1 Corinthians 2: 1 – 16
Everything Is About Jesus
1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. 6 However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. 13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. 16 For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
I would like you to join me in prayer for Pastor’s who have been tirelessly preaching the Word of God in small churches. The superstar preachers of mega churches already are lavished with praise for their wisdom and charisma. The men who have been faithfully serving small flocks of God’s sheep are the ones I want to say, ‘Thank you! - For your faithfulness in serving our Master, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Today’s message from the apostle Paul speaks about these faithful men of God. Paul now stresses his own example to demonstrate that the Gospel in its successful presentation by him had not been with eloquence and wisdom, but in power.
1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
In accordance with what he has said Paul reminds them of how he himself approached them with the Gospel. He did not come as a teacher using flowery words. He did not put on a show of wisdom pretending to, and expanding on, special knowledge. He simply and straightly preached Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He is not here attacking eloquence or true wisdom. He is attacking preaching which gained its sole impact through eloquence, and depended on eloquence for its effect, and wisdom which was wisdom in men’s eyes, but not in God’s, as described in the previous verses, both of which could blur the essential content of the message.
This fact hit home directly just the other day when I was in a staff meeting with other Pastors. This one young Pastor, sadly, let everyone in the room know how amazed he was as to how he is anointed every time he teaches. The braggart apparently didn’t check God’s Scriptures such as new will find out later in chapter 4, “For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?”
I want to give you a couple of words that the apostle frequently uses. Here they are;
. Wisdom = philosophy or explanation
. Perfect = fully grown, mature, and completed
. Mystery = hidden or unseen
. Ordained = intended or designed for a purpose
In the New Testament a ‘mystery’ refers to God’s divine plan, once hidden but now revealed openly to His own. It is a testimony now made to something not fully previously known. Thus Paul is here referring to the message of the cross as something once hidden, although indirectly depicted in the Old Testament sacrifices, but now openly revealed and declared as the means of salvation. Although depicted clearly in Old Testament prophecy like we read in the book of Isaiah chapter 53, it was of such a nature that man’s wisdom had not caught on to it. And its present revelation now especially brought out the folly of man’s wisdom.
We as humans reveal our innermost thoughts when we put them into words. Just so, our Holy Master makes known His thoughts by His Word. Think on this fact. It should make you sit in awe of the Bible, God’s thoughts to us.
Paul wanted us all to know that the message was to be centered only on Christ with special emphasis on Him as the One Who was crucified and now lives, with no flowery background calling on many aspects of wisdom. All was to be centered on Christ. All was to be centered on the cross. And as his letters make clear that means that it included all that He was doing and would yet do as a result of the victory obtained at the cross. For every aspect of the work of Christ, past, present and future, centers around the cross. All that we receive from God comes through the cross. His ministry would thus not be a restricted one except in this that in everything Jesus Christ as the crucified and risen Savior was to be kept central and made abundantly clear.
Now let me made a direct comment to any Pastor who may come across this sermon. If you are preaching social and topical gospels, then please take a hard look at what you are doing. I urge you to keep it simple and return to just teaching the Word of God, verse by verse and point everyone to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
3 I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
Paul stresses the great concern that he had had that his words to them might not be just persuasive and clever words, but that his preaching should be in demonstration of the Spirit and power. He had wanted to ensure that they did not respond because of his persuasion, or as a result of elegant ideas, but because of the Spirit’s persuasion and testimony to the cross as He revealed His power among them. Paul knew that if they only believed for his sake their faith would soon fail. But if it was founded in the work of the Spirit and on the word of the cross it would stand firm, for all God’s power would be behind it.
Have you ever attended a ‘crusade’? In my opinion they are a waste of time. I believe that for all the people who came forward, less than 10 % are still in the faith. I am sure all that money that was spent on these elaborate shows could be used instead to support missionaries and in my opinion be better used for the Lord’s Kingdom. I recently just heard someone explain my point of view in a better description. He said that all these evangelistic crusades without discipleship equals zero.
Here is another point I want to say to all people who teach God’s Word, even those of you who serve in Sunday school. Do you realize what you are doing and who you are representing? You have been allowed to share God’s infinite wisdom with others. This is not something lightly to be taken. I like to stand outside the children ministry office to watch some teachers walk in a just grab the teacher’s manual as they go to the classroom. This will be the first time they will look at what is to be covered with God’s kids. This is wrong.
I have also seen some Preacher’s just get up and share the same sermon that they have delivered a hundred times before. Shame on all people who do this! If teaching the word of God has become too mundane for you, go on leave or get out of the ministry. You are serving the Lord of Lord’s and King of kings. It is not something trivial.
Look at what Paul says about having the opportunity of teaching God’s Word to others, ‘I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.’ This was how he felt inside as he had contemplated the message he had brought them. ‘Weakness’ may indicate a physical indisposition of one kind or another. The word often means illness. But it may simply mean a sense of lack. We must not, however, overstress the fear and much trembling. It is one of his favorite descriptions to describe genuine concern, and regularly means simply that, that he was acting in genuine and careful concern.
Can you see clearly that serving God in this capacity is not regarded as a light thing? Look at these Scripture verses regarding fear and trembling when you are responsible to dealing with the Holy Scriptures.
. 2 Corinthians 7.15, “And his affections are greater for you as he remembers the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling you received him.” This refers to when the Corinthians had received Titus ‘with fear and trembling’
. Philippians 2.12, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;” This is referring to when the Philippians are told to ‘work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God Who works in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure.’
In both cases it is a slight exaggeration to stress great concern and effort.
Thus Paul is stressing how genuine his aim had been. He had come to them in weakness, either because he had recognized that the success that really mattered would not come from his strength and power but from the power of the word of the cross, or because of some indisposition, and he had come ‘in fear and trembling’ because he was very concerned that his ministry should be in the power of the Spirit. When a minister does not come to preach in ‘weakness, fear and much trembling’ we may need to question his genuine calling.
Please take a look again at the words, ‘My word and my preaching were not in persuasive words of men’s wisdom.’ The word of the cross is powerful to save as mentioned in chapter 1 verse 18 when accompanied by the Spirit, and God saves men ‘through the foolishness of what is preached’ [1:21], that is, through the foolishness of the preaching of the Gospel [1:17], which in turn is the word of the cross [1.18], once they respond in belief and trust. But both require the Spirit as the necessary condition. Thus he was careful to avoid a word and preaching which simply expressed and taught human endeavor, and used persuasive words containing men’s carefully constructed wisdom so as to sway their beliefs, and engaged in eloquent and flowery language, which might blur the message of the cross.
I heard a good explanation of these points’ in short effective words. ‘Goats need entertainment. Sheep need to be fed.’
The Apostle Paul recognized that by coming to God in weakness and godly fear and opening himself to God he became a channel of the Spirit. Thus his preaching was powerful and effective, and produced powerful results. It was a demonstration of power. It was a demonstration of the Spirit at work. Notice the continual stress on ‘power’ in the whole passage.
Look at what the prophet Isaiah said in chapter 55 verse 11, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”
The word of the cross is God’s word active in power. The combination with this of a man faithful to the message of the cross and submissive to the Spirit resulted in powerful preaching, because it was such preaching that applied the power of God to men’s hearts. It gave men spiritual wisdom, it brought men under the Kingly Rule of God, it dealt firmly with open sin. This then resulted in the spiritual gifts which were manifested among the Corinthians. All had demonstrated that God was there.
Paul was worried ‘That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.’ This was why he feared, this was the reason for his great concern, the fear that because of clever words and conditions which planted ideas, that men would be ‘convinced’ but would not be genuinely responsive to God Himself, being like reeds swaying in the wind, uncertain as to quite why they had responded, and just as easily convinced when others spoke a different message. So rather than this he concentrated on submission to the Spirit and the preaching of the word of the cross. Then he knew that any response of faith would be permanent because it resulted only from the powerful activity of God.
In all this Paul is not denying that he preached as effectively as he could, and as carefully as he could. Indeed that is his point. That he concentrated all his skills on ensuring ‘with greatest care’ that the central message was plain and that it got over. He wanted nothing to do with impressing people. He wanted them to know exactly what he was saying. He wanted them to receive and understand the message of Christ and Him crucified. And above all he wanted it to be not in his own power, but in the power of the Spirit.
I want you to write down these points relative to God’s Wisdom and Satan’s wisdom. You see the wisdom of man in a fallen sinful state is not coming from God. Then where do you think it originates?
One thing that many preachers do not cover in the book of Genesis is in relationship to ‘Wisdom’. As you know Satan wants to be like God. One major issue behind the forbidden tree was in relationship to who was Adam and Eve supposes to listen and be guided by. Would they stay on God’s side and continue to let Him be their guide or turn to the enemy’s side and listen to his advice.
The wisdom of the world is;
1. Satanic in its origin
2. Naturalistic in its methods
3. Humanistic in its content
The wisdom of God is;
1. Divine in its origin
2. Supernatural in its methods
3. Christ centered in its content
6 However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
Having spoken of foolishness he now wants to correct any misapprehension. It is not really foolishness that they are speaking; it merely appears like that to unbelievers. It is in fact great wisdom. Those who have received understanding, who have received perfection in Christ, recognize and admire its wisdom.
Here the idea of being ‘perfect’ is of having been made ‘perfect’ in mind in Christ, having fully accepted the word of the cross, and having thus taken up the right mind set in the Spirit. Having received enlightenment and understanding from God Himself they have ‘perfect’ understanding.
As with many other Christianized words it has a past, a present and a future reference. In our Lord Jesus’ hearers it would become ‘perfect’ by taking up the same attitude towards others as God had, that is, by yielding their wills to the will of God, taking up His mind set as demonstrated through what He revealed Himself to be.
Do you remember the story of the Rich Young Ruler? We read in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 19, “16 Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” 17 So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” 18 He said to Him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ 19 ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’?” 20 The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”
For the rich young ruler to become ‘perfect’ he had to yield his will to God by yielding his riches and taking up the right mind set towards his riches. He would not yield to the wisdom of God and went away the loser.
To be ‘perfect ‘in understanding is to have the right mind set in order to be ready to receive spiritual truth. It is the Spirit Who makes ‘perfect’, giving the right mind set, and nothing else is therefore required. To press on towards the goal to the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus indicates the ‘perfect’ man, the one with the right mind set towards God. Thus, to be perfect is to have a right mind and heart set towards the will of God, which comes about through the working of God’s Spirit, so that Christians, who initially receive this mind set at conversion, are called on to reveal it in their lives, and to maintain it.
The wisdom that is appreciated by having the spiritual mind set does not gain the appreciation of ‘the world’. It contradicts all that the world believes about the innate goodness of man. It is a wisdom which the world’s rulers do not appreciate. They scorn it. They reject it. It does not agree with their view of things, or with their view of how things should be. It would interfere with their future intentions, and their desire to keep control of the world by their own methods.
As Christian believers we all are our Holy Creator’s ambassadors. It is our responsibility to ‘speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, even that which has been hidden.’ We declare something which, in the wisdom of God, has been hidden, a mystery which is now a revealed mystery to those who have come to understanding, who have thereby become ‘perfect’, something hidden in the foreknowledge of God but now made known. God’s secret is now laid bare to His own. The Old Testament had built up to the coming of Christ, it had revealed what God was going to do quite clearly to those with eyes to see it, and yet the way of His coming and what He did in His coming has taken all by surprise. Although it was there to see, none saw it. To His own it has now been made clear. To all others it is still a mystery.
It is a wisdom revealed in the plan and purpose of God, foreordained before time began. And that wisdom is made up of all that is contained in the word of the cross and of the crucified and risen Christ, spoken by God, issued forth from God, and brought to fruition when the hour had come, so that all who responded in faith and trust might be saved. And God purposed it from the beginning that through it ‘we’ might receive ‘glory’ through being in Christ, a glory which is both present and future. The idea of glory includes future splendor, both literal and moral, and honor and is meanwhile descriptive of the joy that fills the hearts of His people and of the power that rests on them through the Spirit of God.
For all who choose not to know the wisdom of God, and thus they did not recognize the glory which came in the Lord Jesus, the glory of Christ. He was in the world as God’s word and God’s light, and the world did not know Him as the Apostle John tells us in chapter 1 verse 9 of his Gospel. Though they considered themselves wise and were themselves arrayed in splendor and glory, the rulers’ foolishness was revealed in their crucifying the One Who was made to us the wisdom of God and is ‘the Lord of glory’, a glory more long lasting and greater far than theirs, and a glory which He provides for His own.
Their mind set was such that they were oblivious both to God’s wisdom and the glory revealed in Christ. This is clear from the fact that in their extreme folly they crucified the Lord of Glory, they sought to destroy the true glory. Nothing could reveal what they were better than that. And why did they do this?- Because they were without the Spirit of God.
9 But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things +which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
Paul declares that Scripture reveals that what he has been describing is beyond human comprehension. It is describing what man could neither see, nor hear, nor know within. It therefore results in something that is naturally outside man’s ability to understand. Yet it speaks of what God has prepared for those who love Him. And he goes on to say that it is revealed by God’s own Spirit coming to man’s spirit, if they receive Him.
The point Paul is bringing out is that God has done a new thing for His own which is beyond anything man has known or seen, He is working for them in a new way, just as He promised in the days of Isaiah. The change from ‘wait for Him’ to ‘love Him’ is in part simply a change of emphasis, for those who wait for Him are those who love Him, and in part a declaration that there has been a moving forward. They no longer wait lovingly but love Him because He has acted, because of what He has done in the cross. Paul is concerned that there is a full response to the significance of the cross. To Paul Christians are those who supremely love God.
What God will do is beyond what man has ever known, for God will act on behalf of those who love Him, who trust Him, who wait for Him, in a way beyond telling.
10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
For at this end of the ages the Spirit has been poured out from above to illuminate the church of Christ, all who truly believe in Christ, and He has revealed to God’s people the things hidden from the ages, what God has foreordained for them and us through the crucified and risen Messiah, and through the power of His work accomplished on the cross, which has revealed and brought into effect the divine power as never before. For nothing is hidden from His Spirit. He searches all things, yes, even the deepest secrets of God.
The personality of the Spirit comes out here, for He is depicted as searching out to reveal. When we speak of ‘searching’, however, the point is that He searches it out along with us. He is not seeking new truth for Himself. He knows all truth. He is searching it out so that God’s people may receive it and understand it. He searches in and through us.
I always say that a lot of people accept things without comprehending exactly what they mean. Off the top of your heads can you explain what the term ‘Deep things’ mean?’ The term is used of the depths of the sea and of the depths of divine knowledge. What was in the depths of the sea was beyond man’s wisdom and knowledge. In fact it is still do not know all that goes on in the depths of the sea. It was a secret, hidden, unreachable place beyond his scope. The sea was a mystery which man could not penetrate. And so the divine wisdom and knowledge was also totally beyond man’s ability to know or understand. But the Holy Spirit takes of what is in those unfathomable depths and reveals it to those chosen by God.
11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
Mankind’s path of understanding him or herself is Psychology. Christian’s have a better understanding through the Wonderful Counselor. Our Holy Master’s description of our problems is this. A man’s true self and inner knowledge and very being is only known to that man, deep inside through his ‘spirit’, that inner part which is the seat of his understanding and consciousness and spiritual experience. Others may think they know him but the deepest things, the things which are essentially him, are hidden; known, in so far as they are known at all, only to him.
A man knows himself, but he does not truly ‘know’ himself. In a similar way God’s true self and inner knowledge and very being is known only to God, deep within Him, in His Spirit. But this time it is known to the full, intellectually and experientially. And this is the Spirit that we have received if we are His, the One Who knows God in every way as the book of Romans chapter 8 verse 9 teaches, ‘For if any man does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.’ And to have received the Spirit is to have received the One Who holds all the secrets of God, and reveals them to the heart as we are receptive to them.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
The contrast with the Spirit of God is the spirit of the world. The main point is on man’s inadequacy and inability of himself to know God because his spirit is caught up in the aims, desires and attitudes of the world, the spirit of the world. A scary thing for all of us to consider is that man is of the world and has the spirit of the world directing his life.
Here he sees the spirits of men’s’ hearts set on earthly things, bereft of God and unable to understand Him and His ways. Our Holy God on the other hand has entered into the world through His Spirit in a vividly personal way, and it Is He Who possesses and dwells in His people, illuminating them, transforming them, and empowering them in various degrees, and it Is He Who brings into action and makes real the power of the cross. Thus are they freed from the spirit of the world, dying to the world that they might live to God.
13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
We learn therefore that all who truly teach in Christ’s name do so through the Spirit. For all who are truly His operate through the Spirit of God. This includes Paul and Apollos and Peter, but it should also include the Corinthians and all believers today. As men of God empowered and enlightened by the Spirit they are to teach in a wisdom which is not of man, and which is not their own, and ensure that it is with words provided by God through the Spirit.
That is why later he is so concerned that teachers of God’s Holy Word speak in words understandable to all, that all may benefit. Thus it is folly to give the credit to such men.
All who teach please memorize this statement - ‘Not in words which man’s wisdom teaches.’ None who teach God’s Word should look to man’s wisdom. They do not pour over books of wisdom, or attend schools of wisdom eager to learn the latest thing. They look to God and His word as the source of their wisdom. Thus they have one message and are united as one. But they know that this is not just ‘given’, it requires thought. They compare spiritual things with spiritual.
The overriding need for all who desire to be a Pastor is to see all things in the light of the Spirit and as illuminated by the Spirit. It is important that what is spiritual is received and compared with, and interpreted in the light of, what is spiritual, rather than in comparison and contrast with worldly wisdom. It needs to be received, and considered, and applied, and expressed with the Spirit’s aid, with the purpose of being received by those enlightened by the Spirit.
14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
In contrast the ‘natural man’ without the Spirit cannot receive them; he does not accept them because his receptors are blocked. They are dead. Remember back in the book of Genesis when our Holy Creator told Adam and Eve that the day they eat of the fruit of the forbidden tree they would die. A question to ask you to consider is this, ‘when they ate of the fruit did they die’. The answer is yes and no. As described here mankind died spiritually but would also die ultimately physically later on.
Men and women on our own are unable to receive spiritual truth, or even to consider spiritual truth. What the Spirit has taught Paul and his fellows, and is teaching through them, is nonsense to such people, for they have no spiritual discernment. It is outside their senses, outside their ability range, not mentally but spiritually. Such truth requires spiritual discernment and spiritual judgment, which can only come from the Spirit. The consequence is that it is only when the Spirit enlightens men that they can understand the Gospel, and the preaching of the cross, and respond to it. And only those who are so enlightened can go on to understand it in its fullness.
15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. 16 For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
God’s thoughts are above man’s thoughts, so that man can neither understand His ways; know His mind; nor teach or direct Him. In context it puts His wisdom and knowledge as above and beyond all men.
The spiritual man can judge all ‘the things of the Spirit of God’, because he has the Spirit, and yet he cannot himself be judged by any man, that is, by any natural man. This is because the mind of the Lord cannot be known by the natural man, nor is man able to instruct Him.
The spiritual man, in contrast with the natural man, discerns the things of the Spirit, understands the things of the Spirit and stands beyond the world’s judgment on such matters, because he has the mind of Christ through His Spirit, so that he can, at least to some extent, know the mind of the Lord.
Thus it would seem that here Paul does one of his quick switches whereby he comes to a climax by introducing our Lord Jesus Christ Himself into the exposition. It would suggest that it Is He Who is ‘the Spiritual One’, in Whom we then partake of ‘spirituality’. For the verse goes on to suggest quite firmly that in fact no one can know the mind of the Lord or instruct the Lord, and this would be true of all; other, of course, then the Lord Himself. Thus it would seem that here he is turning attention to the only true Spiritual One, the Crucified One in His glory, He Who alone judges all things, He Who alone can be judged by none, He Who alone knows the mind of the Lord, He Who alone can even ‘instruct’ Him, having had all things delivered into His hands. This would then explain the change from ‘mind of the Lord’ to the ‘mind of Christ’, as the latter would then be a direct application of the idea to us, directly connecting us with Christ ‘the Spiritual One’, having made Him the main person in the equation.
The thought then is that in contrast to the natural man. Paul will go on to speak of this in chapter 15. Adam is natural, The Lord Jesus Christ Is spiritual, the first man is natural, the second man is spiritual. So, in Paul’s mind the contrast with the natural man is not spiritual men, but Christ, the second man, the spiritual man. Once that is established as true here the conclusion then follows that because we are ‘in Him’, because we are made one with Him, united in His body in which He was crucified, we are in Him made spiritual and have His mind and are thus able to discern what none other can discern. We are ‘spiritual’ in Him, enjoying discernment through His Spirit. This then fits in well with why at the same time the Corinthians can be ‘fleshly’ which we will read about in the next chapter when they should be revealing their ‘spiritual’ side which they have in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.
Taking ‘He Who is the Spiritual One’ as Christ then reminds us that He alone is the One Who is ‘spiritual’ in the fullest sense; the One Who was ‘full of the Holy Spirit’. The One to Whom the Spirit was given without measure. The One in Whom thus dwells all the fullness of the Holy Spirit, and all the fullness of the Godhead. Also the One Who Himself sends the Holy Spirit to His own and baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And thus He Is put beyond man’s judgment or ability to examine, for they do not and cannot know the mind of the Lord in order that they might instruct Him, or indeed condemn Him. And because He is the truly spiritual One He can judge all things, and will Himself judge men at the last day.
Is our God Great or what?
1 Corinthians 2: 1 – 16
Everything Is About Jesus
1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. 6 However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. 13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. 16 For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
I would like you to join me in prayer for Pastor’s who have been tirelessly preaching the Word of God in small churches. The superstar preachers of mega churches already are lavished with praise for their wisdom and charisma. The men who have been faithfully serving small flocks of God’s sheep are the ones I want to say, ‘Thank you! - For your faithfulness in serving our Master, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Today’s message from the apostle Paul speaks about these faithful men of God. Paul now stresses his own example to demonstrate that the Gospel in its successful presentation by him had not been with eloquence and wisdom, but in power.
1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
In accordance with what he has said Paul reminds them of how he himself approached them with the Gospel. He did not come as a teacher using flowery words. He did not put on a show of wisdom pretending to, and expanding on, special knowledge. He simply and straightly preached Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He is not here attacking eloquence or true wisdom. He is attacking preaching which gained its sole impact through eloquence, and depended on eloquence for its effect, and wisdom which was wisdom in men’s eyes, but not in God’s, as described in the previous verses, both of which could blur the essential content of the message.
This fact hit home directly just the other day when I was in a staff meeting with other Pastors. This one young Pastor, sadly, let everyone in the room know how amazed he was as to how he is anointed every time he teaches. The braggart apparently didn’t check God’s Scriptures such as new will find out later in chapter 4, “For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?”
I want to give you a couple of words that the apostle frequently uses. Here they are;
. Wisdom = philosophy or explanation
. Perfect = fully grown, mature, and completed
. Mystery = hidden or unseen
. Ordained = intended or designed for a purpose
In the New Testament a ‘mystery’ refers to God’s divine plan, once hidden but now revealed openly to His own. It is a testimony now made to something not fully previously known. Thus Paul is here referring to the message of the cross as something once hidden, although indirectly depicted in the Old Testament sacrifices, but now openly revealed and declared as the means of salvation. Although depicted clearly in Old Testament prophecy like we read in the book of Isaiah chapter 53, it was of such a nature that man’s wisdom had not caught on to it. And its present revelation now especially brought out the folly of man’s wisdom.
We as humans reveal our innermost thoughts when we put them into words. Just so, our Holy Master makes known His thoughts by His Word. Think on this fact. It should make you sit in awe of the Bible, God’s thoughts to us.
Paul wanted us all to know that the message was to be centered only on Christ with special emphasis on Him as the One Who was crucified and now lives, with no flowery background calling on many aspects of wisdom. All was to be centered on Christ. All was to be centered on the cross. And as his letters make clear that means that it included all that He was doing and would yet do as a result of the victory obtained at the cross. For every aspect of the work of Christ, past, present and future, centers around the cross. All that we receive from God comes through the cross. His ministry would thus not be a restricted one except in this that in everything Jesus Christ as the crucified and risen Savior was to be kept central and made abundantly clear.
Now let me made a direct comment to any Pastor who may come across this sermon. If you are preaching social and topical gospels, then please take a hard look at what you are doing. I urge you to keep it simple and return to just teaching the Word of God, verse by verse and point everyone to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
3 I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
Paul stresses the great concern that he had had that his words to them might not be just persuasive and clever words, but that his preaching should be in demonstration of the Spirit and power. He had wanted to ensure that they did not respond because of his persuasion, or as a result of elegant ideas, but because of the Spirit’s persuasion and testimony to the cross as He revealed His power among them. Paul knew that if they only believed for his sake their faith would soon fail. But if it was founded in the work of the Spirit and on the word of the cross it would stand firm, for all God’s power would be behind it.
Have you ever attended a ‘crusade’? In my opinion they are a waste of time. I believe that for all the people who came forward, less than 10 % are still in the faith. I am sure all that money that was spent on these elaborate shows could be used instead to support missionaries and in my opinion be better used for the Lord’s Kingdom. I recently just heard someone explain my point of view in a better description. He said that all these evangelistic crusades without discipleship equals zero.
Here is another point I want to say to all people who teach God’s Word, even those of you who serve in Sunday school. Do you realize what you are doing and who you are representing? You have been allowed to share God’s infinite wisdom with others. This is not something lightly to be taken. I like to stand outside the children ministry office to watch some teachers walk in a just grab the teacher’s manual as they go to the classroom. This will be the first time they will look at what is to be covered with God’s kids. This is wrong.
I have also seen some Preacher’s just get up and share the same sermon that they have delivered a hundred times before. Shame on all people who do this! If teaching the word of God has become too mundane for you, go on leave or get out of the ministry. You are serving the Lord of Lord’s and King of kings. It is not something trivial.
Look at what Paul says about having the opportunity of teaching God’s Word to others, ‘I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.’ This was how he felt inside as he had contemplated the message he had brought them. ‘Weakness’ may indicate a physical indisposition of one kind or another. The word often means illness. But it may simply mean a sense of lack. We must not, however, overstress the fear and much trembling. It is one of his favorite descriptions to describe genuine concern, and regularly means simply that, that he was acting in genuine and careful concern.
Can you see clearly that serving God in this capacity is not regarded as a light thing? Look at these Scripture verses regarding fear and trembling when you are responsible to dealing with the Holy Scriptures.
. 2 Corinthians 7.15, “And his affections are greater for you as he remembers the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling you received him.” This refers to when the Corinthians had received Titus ‘with fear and trembling’
. Philippians 2.12, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;” This is referring to when the Philippians are told to ‘work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God Who works in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure.’
In both cases it is a slight exaggeration to stress great concern and effort.
Thus Paul is stressing how genuine his aim had been. He had come to them in weakness, either because he had recognized that the success that really mattered would not come from his strength and power but from the power of the word of the cross, or because of some indisposition, and he had come ‘in fear and trembling’ because he was very concerned that his ministry should be in the power of the Spirit. When a minister does not come to preach in ‘weakness, fear and much trembling’ we may need to question his genuine calling.
Please take a look again at the words, ‘My word and my preaching were not in persuasive words of men’s wisdom.’ The word of the cross is powerful to save as mentioned in chapter 1 verse 18 when accompanied by the Spirit, and God saves men ‘through the foolishness of what is preached’ [1:21], that is, through the foolishness of the preaching of the Gospel [1:17], which in turn is the word of the cross [1.18], once they respond in belief and trust. But both require the Spirit as the necessary condition. Thus he was careful to avoid a word and preaching which simply expressed and taught human endeavor, and used persuasive words containing men’s carefully constructed wisdom so as to sway their beliefs, and engaged in eloquent and flowery language, which might blur the message of the cross.
I heard a good explanation of these points’ in short effective words. ‘Goats need entertainment. Sheep need to be fed.’
The Apostle Paul recognized that by coming to God in weakness and godly fear and opening himself to God he became a channel of the Spirit. Thus his preaching was powerful and effective, and produced powerful results. It was a demonstration of power. It was a demonstration of the Spirit at work. Notice the continual stress on ‘power’ in the whole passage.
Look at what the prophet Isaiah said in chapter 55 verse 11, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”
The word of the cross is God’s word active in power. The combination with this of a man faithful to the message of the cross and submissive to the Spirit resulted in powerful preaching, because it was such preaching that applied the power of God to men’s hearts. It gave men spiritual wisdom, it brought men under the Kingly Rule of God, it dealt firmly with open sin. This then resulted in the spiritual gifts which were manifested among the Corinthians. All had demonstrated that God was there.
Paul was worried ‘That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.’ This was why he feared, this was the reason for his great concern, the fear that because of clever words and conditions which planted ideas, that men would be ‘convinced’ but would not be genuinely responsive to God Himself, being like reeds swaying in the wind, uncertain as to quite why they had responded, and just as easily convinced when others spoke a different message. So rather than this he concentrated on submission to the Spirit and the preaching of the word of the cross. Then he knew that any response of faith would be permanent because it resulted only from the powerful activity of God.
In all this Paul is not denying that he preached as effectively as he could, and as carefully as he could. Indeed that is his point. That he concentrated all his skills on ensuring ‘with greatest care’ that the central message was plain and that it got over. He wanted nothing to do with impressing people. He wanted them to know exactly what he was saying. He wanted them to receive and understand the message of Christ and Him crucified. And above all he wanted it to be not in his own power, but in the power of the Spirit.
I want you to write down these points relative to God’s Wisdom and Satan’s wisdom. You see the wisdom of man in a fallen sinful state is not coming from God. Then where do you think it originates?
One thing that many preachers do not cover in the book of Genesis is in relationship to ‘Wisdom’. As you know Satan wants to be like God. One major issue behind the forbidden tree was in relationship to who was Adam and Eve supposes to listen and be guided by. Would they stay on God’s side and continue to let Him be their guide or turn to the enemy’s side and listen to his advice.
The wisdom of the world is;
4. Satanic in its origin
5. Naturalistic in its methods
6. Humanistic in its content
The wisdom of God is;
4. Divine in its origin
5. Supernatural in its methods
6. Christ centered in its content
6 However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
Having spoken of foolishness he now wants to correct any misapprehension. It is not really foolishness that they are speaking; it merely appears like that to unbelievers. It is in fact great wisdom. Those who have received understanding, who have received perfection in Christ, recognize and admire its wisdom.
Here the idea of being ‘perfect’ is of having been made ‘perfect’ in mind in Christ, having fully accepted the word of the cross, and having thus taken up the right mind set in the Spirit. Having received enlightenment and understanding from God Himself they have ‘perfect’ understanding.
As with many other Christianized words it has a past, a present and a future reference. In our Lord Jesus’ hearers it would become ‘perfect’ by taking up the same attitude towards others as God had, that is, by yielding their wills to the will of God, taking up His mind set as demonstrated through what He revealed Himself to be.
Do you remember the story of the Rich Young Ruler? We read in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 19, “16 Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” 17 So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” 18 He said to Him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ 19 ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’?” 20 The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”
For the rich young ruler to become ‘perfect’ he had to yield his will to God by yielding his riches and taking up the right mind set towards his riches. He would not yield to the wisdom of God and went away the loser.
To be ‘perfect ‘in understanding is to have the right mind set in order to be ready to receive spiritual truth. It is the Spirit Who makes ‘perfect’, giving the right mind set, and nothing else is therefore required. To press on towards the goal to the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus indicates the ‘perfect’ man, the one with the right mind set towards God. Thus, to be perfect is to have a right mind and heart set towards the will of God, which comes about through the working of God’s Spirit, so that Christians, who initially receive this mind set at conversion, are called on to reveal it in their lives, and to maintain it.
The wisdom that is appreciated by having the spiritual mind set does not gain the appreciation of ‘the world’. It contradicts all that the world believes about the innate goodness of man. It is a wisdom which the world’s rulers do not appreciate. They scorn it. They reject it. It does not agree with their view of things, or with their view of how things should be. It would interfere with their future intentions, and their desire to keep control of the world by their own methods.
As Christian believers we all are our Holy Creator’s ambassadors. It is our responsibility to ‘speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, even that which has been hidden.’ We declare something which, in the wisdom of God, has been hidden, a mystery which is now a revealed mystery to those who have come to understanding, who have thereby become ‘perfect’, something hidden in the foreknowledge of God but now made known. God’s secret is now laid bare to His own. The Old Testament had built up to the coming of Christ, it had revealed what God was going to do quite clearly to those with eyes to see it, and yet the way of His coming and what He did in His coming has taken all by surprise. Although it was there to see, none saw it. To His own it has now been made clear. To all others it is still a mystery.
It is a wisdom revealed in the plan and purpose of God, foreordained before time began. And that wisdom is made up of all that is contained in the word of the cross and of the crucified and risen Christ, spoken by God, issued forth from God, and brought to fruition when the hour had come, so that all who responded in faith and trust might be saved. And God purposed it from the beginning that through it ‘we’ might receive ‘glory’ through being in Christ, a glory which is both present and future. The idea of glory includes future splendor, both literal and moral, and honor and is meanwhile descriptive of the joy that fills the hearts of His people and of the power that rests on them through the Spirit of God.
For all who choose not to know the wisdom of God, and thus they did not recognize the glory which came in the Lord Jesus, the glory of Christ. He was in the world as God’s word and God’s light, and the world did not know Him as the Apostle John tells us in chapter 1 verse 9 of his Gospel. Though they considered themselves wise and were themselves arrayed in splendor and glory, the rulers’ foolishness was revealed in their crucifying the One Who was made to us the wisdom of God and is ‘the Lord of glory’, a glory more long lasting and greater far than theirs, and a glory which He provides for His own.
Their mind set was such that they were oblivious both to God’s wisdom and the glory revealed in Christ. This is clear from the fact that in their extreme folly they crucified the Lord of Glory, they sought to destroy the true glory. Nothing could reveal what they were better than that. And why did they do this?- Because they were without the Spirit of God.
9 But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things +which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
Paul declares that Scripture reveals that what he has been describing is beyond human comprehension. It is describing what man could neither see, nor hear, nor know within. It therefore results in something that is naturally outside man’s ability to understand. Yet it speaks of what God has prepared for those who love Him. And he goes on to say that it is revealed by God’s own Spirit coming to man’s spirit, if they receive Him.
The point Paul is bringing out is that God has done a new thing for His own which is beyond anything man has known or seen, He is working for them in a new way, just as He promised in the days of Isaiah. The change from ‘wait for Him’ to ‘love Him’ is in part simply a change of emphasis, for those who wait for Him are those who love Him, and in part a declaration that there has been a moving forward. They no longer wait lovingly but love Him because He has acted, because of what He has done in the cross. Paul is concerned that there is a full response to the significance of the cross. To Paul Christians are those who supremely love God.
What God will do is beyond what man has ever known, for God will act on behalf of those who love Him, who trust Him, who wait for Him, in a way beyond telling.
10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
For at this end of the ages the Spirit has been poured out from above to illuminate the church of Christ, all who truly believe in Christ, and He has revealed to God’s people the things hidden from the ages, what God has foreordained for them and us through the crucified and risen Messiah, and through the power of His work accomplished on the cross, which has revealed and brought into effect the divine power as never before. For nothing is hidden from His Spirit. He searches all things, yes, even the deepest secrets of God.
The personality of the Spirit comes out here, for He is depicted as searching out to reveal. When we speak of ‘searching’, however, the point is that He searches it out along with us. He is not seeking new truth for Himself. He knows all truth. He is searching it out so that God’s people may receive it and understand it. He searches in and through us.
I always say that a lot of people accept things without comprehending exactly what they mean. Off the top of your heads can you explain what the term ‘Deep things’ mean?’ The term is used of the depths of the sea and of the depths of divine knowledge. What was in the depths of the sea was beyond man’s wisdom and knowledge. In fact it is still do not know all that goes on in the depths of the sea. It was a secret, hidden, unreachable place beyond his scope. The sea was a mystery which man could not penetrate. And so the divine wisdom and knowledge was also totally beyond man’s ability to know or understand. But the Holy Spirit takes of what is in those unfathomable depths and reveals it to those chosen by God.
11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
Mankind’s path of understanding him or herself is Psychology. Christian’s have a better understanding through the Wonderful Counselor. Our Holy Master’s description of our problems is this. A man’s true self and inner knowledge and very being is only known to that man, deep inside through his ‘spirit’, that inner part which is the seat of his understanding and consciousness and spiritual experience. Others may think they know him but the deepest things, the things which are essentially him, are hidden; known, in so far as they are known at all, only to him.
A man knows himself, but he does not truly ‘know’ himself. In a similar way God’s true self and inner knowledge and very being is known only to God, deep within Him, in His Spirit. But this time it is known to the full, intellectually and experientially. And this is the Spirit that we have received if we are His, the One Who knows God in every way as the book of Romans chapter 8 verse 9 teaches, ‘For if any man does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.’ And to have received the Spirit is to have received the One Who holds all the secrets of God, and reveals them to the heart as we are receptive to them.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
The contrast with the Spirit of God is the spirit of the world. The main point is on man’s inadequacy and inability of himself to know God because his spirit is caught up in the aims, desires and attitudes of the world, the spirit of the world. A scary thing for all of us to consider is that man is of the world and has the spirit of the world directing his life.
Here he sees the spirits of men’s’ hearts set on earthly things, bereft of God and unable to understand Him and His ways. Our Holy God on the other hand has entered into the world through His Spirit in a vividly personal way, and it Is He Who possesses and dwells in His people, illuminating them, transforming them, and empowering them in various degrees, and it Is He Who brings into action and makes real the power of the cross. Thus are they freed from the spirit of the world, dying to the world that they might live to God.
13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
We learn therefore that all who truly teach in Christ’s name do so through the Spirit. For all who are truly His operate through the Spirit of God. This includes Paul and Apollos and Peter, but it should also include the Corinthians and all believers today. As men of God empowered and enlightened by the Spirit they are to teach in a wisdom which is not of man, and which is not their own, and ensure that it is with words provided by God through the Spirit.
That is why later he is so concerned that teachers of God’s Holy Word speak in words understandable to all, that all may benefit. Thus it is folly to give the credit to such men.
All who teach please memorize this statement - ‘Not in words which man’s wisdom teaches.’ None who teach God’s Word should look to man’s wisdom. They do not pour over books of wisdom, or attend schools of wisdom eager to learn the latest thing. They look to God and His word as the source of their wisdom. Thus they have one message and are united as one. But they know that this is not just ‘given’, it requires thought. They compare spiritual things with spiritual.
The overriding need for all who desire to be a Pastor is to see all things in the light of the Spirit and as illuminated by the Spirit. It is important that what is spiritual is received and compared with, and interpreted in the light of, what is spiritual, rather than in comparison and contrast with worldly wisdom. It needs to be received, and considered, and applied, and expressed with the Spirit’s aid, with the purpose of being received by those enlightened by the Spirit.
14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
In contrast the ‘natural man’ without the Spirit cannot receive them; he does not accept them because his receptors are blocked. They are dead. Remember back in the book of Genesis when our Holy Creator told Adam and Eve that the day they eat of the fruit of the forbidden tree they would die. A question to ask you to consider is this, ‘when they ate of the fruit did they die’. The answer is yes and no. As described here mankind died spiritually but would also die ultimately physically later on.
Men and women on our own are unable to receive spiritual truth, or even to consider spiritual truth. What the Spirit has taught Paul and his fellows, and is teaching through them, is nonsense to such people, for they have no spiritual discernment. It is outside their senses, outside their ability range, not mentally but spiritually. Such truth requires spiritual discernment and spiritual judgment, which can only come from the Spirit. The consequence is that it is only when the Spirit enlightens men that they can understand the Gospel, and the preaching of the cross, and respond to it. And only those who are so enlightened can go on to understand it in its fullness.
15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. 16 For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
God’s thoughts are above man’s thoughts, so that man can neither understand His ways; know His mind; nor teach or direct Him. In context it puts His wisdom and knowledge as above and beyond all men.
The spiritual man can judge all ‘the things of the Spirit of God’, because he has the Spirit, and yet he cannot himself be judged by any man, that is, by any natural man. This is because the mind of the Lord cannot be known by the natural man, nor is man able to instruct Him.
The spiritual man, in contrast with the natural man, discerns the things of the Spirit, understands the things of the Spirit and stands beyond the world’s judgment on such matters, because he has the mind of Christ through His Spirit, so that he can, at least to some extent, know the mind of the Lord.
Thus it would seem that here Paul does one of his quick switches whereby he comes to a climax by introducing our Lord Jesus Christ Himself into the exposition. It would suggest that it Is He Who is ‘the Spiritual One’, in Whom we then partake of ‘spirituality’. For the verse goes on to suggest quite firmly that in fact no one can know the mind of the Lord or instruct the Lord, and this would be true of all; other, of course, then the Lord Himself. Thus it would seem that here he is turning attention to the only true Spiritual One, the Crucified One in His glory, He Who alone judges all things, He Who alone can be judged by none, He Who alone knows the mind of the Lord, He Who alone can even ‘instruct’ Him, having had all things delivered into His hands. This would then explain the change from ‘mind of the Lord’ to the ‘mind of Christ’, as the latter would then be a direct application of the idea to us, directly connecting us with Christ ‘the Spiritual One’, having made Him the main person in the equation.
The thought then is that in contrast to the natural man. Paul will go on to speak of this in chapter 15. Adam is natural, The Lord Jesus Christ Is spiritual, the first man is natural, the second man is spiritual. So, in Paul’s mind the contrast with the natural man is not spiritual men, but Christ, the second man, the spiritual man. Once that is established as true here the conclusion then follows that because we are ‘in Him’, because we are made one with Him, united in His body in which He was crucified, we are in Him made spiritual and have His mind and are thus able to discern what none other can discern. We are ‘spiritual’ in Him, enjoying discernment through His Spirit. This then fits in well with why at the same time the Corinthians can be ‘fleshly’ which we will read about in the next chapter when they should be revealing their ‘spiritual’ side which they have in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.
Taking ‘He Who is the Spiritual One’ as Christ then reminds us that He alone is the One Who is ‘spiritual’ in the fullest sense; the One Who was ‘full of the Holy Spirit’. The One to Whom the Spirit was given without measure. The One in Whom thus dwells all the fullness of the Holy Spirit, and all the fullness of the Godhead. Also the One Who Himself sends the Holy Spirit to His own and baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And thus He Is put beyond man’s judgment or ability to examine, for they do not and cannot know the mind of the Lord in order that they might instruct Him, or indeed condemn Him. And because He is the truly spiritual One He can judge all things, and will Himself judge men at the last day.
Is our God Great or what?
