Holy Spirit - 1 Corinthians (Part 1)

pneuma (408 Times in the NT)

“pneuma” = The Root and General Word for “Spirit” (Sometimes “Wind” and “Breath” - 379 Times

“pneumatikos” = “Spiritual” - 26 Times

“pneumatikōs” = “Spiritually” - 2 Times

“theopneustos” = “Inspired By God” - 1 Time

1 Corinthians 2:6–16 (NASB95)

6 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;

7 but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory;

8 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;

9 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.”

10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.

12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God,

13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.

14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.

15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one.

16 For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.

The Spirit of a Person is the Only One Who Knows that Person’s Thoughts

The Spirit of God is the Only One Who Knows the Thoughts of God

The Early Christians Who Received God’s Spirit Had God’s Thoughts Revealed to Them

This Seems to Be Speaking More of a Miraculous Measure of God’s Spirit

We Have God’s Thoughts Because Those Who Received Them Through God’s Spirit Wrote Them Down for Us

I Don’t Believe People are Still Receiving New Revelations From God

But There is an Aspect that Still Applies Today

We Have the Spirit/Mind of Christ…

When Our Minds are Focused on the Spirit-Revealed Gospel of Jesus

1 Corinthians 3:1–17 (NASB95)

1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ.

2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able,

3 for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?

4 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not mere men?

5 What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.

6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.

7 So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.

8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it.

11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

12 Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,

13 each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.

14 If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.

15 If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

17 If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.

The Corinthians Were Following After Different Teachers

Paul Illustrates that a Teacher’s Quality of Ministry Will Be Tested

It Will Either Last or Burn to the Ground

There are Lots of Interpretations as to What Paul Means

I Think the Easiest Interpretation is:

Some Teachers Build the Church with Solid Materials/Teaching

Focusing on the Wisdom of God By the Spirit

This is Like Building the Temple of God with Gold, Silver, and Precious Stones

This Builds Up the Church and Keeps it Centered on the Gospel of Jesus

Such Christian Converts Will Remain Faithful

Others Build the Church with Not So Solid Materials/Teaching

Focusing on the Wisdom of Man

This is Like Building the Temple of God with Wood, Hay, or Straw

This Causes the Church to Be Weak and Fragile

Such Christian Converts Will Fall Away From the Faith

Paul Seems to Be Assuming that Both Teachers are Sincere in Their Faith

The Teacher of the Not So Solid Teaching Will Still Be Saved Because of His Faith in Jesus

But He’ll Be Saved as One Who Narrowly Escapes a Burning Building

Our Teaching Ought to Be Solely Focused on the Gospel of Jesus…

If We Want Our Ministry/Converts to Stay Faithful

Faith in Anything But Jesus Will Never Last

We as the Church are the Temple of God

His Spirit Lives Within Us

If We Seek to Destroy the Church Through False Teaching and Division…

God Will Destroy Us

1 Corinthians 6:12–20 (NASB95)

12 All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.

13 Food is for the stomach and the 1stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body.

14 Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power.

15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be!

16 Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “The two shall become one flesh.”

17 But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

18 Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.

19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?

20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

The Corinthians had a Belief that Appetites Were Meant to Be Satisfied

When Your Hungry/Your Body Wants Food…

And it’s Good to Give Your Body What it Wants

When Your Body is Desiring Sexual Gratification…

It’s Good to Give Your Body What it Wants

Besides, God is Going to Get Rid of Our Bodies Anyway

Paul Corrects Their Thinking in Telling Them the Very Opposite

Your Body is Not for Satisfying Your Desires…

It is for Serving and Glorifying Jesus

And God is Not Going to “Do Away” with the Body

He is Going to Raise Our Bodies to Live Forever

What We Do with Our Bodies Right Now Matters…

Because We are Going to Live in Them Forever

Our Bodies are Temples of the Holy Spirit

Therefore We Ought to Use Them to Worship and Glorify God

In Chapter 3, We Saw that the Church Collective is the Temple of the Holy Spirit

And Here, We See that Our Individual Bodies are Temples as Well

The Holy Spirit Lives Within Each of Us and All of Us

That Knowledge Ought to Affect the Way We Live and Worship