Chapter 2
Faith in the Power of God
2:1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
Paul reminds them that he didn’t come to them using highfalutin words or concepts beyond comprehension to present the gospel message. Instead he kept it simple, he just preached Jesus and how He was crucified. He further notes that he came to them in weakness, being timid, and in fear, with a message that was plain, instead of using persuasive words, he relied on the power of the Holy Spirit. He explains that was done so that their faith would be based on God, not the wisdom of man.
Wisdom from the Holy Spirit
2:6 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.
Paul writes that when he is around mature believers they exchange wisdom, but not worldly wisdom, like that which would be offered by rulers of this world who are soon forgotten after they die.
2:7 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”—
The Greek word ‘apokekrymmenēn’ translated here as ‘secret’ refers to something concealed and the Greek word ‘mystēriō’ translated here as ‘hidden’ typically refers to something that has yet to be revealed. Something that had been concealed from before the beginning of time but was now to be revealed. So hidden was this fact, that Paul says if it had been known, Jesus would not have been crucified. To emphasize, Paul quotes Isaiah 64:4, which concludes that the secret was prepared for those who love Him.
2:10 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.
God reveals His truth to us through the Holy Spirit. Paul notes that the Spirit searches everything including God’s deep secrets like this. He explains that no one knows our thoughts except for our own spirit, so also, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Holy Spirit. And that since we have received the Holy Spirit from God we too can understand those things given to us from God. Therefore when we speak about these things we speak using spiritual words, not words that the world would understand.
2:14 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.
Paul again notes how things of God would be considered foolish to a person without the Holy Spirit, as things of God can only be discerned through the Holy Spirit. He further notes that a person with the Holy Spirit can evaluate and judge all things, but cannot be judged by another human being. Paul closes this chapter with a riddle, “Who knows God well enough to teach Him?” But we have access to the mind of Christ.
There are some that believe that Paul did not clearly identify the subject of this chapter, which to some degree is true. In a sense Paul is gathering the people of the church and reminding them that there is only one source of God’s truth and that is God alone. If they know something true about God, it wasn’t through their own cleverness or intellect, it is from God, and that truth is available to all believers.
Considerations
God’s Plan for You
Many believers have selected Jeremiah 29:11 as their favorite verse of the Bible because it captures God expressing “I know the plans I have for you,” which offers hope in an uncertain world. Here Paul quotes Isaiah 64:4 which also speaks of God’s plan, which helps us keep an eye on the ultimate prize, that being spending eternity with Jesus! But those plans also use adversity as a tool to strengthen us and bring us closer to Him. When we feel the most abandoned is perhaps when He does His greatest work. We may feel like an unfinished painting, but our God, the Masterful Artist, will finish His masterpiece in us. We just need to trust Him! Paul wrote these words of reassurance to the believers in Philippi, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:9)