1 Cor 2:6-16 The wisdom of the Spirit – sermon notes
Text: 1 Corinthians 2:6-16
Let’s begin by celebrating some of the great achievements of the human race….
But there is one path of enquiry that is shut to us; one horizon beyond which we are unable to see…
The world, through its own unaided wisdom, cannot, does not, and never will, know God, 1 Cor 1:21.
But there is a wisdom that comes from God, a wisdom of the Spirit, 1 Corinthians 2:6-16.
It is invisible, inaudible, unimaginable, 1 Cor 2:9.
It is a wisdom that is focused on the cross. Indeed, if the movers and shakers of this world had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory, 1 Cor 2:8.
- The Holy Spirit searches, v10b
- The Holy Spirit reveals, v10a
- The Holy Spirit teaches, v13
- The Holy Spirit illuminates, v13
Let’s apply this to the following groups of people
(a) The ‘spiritual elite’ – those who, like Paul’s opponents at Corinth, imagine themselves to belong to some higher class of spirituality. Those who advocate ‘second blessing’ theology are, wittingly or unwittingly, in danger of such elitism. But Paul insists that although there may be degrees of knowledge and holiness, there are no ‘lower’ and ‘higher’ classes in the Christian faith.
(b) The well-educated – those whose Christian faith may seem to be under threat by their study of biology, say, or history, or psychology, or sociology, or philosophy, or (perish the thought! academic theology). But no field of human enquiry can, by its own legitimate tools and methods, adjudicate on questions about God. for God is known, not by discovery, but by revelation.
(c) Those who are attracted either by a ‘word’ or a ‘spirit’ approach. God’s word and God’s Spirit walk together hand-in-hand in this passage, as indeed they do throughout Scripture. What God has joined together, let not man put asunder.
And finally…
In v9 Christians are characterised by love for God.
In v7 God’s eternal plan is for our glory.