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| Chapter 2 |
| Bible Text | Notes and Thoughts |
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1 ¶ And I, brethren, when I came to you declaring unto you the testimony of God, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching were not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not stand on the wisdom of man, but on the power of God. 6 ¶ However, we speak wisdom among those who are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, who are coming to nought. 7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world for our glory-- 8 wisdom which none of the princes of this world knew; for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. 9 But as it is written: "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." 10 But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so no man knoweth the things of God, but the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us by God. 13 These things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged by no man. 16 "For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ. |
v1-13 Wisdom from the Spirit. Many of today’s churches are very similar to the Corinthian church, they are taking the Gospel message and adding man’s wisdom to it, many preachers place the emphasis on different parts of the message, in so doing, reduce the power or even destroy the message of salvation. Paul is urging the readers of this letter to return to the fundamental (basic) teaching. v1-5 The message is centered on the death of Jesus. v1-5 Paul states the reason for his letter, not for self glory by the use of words, but Glory to God only. God had sent Paul to preach the message using simple words, to stop words hiding the cross of Christ. 1 Cor 1:17; Gal 6:14; 2 Cor 3:5. v3-4 Paul came only with God’s power, and his preaching used simple words. Why? So that it was by God’s power you were saved, a demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit. See 1 Cor 6:9-11 showing the Holy Spirit at work. v5 Paul wanted their faith to be in God not men. It is the Holy Spirit which does the convicting and saving, not the words of a man. v6-9 The Message is all part of God’s plan. v6, "The mystery of God," a sacred secret, a truth hidden, now revealed to the people of God, through Paul, the other apostles and God’s messengers. Satan would have seen in the scriptures that God’s Son would be born and then die, but did not understand the reason for the Cross, Satan thought it was a defeat for God’s plan when Jesus died a death of shame. Had Satan understood what God had planned, if he knew that the cross would defeat him, he would have done his best to stop it. Not that he would have been able to stop it, God was in full control and still is in control in all things. Paul also said that he brought a "wisdom among those who are perfect" No person is yet ‘perfect’ so he must have been talking about mature Christians. See 1 Cor 3:1-4. This wisdom comes from God, not man. v7b This wisdom was under God’s full control, it was not an after thought, this plan had been from the beginning of time, before the fall of man. Acts 2:22-23; 1 Peter 1:18-20. v8 This wisdom is hidden from the unsaved world. "Princes of this world" Leaders, governments. Certainly the Jewish leaders and most of the people did not recognize Jesus as the Son of God. Acts 3:17; Acts 4:25-28. v9 Isaiah 64:4 The original words were for Israel when they were in captivity, Paul applied this promise to the believers. Our minds just cannot begin to understand what He has prepared for us in heaven. It was as planned by God v7. v10-16 God’s wisdom is shown to us by the Holy Spirit. In this passage we see the three person of the Godhead functioning. You are save by the Grace of the Father, The death and resurrection of His Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit convicting and baptizing the believer into the Body of Christ. 1 Peter 1:2; Eph 1:3-14. We must remember that for God time does not exist, so He knew all about us before we were born, whether we would accept or reject God’s offer of forgiveness in Jesus. The Holy Spirit takes God’s message to each heart, Jesus died for the whole world on that day but the whole world has not accepted the offer and will not be saved. Those who believe were saved on the day Jesus died, even though they had not been born. This is what people called "Predestination." v10 The Spirit searches and knows what God has prepared for us. "The deep things of God." v12 We should look at the things given by the Holy Spirit. 1)The Spirit lives in us from the moment we believe and accept that we are sinners and that Jesus died for us. This means our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. 1 Cor 6:19-20. 2)The Spirit baptized us into the Body of Christ. 1 Cor 12:13. 3)He sealed us and will never leave us. Eph 1:13-14; John 14:16. v13 The Spirit Teaches. John 14:26; John 16:13. 4)We should be seeking "The deep things of God.," searching the teaching of the Holy Spirit through God’s Word daily. v14-16 Normal man has no true wisdom. An unbeliever just cannot understand the things of God, they are just rubbish, spiritual blindness. We have the "mind of Christ" this does not mean we know everything, we just see the world as Jesus sees the world. Rom 11:33-36 v15 This does not mean we know everything, we can be judged by God and other believers. We must make sure we do not go around ‘dictating’ to other Christians. |
Easy English Translation
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