I feel like I need to apologize again for way I'm going about this study. Normally when I write, I make sure I organize things under headings, vary sentence and paragraph length, and use other tricks to help keep the attention of the reader. And then I reread it and correct it before I show it to the world.
This is simply a window into my own study as I process Scripture by using writing. I don't expect people to think it is interesting or well-written. It doesn't impart any new truths about Scripture. There are no interesting anecdotes because my purpose isn't to teach or to grab attention: It's simply to understand, which is fitting since so far chapters 1-2 have been all about wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.
Paul has ADHD
As I read 1 Corinthians 2, I notice Paul basically repeats a lot of the same things he said in chapter 1, except out of order. We like preachers who organize God's word into numbered points that we can easily grasp. Paul is not that preacher (and remember, he says straight up he's not good with words).
Don't get me wrong. He stays on topic, but can't seem to organize his thoughts. While this can make it less easy to follow, it also requires more careful reading, which can lead to better understanding. When we have to do more work to understand, it's more likely to stick.
What is "God's wisdom"?
Every time I read "God's wisdom", I have to remind myself that this is not necessarily the wisdom about how to live a godly life, though he does guide us in that too. He says several times that God's wisdom is a person - Christ himself.
1:23-24 - "but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the...wisdom of God". 1:30 - "And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God". 2:2 - "For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified".
God's wisdom is something to be shared with believers. 2:6 -7- "Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom...we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God." 2:13 - "And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual." 2:1-5 summary: Paul demonstrates that he himself preaches God's wisdom to believers.
God's wisdom cannot be understood by those who do not have his Spirit within them. 2:6 - "Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away...None of the rulers of this age understood this...What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,, nor the heart of man imagined..." 2:14 - "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned." Back to chapter 1 - 1:18 "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing". 1:22 - "For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles."
Believers already have God's wisdom. This is obviously not to say we understand everything about God, but because God's wisdom is Christ himself, we already have it. "Now we have received...the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given u by God". 2:16 - "But we have the mind of Christ."
He touches on a few other themes he already discussed as well, such as the craziness of the idea that God, the creator, would use us, his creation, to share his message through the weakness of our own tongues.
And again - this WHOLE conversation sprouted from Paul's criticism of Christians following the words of their preferred preachers instead of the wisdom of Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:6-16a
Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written,
"What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him" -
These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 'For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?' But we have the mind of Christ.
(Royalty-free photo from Unsplash, photographer Joel Muniz)
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