That Corinthian Church

Wisdom From The Holy Spirit - the Corinthian Church

 

You’ll remember, friends, when I, Paul,

came to you to speak of God’s triumph

in Jesus Christ - Crucified, Risen, Coming again!

Not with polished speeches, nor the latest

philosophies.  I kept it simple.

But God’s Message came through anyway!

God’s Holy Spirit and God’s power

did it and made clear that your life of faith

is the response to God’s power.

You’ve seen and heard because God

by His Holy Spirit has brought it all out

into the open before you all.

Because of Christ-on-the-Cross,

we now become free people.

 

      1. Paul's style of preaching.  1 Cor. 2:1-5.

        a. Paul's enemies accused him being weak and trembling.  His opposition said: "For his letters, they say, are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible" (2 Cor. 10:10).  Paul replied: "Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when we are absent, such we will also be in deed when we are present."

        Note: because Paul did write, he still speaks to us and has spoken to countless millions of people down through the ages.  He will continue to speak as long as the world stands.

        Paul was a true Gospel preacher. He tried to “be all things to all men that he might by all means save some.”  He did not have the eloquence of Apollos (Acts 18:24-28).  He was not a "hell-fire-and-brimstone" type of preacher.  Note Paul’s sermon on Mars Hill in Acts 17. 

        b. Did he feel weak and trembling? Note Romans 1:16-17.        "I am not ashamed of the gospel."  Paul is saying that he has complete confidence and trust in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  No weakness or trembling where the Christ of the Gospel is concerned.

        c. Paul did speak with authority.  1 Cor. 5:3-5.  "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ...”    And: "Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the authority which the Lord has given me for edification and not for destruction" (2 Cor. 13:10).

        d. Why he chose this style.  verse 4-5.  To put Christ first.  Not with eloquent words of human excellence.  But with convincing proof of the power of God's Holy Spirit.

        e. The Holy Spirit's power.  verse 4-5.  Compare 1 Thess. 1:4-6; Acts 13:52.  "And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit."

 

      2. Look for God's wisdom.  God reveals His wisdom to us.  Read 1 Cor. 2:6-10.  Compare James 3:17-18.

        a. Paul shows that God's wisdom is not something we discover on our own.  God chooses to reveal Himself to us.   

        b. The rulers did not know this mystery, or they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. 

        c. God's mystery now revealed in Christ is what no one ever thought or imagined.  God's Plan to save the world in Christ.  The future which God has prepared for us.  The quotation is based on Isaiah 64:4; 65:17.

 

      3. The Holy Spirit links our minds with God.  1 Cor. 2:10-16.  Compare Romans 15:4; 1 John 4:1-11.

        a. God revealed these things through His Holy Spirit.  Note 2 Peter 1:19-21; Matt. 11:25-30.

        b. There is a difference between the spiritual man and the natural man.  1 Cor. 2:10.  The spiritual man stands on a "higher plain" and is able to see with the eye of faith.

        c. We have the mind of Christ.  1 Cor 2:13-15.  "Whoever does not have the Holy Spirit cannot receive the gifts that come from God's Holy Spirit.  Such a person really does not understand them, they are nonsense to him, because their value can only be judged on a spiritual basis.  Whoever has the Holy Spirit, however, is able to judge the value of everything, but no one is able to judge him."

        d. Paul again quotes Isaiah 40:13 in 1 Cor 2:16.  Note Romans 11:33-36.