Word Count: 2482

Contact Paul George

First Corinthians Chapter Two

by Paul George  
11/12/2008 / Bible Studies

1 Corinthians 2:1-16

First Corinthians chapter two begins with a reminder to the saints at Corinth, that when Paul came to Corinth he came to tell them about Jesus Christ and Him crucified, that their "faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God," (1 Corinthians 2:5).

The real problem in the church was those in Corinth had turned from the apostles to other teachers, deceitful men who disguised themselves as apostles. They were tickling the ears of the Corinthians just as false teachers; the deceitful workers who disguise themselves as a messenger from the Lord are doing in the twenty-first century church.

The preaching and teaching of the true gospel message is offensive and foolishness to those seeking to have their ears tickled. Those who identified themselves with Paul and his preaching the unbelievers in Corinth labeled them fools. Those who accepted the idea the preaching of the true gospel message was foolishness and offensive identified themselves with new leaders whose preaching and teachings were far more acceptable. Associating with them gave themselves a much higher status in the eyes of the world.

Paul did not deny that his message and preaching were foolish and offensive to the followers of the ear ticklers; rather, he emphasizes this is so. In verse 6, Paul makes a sharp right turn. Up to this point, he has admitted the fact that his gospel is foolish and weak. Now he begins to clarify and expand his instruction. The true gospel message he preached is foolish and weak to unbelievers, but it is neither foolish nor weak in the sight of God. This is why the believers in the church should not regard the true gospel message as foolish or weak.

The gospel message preached by the apostles is not of "this age." This is why the rulers of this age are not able to understand the message. Even those who are the wisest and most powerful people of this age are unable to understand the true gospel message. The rulers of this age include both the spiritual rulers and the human rulers. This is evident at the cross of Calvary. The spiritual rulers believed they could destroy the Ruler of all ages through the human rulers of the day. It is obvious the human rulers of the day did not understand the true gospel message preached by the Old Testament prophets. Evidence of this is they turned the Messiah over to the Romans who fulfilled the evil intent of the hearts of the rulers of that day. Today, the deceived and rebellious rulers of both the secular and religious communities and the people cannot see the true gospel message clearly manifested to men in the person of Jesus Christ.

At the cross where they crucified Jesus is where man's wisdom and God's wisdom separate. In the person of our Lord Jesus Christ God reveals His wisdom. The rejection of our Lord Jesus Christ reveals the perverted wisdom of man. The true gospel message preached by prophets in Old Testament and the apostles in the New Testament reveal the eternal wisdom of God established in eternity past. The wisdom of man is limited, temporal. This is why he cannot understand God's eternal wisdom. Why he cannot see, hear, or comprehend the things of God.

How then can mere mortals ever know God's wisdom? The answer, verses 10-16. In verses 10-13, Paul writes about the doctrines of inspiration and revelation whereby God has made His wisdom known through the apostles. In verses 14-16, Paul turns to the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

How can men know of a God who cannot be seen and whose provisions are beyond human thought, the answer, through the Holy Spirit, who has imparted the knowledge of God to and through the apostles in the New Testament Scriptures. The Holy Spirit is the "Spirit of God." Just as the spirit of a man knows the deep thoughts of the man, so the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, knows the intimate things of God. When the Lord Jesus was on the earth, He spoke many things to His disciples that they did not understand or even remember. Jesus told them that after His departure, He would send His Spirit. The Holy Spirit would not only call the things He had spoken to their remembrance, He would also enable them to understand them so that they could record them for others. In addition, the Spirit would reveal things to come, things of the coming age.

Jesus told the disciples, "These things I have spoken to you, while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you" (John 14:25-26). He told the disciples, "I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said, that He takes of Mine, and will disclose it to you" (John 16:12-15).

In verses 7, Paul told the Corinthians, "but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory." A mystery is something God reveals concerning the future that men do not understood before its fulfillment because it is beyond human comprehension. After God has completed a work that was formerly a mystery, He fully discloses that mystery through one of His apostles. Paul was one of the apostles given the privilege to speak of several mysteries. In the Book of Ephesians, Paul spoke of the privilege God had given him as an apostle to reveal some of these mysteries (Ephesians 1:3-14; 3:1-13; 5:32).

In 1 Corinthians 2:10-13, Paul describes the fulfillment of our Lord's promise to His disciples, remember that Paul was divinely added as the twelfth apostle. Man, Paul is saying, could never know God on his own. However, God has chosen to make Himself known through His Word and through His Spirit so that the things of God might be recorded as a part of the Bible. Here is a crucial difference between the apostles and the false apostles. The apostles claimed to speak for God, and they did. False apostles claimed to speak for God, and they did not. To reject the apostles and their teaching as the "wisdom of God" is to reject God, for they are the only ones through whom God has chosen to disclose Himself. To reject the apostles' teaching is thus to reject the God who disclosed Himself to men through them.
The work of God the Spirit in the lives of Christians in general is spoken of in 1 Corinthians 2:14-16.

God has disclosed Himself to men through the Holy Spirit. The Spirit knows the intimate things of God and, by inspiring the apostles, has translated spiritual thoughts about God into spiritual words, the New Testament. In the Old Testament period, God revealed His Word through the prophets. In the New Testament times, this revelation came through the apostles. Yet the unbeliever seems blinded to the truth contained in God's Word. How can this be? How can some find in the Bible a rich source of revelation that enables them to know God more intimately, while others find the Scriptures a senseless mixture of writings that cannot even be understood, why are some drawn to the Scriptures and others are not? The difference is the presence or the absence of the Holy Spirit. We see in verses 10-13 that Paul speaks of the Spirit's work in conveying God's thoughts to men by inspiring the apostles to convey spiritual thoughts through spiritual words, the words of the New Testament. Now, in verses 14-16, Paul writes of the work of the Spirit, enabling men and women to understand the Scriptures and thus to know the mind of God.

Previously, Paul divided humanity into two groups: (1) those that trust in the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary for their eternal salvation and (2) those that do not. Another way of viewing these two groups would be: (1) those that do not possess the Holy Spirit, who cannot understand the wisdom of God as revealed in the Scriptures, and (2) those that do possess the Holy Spirit, who therefore have the capacity to understand the Scriptures.

The first group Paul refers to as "the natural man" (verse 14). The "natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God." The natural man, who is not indwelt by the Holy Spirit, cannot understand "the things of the Spirit of God," "These are the ones who cause divisions" (Jude 19).

The second group are called "spiritual (verse 15) by Paul. Most often, we understand the term "spiritual" to refer to those who are mature, who manifest the fruit of the Spirit in their lives. Paul seems to use it here to refer to those who possess the Spirit, who live in the realm of the Holy Spirit because they have trusted in Jesus Christ. The one who possesses the Holy Spirit is able to grasp and to appraise both temporal and eternal matters.

While the Christian, "he who is spiritual," is able to appraise all things and thus to understand the beliefs and the behavior of the unsaved, the "natural man," the unsaved man is unable to understand the Christian, "He who is spiritual." No wonder Christians are misunderstood, persecuted, and considered foolish and weak. This is the best the natural man can do.

In verse 16, Paul closes chapter 2 with the words of Isaiah 40:13: "For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him?" Paul told the Corinthians, "But we have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16). These words sum up the difference between the non-Christian and the Christian. God has revealed Himself to all men in the person of Christ and in the Scriptures. The Scriptures make no sense to the unbeliever. This is because it is impossible for the unbeliever to understand the things of God apart from the Spirit of God. Who can know the mind of the Lord? No one can, apart from the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Note that the words of verse 16 indicate not only the natural man's ignorance but also his arrogance. Who would think that any man could instruct God? But this is precisely what the unbeliever does think. This is why they think the Christian is foolish and weak.

This final statement sums up the vast difference of opinion that exists between Christians and unbelievers over "wisdom." The unbeliever is incapable of understanding God's wisdom because the wisdom of the natural man is a limited, distorted temporal wisdom. The Christian has the means for knowing the mind of God and thus has access to the wisdom of God. This is why the reaction of the unbeliever to the preaching of the gospel surprise Christians. In addition, the Christian should not forsake the vast wisdom God has made available to us in order to pursue the wisdom that the world seeks.

What a blow this chapter strikes at human pride. Paul came to the Corinthians in weakness, fear, and much trembling. He came with a message offensive to both Jews and Greeks. He refused to "know" anything other than the crucified Christ, for he came to bring the message of salvation. His message was not one of superior wisdom, one that would appeal to the intellectual Corinthian. His method of presentation was not one that would naturally draw a crowd or attract a following. From a merely human point of view, Paul did everything wrong when he went to Corinth. But what happened? A number of his readers came to faith in Jesus Christ because of Paul's mindset, message, and method.

How could Paul do everything wrong, from a worldly point of view and yet sinners be converted and a church born, human weakness transformed into divine power? How can human foolishness become divine wisdom and pagan sinners become saints, the answer, the Word of God and the Spirit of God. The Corinthians had become mesmerized by men and by human wisdom. They were wrong. What had saved them was the Word of God and the Spirit of God, working through humble men who proclaimed a straightforward, simple message of Christ crucified, even though their message and their methods were unappealing to unsaved men.

Men can come to know God in only one way, through His Word and through His Spirit. There are many different beliefs about God, but there is only one true God. All views of God that come from some other source than the Bible are false.

Paul was a devout Jew, deeply religious, committed, and sincere. However, he was dead wrong. When God revealed Himself to Paul, everything suddenly changed. The things he once prized, thinking they won him favor with God; Paul now counted as "dung" (Philippians 3:1-11). Now Paul is a new man in Christ. Now he has come to know God through His Word and through His Spirit. That is what Paul wants for each one of us.

If you have never trusted in Jesus Christ, you do not know God. The Bible clearly states, you cannot know God apart from Jesus Christ. You cannot know Jesus Christ apart from His Word and His Spirit. You cannot know God through your own wisdom or insight. We cannot see, hear, or touch Him. However, He has revealed Himself through His Word, the Bible. By the ministry of His Spirit, we can come to know God personally as the One who has provided for the forgiveness of our sins and for eternal life. God has revealed Himself in His Son, who died on the cross of Calvary, bearing the penalty for our sins. He has raised Him from the dead, as proof of His satisfaction with the work of Christ. All we need to do is believe in the One whom God sent to take away the sin of the world.

It is not according to the popular message of the twenty-first century, hell will be populated with countless souls who served a "god" of their own making, and such "gods" are not God at all but only idols of our mind.
Are you serving the God of the Bible or the god of the secular world?

Retired pastor,Church of the Nazarene

Author of web site Exploring God's Word

www.thewordofgodonline.net

New American Standard Bible

King James Version

The World English Bible

Sermons and Bible studies preached and taught by author

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS

If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be! Click here and TRUST JESUS NOW

Read more articles by Paul George

Like reading Christian Articles? Check out some more options. Read articles in Main Site Articles, Most Read Articles or our highly acclaimed Challenge Articles. Read Great New Release Christian Books for FREE in our Free Reads for Reviews Program. Or enter a keyword for a topic in the search box to search our articles.

Enter comments below. Due to spam, all hyperlinks posted in the comments are now immediately disabled by our system.

Please type the following word below:

Not readable? Change text.

The opinions expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.

Hire a Christian Writer, Christian Writer Wanted, Christian Writer Needed, Christian Content Needed, Find a Christian Editor, Hire a Christian Editor, Christian Editor, Find a Christian Writer