I have a number of coins my grandfather gave me through the years. For the most part, they were either recently minted silver dollars or reproductions of older coins; all of them encased in a special plastic holder. Each time he gave me one, I sensed he saw a value in them that eluded me. To me, they seemed to be worth about a dollar a piece.
Today, I keep them in a safe deposit box, but I’m not sure why. My google-fu tells me they are worth, at best, a few dollars. But maybe I’m missing something. So, I treat them as if they have a lot of value, although I’m not sure what it is.
We’ve been tracing God’s communication with man through the Scriptures. We began with His seemingly infrequent, though direct conversation with saints of old, and watched that communication evolve through the Old Testament and into the Gospels. There we found Jesus regularly communicating with God through prayer. When the disciples ask Him to teach them how hear from God in the same way, He not only obliged them, He promised them the Spirit of God as well.
As the story moves into Acts that promise becomes a reality as all believers begin to be indwelt with the Holy Spirit. And, so it continues today.
But while we may acknowledge this as a “fact” we have been taught, I’m not sure we appreciate the value of this gift – kind of like these coins I have.
“Yeah, I know I have the Spirit in me. I mean, I guess. That’s what I been taught. But… ”
While we know it’s supposed to be something really special we’re not sure what difference it makes — why it is beneficial.
While I’m still clueless as to the value of the coins, the New Testament does give us clarity on the Spirit’s value.
Let’s go to 1 Corinthians.
The passage we want to look at is in the last half of chapter 2, but, in order to understand it, we need put it in context. So, let’s follow the development of Paul’s argument from the beginning of the book:
- 1:1-9 – Paul greets the Corinthians, grateful that they were enriched in God in every way.
- 1:10 – However, he is compelled to exhort them to be unified, having the same mind, same judgment.
- 1:11-12 – In place of such unity, the Corinthians were divided – some claiming allegiance to Paul, others, Apollos, still others, Cephas (Peter), and finally, others, Christ.
- 1:13-17 – Such divided allegiances contradict the Gospel, which centers on Christ, not Paul or Peter. Christ did not send Paul to recruit followers who identified with him, but to preach the Gospel. He was not to use clever speech (lit. wisdom speech –sophia logou), which would empty the cross of Christ.
- 1:18-21 – This so called wisdom speech (sophia logou) is at odds with the logos (word) of the cross, which seems foolish (moria – from which we get “moron“) to those who are perishing. But to those being saved, this foolishness is the power of God.
- 1:22-25 – So, although the Jews ask for signs (Matt 12:38–39; 16:1–4; Mark 8:11–12; Luke 11:16, 29–30; 23:8; John 2:18, 4:48; 6:2, 14, 26, 30; 7:31; 9:16; 10:41; 11:47; 12:18, 37) and the Greeks search for wisdom (sophia), Paul preaches Christ crucified – a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks. Yet this foolishness is wiser than men, and this weakness is stronger than men.
- 1:26-31- The make-up of the believers at Corinth exemplify Paul’s point – God has chosen to nullify worldly wisdom and power, so that everyone is humbled before God.
- 2:1-5 – Paul’s ministry to the Corinthians was rooted in this conviction. He avoided any display of rhetorical skill or philosophical sophistry to insure their faith would rest on the power of God, not the wisdom of man.
- 2:6-9 – That does not mean that Paul’s message lacked wisdom – but the wisdom he spoke of is God’s wisdom – a wisdom available only to the mature, and not understood by the age in which we live.
This brings us to the passage we want to consider:
For to us God revealed them [the contents of this wisdom] through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.
But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ. – 1 Corinthians 2:10-16
So, here’s the point — as believers, we have access to a wisdom that is unavailable to the age in which we live, a wisdom that seems foolish to them. How is it that we can grasp what they cannot?
Well, we have something that they do not – we have the Spirit, and it is through this
Spirit that God has revealed this wisdom.
Ok, but can’t that just mean that God revealed them to Paul, and the other writers of the New Testament, and then, they wrote them down so that we could have them too?
No. Follow his explanation:
- The Spirit searches everything, including the depths of God.
- To understand this, consider how things work among humans – the only way to know the thoughts of a man is to have that man’s spirit.
- Likewise, the only way to know the thoughts of God is to have the Spirit of God.
- So, what have we received? The Spirit, not of this world, but of God.
- This Spirit allows us to know the things God has freely given to us.
- These spiritual thoughts are expressed in words given by the Spirit.
- These truths seem foolish to the unbeliever (natural man) because they can only be understood through the Spirit. Thus, the unbeliever who does not have the Spirit, lacks the ability to appraise (discern/examine) these truths.
- By contrast, the spiritual person (the one who has the Spirit) appraises (discerns/examines) all these truths. (This statement must not be ripped from the context – all things refers to the thoughts of God that are being revealed by the Spirit, not everything we might wish to know about what God thinks.)
- However, this spiritual person is appraised (examined) by no one. (Much is implied in this statement. In the context, this spiritual person comprehends an entire realm of truth inaccessible to the natural man (who lacks the Spirit). If the natural man cannot understand these truths, he cannot evaluate whether the spiritual man who holds these truths is wise or foolish. Furthermore, the spiritual person, who has the mind of God, is living out of a wisdom that leaves him above reproach. Like a qualified elder (1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:6), he/she is beyond accusation, not to mention judgment/evaluation. Paul, Apollos, and Cephas are such individuals. Nevertheless, the Corinthians are judging them, as evidenced by the various factions already mentioned (1:12). For example, those who aligned themselves with Paul judged him to be superior to Apollos or Cephas. The different factions were evidence of their evaluation of each of these men. Such judgment is the exclusive domain of the Lord and no one else (see 4:1-5).)
- To support this assertion, Paul draws from Isaiah 40:13, putting it in the form of a rhetorical question, effectively asking, “Who knows God’s mind so well that he is now ready to teach God?” Of course, the implied answer is, “No one.” Not the natural man. Not the Corinthians.
- But we (those who are spiritual) have the mind Christ. This grants those who are spiritual, like Paul, Apollos and Cephas, access to God’s wisdom and places them beyond the appraisal of both the natural man and the Corinthians.
There is more we need to look at here, but for now we have enough to answer the question we raised 22 weeks ago – How does God communicate with us today?
As we looked back over the Story, we encountered three basic options –
- direct personal communication on an individual basis
- mediated through special individuals who deliver God’s message, such as angels, prophets, or the occasional donkey
- more indirectly, through the recorded words of Scripture.
I suspect most of us were hoping that the answer would turn out to include #1, but somewhat feared that we would have to settle for #3.
However, in this passage, we discover that, as New Testament believers, God communicates with us at an even deeper, more intimate level. He has given us His Spirit, and through Him, we have access, not just to His words, but to the mind of Christ.
Now, while this begins to answer our original question, it raises several more. Most notably —
- How can we have the Spirit and yet be largely oblivious to this communication from God?
- What areas can we expect such communication to cover?
- What do we need to do to “hear” God in this way?
We’ll tackle these questions next.