Greetings!
2 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.
That passage speaks volumes about what preaching should be. There is nothing wrong with having good speaking skills, but the accuracy and source of the message is what is most important. When speaking it is easy to get caught up in our presentation skills and making it all about us. But the important thing is to convey the Gospel as clearly as possible. Whether people believe it or not is between them and God.
That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t study extensively, though. God’s power is the foundation of our faith but we learn his word through study and hard work.
Wisdom From the Spirit
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.
The wisdom and rulers of this age will come to nothing. Nothing. So why do we follow them so much?
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.
V. 9 is often taken out of context. I know, because I’ve done it myself. Paul speaks of the mystery, but in v. 10 he notes that it has now been revealed. V. 9 is still powerful to remind us of the great things God has promised to us.
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. 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. 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. 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.
The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Non-believers think they can define who God should be or who He is. Believers mistakenly do this sometimes as well. It simply doesn’t work that way.
Paul claims divine inspiration in v. 13. Sadly, even some Christians deny that the original writings of the Bible are the inspired work of God. But there is nothing that He didn’t want to have there.
Filed under: Corinthians 1 | Tagged: Bible, Bible study, Christianity, God, Jesus, religion
neil,
great stuff. i, too, have looked at verse 9 the wrong way. verse 10 does spell it out. you are kinda writing your own commentary. i went to 1 yr of Bible college and my semester project was to write a commentary on Galations. it’s not easy, but you do it well.
kw
Thanks, Kris. That is sort of what it has turned into. Many days I don’t have much to say, but this has been a good discipline to slow down just a bit and read a little more closely. I figure that when I’m done I can always go back and add more as I learn new things, like electronic notes in my Bible.
I agree about verse 9, too. That was a huge revelation for me when I realized that through God’s Spirit we can now understand what God “has prepared for those who love him!”
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Neil. You have a great website here!
Greetings, I actually came to that realization a few weeks ago too. That i, you need teh Holy Spirit – the Holy Spirit guides you – the Holy Spirit gives you power – teh Holy Spirit helps you to understand. The Holy Spirit – 3rd person of the Trinity. It’s almost as if you have to get used to this new file when you are baptized. Please feel free this website as well: http://jesusdivinemercy.com/BibleStudy/ I would love to hear your point of view on chapter 2 of 1st cor. God bless.