Divine Wisdom

PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:
And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.

6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 However, as it is written:

       “What no eye has seen,
           what no ear has heard,
       and what no human mind has conceived”—
           the things God has prepared for those who love him—

10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for,

        “Who has known the mind of the Lord
            so as to instruct him?”

But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:1-16, NIV)


REFLECTIONS:
In his letters to the church in Corinth, Paul seeks to provide practical, theological guidance for individuals and for the congregation. While they can easily become fixated on personalities or secondary matters, he wants them to focus on the bigger questions of their identity as Christ-followers. Without quenching the enormous energy and vitality of the Corinthian believers, his goal is to channel their gifts in love and for the sake of others. In chapter 1 he proclaims the foolishness of the cross (1:18) and in so doing he offers a new kind of righteousness, measured not by the law but by the self-giving love of Jesus Christ. 

Here in chapter 2 Paul adds another dimension. Because the city of Corinth attracts followers of the mystery religions, Paul uses the language of mystery and wisdom to proclaim the good news. He refers for the first time in this letter to the work of the Spirit in the formation of faith. Logical persuasion is not enough, nor is it enough to point to Christ crucified. The Spirit shapes our faith so that it “might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power” (verse 5).

What does this mean in practical terms? I think of Les, a dedicated layperson who served for years on a variety of administrative committees in the church, devoting hours to thankless jobs that involved great detail. Les followed the example of Christ, offering himself for others. But Les was not simply a “church worker.” He nurtured his spiritual life by attending worship regularly, enjoying fellowship with others, and spending time reading and meditating upon God's word. He enjoyed nature and saw in it the mystery and wonder of God’s creating power. Humble and hard-working, Les kept close to the Spirit. And he never burned out. 

...........

Paul now focuses more clearly on divine wisdom as a gift of the Holy Spirit. He directs his comments toward those who consider themselves spiritually “mature,” but the average Christ-follower and the whole congregation remain in view. God’s Spirit enables us to perceive the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. What was hidden for ages has now been revealed. While the Spirit has an intimate connection to Christ, the Spirit has its own role as it “searches all things, even the deep things of God” (verse 10). The Spirit’s gift of wisdom helps us know the world for what it is. It empowers the discernment of all things and opens the way for the outpouring of the “gifts of God’s Spirit.” 

Paul distinguishes human wisdom from divine wisdom. Human wisdom is subject to “the rulers of this age” (verse 6). Divine wisdom springs up from the “thoughts of God,” from the deep inter-workings of his heart (verse 11). Paul exhibits a strong confidence in the Spirit of God, for he leads us to “the mind of Christ” (verse 16). As individual Christians, and as Christian communities, we have not only the example of Christ’s self-giving love to guide our lives; we receive wisdom greater than our own through the Holy Spirit to discern our way. Later Paul will offer more instruction on the gifts given by the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12), but for now he speaks specifically of the gift of wisdom. 

While often comforting, this wisdom given by the Holy Spirit can sometimes be disturbing! Matters of right and wrong become more complex than they appear. Take the case of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor in Germany during World War II. After much prayer and discernment, he participated in a plot to kill Hitler and ultimately was captured and executed by the Nazi government for treason. His writings and his life challenge easy assumptions about the results of the Holy Spirit’s guidance. 


PRAYER:
Ask the Spirit to disturb all your easy answers to what it means to be a Christ-follower today. Then ask that he might strengthen you to follow the way of the cross without growing hard-hearted or bitter.


WHO AM I?
I am Tres Sansom, and I am already grieving the lack of football for another several months. Baseball season can't get here soon enough…