SS10-26-03.

STUDY THEME: LIFE IN THE SPIRIT. 10-26-03.

“THE SPIRIT PROVIDES WISDOM.” 1 CORINTHIANS 2:1-16.

1 CORINTHIANS 2:1-5, 6-10, 11-13- 14-16.

PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO 1 CORINTHIANS 2.

The two letters to the Corinthians, the letter to the Romans, and that to the Galatians form a quartet of epistles that were apparently written during Paul’s third missionary journey in AD 55, and bear a very intimate relationship each to the other. In 1 Corinthians 16:8 Paul makes it clear that he wrote the letter from Ephesus where he had spent over two years.

As we come to the close of this four-week study of the Holy Spirit I trust we have learned several things. We learned hat the Holy Spirit did not originate at Pentecost, but was present in Genesis 1 when God created the heaven and the earth. While the earth was yet without form and void, “ The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” God’s Spirit gives life to all; when He withdraws His Spirit life ceases. The Almighty Spirit makes the earth into a habitation for human beings.

In lesson 1 we learned ha the Holy Spirit would continue Jesus’ work when Jesus ascended back to heaven. The Holy Spirit continues Jesus’ work by living in believers, teaching the truth, and convicting sinners.

Oct. 12 we learned that it is the Holy Spirit that gives new life to those who believe in and receive Jesus.

The Oct. 19 lesson addressed the question, “What does the Spirit empower me to do?” The Biblical Truth is that the indwelling Spirit empowers believers and helps us live as God’s children, accomplish God’s purpose, and affirm God’s love.

The theme of today’s lesson is that the Holy Spirit gives wisdom and understanding for mature living. The Life Question is, “How does the Sprit help me to live as a mature Christian?” The Biblical Truth is that the Spirit helps believers live as mature Christians by providing wisdom. The word wisdom will appear frequently in today’s lesson.

We know that wisdom comes from God. His Word declares the wisdom of God in the cross. Wisdom is not a human achievement but a divine gift that comes through the Holy Spirit. Godly wisdom results in mature understanding and living.

James 1:5 says, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth all men liberally.” The word wisdom includes knowledge, but knowledge that shows good sense. It is insight and discernment that leads to sound judgment, good advice, and mature living. The Biblical use distinguishes sharply between godly wisdom and worldly wisdom. Their sources are different. One champions self-giving love; the other emphasizes selfish ambition. One is from God’s Spirit; the other is from human reason. Biblically, wisdom is not just a way of thinking about reality but is also a way of living.

In today’s lesson Paul reminded the Corinthians that when he first preached in Corinth he did not use eloquence but plain speech in presenting the cross of Christ in the power of the Spirit. Although godly wisdom is a mystery, the Spirit reveals it to mature believers. Those without the Spirit cannot fathom the things of God, but those who live in the Spirit discern spiritual things.

1. PLEASE READ 1 CORINTHIANS 2: 1-5.

After his experience in Athens Paul determined upon going to Corinth that he would put aside everything, as far as he possibly could¸ that was merely human, and would depend fully upon the Spirit of God with one great message, “Christ and Him crucified.”

Paul realized it was quite possible, with flowery rhetoric to cover, to obscure the shame of the cross. He was determined not to do this. Instead he determined to preach the message of the cross in all simplicity. He was determined “not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” The Corinthians would not be asked to believe a creed or subscribe to a system of doctrine. They were asked to receive a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Believing in Christ saves all who trust Him.

“When I come to you.” Paul must be referring his first visit to Corinth, recorded in Acts 18: 1-17. Paul said, “I do not want to preach things in such a way that my human effort will persuade people. I am depending upon the Holy Spirit of God and divine power to do the work.

Taken by themselves Vs. 3-5 might suggest that Paul was timid, uneducated and unable to speak with force and eloquence. Both the Book of Acts 19:18 and Paul’s letters prove otherwise. Paul had learned that God can use human weakness to show forth His own glory.

Actually, Paul was not as eloquent speaker as Apollos, nor was he impressive in looks. In fact, his critics at Corinth admitted he was a powerful writer, but said in 2 Cor. 10:10 “His bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.”

Paul made no apologies for his plain method of speaking. He felt that the good news should be presented simply and truthfully. Simplicity has a power that nothing else has. One need only to listen to Billy Graham to know this to be true. Through his simple messages the Holy Spirit has

drawn millions to Christ.

Paul felt that the method of preaching the gospel should not become a show of the speaker’s ability. The danger would be to take the focus from Jesus and place it on the speaker. This is what Paul meant when he said in 1 Cor. 1:17 he was determined “to preach not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. In one of his first letters, in 1 Thess. 2:1-6 Paul denied that he ever used deceit, guile, or flattery to gain favor or money.

As far as Paul was concerned, the substance was the message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

This is God’s testimony to the world, and it is the heart of the good news.

Paul assumed the message of Jesus Christ focused on Christ crucified and included Christ raised from the dead. These two acts of divine love and power constituted the gospel. The world considered the message of a crucified Savior ridiculous. The secular minds of the day rejected the idea of resurrection from the dead. Many of the philosophers of Athens laughed. The Roman Festus recoiled in Acts 26:25 at the mention of resurrection. But Paul preached this message because he knew it was the power and wisdom of God. One translation, the NEB says, “The word I spoke, the gospel I proclaimed, did not sway you with subtle arguments: it carried conviction by spiritual power.” Put another way, Paul simply let God ‘s Spirit show His power.

In 1 Cor. 2:3 Paul’s fear and trembling was not because of concern about being persecuted, but only about the responsibility for preaching the Gospel. This kind of humility enabled his preaching to show the presence of the Spirit and the power only God could give. Thus the role of the Spirit in all of this was highlighted. Only in Him do we have the power to bear witness to the crucified and risen Lord. The word demonstration in Vs. 4 referred to proof based on evidence.

It is our weakness that too often we have tried to talk men into Christianity, instead of, in our own lives, showing them Christ. “A saint” as someone has said, “is someone in whom Christ lives again.” In Corinth, although a few were saved, that was a victory, considering the audience. Paul was not contrasting his preaching in Corinth with his preaching in Athens but with the preaching of the worldly wise in Corinth.

2. PLEASE READ 1 CORINTHIANS 2: 6-10.

In Vs. 6 Howbeit or however shows that Paul wanted to clarify what he had written. He did not want anyone to get the idea that God’s way was anti-intellectual or irrational. God’s wisdom is beyond the understanding of unaided human reason, but it is both simple in its basic proclamation and profound in its deepest meaning and application. Only the Holy Spirit can lead to understanding. The unregenerate or “natural” man is absolutely unable to discover or understand such spiritual blessings.

Those believers who are led by the Spirit are called by several names in vs. 6-14. In Vs. 6 they are called perfect or mature. This passage introduces us to a distinction between different kinds of Christian instruction and different stages of the Christian life.

Though Paul rejected the use of human wisdom in his preaching, he gave an important place to God’s wisdom. He said that among the mature or perfect he spoke wisdom. Mature refers to something fully grown or that which has accomplished its goal. In this context Paul was talking about mature Christians as opposed to Christians who are immature. In 1Cor. 3:1 he called immature believers “babies in Christ.”

Now there is nothing wrong with a new Christian being a baby spiritually, but he or she needs the milk of God’s Word. But something is wrong if a professed believer fails to grow into a mature Christian who can be fed on the meat of the Word. They are ready to move beyond the elementary truths to the deeper truths of the faith. The mature were those to whom Paul could speak the wisdom of God. The spiritually mature Christians will understand the spiritual wisdom in which Paul wrote.

That is what Paul is getting at here. So far he has been talking about Jesus Christ and Him crucified; that was the basic announcement of Christianity; but, he goes on to say we do not stop there; Christian instruction goes on to teach not only the facts but the meaning of the facts. Paul says that this is done among those who are perfect or mature. This describes a person who is a mature student.

Paul says, Out in the streets, and to those who have just newly come into the Church, we talk about the basic elements of Christianity; but when people are a little more mature we give them stronger teaching about what these basic facts mean. The tragedy so often is that people are content to remain at the elementary stage when they should be going on strenuously to think things out for themselves.

Vs. 7 should not be interpreted as a reference to mysteries accessible only to super Christians. The riches of the gospel, although “hidden” during the O.T. period, have now been revealed by the Spirit. Eph. 3:2-6 makes plain that the word “mystery” used by Paul to emphasize the distinctiveness of his message to the Gentiles, has a strong temporal meaning. The “mystery” is a truth that “in other ages was not made known (Eph. 3:5); it was “kept secret since the world began” Rom. 16: 25. But now it has been clearly revealed to those who have the Spirit, who live in the end of the ages”

Some Bible students think that Vs. 6 and 8 refer to evil spirits, but others think these verses refer to political leaders. Whoever they were, none of the princes of this world knew the wisdom of God’s open secret revealed in the death of Jesus. Had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Which group----evil spirits or earthly ruler----did not know they were crucifying the Lord? James 1:19 says the demons believe and tremble. Acts 3:17 indicates that the political rulers acted through ignorance.

These facts seem to show that the rulers Paul referred to in Vs. 6 and 8 were the earthly rulers, who were not fully aware of what they did. However, they were not so ignorant that they had no guilt (Acts 2:36).

Vs.9 is introduced by the words, It is written. These words indicate an O.T. saying. However, no verse in the O.T. reads exactly as Vs. 9. The closest is Isaiah 64:4. After examining this verse and other possibilities, Leon Morris concluded, “On the whole it seems best to think of this verse as a rather free citation of Isaiah 64:4 with reminiscences of other scriptural passages.” The meaning of the verse is clear. What God hath prepared for them that love Him, is far more wonderful than anything humans have seen, heard, or considered. The next Vs. shows that this revelation is made know by the Spirit.

3. PLEASE READ 1 CORINTHIANS 2: 11-13.

Who knows you best? Each of us is the world’s greatest authority on our own thoughts and attitudes. Paul used this analogy to teach that just a your inner human spirit knows you, so does God’s spirit know what is in the heart of God. God’s Spirit is also the means by which God reveals His heart to us. The Holy Spirit’s ministry in believers enables them to exercise godly discernment. After declaring that the Holy Spirit searches and reveals the deep things of God. Paul explained why only the Holy Spirit can reveal God’s wisdom

No one can know the concerns of a person except that person himself. Concerns mean “thoughts” of a person. In the same way, no one can know God’s concerns or thoughts except the Spirit of God who is God. That is how the Holy Spirit is able to reveal to believers the wisdom and purposes of God. No one would know about God’s purposes and plans if God had not chosen to reveal them.

How do people receive the Spirit? Worldly people receive the Spirit of the world, another way to describe worldly wisdom. Christians have received God ‘s Spirit, by which we know the things that are feely given to us of God. God’s Spirit, not human is wisdom, teaches us the words we use to speak of these things.

Paul compared a human being’s spirit to the Spirit of God. A person’s spirit is that inner part of one’s being where God has personal contact and makes His residence in one’s life. Many interpreters believe that a human being has three parts: a body, a soul, and a spirit (see 1 Thess. 5:23). The body is the physical part; the soul is the seat of the mind, will, and emotions; and the spirit is the core of one’s being where God meets a person in revelation, inspiration, intuition, and the conscience.

In Vs. 13 Paul had probably been criticized for not using human eloquence and wisdom. In reply he says hat the truths revealed by the Spirit must be explained in a way that is harmonious with the Spirit. 2^nd Timothy 3: 16-17 says “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”

Where did Paul learn what he was writing to the Corinthians? He found his answer in the contrast between the teachings of human wisdom and the teachings of the Holy Spirit. No human wisdom—whether his own or someone else’s –taught Paul about the true person of Christ: and the meaning of the ministry He came to earth to fulfill. In fact, Paul’s own human wisdom led him before his conversion to believe Jesus was an imposter who deserved to die. The Holy Spirit illuminated Paul’s mind and heart as to who Jesus really was and even gave him the words to use in explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. God’s wisdom comes not by human discovery but by divine revelation. God gives Christian wisdom to others by those who have been taught by the Spirit.

4. PLEASE READ 1 CORINTHIANS 2: 14-16.

In this chapter Pal mentioned several categories of people, contrasting specifically the natural man and the spiritual man. He referred to the “mature” in vs. 6 and the spiritual person in Vs. 1. They were believers who had grown in the Lord and could understand the deeper things of God.

In Vs. 14 Paul describes the natural man, who can best be described negatively as “a man who is unspiritual, or the man without the Spirit.

Paul’s description shows what he meant. He made three main points. First, he receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. Second, they are foolishness to him. Third, he does not know or “understand” them. Today we might call the natural man “secular.” The spiritual world is totally unknown to such people,. When they hear Christians use biblical language to describe spiritual experiences, it is like listening to some unknown foreign language. Such people are accountable for their situation. The point is that the natural man does not welcome the things of the Sprit: he refuses them, he rejects them.

He that is spiritual or “the spiritual person is the exact opposite to the natural peson. The words Judgeth and Judged in Vs. 15 translate the same word as discerned in Vs. 14. The spirit enable spiritual people to discern all things. Not necessarily all things, of course, but all things that pertain to the work of salvation, matters formerly hidden in God but now revealed through the Spirit.

Their “live-in” teacher interprets and explains everything that comes into their lives in light of the will and purposes of God. The Spirit gives them clear judgment and discernment because God has opened their eyes and enlightened their hearts.

To the lost, a spiritual person is an enigma. The spiritually mature are unable to be evaluated by either the lost or the babies in Christ. They have spiritual lives the lost do not have. They also have advanced in their spiritual lives ahead of the immature. Therefore, they live on a plane that the lost or the immature have not experienced. The deeper things of God are not over Christians’ heads as much as they are beyond their experiences. Therefore, it is difficult or even impossible for an immature believer to understand a spiritually mature and committed Christian.

Paul saw that the natural man—unsaved teachers, philosophers, and leaders—did not understand mature Christians. Also, they did not understand God. They tried to instruct God and tell God what He said, what He meant by what He said, or what He ought to do. A spiritual person knows better for the spiritually mature , (“they understand what Christ is thinking.”): The Holy Spirit has illuminated their thinking and brought their minds more and more into harmony with the very thoughts and mind of Christ.

They have been taught to see things as God sees them, not as a lost person or an immature person does. The Holy Spirit increases the growing Christians ability to exercise godly discernment in all things. Because they see things as Christ does, they are harder to be upset or shaken in their faith. They are more firmly built on the certainties of God’s Word.

Now, why is it that the spiritual person is judged of no man (cannot be evaluated by anyone, is not subject to man’s judgment?) Paul gave the best answer to this in 1 Cor. 4:3-4. “I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court: indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t make me innocent, it is the Lord who judges me.”

Here in 2:16 Paul’s reason begins with a quotation of Isaiah 40:13. The prophet asked a question whose answer is “no one.’ No one understood the mind of the Lord so much as to instruct Him. Yet God, by His Spirit has chosen to reveal to believers the Mind of Christ. “By mind” He probably means the thoughts of Christ, as they are revealed by the Spirit. In fact in the Greek Bible that Paul cites, the word “mind” means Spirit.

The gift of the Spirit does not lead to special status among believers; rather, it leads to special status to the world. But it should do so always in terms of the centrality of the message of our crucified/risen Savior. Part of the problem in Corinth was that some members considered themselves more spiritual than others. Paul went on in Ch. 3:1-4 to point out that their envy and strife showed them to be more like spiritual babies. Their actions were more like people of flesh than people of the Spirit of the crucified Lord.

These four lessons in October were designed to help us:

1. Allow the Holy Spirit to continue Jesus’ work through us.

2. Appreciate the new life the Spirit gives to those who believe in and receive Jesus.

3. Live as God desires through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.

5. Live as mature Christians.

Next Sunday we begin a five-session study series titled “THE GOOD NEWS: POWER FROM ABOVE.” The focal Scripture passages will be taken from Dr. Luke’s Book of Acts. The lessons will focus on “what it means to share the Gospel of Christ with others.” Our first lesson, “Experiencing the Gospel’s Power,” is based on Peter and John’s healing the lame man and their preaching to the crowd that gathered. A.V. DAUGHERTY 10-26-03