Lesson for March 20, 2022
The Book of I Corinthians
Chapter 2:1-9
Verses 1-5
“And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.”
Chapter 2:1-9 answers the question from chapter 1 verse 20, “Where is the debater of this age?” This passage refers to the Greek professional debater who used various types of techniques to refute the truth of the Gospel. But the Gospel is God’s absolute truth and cannot be refuted by a debater’s technique. The Gospel is “the power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16), not some method of debating designed to convince a person of its truth. So, persuasiveness, logic and debater’s techniques cannot stand up to the absolute truth of the Gospel.
When Paul came to Corinth, he did not use a debater’s technique (which Paul was a master of) to convince them of the truth of the Gospel. It was not Paul’s persuasive speaking ability or his superior debating techniques that God wanted Paul to use to win these people to Christ. It was the message of the Gospel of Christ and the work of God the Holy Spirit which convinced them of the truth. The testimony of God is the message of the Gospel. Paul knew the power of God was in the presentation of a clear Gospel message, not in his human intellect. Paul was a great debater and had the knowledge and the education to argue with any of these professional debaters. But Paul knew the power of the message of the Gospel and that was what he presented to them.
For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. When Paul first arrived in Corinth, he had already determined that attempting to reach them on an intellectual level would not work. He therefore determined to talk about one thing – Jesus Christ and the Cross. When he left, hundreds of people were believers and a great church had been started as a result.
I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. Paul’s weakness, fear and trembling meant he was approaching Corinth with a sense of what he would most likely face when he arrived. He had just been in Athens among a bunch of pagan worshippers, and they attempted to kill him. He had used an intellectual approach in Athens to present the Gospel and had very little success in winning people to Christ. Now he was facing a similar situation in Corinth, so he arrived with caution (weakness, fear, and trembling), determined not to make the same mistake he had made in Athens. Paul decided that he would not get into debates with the Corinthians, but simply present the Gospel.
Not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. The Greek word for persuasive is “peitho,” meaning enticing. Wisdom refers to human intellect. The Greek word fordemonstration is “apodeixis,” meaning pointing out or arguing. Of the Spirit refers to Paul being filled with Holy Spirit and the ministry of the Holy Spirit in evangelism. And of power means that the power of the Holy Spirit can penetrate the human soul and enlighten an unbeliever to the truth about Christ. The objective of sharing the Gospel is not to win a debate nor to present a logical, enticing argument, but it is to present a clear Gospel message. If the Gospel could be understood by human logic, it could also be refuted by human logic.
There are certain principles for sharing the Gospel with others that we need to know. You cannot be a witness for Christ unless you understand the message of the Gospel yourself. The effectiveness and clarity of a believer’s witness depends upon understanding that sin is not the issue in salvation, but rejection of Christ as Savior is. Believers are to demonstrate their faith in Christ by their lifestyle and share the message by a verbal presentation of the Gospel. We all need to speak boldly and present the Gospel clearly when we have the opportunity to do so.
II Corinthians 5:19b-20, “He has committed to us the word of reconciliation (the Gospel). Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us (sharing the Gospel); we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
Verses 6-9
“Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdomwhich God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written, ‘Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.’”
Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature. Wisdom is the Greek word “sophia,” which means insight into the true nature of things. Wisdom for a maturing believer is the development of spiritual knowledge through the consistent study and application of Bible doctrine. Spiritual knowledge is insight into God’s plan for believers during the Church Age and how to fulfill it. Therefore, wisdom is proper application of Bible doctrine. The Greek word for mature is “teleios,” which means complete or fully grown, and refers to those who are maturing spiritually. Some believers in Corinth were not yet able to fully understand the wisdom of God because they had stopped advancing in their spiritual lives.
A wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away, but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory. In the wisdom of God, He designed a plan for mankind that excluded any form of human works for salvation or the spiritual life. From the very beginning of human history in the Garden of Eden, mankind has been attempting to understand God by human wisdom. Eve fell prey to this when Satan appeared to her and convinced her that she could be as wise as God if she would simply partake of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. When she and Adam partook of this tree, they became spiritually dead and separated from God. They did not become as wise as God!!! So, Human Viewpoint Thinking, which is human wisdom, began in the Garden of Eden and continues to be a major ploy by Satan to keep the human race in spiritual darkness. Genesis 3:6-7, “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was delightful to look at, and a tree to be desired in order to make one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband with her, and he ate.”
God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our gloryrefers to God’s plan designed (predestined) in eternity past for the glory of all Church Age believers, which was hidden from the past ages. The Greek word for mystery is “musterion,” which means a truth revealed for the first time. The Church Age mystery, according to Colossians 1:27, is the fact that all believers during the Church Age are placed into union with Christ at the moment of salvation (to our glory). This never occurred in any other dispensation, and Paul, under the filling of the Holy Spirit, was selected to be the one who revealed this truth.
The wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory refers to world rulers at the time of the Cross. The Roman Empire represented by Pontius Pilate, the Jewish political leaders represented by Herod, and the Jewish religious leaders represented by the scribes and Pharisees were the rulers of this age. The spiritual blindness of these “rulers” meant they could not comprehend who Jesus was and what He had come to do. Jesus had told them many times Who He was, the Son of God. If they had actually believed Him, they would not have agreed to crucify Him as a criminal. However, it was all part of God’s plan for the salvation of the human race.
But just as it is written, ‘Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him’” We now have a quotation based on Isaiah 64:4 from the Old Testament which refutes any attempt to understand God by empiricism. Empiricism, represented by the word “eye and “ear,” is the scientific method of understanding things with sensory perception. This includes observation, hearing, smelling, tasting, or touching. God’s plan, based on His wisdom, can be understood only by a divine system of understanding and not by human wisdom.
Isaiah 64:4, “For from days of old no one has heard, nor has ear perceived, nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who works and acts in behalf of the one who [gladly] waits for Him.”