiser than the sons of the light. 9. And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when it shall fail, they may receive you into the eternal tabernacles

The people of the world have an agenda, and they are not afraid to use every means possible to advance their agenda. They will use money, technology, media, film, social media and the internet. They will favor each other in hiring opportunities. Christians need to have the same shrewdness in pushing forward the Gospel.

EXAMPLE IN ACTS

I am going to give an actual example of the apostle Paul using this PHRONIMOS wisdom of the serpent.

Let’s just quote Jesus statement again.

Matthew 10:16-18 (ESV) 
16. “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, 18. and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.

We see the Apostle Paul in this exact situation, where he had been dragged out of synagogues, flogged and pulled into court before pharisees and sadducee, that Jesus had condemned as serpents in Mathew 23:32.

During this particular inquiry, Paul unknowingly cursed the High Priest, which was a big crime that could likely get him killed. So the trial was not going in his favor. He then figures out a way to get his enemies to fight each other.

Acts 23:5-9 (ESV) 
5. And Paul said, “I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’”6. Now when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.”

 7. And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 8. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. 9 Then a great clamor arose, and some of the scribes of the Pharisees’ party stood up and contended sharply, “We find nothing wrong in this man. What if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?

What Paul did in that situation is what you would expect the devil to do, right? Yet he did it without sinning against God, without lying or bribing someone. As a person who was raised and ordained a pharisee, he knew that once you talk about resurrection and spirits, any alliance between Sadducees and Pharisees is broken. He exploited a weakness that existed in the camp of the enemy, and they ended up fighting amongst themselves, and his life was preserved.

We see this again, when a Roman Commander was about to deliver Paul to be tortured for information. Such torturing would have been so extreme he could come out without fingers, hands or legs, or even die.

Acts 22:23-29 (NIV)
 23. As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, 24. the commander ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. He directed that he be flogged and interrogated in order to find out why the people were shouting at him like this. 25. As they stretched him out to flog him, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been found guilty?”

26. When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it. “What are you going to do?” he asked. “This man is a Roman citizen.”27. The commander went to Paul and asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?”“Yes, I am,” he answered. 28. Then the commander said, “I had to pay a lot of money for my citizenship.”“But I was born a citizen,” Paul replied. 29. Those who were about to interrogate him withdrew immediately. The commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen, in chains.

CONCLUSION

At some point in his journey, Paul realized that he does not have to be beaten every time he preaches to Jews. He realized he can exercise a certain shrewdness to preserve his life, and testimony.

The wisdom of the serpent refers to a certain shrewdness that the sons of darkness have. Its the ability to make decisions that preserve their agenda, and the future of their kingdom. When we are placed into their hands, we need to exercise in dealing with them, the same level of shrewdness and prudence that they exercise, yet without sinning against God.  That is how we exercise the wisdom of the serpent.