CHAPTER 2

(A.D. 59)

TRUE WISDOM

¹And I, Brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom (means that he depended not on oratorical abilities, nor did he delve into philosophy, which was all the rage of that particular day), declaring unto you the Testimony of God (which is Christ and Him Crucified).

²For I determined not to know any thing among you (with purpose and design, Paul did not resort to the knowledge or philosophy of the world regarding the preaching of the Gospel), save Jesus Christ, and Him Crucified (that and that alone is the Message, which will save the sinner, set the captive free, and give the Believer perpetual Victory).

³And I was with you in (personal) weakness (an expression of utter dependence on God), and in fear (fear that he might not properly Preach the Cross), and in much trembling. (He realized the significance of what he was Preaching, and his inadequacy regarding his own person.)

⁴And my speech and my Preaching was not with enticing words of mans wisdom (he knew that would not set anyone free; the modern Church should take a lesson from this), but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power (which speaks of what the Holy Spirit can do in the hearts and lives of Believers, if the Cross is properly Preached):

⁵That your Faith should not stand in the wisdom of men (speaks of any proposed way other than the Cross), but in the Power of God (made possible only by the Cross).

⁶Howbeit we speak wisdom among them who are perfect (only the spiritually mature can understand the Wisdom of God, which is the Cross): yet not the wisdom of this world (the Wisdom of God pertaining to Salvation has absolutely no relationship whatsoever to the wisdom of this world), nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought (the great Sages and Philosophers of the world contributed nothing to Paul, nor do they to us as well):

⁷But we speak the Wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom(Gods Wisdom leads sinful men to the great Sacrifice of history, the offering up of Jesus on the Cross of Calvary, which paid the terrible sin debt of man, at least for all who will believe), which God ordained before the world unto our glory (in the Mind of God, Christ was offered up on the Cross even before the foundation of the world [I Pet. 1:18-20]):

⁸Which none of the princes of this world knew (pertains to their ignorance being a willful ignorance, which was their judgment for rejecting Christ [Acts 3:17; 13:27]): for had they known it(had they desired to know), they would not have Crucified the Lord of Glory. (These words bring in juxtaposition the lowest humiliation and the most splendid exaltation.)

THE HOLY SPIRIT

⁹But as it is written (Isa. 64:4), Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man (the purpose is to show that we cannot come to a knowledge of God through these normal ways of learning), the things which God has prepared for them who love Him.

¹⁰But God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit (tells us the manner of impartation of spiritual knowledge, which is Revelation): for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. (The Holy Spirit is the only One amply qualified to reveal God because He is God, and He is the member of the Godhead Who deals directly with man.)

¹¹For what man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? (The spirit of a man can know some things about another man, but within itself cannot know anything about God.) even so the things of God knows no man, but the Spirit of God. (Men cannot learn about God through scientific investigation or human reasoning, but only as the Spirit of God reveals such to the Believer.)

¹²Now we have received, not the spirit of the world (which is of Satan), but the Spirit which is of God (upon conversion, the Believer receives the Spirit of God); that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God (the only way we can truly know).

¹³Which things also we speak, not in the words which mans wisdom teaches (corrupted wisdom), but which the Holy Spirit teaches (which is an understanding of the Word of God); comparing spiritual things with spiritual (communicating Spiritual Truths to Spiritual men by the Spirit).

¹⁴But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God (speaks of the individual who is not Born-Again): for they are foolishness unto him (a lack of understanding): neither can he know them(fallen man cannot understand Spiritual Truths), because they are spiritually discerned (only the Regenerated spirit of man can understand the things of the Spirit).

¹⁵But he who is spiritual judges all things (portrays only the spiritual person as capable of proper judgment), yet he himself is judged of no man (refers to judgment which God will accept).

¹⁶For who has known the Mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? (The answer is no one! [Isa. 40:14].) But we have the Mind of Christ. (They who have the Mind of Christ see things as God sees them.)