The Wisdom of Mixing Oil and Water

 With thousands of years of accumulated wisdom in Chinese culture, why does the current government of mainland China implement foolish and self-destructive policies? In one sentence, it is because although this ancient tradition of wisdom points put the folly of sin, it does not have the power to address the root cause of sin; only Jesus can do that. Missionary work of the last two centuries led to the conversion of millions in China, but the current government rejects Christianity, believing instead that the rule of man can bring utopia on earth, in a tradition traced back to Karl Marx. 

It is a maxim of ancient origin that oil and water do not mix. We can observe this physically in the kitchen when we make salad dressing, or when we see an oil slick in the ocean. The reason for this physical non-mixing has been described in multiple ways:

• Water molecules are polar but oils are not; there is no attraction between dissimilar molecule types. Oil molecules do not have a polar part they would need to dissolve in water.
• Water molecules have stronger attraction to each other than to other types of molecules, ditto for oils.
• Water molecules pack differently, much more densely than oil molecules.

Water and oil are both used as metaphors in Scripture for the work of God. We are washed in baptism, sacramentally and symbolically, for the regeneration and new birth of salvation. We are washed by the water of the Word, Scripture being God’s message to us to give us knowledge of Him and His ways, which includes law, prophecy, and wisdom. (Ephesians 5:26) God also gifts us the Holy Spirit, represented by anointing with oil, which denotes His very presence within us, empowering us with both gifts and fruit, to do what He calls us to. (1 Samuel 16:13) We often see  difficulty between believers who follow one or the other of these threads of faith exclusively, either totally devoted to study of Scripture or completely focused on the activity of the Holy Spirit. The reconciliation of these can only be found in the blood of Christ which, when we receive Him, breaks down the barrier between the law and our lives. There is wisdom in the written word, and wisdom is one of the gifts of the Spirit, but its pedagogical and life-experience dimensions are only reconciled through Jesus’ presence in our lives. The right-wrong polarity of the Law mixes with the daily activities of life producing a practical holiness born of God’s love and empowerment when the Holy Spirit uses the word in our immediate situation. 

Returning to the failure of worldly wisdom, the shortcoming of wisdom apart from Jesus is that it lacks power to overcome sin. The nature of man, and the universe that we live in, is that sin is the result of yielding to temptation; temptation is the lure of selfish fulfillment at the expense of true love (seeking the good of the other); temptation is the tool of Satan to destroy us by luring us away from God and His ways. Only Jesus paid the price for our sin and then empowers those who receive Him to live in His power. All worldly traditions of wisdom (not just Chinese culture) lack this power, and ultimately fail to bring about the rule of good. Wisdom and life fail to mix like water and oil, unless the Lord Jesus reconciles them through redemption. We need to personally receive this mixing of wisdom and life through the blood of Christ in order to avoid disaster ourselves.