A great Wisdom
Have you ever wondered what the greatest ‘wisdom’ or all time might look and feel like? “Not a wisdom of this age” or from the “rulers of this age”, but what the Apostle Paul refers to as “God’s wisdom” (1 Cor 2: 6-7 – SEE FULL READING BELOW). When Paul speaks of God’s wisdom, he refers to a wisdom, a hidden mystery that is revealed to us through the Spirit (1 Cor 2: 10).
That sounds pretty interesting, but in our everyday life, what does this look like, this wisdom of the Spirit? Paul presents himself as an example of what this does look like. He went on to describe himself as nothing exceptional, in fact he said he came to his audience “in weakness and in fear and in much trembling” (1 Cor 2:3). He even declared how his speech was not persuasive or wise, and yet, despite his shortcomings he made a tremendous impact to those around him. But how?
He tried to explain that what was happening in his life was a spiritual matter, the working of the Holy Spirit. He speaks of being “taught by the Spirit”, interpreting and discerning spiritual things that gave him a powerful form of wisdom (1 Cor 2:13).
To try and get a grasp on what Paul is speaking about here, we need to dive a little deeper into what he is talking about. Firstly, in speaking about the most ‘spiritual’ topic of all time, God Himself, Paul makes it clear that the only person who can tell us ABOUT God is the Spirit of God: “God has revealed to us through the Spirit” (1 Cor 2:10). In other words, there are deep and intimate things about God which only his Spirit knows. This is very similar to the way we work at the human level, in which there are feelings which are so personal, things which are so private, experiences which are so intimate that no one knows them except a person’s own spirit– “For what human knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? (verse 11a)
Paul argues that the same is true of God. There are deep and intimate things in Him which only his Spirit knows: “So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God” (verse 11b).
What Paul then suggests is that when the Spirit (of God) and the spirit (within us) are at work together, then we are accessing the very thoughts of God! He puts this in stunning terms: “We have the mind of Christ” [verse 16 my emphasis]. The consequences are equally stunning, that we are being “taught by the Spirit” (verse 13) which gives a person the potential to discern all things in a new and powerful light… spiritually! (verse 4-5). Even in Paul’s weakness, this is what he referred to when he said people were seeing in him a “demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (verse 4).
Of course, all of this is comes about through a deep and personal relationship with God, which is why Paul is careful to explain the real potential outcome in this way:
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the human heart conceived,
what God has prepared for those who love him”— (verse 9)
1 Corinthians 2:4-16
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
4 My speech and my proclamation were made not with persuasive words of wisdom but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.
The True Wisdom of God
6 Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are being destroyed. 7 But we speak God’s wisdom, a hidden mystery, which God decreed before the ages for our glory 8 and which none of the rulers of this age understood, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the human heart conceived,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
10 God has revealed to us through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For what human knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. 13 And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.
14 Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny.
16 “For who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct him?”
But we have the mind of Christ.
