God’s Wisdom (Continued)
(Parallel teachings: Ephesians 3:3-9; Colossians 1:25-27; Romans 16:25-26)
(Thematic parallels: Matthew 11:25-27; John 16:12-15; Judges 7:1-22)
- 1 And having come to you,fnquotation/allusion to Acts 18:1 (his stay ends in Acts 18:18) brothers, I didn’t come with excellent speech or wisdom; I came proclaiming the [testimony]fn“testimony” many early manuscripts have “now-revealed mystery” here instead; see footnote on “now-revealed mystery” in verse 7. of God to you.
- 2 For I decided not to *know anything among you except Jesus the Anointed, and Him *crucified.
- 3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
- 4 And my word and my preaching weren’t in persuasive [words of human] wisdom, but in a demonstrationfn“demonstration” the Greek word here means to demonstrate something as proof of something else. of the Spirit and of power,
- 5 so that your faith wouldn’t be in men’s wisdom, but in God’s power.
- 6 Now, we do speak wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, the ones being nullified.fn“being nullified” the Greek word here refers to rendering something completely inactive or inert, so it’s without force, ability or power; to do away with something completely.
- 7 But we speak God’s wisdom in a now-revealed mysteryfn“now-revealed mystery” is one word in Greek. It originally referred to secret knowledge reserved for initiates of the ancient mystery religions; i.e. “members only” knowledge that was revealed to insiders, but concealed from everyone outside. Paul uses it for secrets that God kept hidden until the work of Jesus, after which they were revealed in the good news (aka, the gospel). which was *hidden, which God appointed beforehand, before the ages, for our glory,
- 8 which none of the rulers of this age has understood. For if they had understood it, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory.fnquotation/allusion to Psalm 24:7-10 (also quoted/alluded to by Jas 2:1)
- 9 But just as it’s *written:
- 10 For God revealed them to us through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.
- 11 For who among men *knows the depths of the man, except the man’s spirit within him? And likewise, no man *knows the depths of God, except the Spirit of God.
- 12 But we didn’t receive the spirit of the world, but the Spirit from God, so that we might *know the things which were graced to us by God,
- 13 things of which we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, we’re interpretingfn“interpreting” This Greek word has the root meaning of “judging together”, with the idea of putting two things together and comparing them, which leads to a proper understanding of what’s being compared. Thus it can be translated as combine, compare, or interpret depending on the context. spiritual things with spiritual wisdom.
- 14 But the man driven by base instinctfn“man driven by base instinct” is one word in Greek, which could also be translated “man influenced by base instinct”. It literally means “soulish”, and is the adjective form of the Greek word for “soul”. It’s also used in James 3:15 and Jude 1:19 to indicate what is natural for animals; i.e., the base instinct toward pleasure without wisdom and reason. doesn’t welcome the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him and he isn’t able to understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
- 15 But the spiritual man discerns all things, but he himself is discerned by no one.
- 16 For who understood the Lord’s mind? Who will instruct Him?fnquotation/allusion to Isaiah 40:13 (also quoted/alluded to by Rom 11:34) But we have the mind of the Anointed.