In
1 Corinthians 2:6-9 Paul showed us the characteristics of the wisdom of God as
opposed to worldly philosophies. Now in verses 10-16, he would reveal the
source of such wisdom.
God’s
wisdom comes through revelation by the Spirit. God first revealed His wisdom to
the apostles and prophets who communicated the word of God. Then today, the Holy
Spirit through their writings reveals God’s wisdom to us believers. In saying
that it’s the Spirit who reveals God’s wisdom, Paul was suggesting that Apollos,
Cephas or himself, only received God’s wisdom through the Spirit. Hence the
people who followed them should not pit them against each other. He stressed
that the reason the Holy Spirit is the source of the wisdom of God is because
the Spirit knows all things, even the very depth of God.
No
human could truly know another person’s thoughts except that person himself. So
also it is with God. Only the Spirit of God knows everything about God. Paul’s point is this, just as no one knows the
thoughts of another person, but the man himself, similarly, no one knows the
thoughts of God except God Himself. And just as everyman knows his own thoughts
so also the Spirit of God knows God’s thoughts.
In
verse 12, Paul stressed that the source of what he and the leaders taught were not
derived from human reasoning, but given by the Spirit of God. Each of them were
subjected to the influence of the Holy Spirit who had given them the ability to
understand the things of God. So Paul wanted them to know that whatever he
taught was not human wisdom, but those that the Holy Spirit had imparted. What
he had imparted he did so with a combination of spiritual wisdom and spiritual
words.
In
verse 14 Paul then refers to certain people who had rejected the Spirit-given truths
that he had imparted. He called those people the natural man, meaning people who
did not have any spiritual inclination. Their priorities and concepts of life were
only of this world. They could only view it from human perspective. Hence spiritual
things were insipid, even stupid to them because spiritual thing can only be understood
with the help of the Spirit. And because they were not open to the influence of
the Spirit of God, they could never understand spiritual truths. In contrast to
the natural man, everyone who is subjected to the influence of His Spirit would
be able to discern, appreciate and make sound judgment concerning spiritual things.
Paul would not be subjected to the judgment of people who are not spiritually
discerning. In verse 16, Paul went on to affirm what he had just said. He
maintained that no natural man can judge a spiritual person or instruct him because
they did not have the competence. Whereas Paul had the mind of Christ.
When
we believers are on our knees, we can see spiritual truth further and deeper
than a philosopher with all his earthly learning. Why? Because the best
spiritual receptiveness is found in a mind that is open to and prepared by the
Spirit of God. The best way to
understand spiritual truth is to surrender to the Author of that truth. So let’s
find time to yield to the Holy Spirit.
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