“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 wisdom which 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.” For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit
searches all things, even the depths of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:6–10, NASB95)
For those who might have stopped with the previous verses
and mocked Christians for being simple, Paul responded by adding that there is
a time and a place for speaking “wisdom” or in more depth about God and His way
for us. Paul uses the word “mature” which is the Greek word “teleios,” and it
means being perfected, having come to maturity, completed, or of full age. It
includes the idea of having grown or growing, which specifically here refers to
one having been saved and now growing in Christ. In other words, the right
words from God are to be spoken at the right time. James wrote of this maturity
coming to us as a result of us having grown in our understanding and faith in
God as we have seen Him bring us through various trials over the course of our
lives. “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,
knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance
have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect [teleios] and complete,
lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2–4, NASB95)
Paul said the wisdom that we learn as believers is not the
same as that of man apart from God; “…a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of
the rulers of this age, who are passing away….” These men are perishing, and
they don’t have a clue what God really has to say. The prophet Isaiah wrote of
this difference, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My
ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are
My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9,
NASB95)
As we look around us it is very easy to see how man scoffs
at the things we know of God. Some ridicule our prayers and try to block us
praying in the public arenas. The reading of His Word has been banished from
our schools. The Ten Commandments have been removed from many public buildings,
and crosses even taken down on public and semi-public lands. Marriage has been
altered from His plan. The killing of preborn babies has not only been allowed
by our courts, but now is even being pursued as a right that must be paid for
by others. Sexual and human identity is being redefined to that of preference
over clear biological distinction according to His design. Christians in
business are being denied the right to live according to the ways of God in
their own companies, and people are being forced out of positions because of
their closely held faith. Clearly, man’s ways are not God’s ways, and in this
country where much of its structure and rules were once based upon biblical
principles we’ve seen a radical change in direction as man’s ways have increasingly
pushed God’s ways out of the fabric of our nation.
Many who do not know Christ and embrace His Word as truth
view those of us who do as fools. But Scripture tells a different story, which in
the end will prove to be the true story. The fools are those who think they
call the shots and who think they have no need of God and do not heed His ways.
These are the ones who will one day bow before Him in judgment. “For this
reason also, God highly exalted Him [Jesus Christ], and bestowed on Him the
name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in
heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians
2:9–11, NASB95)
But even among Christians, there are those who
are influenced by this movement of culture and who have been deluded in much
that Scripture has to say. There are those whose lives do not reflect the kind
of growth in Christ that Scripture speaks of, and even give others cause to
wonder if they are truly saved. And, there are those who’ve jumped onto the
slippery slope of viewing the word of God as advisory rather and inspired and
who pick and choose which principles of Scripture they want to hold for today. Surely,
there are some in this group who call themselves “Christians” who probably are
not, and who one day will be revealed as such. But, there are also those who have
been deceived as they sit under errant teaching as was looked at in our walk
through 2 Peter. The reality is that we probably cannot know who is who here.
We can only respond to what we see and encourage each other to grow in the truth
or the wise teaching of Scripture, and where there is no growth we can pray
that the Spirit would intervene and soften hearts.
It is in this very place that Paul finds many in the church
at Corinth and it is to them that much of this letter is written. Ultimately,
we know that just as it is God who called us to Him through the free gift of
salvation in His Son; it is God who will bring each of us to Himself in glory.
In the next chapter Paul wrote of the assurance we have despite the things
we’ve done, remembering that our salvation is found in Jesus Christ, and Him
Crucified. “If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself
will be saved, yet so as through fire.” (1 Corinthians 3:15, NASB95)
Paul went on to write, “…but we speak God’s wisdom in a
mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory;
the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood….” God’s wisdom
is not a huge mystery to us (though we all have much to learn), but to those
who don’t know God it is. Through His prophets God had foretold the coming of
Christ, but the rulers of His day did not understand them. If they had, they
surely would not have done with Him what they did, which was to crucify the
very One sent to save them from their sins. Being blind to the truth, they
“crucified the Lord of glory.” Even them not understanding was prophesied
hundreds of years in advance.
But for those who did listen, Paul quoted another passage
from the prophets. “For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by
ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides You, who acts in behalf of the one who
waits for Him. You meet him who rejoices in doing righteousness, who remembers
You in Your ways….” (Isaiah 64:4–5a, NASB95) Isaiah wrote that God meets the one
who rejoices in doing righteousness and who remembers Him and His ways. God has
revealed Himself to us through His Word as given to us by men moved by the
Spirit. It is also the Spirit who opens our eyes to see and understand those
same words today. He added, “For to us God revealed them through the Spirit;
for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.” The Spirit is God
always present and full of all knowledge, who knows the will of the Father and
who indwells every single believer. This is a pretty amazing thing. God resides
in us in the person of the Spirit, and the Spirit helps us to understand the
very things that God has revealed through the authors that He has chosen to
give us His Word.
Knowing the presence of the Spirit in believers and the absence
of the Spirt in unbelievers we should not be surprised when we come up against
opposition and those who look upon us as fools. The truth is really this—they
don’t get it, and because of that they lash out. What they know is life apart
from God and being enslaved to sin as they taste the benefit in varying degrees
of God’s influence through His people in the world. When that influence wains,
the darkness surely grows. God has given us so much. As we grow in Him we in
turn have much to offer to one another in the body and also to others as we
live before them in this dark and desperately needy world.
No comments:
Post a Comment