Paul wrote to the believers about a wisdom, not the wisdom of this world, but in 1 Corinthians 2:7 “the hidden wisdom of God”. This wisdom, in 1 Corinthians 2:10 “God has revealed them through the Spirit”. And though he also writes that he was only able to give them milk, and not the fullness what God had for them, he also said God, in 1 Corinthians 3:7 “is causing it to grow”. He then reminds them that in 1 Corinthians 3:22 “all things are yours” and in 1 Corinthians 3:23 “you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s”. We can get caught up in the sensual drama of the moment, and that is just where our adversary would like us to be, but in 1 Corinthians 3:21–22 ” … all things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come, all things are yours”.
Speak the Hidden Wisdom of God
1 Corinthians 2:6–16
Paul says, in 1 Corinthians 2:6 “Now we do speak wisdom”. But the wisdom he is talking about is not the wisdom of “this age” which would be the learning of man about himself and his environment, the world we live in. And, it is not about the “rulers of this age” which would be about people and their social interactions in government and business as a society that is to be managed by these elite rulers. Paul says these are perishing.
There is another wisdom in 1 Corinthians 2:7 “the hidden wisdom of God”. This wisdom is wrapped up in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ because he says in 1 Corinthians 2:8 “if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory”. And, this wisdom is described in
1 Corinthians 2:9 But just as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and have not entered into the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love him.”
Man on his own, through his natural carnal nature, cannot comprehend these things that God has prepared because in
1 Corinthians 2:10 For to us God has revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.
Just as Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit and began his ministry on the earth, so we have received this same spirit in
1 Corinthians 2:12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, in order that we may know the things freely given to us by God,
and by his spirit we are taught in 1 Corinthians 2:13 and in 1 Corinthians 2:16 “we have the mind of Christ”.
God is Causing it to Grow
1 Corinthians 3:1–11
Paul has just said that he is speaking “wisdom among the mature” in 1 Corinthians 2:6. And this wisdom is a mystery in God, revealed by his spirit. Now, he says he was not able to speak to them as “spiritual people” in
1 Corinthians 3:1 And I, brothers, was not able to speak to you as to spiritual people, but as to fleshly people, as to infants in Christ.
He says they could not receive what he had to give them because they were living only in their own carnal, natural nature, the nature that cannot know God in
1 Corinthians 3:2–3 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not yet able to eat it. But now you are still not able, 3 for you are still fleshly. For where there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and do you not live like unregenerate people?
What they are saying in 1 Corinthians 3:4 “I am with Paul … I am with Apollos” he says is them being “merely human”. They are not seeing the spiritual truth that it is “God who is causing it to grow” in 1 Corinthians 3:7. So, whatever we see as the church only matters because it was built on the foundation, Jesus Christ in 1 Corinthians 3:11.
The Spirit of God Dwells in You
1 Corinthians 3:12-23
This spiritual wisdom is for a purpose, it is to build the kingdom of God. There is a reward for that work that will come in the final day of judgment. We can build natural things that will be destroyed, “wood, grass, straw” in 1 Corinthians 3:12 or we can build things with eternal value, described as “gold, silver, precious stones” which are our eternal salvation, our obedience, and fruitfulness in God’s calling for our lives, and the souls of others we bring with us.
That kingdom begins in us as each of us are God’s temple in
1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and the Spirit of God dwells in you?
but “the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God” in 1 Corinthians 3:19 and then he says “For all things are yours” in 1 Corinthians 3:21 and he names every leader and the world and life and death and the present and the future and then again he says “all things are yours” in 1 Corinthians 3:22 and in
1 Corinthians 3:23 “and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s”.
Servants of Christ
1 Corinthians 4:1–5
We Have Become a Spectacle to the World
1 Corinthians 4:6–13
Become Imitators of Me
1 Corinthians 4:14–21
Christ our Passover Has Been Sacrificed
1 Corinthians 5:1–13
Study Verses
- 1 Corinthians 2:6–16 Speak the Hidden Wisdom of God
- 1 Corinthians 3:1–11 God is Causing it to Grow
- 1 Corinthians 3:12-23 The Spirit of God Dwells in You
Today’s Reading
- 1 Corinthians 2:6-16
- 1 Corinthians 3:1-23
- 1 Corinthians 4:1-21
- 1 Corinthians 5:1-13
