1 Corinthians 2:6-16 - The Necessity of the Spirit
Marc Minter
1 Corinthians • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 15 viewsMain Point: Sinners are converted and Christians are matured as they are taught the wisdom of God by those who understand it, and all is enabled by God’s Spirit.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Have you ever noticed that Christian conversion and spiritual growth are (in many ways) not like any other task or goal in life? I mean, if you want to become a golfer, you buy some clubs and balls, you learn a few techniques, and you pay a small fortune in green fees. Voilà, you’re a golfer! And if you want to be a better golfer, then you spend more time and money doing it… you practice.
The same is true for virtually any task or goal I can think of. With the basic aptitude (physical ability and mental capacity), and with an appropriate level of determination, any of us in this room can become proficient at welding a bead, riding a bicycle, using a table saw, or typing on a keyboard.
But this is not true of Christian conversion or spiritual growth. Now, I don’t mean that conversion or spiritual maturity are completely effortless. But I do mean to say that I’ve known some people to read their Bible every day for decades without displaying anything that might resemble spiritual maturity. I’ve talked with some people about the gospel, and though they are generally intelligent, they seemed completely unable to understand the meaning of what I was telling them. Surely many of us in this room can attest to the frustration of not seeing the results we’d like in our own lives from our efforts toward spiritual growth and maturity.
What are we to make of this?
Does the Bible teach us anything that will help us understand why this is? And is there anything we can do to strive toward spiritual growth or to actually turn from sin and really follow Jesus?
Thankfully, the Bible does help us a lot… both to understand why this is and to know what we can do for our part in repenting and believing… and growing in Christ.
Today, we’re picking up with our study through the book of 1 Corinthians. You might recall that this letter was written from the Apostle Paul to the church in Corinth after Paul had received word that things were not going so well there. Though this letter was written nearly 2,000 years ago to a bunch of Christians who lived in a culture quite different from our own, human nature hasn’t changed, and God’s plan to save and to grow Christians is still the same.
Let’s stand as I read our text, and then let’s consider it a while together this morning.
Scripture Reading
Scripture Reading
1 Corinthians 2:6–16
1 Corinthians 2:6–16
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.
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. 15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
Main Idea:
Main Idea:
Sinners are converted and Christians are matured as they are taught the wisdom of God by those who understand it, and all is enabled by God’s Spirit.
Sermon
Sermon
1. We do Speak (v6)
1. We do Speak (v6)
We’ve come now to the conclusion of Paul’s opening argument in this letter to a divided church. They were divided on the basis of all sorts of worldly wisdom. One group valued oratory and fancy speeches. Another group valued highly disciplined living; they were very strict in their diet, their religious routine, and their dealings with others (socially and in business). Still another group valued dramatic spirituality; they relished the opportunity to say and do the most taboo stuff under the banner of Christian freedom or spiritual gifting.
Some of this may seem spiritual, but in Corinth it was worldly or fleshly or immature. Powerful rhetoric may be true and good, but it may also be used to deceive, to manipulate, or even to destroy. So too, disciplined living is (in one sense) exactly what good Christianity looks like. But strict discipline for its own sake, or worse, for the sake of making yourself better than someone else, is the epitome of self-righteousness. It is at the same time both legalistic and immature.
And what may have been the worst feature of church-life in Corinth was that worldliness and immaturity were being presented as gifts of God’s grace. One shockingly sinful church member was being publicly celebrated (1 Cor. 5:1) – “Look at how gracious God is!” – and a lot of church members were claiming freedom and spirituality while they trampled under foot their brothers and sisters.
So, Paul had heard about all of this from a “report” that came to him from “Chloe’s people” (1 Cor. 1:11) when they visited him in Ephesus. Paul’s response was this letter, and Paul began by reminding the Corinthians that worldly wisdom is powerless, foolish, and condemned under God’s judgment. Paul had deliberately avoided worldly wisdom in his ministry among the Corinthians, and he was calling them back to the basics of Christian belief and practice.
The answer to church disunity and spiritual immaturity was true Christian doctrine. And, friends, this is always the case. Some people might be scared of doctrine, and others might shy away from it, because “Doctrine divides!”. But the clear teaching of 1 Corinthians is that teaching and understanding and applying good or sound doctrine is the only hope for real unity and real spiritual growth.
But the hanging question at the end of Paul’s opening argument seems to be, “If worldly wisdom is so bad, then is Christian doctrine unwise?” Or, to say it another way, “Is Christian doctrine actually as ‘foolish’ as worldly people think it is?” Our passage today is Paul’s answer to this pressing question.
In v6, Paul says, “among the mature we do impart [or “speak”] wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age” (v6). So, there is a “wisdom” that Paul and others did “speak” or “impart” in an effort to make disciples in the world. We will get into what that wisdom was or is in point two of my sermon, but for now, I’d like to address two distinctions Paul makes here.
We need to know what he means by “the mature” and “this age” (v6) so that we can understand what he’s saying throughout the rest of this passage.
First, Paul speaks of “the mature” (v6) as opposed to the “natural person” (v14) or the “fleshly” person and the spiritual “infants” (in 1 Cor. 3:1). As we will see more emphatically in v10-16 of our passage, the Apostle Paul is drawing a line of distinction between those people who are spiritually “mature” or “initiated” or “perfected” (v6) and those people who are “natural” (v14) or unspiritual or “fleshly” (1 Cor. 3:1). In one sense, Paul is simply using the same language here as Jesus did in John 3 about being “born again” or “born…of the Spirit” (Jn. 3:3, 5).
The Scripture says elsewhere that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17). And in another place, “According to his great mercy, [God] has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Pet. 1:3)… and “you have been born again… through the living and abiding word of God” (1 Pet. 1:23).
I think probably the most concise passage in the Bible that speaks to this spiritual re-birth is Ephesians 2. There Paul is speaking to Christians, and he says, “you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked… and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ…” (Eph. 2:1-5).
In the context of our passage, “the mature” (v6) are at least those who have been born again, who have been re-created, or who have been made alive in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. But Paul is calling for “maturity” among immature or “infantile” Christians (1 Cor. 3:1). There is a clear distinction between those who are spiritually alive and those who are not, but there also seems to be something of a spectrum between those who are merely born again and those who have actually grown up a bit into spiritual maturity.
We will talk more about this in a bit, and we will get a lot more into it when we get to chapter 3. For now, it seems to me that “the mature” (v6) are those who have been born again and who are also capable of applying the gospel more comprehensively in their lives.
Second, Paul speaks of “this age” (v6) as opposed to “the age to come” (Eph. 1:21; cf. Matt. 12:32). The Bible often speaks in terms of “ages,” and this is a reference to a historical framework for understanding where we are in the overall unfolding of God’s plan to save and glorify sinners in order to display His own glorious character and nature. Some Christians draw hard lines between various “ages” and even number them off as though there were an obvious calendar we can all see right there on the pages of Scripture. For my part, I don’t see the term being used quite so neatly… except in the case of the New Testament references to “this age” and “the age to come.”
For example, Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus that God raised Christ “from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come” (Eph. 1:20-21). In the context of Ephesians 1 and our main passage this morning (in 1 Corinthians), it seems to me that “this age” refers to the present reality of this world… that time between Christ’s first coming and His second.
Jesus reigns in this present age as the King of kings and Lord of lords, and He has begun to fulfill all that God has promised in the New Covenant, but we still live in a world that remains under God’s curse, and it is in various ways under the influence of anti-Christian (or even devilish) forces. We await the age that is to come, in which Christ Himself will bring to completion both the judgment of God against sinners and the salvation of God for those who repent and believe.
Friends, this unfolding plan of God’s judgment and salvation is the heavenly “wisdom” Paul was writing about. It’s the “wisdom of God” (v7), revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ, which the “rulers of this age” did not understand (v8), and the “natural person” cannot recognize (v14).
So, what is the “wisdom of God” (v7)? How does anyone know or understand it? And what is the necessary work of the Spirit of God in all of this?
Well, the answers to these questions are the next two points of my sermon…
2. What do we Speak? (v7-9)
2. What do we Speak? (v7-9)
Three times in our passage, Paul says “we impart” or “we speak” (v6, 7, 13). In the first instance, Paul is saying “We do actually ‘impart’ or ‘speak’ wisdom!” (v6). This is not “a wisdom of this age or of the rulers this age” (v6), but it is “wisdom” nonetheless. It is (v7) “a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages.” Paul says, “This is what ‘we speak’ or ‘impart’” (v7)!
Let’s try to ask and answer three more questions here: (1) What is this wisdom? (2) What does the Bible mean by saying “God decreed” it? And (3) what does it mean that this wisdom was “secret” and “hidden” before?
First, what is this “wisdom” (v7)? It is the “wisdom of God” (v7), which is “for our glory” (v7). It centers on the “crucifixion” of the “Lord of glory” (v8). And it is revealed as “what God has prepared for those who love him” (v9).
Friends, this is the wisdom of God we talked about at length some Sundays ago, when we were studying the last several verses of chapter 1. Our passage today is not far away. Look back there with me, especially at v30. Paul said, “because of him [because of God] you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption…” (1 Cor. 1:30).
The wisdom of God is put on display in God’s ability to put guilty sinners “in” Christ Jesus and to grant those sinners “righteousness and sanctification and redemption” even though they are totally deserving of the opposite.
As I described before, “righteousness” is a legal term, and God’s wisdom is revealed in that He made sinners righteous in Christ while at the same time He satisfied the demands of His own law. “Sanctification” refers to moral purity, and God’s wisdom is shown by making unholy sinners holy in Christ without diminishing His own holiness in the least. And “redemption” is a financial term; in Christ God wisely arranged that infinitely indebted sinners would have had their accounts credited in full, and God’s ledger would remain perfectly balanced.
All of this happened in the person and work of Christ. Because of Jesus’s holy and righteous life, and because of His death in the place of the guilty, God is both the just and the justifier of those who repent and believe in Him (Rom. 3:26).
So, what is the “wisdom of God” that Paul is talking about here? It is God’s plan to save some sinners and to judge others. In the person and work of Jesus Christ, especially in His crucifixion, we are able to see God’s wisdom on display. And the wisdom Paul is talking about is also the application of that gospel in the lives of “mature” believers. Christians increasingly possess God’s wisdom as they grow both in their knowledge of the gospel and in their ability to apply it more and more in their own lives… and in the lives of others.
Second, what does the Bible mean that God “decreed” His plan to save and grow sinners in spiritual maturity? Verse 7 says that God “decreed” or “ordained” (KJV) or “destined” (NIV) or “predestined” (NASB) His gloriously wise plan “before the ages” (v7). And this single truth (in my estimation, above all others) is at once incredibly disruptive and perfectly settling for those who believe it.
The Bible is consistent throughout; the God of the Bible is above and beyond all others. He transcends time and space, and He does as He pleases. He is not reactionary, and His plans are more certain than the rising of the sun tomorrow.
The Scriptures teach us that God formed His plan to save and to sanctify sinners not only before sinners existed, but even before time itself. God didn’t make a plan to save sinners after Adam sinned, God made a plan to save sinners as part of His intention to create Adam and all his progeny in the first place.
Ephesians 1 says that God “chose” some sinners to be “in” Christ “before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4). God “predestined” some sinners “for adoption… as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will” (i.e., not as a reaction) and “to the praise of his glorious grace” (Eph. 1:5-6).
Elsewhere, the Bible says, God “saved” sinners and “called” sinners “to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave… in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 1:9-10).
So, what does the Bible mean that God “decreed” His plan of salvation? Well, it means that God decided on it and formed it “before the ages” (v7). And God “manifested” (2 Tim. 1:10) or “revealed” (v10) that plan both at “the appearing” of Christ our Savior and “through [His] Spirit” to those who believe.
Third, what does it mean that God’s plan of salvation was “secret” and “hidden” before? The word in v7 is literally “mystery.” Right here in our passage, Paul says that “the rulers of this age” did not “understand” God’s decreed plan to save sinners through the crucifixion of His own Son (v8). And in v9, Paul cited an Old Testament prophecy that explains why.
Like Paul already did in chapter 1, he again cites Isaiah here. In both citations, Paul is linking his own day with the circumstances of Isaiah’s ministry to the people of Israel, or more specifically the people of Judah. Isaiah was a prophet God sent to His people, not for the purpose of calling them to repentance, but instead to declare a message of coming judgment and future salvation (Is. 6:9-13).
Near the end of Isaiah’s message, he spoke of a time when God Himself would “rend the heavens and come down” to earth (Is. 64:1). Isaiah prayed that God would “make [His] name known to [His] adversaries,” like He had done when He delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt (Is. 64:2). And it is in the middle of this prayer and prophecy about God’s salvation of His people through judgment that Isaiah said, “from of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him” (Is. 64:4).
But how could a God who is holy and just come near to a people who sinned so grievously against Him without completely destroying them? This is the constantly nagging question throughout the Old Testament, and once you start to see it, you’ll see it everywhere. This is the unsolved mystery that only became known when the “rulers of this age” conspired together and “crucified the Lord of glory” (v8). And it was in that climactic event of real human history that Isaiah’s prayer was answered. He prayed, “Be not so terribly angry, O LORD, and remember not iniquity forever” (Is. 64:9).
God Himself had promised to answer Isaiah’s prayer through other prophets, like Jeremiah, and the author of Hebrews says that Jesus was the fulfillment of God’s promise. Citing Jeremiah 31:34, the author of Hebrews wrote, “[God said], I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more… Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus… and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith… [and] let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised if faithful” (Heb. 10:17-23).
So, what is the “secret and hidden wisdom of God” that Paul and others “spoke” or “imparted” among “the mature”? It was God’s plan to save and grow sinners, which God had decreed from the beginning, promised throughout the ages, and revealed in the fullness of time. But how does anyone know or understand it?
3. How do we Know? (v10-16)
3. How do we Know? (v10-16)
The third time Paul says he and others “speak” or “impart” the wisdom of God is in v13, which is the climax of this section (v10-16). Paul says, “we impart this [i.e., the “things God has revealed to us through the Spirit” (v10) and the “things freely given us by God” (v12)] in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual” (v13).
Incredibly, Paul cites Isaiah again in v16, asking a question Isaiah asked about 800 years earlier: “who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” (v16; cf. Isaiah 40:13). And the obvious answer is, “No one!” But Paul says, “we [those “taught by the Spirit of God”] have the mind of Christ” (v16)!
The simple but profound truth that confronts us here is that God is the one, by His Spirit, who grants faith and spiritual growth. And God has not only worked out His plan of salvation in real human history, but He also works in real time to convert and to grow those sinners He means to save. But how can anyone know and understand and grow up in maturity in the wisdom of God? God, by His Spirit, must enable both the speaker and the hearer, both the teacher and the disciple.
Praise God that there have been people in our lives who have loved us and who have taught us the message of God’s salvation! Praise God that there have been faithful moms and dads, faithful pastors, and faithful men and women (regular, everyday saints) who’ve taken the time to explain to us what it means that Jesus saves! …and what it means to take hold of that salvation for ourselves!
But Paul isn’t just talking about knowing facts here, and he’s not merely talking about becoming a Christian. Lots of people know the message of the gospel but don’t actually believe and follow and grow to maturity in Christ. Paul is talking about really knowing the gospel, or understanding it for what it is, or believing it as truly good news. And Paul is also talking about “discerning” (v14) or comprehending “spiritual truths” as increasingly “spiritual” people (v13). He’s talking about the ability to apply the wisdom of God to all of life.
As I’ve already been saying, the “wisdom of God” (v7) here is not merely aimed at the conversion of sinners; it is aimed at the full completion or “perfection” (KJV) or “maturity” of sinners (v6). It most certainly includes conversion, but it doesn’t stop there.
Paul says that “the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God” (v10). And “the Spirit of God” even “comprehends the thoughts of God” (v11), which are “freely given… by God” to those who “understand” them (v12). Indeed, “the Spirit” Himself teaches “spiritual truths to those who are spiritual” (v13).
Now, all of this might sound kind of strange and ethereal, especially if we take these statements out of their context. But remember what Paul is talking about here. He’s talking about the profound wisdom of God that centers on the person and work of Christ. He’s not saying that there’s some higher knowledge of Christianity to discover; he’s saying that the revelation God already gave us is deeper and weightier and more comprehensively applicable than any of the Corinthians seemed to understand. Indeed, if they had understood it, then they wouldn’t have been acting like childish worldlings!
Furthermore, Paul is calling them to grow in spiritual maturity by centering their minds and their actions back on the gospel of Christ. It was just a few verses ago that Paul said, “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). So, “spiritual truths” and the “depths of God” are not some “secret” or “hidden” wisdom that God hasn’t yet revealed. Rather, the whole point Paul is making here is that God “has revealed” His “wisdom” in the person and work of Christ and by His Spirit… but only to “those who are spiritual” (v13). And there’s the rub.
Paul wrote this letter to a divided church full of members who thought they were wise and mature. But they were judging themselves and others on the basis of worldly wisdom. And Paul was telling them right up front that the maturity they really needed only comes by way of understanding and applying true doctrine by the power of the Spirit of God… who works in them and through those who teach or “speak” to them or “impart” such things to them.
The fact was that the Corinthian Christians were not mature at all. In fact, Paul warned them in v14 that their immaturity was quite concerning, since the “natural person” is the one who “does not accept the things of the Spirit of God” (v14). Indeed, the “natural person” is “not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (v14). In other words, many of the Corinthians were acting like “natural” or unregenerate or non-Christian people since they were apparently not understanding or applying the spiritual wisdom Paul and others had taught them. That is what non-Christians do; they do not accept the wisdom of God because they are not able to understand it as truly wise.
But did their apparent inability to understand or apply spiritual truths change Paul’s methods or tactics? Did he turn to worldly wisdom or natural techniques in order to better communicate with a seemingly “natural” or unspiritual bunch of church members? NO! He went back to the basics of Christianity; he called the Corinthians to repent of their foolishness; and he urged them to humbly unite under the gospel of Christ.
Paul believed that sinners can be converted, and that Christians do grow in maturity over time, but only as they are taught the wisdom of God by those who understand it, and only as they are enabled by God’s Spirit to embrace and apply it.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Friends, God does indeed draw sinners to Himself, grant spiritual life to those sinners who repent and believe, and preserve and grow to maturity those sinners who finally enter into the glory God has prepared for those who love Him. But we live in a world full of sinners who cannot understand how the Lord of glory could offer such a salvation on terms that seem so contradictory to the glory of this world. Even Christians (yes, even many of us here) often struggle to embrace and submit ourselves to the wisdom of God over the wisdom of this world.
Christianity offers full salvation through Christ, but it demands the total abandonment of all that comes natural to our sinful hearts and minds. And this is not merely a one-time exchange; it is an ongoing practice of becoming aware of our sin and error, wrestling between our sinful desires and our love for Christ, then turning from sin or unbelief or negligence, and finally trusting that God’s truths and God’s ways are better than our own.
And all of this happens (Christian conversion and spiritual growth) as we are taught more and more of the wisdom of God by those who understand it, and as we teach others what we have learned by study and practice, and as God’s Spirit enables us to believe, to grow, and to teach others to do the same. May God grant us humility as we learn and maturity as we grow, and may God help us to know Him better and better until we all attain the full stature of Christ (Eph. 4:11-16).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Aland, Kurt, Barbara Aland, Johannes Karavidopoulos, Carlo M. Martini, and Bruce M. Metzger, eds. Novum Testamentum Graece. 28th ed. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2012.
Chrysostom, John. Saint Chrysostom: Homilies on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians. Edited by Philip Schaff. Logos Research Edition. Vol. 12. A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, First Series. New York, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1889.
Ciampa, Roy E., and Brian S. Rosner. The First Letter to the Corinthians. Logos Research Edition. The Pillar New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2010.
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. Logos Research Edition. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
Sproul, R. C., ed. The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (2015 Edition). Logos Research Edition. Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2015.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Logos Research Edition. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016.
The Holy Bible: King James Version. Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009.
The Holy Bible: New International Version. Logos Research Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984.
The NET Bible First Edition. Logos Research Edition. Biblical Studies Press, 2005.
Vaughan, Curtis, and Thomas D. Lea. 1 Corinthians. Logos Research Edition. Founders Study Commentary. Cape Coral, FL: Founders Press, 2002.