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1Corinthians 2

Thursday Evening Bible Study

June 12, 2014

Introduction

Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel preached? Does it address the person who is: Empty, lonely, guilty, or afraid to die? Does it speak to the broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk – Meat – Manna Preach for a decision Is the church loved? Target 4400 words – less than 3900 words

In Paul's day, Corinth was the capitol of the province of Achaia (southern Greece), and was the most important city in Greece.

Corinth was quite the cosmopolitan city. All merchant traffic flowing north and south, as well as east and west, flowed through Corinth.

Corinth was also the center of the world’s greatest immorality.

The Temple of Aphrodite stood on the hill overlooking the city, and every night 1,000 male and female prostitutes would come down into the city and encourage the citizens to “worship” the goddess of love.

Paul had established the church in Corinth in AD 51 on his second missionary journey. He had spent 18 months teaching and building the church before moving on.

It is now AD 56, and Paul is across the Aegean Sea in the city of Ephesus. He’s received a letter telling about the immorality, quarrels, and questions in Corinth.

Paul writes back.

2:1-5 Christ Crucified

:1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.

:1 excellence – huperoche – elevation, pre-eminence, superiority; excellence

:1 testimony – marturion – testimony

When Paul first showed up in Corinth, he wasn’t a polished speaker.

:2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

:2 I determined – krino – to separate, put asunder, to pick out, select, choose; to determine, resolve, decree; to judge

Aorist active indicative

:2 to know – oida – to see; to know

:2 crucified – stauroo – to stake, drive down stakes; to crucify

Perfect passive participle

:2 Jesus Christ and Him crucified

Lesson

The central message

There are a lot of good things to talk to people about.

You can go to many churches and hear lots of good things.

There is nothing greater to talk about than the cross of Christ.

Paul talks about other things in his letters, but he also talks about the cross.

It was God’s plan all along for there to be a single sacrifice for our sins and bring us back to God.

Isaiah would predict:

(Isaiah 53:5 NKJV) But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.

Paul wrote that this is just what God did when Jesus died for us, He paid for our sins, making us right with God.

(2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV) For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

(Colossians 2:14 NKJV) having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

There are a lot of good things you can talk to people about.

Don’t forget the one central message that will save their souls – the cross of Christ.

:3 I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.

:3 weakness – astheneia – want of strength, weakness, infirmity

:3 fear – phobos – fear, dread, terror

:3 trembling – tromos – a trembling or quaking with fear; with fear and trembling, used to describe the anxiety of one who distrusts his ability completely to meet all requirements, but religiously does his utmost to fulfil his duty

Sometimes when I teach, I’m just fine.

But there are other times when I certainly know what “weakness, fear, and trembling” are all about. Especially when one of you tells me that you’re bringing a special friend to church.

I’m grateful that even the great apostle Paul got scared at times.

:4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,

:4 speech – logos – of speech; a word; discourse

:4 preaching – kerugma – that which is proclaimed by a herald or public crier, a proclamation by herald; in the NT the message or proclamation of the heralds of God or Christ

:4 persuasive – peithos – persuasive

:4 human – anthropinos – human

:4 demonstration – apodeixis – a making manifest, showing forth; a demonstration, proof

:3 power – dunamis – strength power, ability

:5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

:5 your faith … in the power of God

Lesson

Who do you trust?

Paul’s goal in life was not to get people to trust in him, but to trust in God.

Who do you trust in?

The wisdom of men or the power of God?

There is a bit of a dilemma here.

As men and women who represent God to an unbelieving world, we want to represent Him correctly. We are ambassadors.

(2 Corinthians 5:20 NKJV) Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.

If you are going to speak for God, it’s important to speak clearly for Him.

I spend a fair amount of time preparing each time I speak because I want to be faithful to teach God’s word accurately.

I even spend a bit of time looking for things like stories, jokes, or videos – because I know that things like this help the listener to stay focused, to think about each issue from different perspectives.

Even Jesus took time to tell stories.

I spend a bit of time working on my powerpoint slides because I’ve come to realize that some of us are visual learners, and I want to take advantage of the tools available to help you learn God’s Word.

It is also important when you share your faith to know why you believe what you believe.

(1 Peter 3:15 NKJV) But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;

When a person has an honest question about what it means to believe in God, I think it’s good that we’ve done our part to try and share valid answers to those questions.

Yet ultimately, people aren’t saved because of our words or our wisdom.

People’s lives aren’t changed by listening to a Bible Study.

People change when they come to trust God, allow Him to work in their lives, and cooperate with God’s work.

People change when they hear the message of the cross, and they grab hold of it and let God work.

Who are you trusting this evening? Are you here looking for the pastor to say something awesome for you to listen to? Are you here waiting for me to crack a funny joke?

Or are you here because you want to trust God more and more?

2:6-16 Spiritual Wisdom

:6 However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

:6 mature – teleios – brought to its end, finished; wanting nothing necessary to completeness; perfect; full grown, adult, mature

Lesson

Mature wisdom

Paul is not “anti-wisdom” or “anti-intellectual”.

Paul will speak wisdom, but the wisdom that Paul will talk about is something only understood by those who are “mature”.

James uses this word when he talks about going through trials.

(James 1:2–4 NKJV) —2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

We can find joy in our trials when we see the bigger picture.

Trials are an opportunity to grow in “patience”, if we let God work in our trial.

Patience has a “perfect” or “mature” work in our lives, it makes us “perfect” or “mature”.

Learning to be patient through trials is one of the things that grows us up.

Be careful about thinking that Christianity is a “quick fix” (“just say this prayer and all your problems will be over…”)

Wisdom comes from learning to patiently endure difficulties.

The wisdom from God isn’t necessarily appreciated by people who have many college degrees, but people who had learned to live life well.

God’s wisdom is appreciated by people who have learned to walk with God.

God’s wisdom is appreciated by people who have learned how to trust God despite great difficulties.

I know that when I listen to someone talk who has been through great hardship, I tend to pay attention. These tend to be the people with “mature wisdom”.

Forty six years ago Joni Eareckson Tada became a quadriplegic through a diving accident. She speaks at conferences. She paints. Last year she was asked to sing the title song for a small independent Christian film, “Alone Yet Not Alone” (which comes out on DVD tomorrow). Here is her recording the song.

She is paralyzed from the neck down.

Listen to the truths of the song and see if you can learn something.

Video: Alone Yet Not Alone

Mature wisdom comes from patiently enduring difficulty.

:6 the wisdom of this age

Lesson

Worldly Wisdom

The world has its own standards of what is wise and what is not.

We call it being “politically correct”.

It seems that the world’s standards also change with time.

Currently the world will teach you that:

Evolution is a fact

All through our society this is being woven into the way we think.

The most harmful part of evolution is the idea that there is no Creator, there is no design or purpose in the universe, and that we are all alone in the universe.

Paul wrote to the Romans while he was still in Corinth:

(Romans 1:20–22 NKJV) —20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,

When men ignore the evidence of design all around them, they become fools.

Video: Values – Beautiful World

Except for one shot of a city, all the rest of the “beauty” shots were of God’s Creation.

The beauty friends is because God made it. There is design in what God has made.

Love is about feelings

I hear it all the time when people divorce – “I never really loved him/her…”.

The romantic movie industry is all about pushing the concept that “love” is something you magically feel, something that just hits you.

There is a kind of cheap imitation of love that indeed looks like that, but that’s not the best love.

Love is based on commitment.

Love is making a choice that you are going to value that other person above all others.

Love is working hard to protect and cultivate that relationship.

Paul wrote,

(1 Corinthians 13:4–7 NKJV) —4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

That is not “feelings” friends. That’s work.

And it’s REALLY, REALLY good!!!

Sex is okay if you love each other

One day this is going to change to, “sex is okay because I want it …”

Our whole world is being flooded with sexual images and suggestions and there will be a day when we no longer care about whether you “love” each other or not.

Other variations of this philosophy are:

Living together is okay … as long as you love each other.

Homosexuality is okay

My friends, God is the one who invented sex. He designed it. He knows exactly how it works and under what conditions it works best.

God designed sex to be between one man and one woman.

Sex works best when you are in the condition of marriage – a lifelong commitment to your spouse.

Sex works best when you learn to focus all your sexual energy on that one other person, and aren’t focusing it on every passing internet webpage, or someone new at the office, or some passing fling.

Some of you might think, “But my spouse doesn’t want to have sex as much as I do.” Then you need to keep working on your relationship, building your relationship, strengthening your relationship. You need to exercise self-control as well as paying attention and learning how to meet each other’s needs.

We are going to see that Paul is going to have a LOT to say about sex to the Corinthian church.

:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory,

:8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

:7 mystery – musterion – (from muo, “to shut the mouth”) hidden thing, secret, mystery; not obvious to the understanding; in rabbinic writings, it denotes the mystic or hidden sense

:7 hidden – apokrupto – to hide; concealing, keeping secret

:7 ordained – proorizo – to predetermine, decide beforehand; in the NT of God decreeing from eternity

:7 we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery

Here Paul is talking about the gospel: Jesus died on a cross to save us from our sins.

This was a mystery to people in times past.

:8 the rulers of this age

This could be referring to the human rulers of Jesus day, like Pontius Pilate.

The language used here could also be referring to angelic beings, such as Satan.

:8 they would not have crucified

If the “rulers” are human, it could be that Pontius Pilate might not have had Jesus crucified if he fully understood that Jesus was indeed the Son of God.

If the “rulers” are angelic (like Satan), then that could have changed things as well.

The cross was a defeat to Satan.

Satan would have backed off in pushing Jesus to be killed.

:9 But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

:9 Eye has not seen

Paul is quoting from Isaiah 64:4

(Isaiah 64:4 NKJV) For since the beginning of the world Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, Nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the one who waits for Him.

In context, Isaiah is speaking prophetically about Israel’s coming captivity. They might have been taken away for seventy years, but God had good things planned for them.

For the believer before Christ, who would have imagined the extent that God would go to in order to redeem them.

God loved us so much He sent His Son for us.

This is the “mystery” which is for our “glory” (2:7)

When a God loves you so much that He sends His Son to die in your place…

(Romans 8:32 NKJV) He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

The rest of your life is going to be an exciting thing, to see what God has in store for you.

Ultimately, heaven is in store for us, and we can’t even imagine what it’s going to be like.

:10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

:10 revealed – apokalupto – to uncover, lay open what has been veiled or covered up

:10 searches – ereunao – to search, examine into

:10 deep things – bathos – depth, height; of the deep things of God

The Holy Spirit knows the “deepest” things of God.

:11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.

(1 Corinthians 2:11 NLT) No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit.

:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

:12 freely given – charizomai – to do something pleasant or agreeable (to one), to do a favor to, gratify; to give graciously, give freely, bestow; to forgive

This is the verb form of “grace”.

We could translate the phrase, that we might know the things that have been “graced” to us by God

We know the things of God because the Spirit helps us know the things that God wants to “grace” us with.

:13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

:13 teaches – didaktos – that can be taught; teachings, precepts

:13 spiritual – pneumatikos – relating to the spirit (man’s spirit, a spirit, the Holy Spirit)

:13 comparing – sugkrino (“together” + “judge”) – to interpret; to compare

:13 which the Holy Spirit teaches

Paul tells us how the Holy Spirit teaches us “spiritual” things.

comparing spiritual things with spiritual

I like the ESV translation here –

(1 Corinthians 2:13 ESV) And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

This certainly fits the context, that spiritual truths are only learned by people who are spiritual, people who have the Holy Spirit.

The NLT has a different idea –

(1 Corinthians 2:13 NLT) When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths.

The idea is that the Holy Spirit gives us words to understand spiritual things.

:14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

:15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.

:16 For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

:14 the natural man

natural – psuchikos (“soul”) – of or belonging to breath; the principal of animal life, which men have in common with the brutes; the sensuous nature with its subjection to appetite and passion

This is in contrast with the “spiritual” (pneumatikos)

This is the person who only has a “soul”, but whose spirit is still dead.

This is the unbeliever.

Lesson

Spiritual requirements

It is necessary to have the Spirit of God in your life in order to understand spiritual things.

You can’t receive text messages without a cell phone.

You can’t watch the Lakers (or Dodgers?) without cable TV.

You can’t see colors if you’re a blind person.

Video: Describing Colors to Blind People

If you want to understand things that are spiritual in nature, you need to be alive spiritually.

You need to be born again.

God’s Word

It’s really hard to understand God’s Word if you are not a Christian.

I’ve talked to a lot of people who tell me that before they were a Christian, they had a hard time understanding God’s Word.

After they became a Christian, things started to make sense.

That’s because God’s Spirit gave you spiritual insight.

Spiritual Things

(Luke 2:25–35 NKJV) —25 And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27 So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, 28 he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said: 29 “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word; 30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation 31 Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, 32 A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.” 33 And Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken of Him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against 35 (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

Because Simeon had God’s Spirit on his life, he was able to recognize that the little child in front of him was the promised Messiah.

God’s Spirit wants to be teaching you throughout your day.

Will you be willing to listen?

We’ve talked about a few things tonight –

The central message

Who do you trust?

Mature Wisdom

Worldly Wisdom

Spiritual requirements

Is there an area in your life you’d like God to work in this week? Perhaps one of these areas? Something else? Share with your prayer partner and pray.