PAUL NOW STRESSES HIS OWN EXAMPLE TO DEMONSTRATE THAT THE GOSPEL IN ITS SUCCESSFUL PRESENTATION BY HIM HAD NOT BEEN WITH ELOQUENCE AND WISDOM, BUT IN POWER (2:1-8). ‘And I, brothers, when I came to you, did not come with excellency of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the mystery (or ‘testimo... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling, and my word and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.' Paul stresses the great conce... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are perfect. But a wisdom not of this world, nor of the rulers of this world which are coming to nought. But we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, even the wisdom that has been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds to our glory, which none of the rule... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Which none of the rulers of this world know, for if they had known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.' This refers back in his mind to both ‘wisdom' and ‘glory'. They did not know the wisdom of God, and thus they did not recognise the glory which came in the Lord Jesus, the glory... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But as it is written, “Things which eye saw not, and ear heard not, and which did not enter into the heart of man, whatever things (those refer to) God prepared for those who love him”.' He declares that Scripture reveals that what he has been describing is beyond human comprehension. It is descri... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS MESSAGE IS REVEALED TO MEN BY THE ONE HOLY SPIRIT ENLIGHTENING THE MIND AND HEART (2:9-16). 1 Corinthians 2:9 are connecting verses. They confirm what has been said about the wonder of what God has done, and lead in to Paul's explanation of how God brings it home to men.... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But to us God has revealed them through His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.' For at this end of the ages the Spirit has been poured out from above to illuminate the church of Christ, all who truly believe in Christ, and He has revealed to God's people (‘to... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For who among men 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 for the Spirit of God.' A man's true self and inner knowledge and very being is only known to that man, deep inside through his ‘spirit', that inner part which i... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But we received, not the spirit of the world but the Spirit of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us by God.' The contrast with the Spirit of God is the spirit of the world. There may be a verging here on to the idea of an elemental spirit that deceives men (‘the spirit of... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.' ‘We speak.' Thus all who truly teach in Christ's name do so through the Spirit. For all who are truly His operate through the Spirit of God. This includes P... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Now the natural man (man in Adam, the animal man, the man of this world, the man without the Spirit, man as he is without God) does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, because they are spiritually discerned (examined, considered, assessed, judged).' In contr... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But the spiritual one (pneumatikos) judges all things, and he himself is judged of no man. For “who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.' The second part of this verse is a quotation from Isaiah 40:13, ‘who has directed the Spirit of the Lor... [ Continue Reading ]