Christ is Our New Way of Thinking

Sunday, February 16, 2025

Start with Application Testimony

[Give people an opportunity to share a testimony from last week’s exhortation]

Last week’s exhortation: Identify that person or thing which is competing for your devotion, and submit it to Jesus, placing it under His feet.

INTRO

We are going verse-by-verse, in a topical study through I & II Corinthians

Current Topic: Christ Alone - Exploring what it really means to be Christian.

Last week we studied 1 Corinthians 1, that Christ alone is the foundation of the Church, and He alone must be the source of identity and purpose in the life of a Christian.

This week we are going to look at 1 Corinthians 2 and learn about the new way of thinking that is given to us who are in Christ.

READ

1 Corinthians 2 CSB

1 When I came to you, brothers and sisters, announcing the mystery of God to you, I did not come with brilliance of speech or wisdom. 2 I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4 My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not be based on human wisdom but on God’s power. 6 We do, however, speak a wisdom among the mature, but not a wisdom of this age, or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 On the contrary, we speak God’s hidden wisdom in a mystery, a wisdom God predestined before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age knew this wisdom, because if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written, What no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human heart has conceived— God has prepared these things for those who love him. 10 Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, since the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except his spirit within him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God. 13 We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. 14 But the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually. 15 The spiritual person, however, can evaluate everything, and yet he himself cannot be evaluated by anyone. 16 For who has known the Lord’s mind, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

EXAMINE

#1 | Our own wisdom is insufficient

Human wisdom and persuasion are not enough to build our faith on.

1 Cor 2:4–5 “My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not be based on human wisdom but on God’s power.”

We will never really learn to trust in God by hearing a good argument. We learn to trust Him by seeing Him in action.

We think we are wise and experienced, but we still fall short of understanding the things of God.

1 Cor 2:14 “...the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually.”

We cannot figure God out - we need Him to reveal Himself to us.

#2 | There is a greater wisdom that comes from God

All of humanity fails to grasp this wisdom.

1 Cor 2:6, 8 “We do, however, speak a wisdom among the mature, but not a wisdom of this age… None of the rulers of this age knew this wisdom, because if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”

All of our failures are the result of us trusting in our own understanding and wisdom. (Proverbs 3:5-7)

The wisdom of God is a blessing to us.

1 Cor 2:7 “...a wisdom God predestined before the ages for our glory.”

God’s plans and designs are for our ultimate good, allowing us to share in His Glory.

#3 | We receive this wisdom from the Holy Spirit

The work of the Holy Spirit is to teach us the wisdom of God.

1 Cor 2:10,12 “...God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit... we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us...”

We learn the wisdom of God by humbling ourselves like children and letting Him teach us. (Luke 18:16-17)

The wisdom of God is incredibly practical in our daily lives.

1 Cor 2:15 “...The spiritual person, however, can evaluate everything...”

God will give us insight into all kinds of matters, not just “spiritual” or “theological.”

We receive this wisdom from the Holy Spirit by submitting ourselves to Christ, who is the Head.

1 Cor 2:16 “...’who has known the Lord’s mind?’...But we have the mind of Christ.”

The wisdom of God is what teaches us to live holy, healthy, and Christ-like lives. (Titus 2:11-12)

REFLECT

Let’s take a moment to pray

Ask the Holy Spirit to highlight and draw our attention to what He wants us to see and understand today

APPLY

Process the passage together with these questions:

[Allow the conversation to go where people take it - we want people to feel the liberty to explore the topics of the passage that stand out to them. Select the questions from below that you think are right for the conversation, or add your own. Questions should be focused, yet open-ended. Wherever the conversation goes, help your group “land the plane” on the core idea of the lesson when you wrap up.]

Why do you think Paul decided to only talk to the Corinthians about Jesus and His death on the cross? (1 Cor 2:2)

1 Cor 2:15 said that a person who has the Holy Spirit in them cannot be evaluated by anyone who does not. What do you think that means?

While it should be obvious that God’s wisdom is greater than ours, why do you think we still choose to listen to our own wisdom instead?

Where we want to “land the plane”

If we are going to follow Christ as our Head, then we have to let Him teach us a new way to think. In order to do that, we have to stop trusting in our own understanding and submit to the Holy Spirit, asking Him to teach us and instruct us in the wisdom of God. This comes through conscious and willful surrender, study of the scripture, prayer, and receiving Godly counsel from others who are doing the same.

Exhortation for the Week

Identify an area of your life where are relying on your own wisdom and understanding, then submit it to God.

FOOTNOTES

Deeper dive into the meaning in Verses 1-5. Numerous commentators have realized that 1 Cor. 2:1–5 has something to do with Paul’s use of rhetoric, whether it is “the commencement of Paul’s theme of shame in socio-cultural terms” (P. Marshall), the use of a Socratic-Cynic topos to establish a methodological consistency with his theology of a crucified Christ, or a renunciation of rhetoric (C. M. Horne), of “the grand style” of rhetoric (E. A. Judge), of epideictic oratory (J. Weiss), of the rhetorical practices of other Christian preachers in Corinth (T. H. Lim), or of all technical rhetorical devices (L. Hartman). I view the scenario as follows: Paul was the first to evangelize Corinth, he had a good deal of success there, and then he stayed there long enough to get a viable Christian community established. Problems arose, however, after he left and had been gone for some time, in particular, when Apollos went to Corinth and used an Alexandrian rhetorical style of preaching and teaching that Paul had avoided. This led to a comparison of Paul’s rhetoric with that of Apollos, and with Sophistic rhetoric in general. The audience was expected to evaluate a rhetorical speech and compare it to others. Rhetors expected the audience to judge their oral performance. The Corinthians were not acting differently from others who had been raised in a culture that had certain expectations about rhetorical performances. It was believed that a person is as he or she speaks, that there is a correspondence between words and life, and that one who is eloquent is also wise. Paul’s personal presence seems to have been weak, and by rhetorical standards this reflected on his ēthos, his ability to establish his good character and credibility. He seeks to counter this complaint in v. 5, but he admits the principle that the message and the messenger should comport with one another. God chose a weak agent to proclaim the message of God’s weakness on the cross. In v. 4 Paul contrasts the use of persuasive wisdom, “words of wisdom,” with the demonstration of “the powerful Spirit” (“Spirit and power” is probably a hendiadys with that meaning). The latter might refer to miracles that happened while Paul was in Corinth or more likely to the powerful transformation of the Corinthians under Paul’s preaching, in spite of the fragility of the preacher and the lack of polish in his preaching. Paul deliberately chose to present the gospel in this unpolished manner so that the Corinthians’ faith would be in God’s power, not in the power of human words or rhetorical skill. Despite this, the Corinthians continued to be enamored of rhetorical skill, and this made many of them more favorably disposed toward Apollos and some other preachers. Ben Witherington III, Conflict and Community in Corinth: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995), 124–125.