The Wisdom of The Cross

The cold, black Antarctic. A blocky, flat- topped iceberg crawls through the water. Colored brown, black, and green by a combination of sediment, plankton, and glacial blue ice, it measures about 100 feet above sea level. What most people don't know, though, is the biggest part of the iceberg lies beneath the freezing white caps—about 600 feet under the surface.

God's wisdom is like the iceberg. To unbelievers, who see only the tip, it is intellectually treacherous, blindingly unrealistic, and desperately purposeless. But those who are graced by God's salvation see below the surface to the precious, quiet deeps.

The Corinthians salvation proves that God chooses the ordinary rather than the outstanding. Paul's ministry in Corinth lent further support to this truth. He continues his argument in chapter 2 and admits his own ordinary meanness to the Corinthians. verse1

God’s spiritual power overrides and invalidates strategies of manipulative power and self-assertion where the desire to win applause trumps the obligation to speak the truth

1. Proclaiming The Gospel in God’s Power, vs. 1-5.

Paul’s description of his ministry in Corinth does not sound like the Paul we are accustomed to. Remember that Paul had been a disciple of Gamaliel, a famous rabbi of the first century. Paul has held his own in a debate with detractors , Acts 19:8-10

Acts 19:8–10 NASB95

And he entered the synagogue and continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the people, he withdrew from them and took away the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. This took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

Paul was a deep thinker as well, 2 Peter 3:15-16

2 Peter 3:15–16 NASB95

and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.

Paul could have come to the Corinthians with “superiority of speech or of wisdom,” but he chose not to. He had determined to remove himself from the equation and let the Spirit of God do the work of persuading. His goal was to highlight one message: Jesus Christ, and him crucified. Everything else was superfluous

When Paul served the Corinthians he did so, “with fear and trembling.” [Not cowardly fear, but trembling anxiety to perform duty; anxious consciousness in contrast to eye service.] Paul embraced his calling to minister in humility and to depend on the Lord’s strength.

The result was staggering. What he lacked in courage and talent, God made up in power. As Paul spoke the message of the gospel, the gospel exploded throughout the streets of Corinth. The Spirit of God moved into shops, homes, temples, synagogues, and alleys. People came, listened to unimpressive Paul, and many walked away singing God's praises. We don't have to be fearless souls or great public speakers. The Lord will reveal His strength through our weakness. All He asks is that we rely on Him as we carry out the tasks He has for us.

Paul wanted God's power, not human wisdom, to convince the Corinthians to accept the truth he told them, verses 4- 5. Human ingenuity or learned rhetorical flourish will never bring people to salvation. Only the simplicity of the gospel coupled with the work of the Spirit can humble people and lead them to repentance.

2. The Mystery of Wisdom Manifested, vs. 6-9.

Paul realized that some may interpret him to mean that Christianity is irrational, and that to believe in it is tantamount to committing intellectual suicide, so he clears things up, 1 Cor. 2:6

1 Corinthians 2:6 NASB95

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; 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;

The wisdom spoken of here is insight—perception about people, problems, ourselves, life—known as “God's wisdom,… thoughts of God,... The things of the spirit,… The mind of Christ.” And only the mature in Christ can possess this wisdom, which should give spiritual babes the incentive to grow. For the deeper we swim into Christian maturity, the more wisdom will have to live for the Lord.

Paul gives three reasons why those without Christ can see only the tip of the iceberg.

A. It's a mystery, v. 6.

Paul explains that believers “speak God's wisdom in a mystery” (1 Cor. 2:7a). The Greek word for mystery is musterion, which conveys the idea of “secret” more than “mystery.” A mystery is something that is complex, intertwined, hard to grasp. But a secret is something that is clear to those who've been informed, while murky to those who haven't. To unbelievers, God's wisdom is a secret they aren't in on; when they listen to believers speaking its language, they hear only unintelligible whispers.

B. It's not understood, v. 8. 

Next, Paul goes on to describe God's wisdom as “the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood” (1 Cor. 2:8a). The Greek word he uses for understand is ginosko, which refers to a knowledge born of deep personal understanding. Spiritual depth perception comes from experiential knowledge of God, not just intellectual comprehension of truths about him. Paul reminds us about the human rulers who executed Jesus, telling us that “if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (v. 8b). Had the human authorities understood who Jesus was, they would never have put the nails in his hands and feet.

Unbelieving Bible scholars are like lazy scientists—those who might spend years just observing iceberg tips through high- powered lenses but never looked below the surface to see what icebergs are really made of.

C. It's not learned, v. 9.

Last, Paul says that unbelievers cannot gain this insight through mere observation or experience (1 Cor. 2: 9). This quotation, taken from Isaiah 64: 4, were words addressed to the adversaries of God, to those who had claimed they were superior to Him. Therefore the “I,” “ear,” and “heart” mentioned in this verse refer to the unbeliever. As believers, we are not shut out from “all that God has prepared” for us.

Unbelievers can spend the next 20 years studying in the most prestigious schools, adding letters to the ends of their names... being widely traveled and well-read, but they can never learn the depths God has for them. God's wisdom can't be acquired empirically. It must be secured by the heart through faith.

3. The Spirit Reveals God’s Wisdom, vs. 10-13.

How can the Corinthian believers—and us today—discover the hidden treasures of God’s wisdom. He makes believers the priority.

A. The priority is believers, 10.

God has chosen those who trust in Him to be the recipients of His wisdom as Paul explains in verse 10. God reveals His wisdom to believers, not to the unbelieving intelligentsia, influential, or wealthy. We are God's priority based solely on his grace.

B. The process is through the Spirit, 10-11.

Paul goes on to describe God's tool for revealing his wisdom. Verse 10-11—through the Spirit.

William Barkley, in his commentary on Paul's letters to the Corinthians, explains the significance of the Spirit’s relationship to God and His role in edifying the believer.

Paul lays down that the only person who can tell us about God is the Spirit of God. He uses a human analogy. There are feelings which are so personal, things which are so private, experiences which are so intimate that no one knows them except a man's own spirit. Paul argues that the same is true of God. There are deep and intimate things in Him which only His Spirit knows; and that Spirit is the only person who can lead us into really intimate knowledge of God.

At the moment we place our faith in the Lord, the Holy Spirit joins our lives and begins transforming us into Christ's image 1 Corinthians 3: 18

1 Corinthians 3:18 NASB95

Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise.

He indwells us, Romans 8: 9, 11

Romans 8:9 NASB95

However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

Romans 8:11 NASB95

But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

He liberates us from the oppressive power of sin, (Romans 8: 1-17),

He searches the depths of God,(1 Corinthians 2: 10b), and

He communicates His thoughts to us as we draw upon His resources, (vs 11-12), also. . .  

John 16:13–15 NASB95

“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. “All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.

Ephesians 3:14–19 NASB95

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

C. God’s purpose and promise, 12-13.

God promises to give us the Spirit the moment we are saved. There is no need to wait to receive Him—if we've trusted in Jesus, the Spirit already lives within us. Paul tells why God does this for us (1Corinthians 2: 12-13) … that we might know the things freely given to us by God..

Paul explains that the Spirit communicates the divine wisdom of Christianity because man could otherwise never understand it.

. . . for sound wisdom has two sides . . .  (Job 11: 6) — a surface and a depth.

The Spirit is given to us that we might know the depth. One side of wisdom—the surface side—could be called the ministry of the Word. We often understand the Word when it has been preached because it has been explained in a way that ministers to our minds. But God wants more from us. He wants us to experience the other side of wisdom—the deep side—which we could call the ministry of the Spirit. This is where God's Spirit takes the ministry of the Word and plumbs it down under the surface currents to where He can minister to our hearts and souls.

What is the main difference between unbelievers and believers. Paul now summarizes this in vs.14-16.

4. The Availability of God’s Wisdom, 14-16.

A. To the non-Christian, 14.

The natural man cannot understand the things of the spirit. Without the Holy Spirit’s indwelling ministry, unbelievers will never experientially know the riches of the spirit, for spiritual matters are spiritually appraised. Unbelievers may grasp them superficially, but they will never know them personally and deeply.

B. To the Christian, 15-16.

The flip side to the unsaved person is the maturing Christian. Maturing Christians are those who have given the Spirit control of their lives. They still wrestle with sin, but they confess it daily, keeping their hearts constantly clean.

Now just being a believer doesn't necessarily mean that you have discovered the hidden depths of God's wisdom. Even though they are available to all believers, some choose to tread the shallow waters, eyes fixed only on the tip of the iceberg.

The gospel is not foolish at all, nor is it shallow. There is in these verses a truth: there is a vast wealth of wisdom unavailable to anyone—except the Christian!

We should respond to the Lord with praise and thanksgiving for who He is. We should also thank Him for making the hidden things available to us through His Son Jesus Christ. God has revealed much to us through His Spirit. The world cannot understand it, But it is ours and we should give thanks for it.