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<h2><a onclick="return mV('1Cr',2,'1-');">1Cr 2</a> - Real Wisdom from God</h2>
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<p>A. Paul’s reliance on God’s wisdom.</p>
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<p class="c1">1. (<a onclick="return mV('1Cr',2,'1-4');">1-4</a>) How Paul preached to the Corinthians.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span>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. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching <i>were</i> not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">When I came to you</span></b>: Paul’s arrival in Corinth is described in <a onclick="return mV('Act',18,'1-');">Act 18</a>. He came and met a Christian couple named Aquila and Priscilla, who were tentmakers by trade, like Paul. He ministered in Corinth for more than a year and a half, supporting himself by tent making.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">Did not come with excellence of speech</span></b>: Paul didn’t come as a philosopher or a salesman; he came as a <i>witness</i> (<b><span class="c3">declaring to you the testimony of God</span></b>).</p>
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<p class="c5">i. Paul was certainly a man who could reason and debate persuasively, but he didn’t use that approach in preaching of gospel. He made a conscious decision (<b><span class="c3">I determined</span></b>) to put the emphasis on <b><span class="c3">Jesus Christ and Him crucified</span></b>. Paul was an ambassador, not a salesman.</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. In taking this approach, Paul understood he was not catering to what his audience <i>wanted</i>. “Corinth put a premium on the veneer of false rhetoric and thin thinking” (Barclay). He already knew <i>the Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom</i> (<a onclick="return mV('1Cr',1,22);">1Cr 1:22</a>), but he does not seem to care. He will preach <b><span class="c3">Jesus Christ and Him crucified</span></b>.</p>
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<p class="c5">iii. If a preacher is not careful, he will get in the way of the gospel instead of being a servant of the gospel. They can obscure Jesus by their preaching, either in the presentation or the message. Like the little girl, who when a smaller man was guest speaking could finally see the stained glass window of Jesus behind the pulpit said, “Where’s the man who usually stands there so we can’t see Jesus?”</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <i><span > </span></i><b><span class="c3">Not to know anything</span></b> “does not mean that he left all other knowledge aside, but rather that he had the gospel, with its crucified Messiah, as his singular focus and passion while he was among them.” (Fee)</p>
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<p class="c4">d. <b><span class="c3">I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling</span></b>: Paul was not brimming with self-confidence. Knowing the need and his own limitations made him weak and afraid. Yet it kept him from the poison of self-reliance, all let God’s strength flow.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. Vincent says the implication of verse three is that his condition grew out of the circumstances in which he found himself in Corinth. Paul’s <b><span class="c3">weakness</span></b>, <b><span class="c3">fear</span></b>, and <b><span class="c3">trembling</span></b> could have been the result of an illness he suffered under while in Corinth, or some (like Calvin) believe it was because of the threat of persecution.</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. Whatever the exact cause, “So great was his sense of weakness and fear, and so profound his lack of trust in himself that he quaked, he trembled. Those are the secrets of strength in all preaching.” (Morgan)</p>
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<p class="c4">e. <b><span class="c3">Not with persuasive words</span></b>: Paul is not rejecting preaching, even persuasive preaching (his sermon before Agrippa in <a onclick="return mV('Act',26,'1-');">Act 26</a> is a remarkable example of persuasive preaching). Paul is rejecting any reliance on the preacher’s ability to persuade with <b><span class="c3">human wisdom</span></b>.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. “It is ours to speak the truth boldly, and in every case we shall be a sweet savour unto God; but to temporise in the hope of making converts is to do evil that good may come, and this is never to be thought of for an instant.” (Spurgeon)</p>
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<p class="c4">f. <b><span class="c3">But in demonstration of the Spirit and of power</span></b>: Paul knew it is the preacher’s job to preach; it is the Holy Spirit’s job to demonstrate. Paul’s preaching may not have been impressive or persuasive on a human level, but on a spiritual level it had <b><span class="c3">power</span></b>.</p>
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<p class="c1">2. (<a onclick="return mV('1Cr',2,5);">5</a>) The reason for reliance on the Spirit instead of human wisdom.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span>That your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. Preaching strategies centered around <b><span class="c3">the wisdom of men</span></b> - around emotion, entertainment and human personality - may yield <i>response</i>, but not <i>results</i> for the kingdom of God.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. Many people use slick, entertaining, or even deceptive means to “lure” people into the church, and justify it by saying, “we’re drawing them in and then winning them to Jesus.” But the principle stands: with you draw them <i>with</i> is what you draw them <i>to</i>.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. If someone’s faith is in <b><span class="c3">the wisdom of men</span></b>, and not the <b><span class="c3">power of God</span></b>; if someone can be <i>persuaded into</i> the kingdom by human wisdom, they can be <i>persuaded out</i> of the kingdom by human wisdom also.</p>
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<p>B. Paul preaches real wisdom, not the wisdom of men.</p>
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<p class="c1">1. (<a onclick="return mV('1Cr',2,'6-8');">6-8</a>) God’s wisdom is not recognized by this age.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span>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. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden <i>wisdom</i> which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">However, we speak wisdom</span></b>: Just because Paul would not cater to the Corinthian love of human wisdom does not mean that his message had no wisdom; in fact, there is a vast wealth of wisdom sealed off to everyone except the Christian.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">Among those who are mature</span></b>: Who are the <b><span class="c3">mature</span></b> Paul could speak this wisdom to? Some think the line is drawn between saved and unsaved; others between mature and immature believers.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. Paul does use the word <i>mature</i> for mature believers in passages like <a onclick="return mV('Eph',4,13);">Eph 4:13</a>; <a onclick="return mV('1Cr',14,20);">1Cr 14:20</a>, and <a onclick="return mV('Phl',3,15);">Phl 3:15</a>. An immature person (such as a baby) doesn’t have the discernment to know what is good to eat and what isn’t. A baby will stick <i>anything</i> into its mouth.</p>
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<p class="c4">c. The <b><span class="c3">mature</span></b> recognize God’s wisdom, but <b><span class="c3">the</span></b> <b><span class="c3">rulers of this age</span></b> do not. Are <b><span class="c3">the rulers of this age</span></b> men or demonic powers?</p>
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<p class="c5">i. This debate goes all the way back to the time of Origen and Chrysostom. On the surface, it seems clear that <b><span class="c3">the rulers of this age</span></b> must refer to <i>human</i> rulers, because only they didn’t know what they were doing when they incited the crucifixion of Jesus. “Paul habitually ascribes power to the demonic forces, but not ignorance.” (Morris)</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. However, one could say that demonic powers were ignorant of what would <i>result</i> from the crucifixion of Jesus - the disarming and defeat of demonic powers (<a onclick="return mV('Col',2,15);">Col 2:15</a>) - and had they known they were sealing their own doom by inciting the crucifixion, they would not have done it.</p>
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<p class="c5">iii. No matter who exactly the <b><span class="c3">rulers of this age</span></b> are, their defeat is certain: <b><span class="c3">who are coming to nothing</span></b>. Their day is over and the day of Jesus Christ is here!</p>
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<p class="c4">d. Why did the <b><span class="c3">rulers of this age</span></b> fail to recognize God’s wisdom? Because it came in a <b><span class="c3">mystery</span></b>; a “sacred secret” that could only be known by revelation. It is <b><span class="c3">the hidden wisdom</span></b> that is now revealed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which Paul preaches.</p>
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<p class="c4">e. <b><span class="c3">Lord of glory</span></b>: Some scholars consider <b><span class="c3">the Lord of glory</span></b> the loftiest title Paul ever gave to Jesus. It is certain proof that Paul regarded Jesus as God, the Second Person of the Trinity. It is inconceivable that Paul would give us a title to any lesser being.</p>
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<p class="c1">2. (<a onclick="return mV('1Cr',2,'9-11');">9-11</a>) God’s wisdom is known only by the Holy Spirit.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span>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.” But God has revealed <i>them</i> to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 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.</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">As it is written</span></b>: Properly speaking, this is not a strict quotation from the Scriptures. Paul is paraphrasing <a onclick="return mV('Isa',64,4);">Isa 64:4</a> to remind us that God’s wisdom and plan is past our finding out on our own.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. “<i>As it is written</i> is not, in this case, the form of quotation, but is rather equivalent to saying, ‘To use the language of Scripture.’” (Hodge)</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">Eye has not seen</span></b>: Most people wrongly take <b><span class="c3">the things which God has prepared for those who love Him</span></b> to mean the things which are waiting for us in heaven. While it is true that we cannot comprehend the greatness of heaven, that isn’t what Paul means here, because verse 10 tells us <b><span class="c3">God has revealed them to us through His Spirit</span></b>. This glorious thing is <i>has</i> been revealed by the gospel.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. “These words have been applied to the state of glory in a <i>future</i> world; but certainly they belong to the <i>present</i> state, and express merely the wondrous light, life, and liberty which the Gospel communicates to them that believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in that way which the Gospel itself requires.” (Clarke)</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. Paul is communicating much the same message as <a onclick="return mV('Eph',3,'1-7');">Eph 3:1-7</a>, where he writes about the mystery of the church, and how the church <i>in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets.</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Eph',3,5);">Eph 3:5</a>)</p>
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<p class="c5">iii. Before the life and ministry of Jesus, God’s people had a vague understanding of the glory of His work and what it would do for His people. But they really didn’t - they couldn’t - fully understand it ahead of time.</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">Through His Spirit</span></b> reminds Paul that only the Holy Spirit can tell us about God and His wisdom. This knowledge is unattainable by human wisdom or investigation.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. <b><span class="c3">No one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God</span></b>: Paul argues from the Greek philosophic premise that <i>like is known only by like</i>. You can <i>guess</i> what your dog is thinking, but you really can’t know unless he was to tell you. Even so, we could <i>guess</i> what God is thinking, and about His wisdom, but we would never know unless He told us.</p>
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<p class="c4">e. <b><span class="c3">Yes, the deep things of God</span></b>: In their love of human wisdom, the Corinthians proudly thought Paul was just dealing in “just basics” like the gospel. Paul insists that his message gets to the heart of <b><span class="c3">the deep things of God</span></b>.</p>
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<p class="c1">3. (<a onclick="return mV('1Cr',2,'12-13');">12-13</a>) How we can receive this wisdom.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span>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. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">That we might know</span></b>: This wisdom comes by <b><span class="c3">the Spirit who is from God</span></b>, not from <b><span class="c3">the spirit of this world</span></b>. Since every believer has <b><span class="c3">received . . . the Spirit who is from God</span></b>, every believer has the access to this spiritual wisdom.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. This does <i>not</i> mean every believer has equal spiritual wisdom. And it does <i>not</i> mean we will understand all spiritual mysteries. It <i>does</i> mean every believer can understand the basics of the Christian message, which is unattainable (and undesirable) by human wisdom.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">Comparing spiritual things with spiritual</span></b>: Christians combine spiritual things with spiritual words; they use words and concepts taught only by the Holy Spirit.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. Or, Paul may be speaking of the way only a spiritual man can receive spiritual things. “The passage therefore should be thus translated: <i>Explaining spiritual things to spiritual persons</i>.” (Clarke)</p>
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<p class="c1">4. (<a onclick="return mV('1Cr',2,'14-16');">14-16</a>) The natural man and the spiritual man.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span>But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know <i>them</i>, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is <i>rightly</i> judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the <span class="c6">Lord</span> that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God</span></b>: The Greek word for <b><span class="c3">natural man</span></b> is <i>psuchikos</i>. It describes the <i>materialist</i>, who lives as if there were nothing beyond this physical life. This is the kind of life common to all animals.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. The <b><span class="c3">natural man</span></b> is where we all start life; the life inherited from Adam. The <b><span class="c3">natural man</span></b> is unregenerate man, unsaved man.</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. We have to deal with the material world, so there is nothing inherently sinful in “natural” life. God is not displeased when you have to eat and sleep and work. But life on this level is without spiritual insight; <b><span class="c3">the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God</span></b>.</p>
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<p class="c5">iii. Spiritual things seem <b><span class="c3">foolishness</span></b> to the <b><span class="c3">natural man</span></b>. Why waste time on “spiritual” things when you could be making money or having fun?</p>
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<p class="c4">b. The <b><span class="c3">natural man</span></b> doesn’t <i>want</i> the things of God because he regards them as foolishness. What is more, he <i>can’t</i> understand the things of God (even if he wanted to) because <b><span class="c3">they are spiritually discerned</span></b>. It would be wrong to expect the <b><span class="c3">natural man</span></b> to see and value spiritual things, just as it would be wrong to expect a corpse to see the material world.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. The <b><span class="c3">natural man</span></b> is unsaved. Too many Christians still think like natural men, refusing to <b><span class="c3">spiritually</span></b> discern things. When our only concern is for “what works” or the “bottom line,” we are not <b><span class="c3">spiritually</span></b> discerning, and we are thinking like the <b><span class="c3">natural man</span></b>, even though we might be saved.</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">He who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one</span></b>: Paul is not saying that every Christian is above every criticism (after all, much of this letter is criticism). The point is clear: no natural man is equipped to judge a spiritual man.</p>
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<p class="c4">d. <b><span class="c3">Who has known the mind of the <span class="c6">Lord</span></span></b>: <a onclick="return mV('Isa',40,13);">Isa 40:13</a> refers to the mind of Yahweh (translated here as <b><span class="cmscap">Lord</span></b>); but Paul has no trouble inserting <b><span class="c3">mind of Christ</span></b> for <b><span class="c3">mind of the <span class="c6">Lord</span></span></b>, because Jesus is Yahweh!</p>
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