Wisdom From Above

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. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 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”—

10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 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. 12 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. 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. – 1 Corinthians 2:6-13 ESV

Earlier in this same chapter, when Paul wrote, “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2 ESV), he was stating that the knowledge of and belief in Christ and His death was all he needed to know. The very wisdom of God was revealed to men through the crucifixion of Jesus and was sufficient to restore men to a right relationship with Him. It was a secret and hidden wisdom that had been unknowable until the point that God revealed it to men through His Spirit. Paul claimed that if the rulers in power when Jesus was alive had understood this wisdom, they would not have crucified Him. But in their limited human wisdom, they had no way of knowing that Jesus really was the Son of God and the Savior of the world.

From Pontius Pilate and Herod the king to the high priest of Israel, none of them were able to recognize who Jesus was and what God was doing through Him. Their human wisdom proved insufficient. And while they believed they were doing the right thing by eliminating Jesus as a threat to their way of life, they were actually accomplishing the divine will of God. Peter made this point clear in his prayer after having been released from arrest by the high priest for preaching the resurrection of Jesus.

“For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.” – Acts 4:27-28 ESV

Only those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ and acknowledged Him as the Son of God who died on the cross in their place can recognize the wisdom of God in this seemingly hopeless event. Only the Spirit of God can make sense of the wisdom behind Jesus’ death. It was not until the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples at Pentecost that they were able to recognize the wisdom behind God’s plan of redemption. Jesus had to die. Without His death, there would have been no means for men to be restored to a right relationship with God. As the writer of Hebrews states, “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22 ESV).

In the days immediately following Jesus’ crucifixion, His death made no sense to His disciples. In their minds, the whole cause for which they had signed up had been an abysmal failure. Their long-awaited Messiah had been murdered, and all hopes tied to His kingdom died with Him. His death meant the death of their dreams.

But they had been wrong. Their disappointment in Jesus’ unexpected death would be replaced with delight and joy. They would soon learn that God’s ways are not our ways. His wisdom is greater than our own. His Son’s death, viewed as a tragedy from the perspective of the disciples, was actually a victory over sin and death. In facing death on the cross, Jesus was not a helpless victim, but He was actually a conquering King. As Paul states later on in this letter:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
   “O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. – 1 Corinthians 15:54-57 ESV

Quoting from the prophet, Isaiah, Paul states, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9 ESV). The death of Jesus was part of God’s divine redemptive plan long before the creation of the world. Even before sin entered the world, God had ordained that His Son would die for the sins of mankind. And our ability to see and comprehend this truth is made possible by the Spirit of God. It is only with the help of the Spirit of God that man can understand the wisdom of God. Otherwise, it all sounds like foolishness. As Paul stated earlier, “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 power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:23-24 ESV).

The only way we can comprehend the wisdom of God displayed in Christ’s death on the cross is through the insight provided by the Spirit of God. He is the one who helps us “understand the things freely given us by God” (1 Corinthians 2:12 ESV). As the Spirit of God, He alone understands the thoughts and ways of God and reveals to us the wisdom of God, “interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual” (1 Corinthians 2:13 ESV).

Paul’s use of the phrase “those who are spiritual” is not a reference to those who happen to be spiritually more mature or further along in their faith. He is referring to all those who have placed their faith in Christ and in whom God has placed His Spirit. It is the presence of God’s Spirit within us that makes us spiritual. He provides us with the capacity to understand the mind of God and “searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets” (1 Corinthians 2:10b NLT). It is the Spirit of God who helps us comprehend the wisdom behind the cross of Christ. With His assistance, we can understand how death brought about life, how tragedy resulted in victory, how our condemnation has turned into a guarantee of our future glorification, and how we can enjoy God’s unfailing love rather than His inescapable wrath.

God reminds us that His wisdom and ways are incomprehensible and incomparable.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts. – Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV

But the Spirit’s indwelling presence provides us with the capacity to know and understand God. His infinite wisdom makes sense to us because His Spirit interprets His thoughts and instructs us in His ways. 

Father, without Your Spirit, none of this would make sense. When we share the good news of Jesus Christ to others, they often respond with doubt and even disdain. The idea of a Jewish Rabbi dying on a cross and then being restored to life sounds illogical and fanciful. To them, the thought of this man’s death and resurrection providing eternal life to all those who believe sounds like a fairytale. But to me, it makes all the sense in the world. I not only believe it, but I am counting on it. Your Spirit has given me the ability to comprehend and believe in the mystery of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. While the news of Jesus’ crucifixion is “a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (1 Corinthians 1:23 BSB), it is the source of my strength and the cause of my hope. But without Your Spirit’s help, I would be unable to understand the wisdom of Your ways revealed in Christ’s finished work on the cross. Thank You! Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Misplaced Hope.

1 Samuel 31, 1 Corinthians 2

 And when the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley and those beyond the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. And the Philistines came and lived in them. – 1 Samuel 31:7 ESV

King Saul was dead. Mortally wounded in battle with the Philistines, he ended up taking his own life rather than allow himself to be taken captive alive and be subjected to a slow and humiliating death at the hands of his enemies. When news of Saul's death and that of his son, Jonathan, made it into the camp of the remaining Israelites, they panicked. They lost all hope. Their king was dead and so was his likely successor. In fact, all of Saul's sons had been killed in battle, so their was no heir to the throne. So all the Israelites living east of the Jordan abandoned their homes and cities, leaving them to be captured and occupied by the Philistines. They had placed their hope for the future in an earthly king and now found themselves leaderless and hopeless. Rather than trust God, they had decided to invest their loyalty and allegiance in a man. In their minds, it had all made sense. When they had demanded that Samuel, the prophet of God, give them a king just like all the other nations, it had seemed like such a logical and wise decision. Samuel was getting old and his sons were wicked. So it made sense that they needed a leader, and when they looked around, all the other great nations had kings. So they went with the worldly wisdom of the day and demanded a king for themselves. Now the body of their king hung lifeless and headless on the wall of a Philistine city, and they were running for their lives.

What does this passage reveal about God?

This was not God's preferred plan for their lives. He had wanted to bless them and make them successful. He had wanted to give them victory over their enemies. They were to have been the most powerful people in the land, feared by their enemies and known for the strength of their God. But now the Philistines were worshiping the power of their own gods for having given them victory over the Israelites. Rather than fear the Israelites, they saw them as weak and powerless. And they viewed the God of Israel as inferior and weak, incapable of rescuing His own people from destruction and defeat. Conventional wisdom would have supported this view. From a human perspective it would have appeared that the gods of the Philistines were more powerful than the God of the Israelites. But the wisdom of this world can't comprehend the ways of God. The Philistines were gloating over their victory. The Israelites were running as a result of their defeat. But God was going to use this bleak moment in their history as yet another lesson and as a “demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:3 ESV).

What does this passage reveal about man?

Worldly wisdom and godly wisdom are two different things. Men tend to believe their wisdom is superior and fully capable of providing them with the answers they seek and the direction they need for success in this world. Relying on human wisdom is a dangerous mistake. It may sound logical and make all the sense in the world, but Paul would remind us that placing our faith in the wisdom of this world rather than in the power of God will always lead to a less-than-perfect outcome. The people of Israel learned that lesson. So did Saul. Paul knew that the wisdom and rulers of this age “are doomed to pass away” (1 Corinthians 2:6 ESV). They come and they go, but God remains. And His wisdom is hidden, unavailable to men unless He chooses to reveal it to them. The wisest men of Jesus' day were totally incapable of recognizing who He was and unable to understand the truth of what He was offering them. Paul said, “None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Corinthians 2:8 ESV). Instead, they relied on their own wisdom and determined that the best plan was to put Jesus to death. Human wisdom resulted in their decision to have Jesus crucified. It made logical sense to them. But they were blind to the reality of what they were doing. They were incapable of understanding the will and the thoughts of God, so they relied on human reason alone.

How would I apply what I’ve read to my own life?

I have been given the ability to understand the mind of God because He has given me His Spirit. “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” (1 Corinthians 2:11-12 ESV). God has equipped me with the capacity to comprehend His will and His ways. I am not left to rely on human wisdom or the wisdom of this age. I have access to a greater source of wisdom that can not only direct me, but protect me from placing my trust and hope in the wrong things. Paul reminds me, “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” (1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV). I have the Spirit of God living within me. I have no excuse for not understanding God's will. I have no reason for refusing to trust God and place my hope in Him. But sadly, I still do. Even with the Spirit of God living within me, I can still find myself relying on human wisdom. I can still easily justify my own actions and determine that my ways make more sense than God's ways. But I have no justification for relying on anything other than God. I have them mind of Christ. I am indwelt by the Spirit of God. I have access to the Word of God. I don't have to rely on faulty human wisdom. With the help of the Spirit of God, I can comprehend the thoughts of God and live with my hope firmly placed on Him.

Father, I want to live with my trust in You, not in me. I want to live according to Your wisdom and not my own. Show me how to become increasingly more dependent on Your wisdom. Let me seek it through Your Word. Make it clear through the power and presence of Your Spirit. May I continue to learn to rely on You and place my hope and trust in You. Amen

The Mind of Christ.

1 Corinthians 2

For, "Who can know the Lord's thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?" But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ. – 1 Corinthians 2:16 NLT

In chapter 1, Paul makes it clear that the work of salvation is entirely up to God, not man. There was no reason for anyone to boast regarding their acceptance by God, because they had nothing to do with it. It was completely God's doing. God called them. He chose them. And he united them with Christ. And it was Christ who made them right with God. It was He who made them pure, holy and freed them from sin. Now Paul hammers home the point that even the message of the Gospel he had shared with them on his first visit was not the product of man's imagination or human wisdom. It was revealed by the Spirit of God. Paul reminds them that his words were not impressive or particularly eloquent from a human perspective. "And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God" (1 Corinthians 2:4 NLT). Paul didn't win these people over with his powerfully persuasive words. Instead, it was the Spirit of God that made the foolishness of the cross suddenly make sense. Without the Spirit's help, the message of the Gospel would fall on deaf ears. "So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended, and the Gentiles say it's all nonsense" (1 Corinthians 1:23 NLT). It was the Spirit of God who made the mystery of God's plan of salvation knowable and accessible. "But it was to us that God revealed these things by His Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God's deep secrets" (1 Corinthians 2:10 NLT). It is impossible to know the things of God without the help of the Spirit of God. "No one can know a person's thoughts except that person's own spirit, and no one can know God's thoughts except God's own Spirit" (1 Corinthians 2:11 NLT).

Salvation is a purely spiritual endeavor. It has nothing to do with human effort or human wisdom. It is the work of God. It requires the Spirit of God to understand the truths of God. Without the Spirit's help, the truth of God will be impossible to understand and sound like foolishness. But because God places His Spirit within the heart of every believer, they have the capacity to know and comprehend His thoughts. Paul describes it as having the mind of Christ. Not only can we understand and accept His plan of salvation, but we can know God's thoughts and grow in our knowledge of His character. We can understand deeper spiritual truths that were once hidden from us. We can read the Word of God and comprehend its meanings and apply its messages to our lives. Like Christ, we can regularly talk to the Father and have Him respond, not only in answers to our prayers, but with words of comfort and direction. We can know God's will for us. We can walk in obedience to His plan because His Spirit has made it clear to us. And His Spirit provides us with the power to do what God calls us to do.

We have the mind of Christ. What an incredible statement. What a powerful reminder that the walk of faith is not left up to us. It is not based on our ability to study harder, pray longer, memorize more, sin less or make ourselves more spiritual. It is the Spirit's' doing. It is the Spirit who provides us with the mind of Christ. He alone can provide us with the capacity to think as Christ did. He gives us the ability to hear God speak. He empowers us to do what God says. He makes God known to us. So when we read God's Word, it becomes far more than an academic pursuit, increasing our human intelligence. It becomes a spiritual endeavor, providing us with a supernatural capacity to comprehend the truths of God on a level that was previously impossible for us. There is no reason for us not to grow. There is no excuse for us to not understand the things of God. We must simply remember that it is all based on the power of God made possible through the Spirit of God. We have the mind of Christ.

Father, Your Spirit made the plan of salvation understandable to me. Without His help, I never would have even heard Your call. And now He makes it possible for me to comprehend Your Word and to hear Your voice speaking to me through it. Give me an every-increasing sensitivity to Your Spirit. Help me hear clearer, obey quicker, and rely more readily on His power and not my own. Amen.