Alright friends, today's section of Scripture is not for the weak! I encourage you to stay with me and give it a try -- nothing is too hard for us to understand with God. Ask Him to open your mind before we get started, and He will fill it! This is written for US to know, not just Biblical scholars, so get ready for a powerful subject. I hope you will stick with me to the end!
1 "When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power." Once again, we see Paul's humility as he reminds the church in Corinth of his first visit to them when he did not speak eloquently or with much wisdom in and of himself. He decided in advance that he would not speak of anything but Jesus Christ. He admits that he, even Paul, felt weak and fearful as he faced what God had called him to do -- he is human! He goes on to say that he did not speak persuasively out of his own doing like the Jewish rabbis and Greek orators might do, but he spoke as a vessel of the Holy Spirit who gave power to his words and opened people's hearts that they might understand and be moved and know it was God and not Paul's doing. Doesn't that take the pressure off? It sure does for me! This is a reminder that I don't need to know everything when I'm answering someone's question about Christianity, and I don't have to use special, "put together" words. The Holy Spirit gives the power to my simple speech, and I don't have to worry about that. It's up to Him!
6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 However, as it is written:
“No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
Do you ever wonder why people just don't "get it" sometimes? When Christianity makes SO much sense to you, and God has worked in your life in major ways, you FEEL that. And then you have someone who seems to have blinders on, and you wonder how he/she is not as excited about something in the Bible as you are? Or perhaps you are the one who wonders why everyone is so excited, and you just don't get what all the hype is about? Look at verse 10: this knowledge and understanding is all revealed by the Holy Spirit. We can't learn it ourselves or teach it ourselves. He must do that. The wisdom and knowledge in the Bible are wisdom among the mature (Christians) but not wisdom to those who are perishing (non-Christians). Paul warns us here that without the Holy Spirit, we CANNOT understand the Bible! I know people who have come to know Christ late in life and have said that all their life they would open a Bible and be so confused. Then, once they had accepted Christ into their lives (and also received the Holy Spirit at that time), the Bible made sense to them! Isn't that incredible?! Once again, that proves to me that the Holy Spirit is the one granting us the ability to understand. It is a secret wisdom, this knowledge of God's love for us and of Christ dying for us, that God Himself reveals to each of us personally. How intimate that is between God and us! The Old Testament declares, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” Paul reminds us of that passage, and then says this, "but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit." He says, but not anymore, folks! Now we have Christ! And God is revealing His plan to us. We are no longer waiting for a Messiah, and now we have seen Him! We may not know all of God's full plan yet, but we are coming to know it even now. Our eyes are beginning to see, our ears are beginning to hear and our minds are just beginning to conceive what God has prepared for us who love Him! And this knowledge is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit only -- no one or no where else.
"The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us." That Spirit understands the deepest parts of us, the deepest parts of what's going on in our world, and even the deepest parts of God! Then Paul gives us this word picture: no one knows my thoughts better than I do because they are in MY mind. In the same way, the Holy Spirit knows God's thoughts because He is God. (Yes, this is confusing. It's hard for me to wrap my head around completely. Takes me back to yesterday: God is a LOT wiser and stronger than me. So as long as He knows what He's doing, and He does, I can trust even the parts I don't understand.) So...the Holy Spirit knows God's mind, thoughts, and wisdom. Ya with me on that? Okay...here comes the awesome part...WE have received that exact same Spirit! The one that knows God's thoughts lives in us! We don't just have the wisdom of the world anymore, but with His spirit, now we are meant to understand all that God has freely given us with wisdom that comes from God!
13 "This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words." As Christians, we speak using words taught to us by the Holy Spirit, who is the same Spirit that knows God's mind, thoughts and wisdom. He IS that God, because God is three parts: The Father, the Son, AND the Holy Spirit. We use that wisdom from the Spirit even today -- we can speak spiritual truths to each other. Just last week, I was having a really tough time with a particular current struggle in my life that is too raw to share at this moment, but I'm sure I will someday. I met with a friend after work and shared my struggles with her. She and I talk often of spiritual things and challenge each other in our relationships and walks with Christ. She spoke words to me that day that were far beyond human wisdom, and when we left, I can say that I felt I had been with Jesus. I know we were not the only two people in our conversation that afternoon, but God's Spirit was there with us, guiding her to counsel and encourage me. Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever been with someone and left them thinking, "that was more than just a cup of coffee" or "that was more than just a sermon today." That is this Holy Spirit -- giving the speaker words of His wisdom to say and the listener the ability to understand it.
14 "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." So in case you were still wondering...there is it plain and simple. Non-Christians think Christian ideals are foolish. Let that be no surprise to us when people poke fun at Christians, call us foolish, ignorant, narrow-minded, etc. Paul's telling us. They WILL think you foolish. The things of God or spiritually discerned, so if you don't have the spirit, you can't discern them. On the contrary, we as Christians, are called to do the opposite...discern what the Spirit is telling us.
15 The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment:
16 “For who has known the mind of the Lord
that he may instruct him?”
But we have the mind of Christ.
Spiritually alive, we have access to everything God's Spirit is doing and should be playing an active part in what God's spirit is nudging us to do. However, we can't be judged by unspiritual critics -- it means nothing once we have God's spirit. So we don't need to worry about the judgements the world puts on us...let them go. Isaiah's question from long ago, "Is there anyone around who knows God's Spirit, anyone who knows what he is doing?" has now been answered: Christ knows, and we have Christ's Spirit.
If you're still with me, friend, I applaud you! This was a tough section, maybe a little deeper theologically than we are used to going in the morning, huh? It took me two days to trudge through this part because I was only halfway done yesterday when I had to leave for work! I am proud of you if you made it all the way, and I know God is glad to see your resolve to understand His Word. We are honoring Him with our minds when we don't give up even when our brains are starting to hurt. If this passage is still a little foggy for you, that's okay! To steal a reference from tomorrow's section, this is no "spiritual milk" you just ingested! But wherever you are spiritually, I hope you were able to grasp something new today -- and if you have never given your life to Jesus Christ, then you don't have this Spirit in you, my friend. I urge you to surrender your life to Him!
As you go about your way today, remember that you have the same Spirit who knows God's heart, mind, and thoughts IN YOU. He is the one guiding you today, so just call on Him whenever you need to as you go about your day. He gives wisdom generously whenever we ask! (see James 1:5) This same spirit in you is the one who raised Jesus from the DEAD! Think of the kind of power that is! Now if that doesn't allow you walk a little taller into your day today, I don't know what will!
Go confidently, my friend...
Good work, Molly - I love reading your reflections
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