1 Corinthians 2
1 Corinthians 2:1-16
1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.
2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
3 I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.
4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
6 However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.
7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory,
8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 But as it is written: “EYE HAS NOT SEEN, NOR EAR HEARD, NOR HAVE ENTERED INTO THE HEART OF MAN THE THINGS WHICH GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.”
10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
11 For what man 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 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 know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.
16 For “WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD THAT HE MAY INSTRUCT HIM?” But we have the mind of Christ.
The unspiritual self, just as it is by nature, can’t receive the gifts of God’s Spirit. There’s no capacity for them. They seem like so much silliness. Spirit can be known only by spirit— God’s Spirit and our spirits in open communion. Spiritually alive, we have access to everything God’s Spirit is doing, and can’t be judged by unspiritual critics. Isaiah’s question, “Is there anyone around who knows God’s Spirit, anyone who knows what he is doing?” has been answered: Christ knows, and we have Christ’s Spirit.
From the first chapter Paul continues focusing on the instruction that should be followed after. Instead of getting caught up with catchy phrases from men that seem to be wise and thoughtful, for us there is direct access to the mind of Christ where we find true wisdom, and impression with man’s wisdom fades into nothing. Much more than just lofty thoughts, instruction by the Spirit comes with confirming demonstration of power that establishes its legitimacy beyond just conjecture. We have received the incredible Spirit of Truth that both teaches and guides us into all truth.
With the provision of wisdom that is Spirit to spirit and proven out in life, diversions into sharing and retweeting nice little phrases of something that happened to pop into someone’s awareness is a bit of a slight to the Spirit and lessening of His influence. What we follow after and the thoughts that influence our emotions and choices either come from the Spirit of truth or the thoughts of men. While possibly really thoughtful and nice, if there is to be true acceptance of the mind of Christ, these other diversions might need to be set aside to focus on His wisdom alone.
To be abiding and living in the spirit is so important if we are wanting to have the things of God revealed to us.
We cannot do it in the flesh or in the world, we have to be in the spirit.