Scripture Reading(s)
1 Corinthians 2:1-16
2:1 When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom.
2:2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
2:3 And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.
2:4 My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
2:5 so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.
2:6 Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish.
2:7 But we speak God’s wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.
2:8 None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
2:9 But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him”
2:10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.
2:11 For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God.
2:12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.
2:13 And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.
2:14 Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
2:15 Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny.
2:16 “For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
Reflections
The message of the cross to the world is often rejected or viewed to be something that is hard to grasp. Paul here represents a message that is simple, yet powerful and makes it a point to state that it cannot be achieved by any human means. The saving work of Christ can only be accomplished by Christ and through Him alone.
Paul was preaching to a church that was in the midst of a city ruled by the Roman empire. Anything that was preached against the Roman rule was a threat. Yet Paul makes it clear that the only true ruler of this world is Jesus Christ and that eventually the rulers of this will fall. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is one that shows its ultimate rule and authority over everything in this world. The message of love and hope is unlike any other and it is what the church needed to hear.
Mankind had tried to come up with their own way of attaining a worldly and selfish definition of what it means to find satisfaction in this life. They had come up with a man-made gospel and Paul was preaching on the notion that the Gospel is a spiritually empowered message that can only be received through Jesus Christ. We are not wise or powerful enough to save ourselves or give ourselves satisfaction in this life.
When it comes time to preaching and sharing the Gospel with others, let us not hold back in proclaiming God’s authority and love overall. The true Gospel takes the focus off ourselves and points back to what only God can accomplish.
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