CORINTHIANS
CHAPTER 2
The gospel is preached by the power of the Spirit—The Spirit reveals all things to the saints—The unregenerated ‘natural man’ cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God.
1 AND I, brethren, when I came to you, came
not with excellency of speech [ While Paul may have been a good preacher - he himself says that his power was not from his words but rather his testimony vs 4 ] or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. [ He convinced men by the strength of his testimony of Jesus vs 4 ]
4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words
of man’s wisdom, [ Remember Paul had been high in the ranks of the Pharisees, schooled by Gamaliel (cf. Acts 22:3) who was a leading authority in the Sanhedrin in the early first century. In the Christian tradition, Gamaliel is recognized as a Pharisee doctor of Jewish Law. In Acts:5 it speaks of Gamaliel as a man, held in great esteem by all Jews, he was one who spoke to not condemn the apostles of Jesus in Acts 5:34 to death, and as the Jewish law teacher of Paul the Apostle in Acts 22:3 Paul is one of the intellectual elite of the Church. He could have spoke to them with enticing words and speach, it was well within his power to do so, and yet he chooses not to. Why ? Because he knows that it ios the spirit that has the real power. Yet here he is discounting it entirely in favor of receiving a testimony of Christ via the Spirit. He has quoted poetry, reasoned with the philosophers and such in his speeches before - now he chooses to testify only. At this time Paul is an apostle - so he may be acting a little differently as such or because of what he has learned. He has learned that sophistry does little to convert, as a matter of fact it can pull people away because they focus on the eloquence of the words used and therefore are focusing less on the message and what they are feeling from the Holy Ghost. ] but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power: [an example of how we especially missionaries should preach today.]
5 That your faith [ your testimony, your knowledge and conviction. While Paul is addressing one group in specific. The general message of the text is that people are converted by the Spirit and not be logical debate, evidence, or reason. Nobody ever was convinced using debate, facts, or reason that Jesus is the Savior. Religious convictions are not obtained in that fashion. They are obtained in humility, or by being humbled, and receiving and accepting a witness of the Spirit. This is why missionary work relies on relatively simple concepts and emphasizes the necessity of obtaining a spiritual witness. It is also why Bible-bashing and scriptural ping pong is a waste of time. The contentious, the sign seekers, and Satan all demand proof (cf. Matt. 4:1-11, John 6:30). "Prove it!" they demand. But regardless of the proof given, they ignore it, demand more, and rationalize away the proof given. ] should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
6 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: [ "en toiv teleioiv", or among those that are perfect. Or perhaps in this context the translation of
"teleion" would be better suited as "mature" rather than "perfect". To whom would he be referring to as perfect here? When someone comes out or up from the waters of baptism they are perfect correct. So here his reference is to those that are the new converts. So in other words he can speak about the pure and simple things of the gospel to those who have accepted it, why? because they are different than the supposed wise men of the world who have not felt and been taught by the spirit. Paul's intent is to point out to them they are new in the Church, like babies per 3:1-2, and so he does not teach them with obscure doctrine which one who has been in the Church for a long time might be ready for.] : yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, [ Mystery in Greek is "Musterion" which means: The counsels of God once hidden but now revealed, in the gospel or some fact thereof; the Christian revelation generally; particular truths or details of the Christian revelation. When we say "mystery" we might as well say ordinances. This is from Greek Mysterion (usually in plural mysteria) "secret right or doctrine (known and practiced by certain initiated persons only) consisting of purifications, sacrificial offerings, processions, songs, etc." from mystes "one who has been initiated," Myein "to close shut" (see nute(adj.)); perhaps referring to the lips (in secrecy) or to the eyes (only initiates
were allowed to see the sacred rites). (Online Etymology Dictionary) So mystery as we know it today has been perverted to resemble something in a mystery novel when it came from the ancients to mean sacred rights, and initiations. So as we find in the scriptures that the word mystery is always tied to some form of Salvation and or sacred rights. ] , even the hidden wisdom,
which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
8 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, [ Paul will quote Isa. 64:4.A Passage from Isaiah on personal revelation. ] , Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared [ Paul is letting us know that what is going on in the next world is far beyond what we are familiar with here. We cannot even conceive of what things are like in the next world. We have a tendency to filter our concept of the eternities through the lens of what we are familiar with here, thinking it will be the same. Paul's statement tells us otherwise. ] for them that love him.
10 But God hath revealed them [the
things of God] unto us by his Spirit:
for the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. [The
people in Corinth were trying to reason, intellectualize the things of
God - you can't do that - Paul is writing to them that you need the spirit
to understand the things of God]
11 For what man knoweth the
things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the
things of God knoweth no
man, [ I.V. "except he has" is added in the inspired version. ] but the Spirit of God. [ What is the difference between a man of God and the natural man? compare to vs 14. Paul forwards
revelation by the Spirit as the means of obtaining knowledge concerning Christ's nature in Eph. 1:15-23 and Eph. 3:14-19. Paul's intent here is to contrast man's ability to perceive things with the Spirit's ability to perceive things. We carnal humans perceive carnal things because that is our nature, the spirit that is in us. This is the "spirit of the world" he refers to in v. 12. However, the Holy Spirit can perceive heavenly things because it is Holy. No carnal human can perceive the things of God because we are unholy. It is only by the intervention of the Holy Spirit that humans can perceive the mind of God. so, Paul's primary intent is to undercut man's wisdom. Man's wisdom is limited by his carnal nature, so any attempt at sophistry is intrinsically flawed. Hence Paul's reliance on the Spirit to teach them.
The IV/JST emends the last line of the verse from "knoweth
no man, but the Spirit of God" to "knoweth no man, except he has
the Spirit of God". This emendation is supported by this verse's
parallel compliment in v. 15.]
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 of God.
13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. [ The word sugkrinontev, which has been translated to "comparing", but other translations could include: conferring, discussing, or explaining; and the word "pneumatikoiv" should be rendered to spiritual men, and not be referred to spiritual things. The passage therefore should be thus translated: Explaining spiritual things to spiritual persons. And this sense the following verse absolutely requires.]
[ What do you think that Paul is trying to teach in verse 10 - 13? We can arrange the verses as a parallelism as follows: vs 9 & 12 are the "A"s which talk about revealation via the spirit of God. Vs 10 & 13 the B's suggest that it is the Spirit that perceives and teachs all of God's wisdom. The C's are vs 11 & 14 discuss that men left to themselves can only perceive human things because of the limitations of man without the presence of the spirit of God. The D's are last part of vs 11 & vs 15 It is only when we invite the Holy Spirit to teach us that the mind of the Lord is revealed. ]
14 But the natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of
God: [Why? Because
he is too smart, or at least thinks he is. He does not listen with a
heart open to the things of God the still small voice - he has too many
other voices in his head - bad language, hard music, pronography, violent
images...] for
they are dfoolishness [if
you cannot comprehend something it appears to be foolishness] unto
him: neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he that is spiritual judgeth [ the Greek "anakrino" means to hold something up so as to examine or inspect it. ] all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. [ What is it that Paul is trying to say here? We might assume what Paul means is that while the spiritual man examines spiritual things, the carnal man examines nothing spiritual, not even his fellow man who is spiritual. There, before his very eyes, is evidence of the Spirit in the spiritual man's testimony and walk, yet the carnal man chooses to ignore it. ]