Read 1 Corinthians 2:1-16

Read 1 Corinthians 2:1-16

2  When I came to you, my brothers and sisters, to preach God’s secret truth,^b I did not use big words and great learning. ²For while I was with you, I made up my mind to forget everything except Jesus Christ and especially his death on the cross. ³So when I came to you, I was weak and trembled all over with fear, ⁴and my teaching and message were not delivered with skilful words of human wisdom, but with convincing proof of the power of God’s Spirit. ⁵Your faith, then, does not rest on human wisdom but on God’s power.

6 Yet I do proclaim a message of wisdom to those who are spiritually mature. But it is not the wisdom that belongs to this world or to the powers that rule this world—powers that are losing their power. ⁷The wisdom I proclaim is God’s hidden wisdom, which he had already chosen for our glory even before the world was made. ⁸None of the rulers of this world knew this wisdom. If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹However, as the scripture says:

“What no one ever saw or heard,

what no one ever thought could happen,

is the very thing God prepared for those who love him.”

¹⁰But^c it was to us that God made known his secret by means of his Spirit. The Spirit searches everything, even the hidden depths of God’s purposes. ¹¹It is only the spirit within people that knows all about them; in the same way, only God’s Spirit knows all about God. ¹²We have not received this world’s spirit; instead, we have received the Spirit sent by God, so that we may know all that God has given us.

13 So then, we do not speak in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, as we explain spiritual truths to those who have the Spirit.^{d 14}Whoever does not have the Spirit cannot receive the gifts that come from God’s Spirit. Such people really do not understand them; they are nonsense to them, because their value can be judged only on a spiritual basis. ¹⁵Whoever has the Spirit, however, is able to judge the value of everything, but no one is able to judge him. ¹⁶As the scripture says:

“Who knows the mind of the Lord?

Who is able to give him advice?”

We, however, have the mind of Christ.

Think

Sometimes Paul’s writing leaves us quite confused.  Paul is dealing with a sort of celebrity culture that has grown up in his church in Corinth – people following various leaders who are good orators but not good Theologians.  They’ve been taken in by their ideologies but forgotten the basic message of God’s Kingdom and God’s grace.

Revealed – not by human wisdom – but by Christ on the cross and through the witness of the Holy Spirit who convicts us.

Pray

Lord, I am so easily impressed by convincing arguments and beautiful people.  Help me to be more impressed by the simplicity of your love broken open on the cross and your Spirit breathed into my life.  Amen

---

^b God’s secret truth; some manuscripts have the testimony about God.

³ 2.3: Ac 18:9

⁹ 2.9: Is 64:4

^c But; some manuscripts have For.

^d to those who have the Spirit; or with words given by the Spirit.

¹⁶ 2.16: Is 40:13 (LXX)