1 Corinthians 2-3
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Last week we did not get as far as I was hoping. We spent the majority of our time in chapter 1. So, this morning I we are going to attempt to make it through chapter 2 and 3. We are going to move at a little faster pace hopefully.
In chapter 1 we considered Paul’s appeal to unity and the basis of that unity, the preaching of the cross of Christ. Paul continues this theme in chapter 2 as he further expounds on his primary mean so of preaching.
He continues to explain that he did not come with fancy talk, or worldly wisdom instead he came with the simple message of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of sinners.
Therefore, in chapter 2 we are going to simply consider,
I. Paul’s Proclamation of Christ Alone 2:1-16
I. Paul’s Proclamation of Christ Alone 2:1-16
In verses 2-5 we see,
A. Paul Proclaimed Christ and Him Crucified. (2:1-5)
A. Paul Proclaimed Christ and Him Crucified. (2:1-5)
The first thing we see about Paul’s proclamation of Christ is,
Paul proclaimed Christ plainly.
And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
1 Corinthians 2:
As Paul continues is defense of his own ministry he reminds the Corinthians again of their intimate relationship as the church. He writes, And when I came to you brothers, Paul is going to us this language throughout the letter continuing to stress and emphasize the love and compassion he has for this dysfunctional body in Corinth.
Paul wants them to understand as he continues to appeal, rebuke, and exhort for them to hear and submit to his teachings of Christ and the gospel he is doing it out of a familial love for them.
This is something we must always remember, that we are all part of the same family. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ, and you know what, we are dysfunctional…Amen…We may not have the same issues that Corinth had but we have our own. This is why this letter is so important to us. These same lessons that Paul was teaching Corinth, are the same lessons and truths we need today. If we want to avoid strife, schism, and division, brothers and sisters we must understand that whether the message is being thundered from the pulpit, taught in the classroom, or just delivered over coffee the gospel and its implications are for the adopted family of God.
Notice in these first two verses, Paul didn’t just proclaim Christ to his family, he proclaimed Christ simply.
He wrote, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.
In other words, Paul said I gave you the pure, unadulterated gospel of God, the testimony of God. I taught it in a way that the simple could understand and the wise could be made simple.
Leon Morris explains,
1 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary 3. Paul’s Preaching Was in Divine Power (2:1–5)
Preaching the gospel is not delivering edifying discourses, beautifully put together. It is bearing witness to what God has done in Christ for our salvation.
Again Paul was not interested in impressing men with his ability to wax eloquent, Paul was only interested in being a faithful witness to Christ alone!
John Owen once went to hear John Bunyan preach. Charles II, hearing of it, asked the doctor why someone as thoroughly educated as he would want to hear a mere tinker preach. Owen replied, "May it please your Majesty, if I could possess the tinker's abilities to grip men's hearts, I would gladly give in exchange all my learning."
We not only see Paul proclaiming Christ simply,
Paul proclaimed Christ fearfully.
1 Corinthians 2:
And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling,
Here is what we must understand, Paul was not fearful of those he was preaching to. Paul was in fear and in trembling of the one He was preaching about!
Paul understood the glory, majesty, and power of the God of whom he was proclaiming. Paul knew that the message of Christ was one of grave importance, one which had massive, eternal implications for the hearers and the one preaching, therefore when he approached the pulpit and stood preaching Christ he did it with a reverent fear and a trustful trembling.
The New Bible Commentary says it this way,
The New Bible Commentary 1:17B–2:5 Boasting in the Lord and Not in the Educated Elite
Paul was no silver-tongued orator who persuaded the Corinthians to become Christians.
There was a reason for this, it was so the hearers would not be convinced to come to Christ because of Paul’s persuasive speech. Instead,
Paul proclaimed Christ in demonstration of the Spirit’s power.
and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
Paul knew that fancy words were not going to bring anyone to faith. Paul understood that the means to saving faith was the good news of Jesus Christ being revealed to the sinner by the Spirit of God. He did not want anyone’s salvation resting on his wisdom and ability to argue someone into the kingdom of God.
Think about his own conversion, talk about a demonstration of the Spirit and of power. When the light hit him, knocked him off his steed, and put him on the ground. When he saw the glorious light of Christ is was not because of some silver tongued speaker. Paul came to Christ because God chose him, Christ died for him, and the Spirit regenerated Him! The Spirit hit him like a defibrillator!
MacArthur has a great point of application for us as the body in his commentary. He writes,
“We should not come to church to hear the pastor’s opinions about politics, psychology, economics, or even religion. We should come to hear a word from the Lord through the pastor. God’s word edifies and unifies, human opinions confuse and divided.” (MacArthur pg. 55)
MacArthur asks,
What was the centerpiece of Paul’s message to the Corinthians?
B. Paul Proclaimed Christ With Spiritual Wisdom. (2:6-16)
B. Paul Proclaimed Christ With Spiritual Wisdom. (2:6-16)
1. Spiritual Wisdom Explained.
1. Spiritual Wisdom Explained.
Spiritual wisdom is imparted to the mature. (6a)
Yet among the mature we do impart widsom,
MacArthur writes, Paul uses this word to refer to genuine believers who have been saved by Christ. The author of Hebrews uses a similar way in
Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
Hebrews
What is that Paul imparts to believers who are mature and “perfected in Christ?”
Wisdom - the capacity to understand and function accordingly (BDAG)...
In other words, the believers have come to faith, and Paul and the other teachers are providing them with biblical wisdom in order that they might live and function as the people of God whom they have come to by the grace and mercy God has granted the.
But what is happening? Instead of functioning as those who are wise they are fussing and fighting over who they would follow!
Their lack of maturity reveals that they are living in a lack of wisdom or function in a manner that is informed by worldly wisdom. So Paul goes on to explain to them.
Spiritual wisdom is not of this age. (6b)
although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away.
Paul says look the wisdom we are imparting to you is far superior to the wisdom of this world. Even the wisdom of the rules, authorities of this age have a inferior wisdom to the eternal wisdom of God. Look how these rulers have lead throughout history. They have stumbled and done things that have been in direct contradiction to the wisdom of God.
God’s wisdom offers eternal salvation to his people.
God’s wisdom offers a guaranteed inheritance to his children.
God’s wisdom meets every need of His people.
God’s wisdom ensure the glory and honor of himself and His Son.
God’s wisdom converts sinners into saints.
God’s wisdom adopts children of wrath and makes them children of God.
God’s wisdom transfers us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of His beloved Son!
Here is another truth Paul lays out regarding spiritual wisdom.
Spiritual wisdom is the eternal decree of God. (7)
But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.
Make know doubt this wisdom that was once ha mystery, that was once a secret has now been revealed. It is no long hidden from us but shown to us through the Word of God.
Notice what Paul says, God decreed this plan of redemption before the foundation of the world for what? for our glory.
This gospel that was hidden for a time has now been made visible and understandable that we might enter into the glory of God. That we might experience conversion, justification, salvation, adoption, sanctification, and glorification!
All of this because,
Spiritual wisdom is revealed to the church through the Spirit of God. (8-10)
None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.
Notice the rulers of this age have not did not understand this wisdom, because the crucified Christ. But like no one could even imagine or understand God prepared this plan of redemption before the world began for “those who love Him” and these things are revealed to us by the Spirit of God who perfectly understands the mind and hear of God and makes these transcendent truths knowable to us that we might receive this wisdom!
Paul says, church at Corinth, things have been revealed to you that not even the ruler of this age understand. What a blessing, what a privilege!
Has the Spirit imparted this wisdom unto you?
Has He made known to you the mysteries of God?
Do you love God?
Next Paul goes on to describe,
2. The Role of the Holy Spirit in the Proclamation of Christ.
2. The Role of the Holy Spirit in the Proclamation of Christ.
The Spirit of God comprehends the thoughts of God.
But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
1 Corinthians 2:9-
Paul is exposing the foolishness of the Corinthians for following after teachers instead of being informed by the wisdom of God by the Spirit of God. He wants them to know that the Spirit is the only one who has the ability to know the mind of men and the thoughts of God. So yes God can use men to feed his flock with spiritual food but the wisdom and knowledge is illuminated by the Spirit.
And....
The Spirit of God is given to the church that they might understand the things freely given by God.
Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.
God does gift his church with pastor teachers to shepherd us and care for his body. But more important than that God gives His Spirit to the church that we might understand what He has given us, His Son! The good news of Christ, it is not a pastor teacher alone who taught the Corinthians the gospel of Christ, it is the Spirit of Christ himself who brought us to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ through and God’s eternal plan of redemption.
1 Corinthians
1 Corinthians: New Testament, Volume 9a 2:10–13 The Spirit Reveals God’s Thoughts
THE SPIRIT TESTIFIES TO OUR JUSTIFICATION. PHILIPP MELANCHTHON: The Holy Spirit brings it about that we know the gifts given by Christ. Note how effectually the Spirit teaches that grace and truth have been given through Christ; that is, the Spirit brings it about that you steadfastly believe that you are justified through Christ without any regard for works. That passage of John 14, “he will teach you all things,” pertains here. ANNOTATIONS ON 1 CORINTHIANS 2:12.
The Spirit of God teaches spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
Thomas Goodwin writes, “There is a general omission in the saints of God, in their not giving the Holy Ghost that glory that is due to his person…The work he doth for us in its kinds is as great as the Father or the Son.” (Beeke pg. 419)
The Spirit of God is not accepted/understood by carnal folks.
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
This is why we must be patient when witnessing to or counseling folks. We can provide all of the Bible verses we can recall, we can passionately plead with the person, but apart from the Holy Spirit revealing the wisdom of God - the capacity to understand and function accordingly, the natural, carnal person will find it foolish to submit to the spiritual wisdom of God.
Because they are spiritually discerned.
1 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary 3. Spiritual Discernment (2:14–16)
Anyone whose equipment is only of this world, who has not received the Holy Spirit, has no ability to make an estimate of things spiritual. ‘The unspiritual are out of court as religious critics; they are deaf men judging music’
Until the Holy Spirit does his work;
Dead men can’t live.
Deaf men can’t hear.
Blind men can’t see.
Rebellious men can’t repent.
Unbelieving men can’t believe.
The Spirit of God instructs the church in the wisdom of God, through the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:
The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
Those who have been made alive by the Spirit will be instructed by the Spirit of God. They will be taught by the Spirit inspired Word to see and submit to the Son of God.
Paul closes this verse reminding us that we have the mind of Christ!
1 Corinthians: New Testament, Volume 9a 2:14–16 Spiritual Discernment
When Paul says, “we have the mind of Christ,” it is the same as what he said above, “God has revealed to us through his Spirit.” That is, he made us believe the gospel, which otherwise offends the sanctimonious and is mocked by the wise.… Because we know Christ, we know the will of the Father in Christ. And knowing the will of the Father we can judge spiritually concerning God’s works both within us and outside us.
Dr. Joel Beeke writes,
“Their (Puritans and Reformers) Christology was pneumatic, and their pneumatology was christocentric. These elements come together not only in the specific blessings of salvation bestowed upon the elect, but also in terms of prayer life of believers and the manner in which believers, by the Spirit, appropriate God’s own revelation in His Word. Without the Spirit there is no spiritual life. To put it starkly, the prayers of God’s people apart from the Spirit would be no more efficacious than the prayers of pagans. In similar manner, God’s written Word apart from the Spirit would be as useful or efficacious as the Koran.” (Beeke pg. 440)
In Summary MacArthur asks,
What role does the Holy Spirit play in bringing unity to God’s people?
In Chapter two, Paul has expounded on his Proclamation of Christ alone. He proclaims that Christ is the testimony of God, the wisdom and power of God and cannot be understood apart from the Spirit of God.
Now in chapter 3 Paul begins to lay out his plan of,
II. Protection Against Deception 3:1-23
II. Protection Against Deception 3:1-23
Notice what he writes in verse 18 of chapter 3.
ESV Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.
Do you see what he does, he say in the midst of all of this division among the church, amidst all of you dividing over different teachers, you are deceiving yourselves because you think that you and your favorite teacher are wiser than the others. You think more highly of yourself and your teacher than others.
You are being foolish, and apart from becoming a fool to the fool, recognizing that you are not as wise as you think you are you will learn the hard way.
In this chapter Paul lays out a threefold means of protection against deception.
First he provides a,
A. Proper Understanding of God’s Field (3:1-9)
A. Proper Understanding of God’s Field (3:1-9)
Paul lays out the problem again in,
In,
But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?
He reminds them of their brotherhood in Christ again. He builds them up to prepare them for the coming rebuke.
Paul then, says I cannot address you as spiritual, mature, wise men of God. You are still on the bottle, because you can’t handle the meat of the truth.
There is still jealousy and strife among you. He reminds them again they are all following men and not the Man!
For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder,
Then in verse 5 he explains what they need to understand.
What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.
1 Corinthians 3:5-
Paul says, we are all just sharecroppers in God’s fields All we are doing is what he assigned to us.
I, Paul planted the seed.
Apollos watered. We are nothing but God’s servants, God is the one who provided the seed, the field, and the fruit. God is the one who gives the growth, don’t get caught up following us!
He said we are just God’s fellow workers.
You are God’s field. You are the land in which God has given us the seed to plant, you are the field which Apollos was assigned to stay and water. You are the field which God will fill with spiritual fruits and vegetables.
Paul moves from the analogy of God’s field to the analogy of God’s building. And if the church wants to protect herself from deception and division she must have,
B. Proper Understanding of God’s Building. (3:9-15)
B. Proper Understanding of God’s Building. (3:9-15)
For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.
1 Corinthians
Paul close verse 9 proclaiming the church is the building of God. Not only are we to learn how God is responsible for the fruit in His field, he is also the foundation of His own building.
According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—
Paul say’s I came to you and I laid the ground work, I laid the foundation, I poured the slab that the entire building rests on. The foundation that squares and supports the church. This foundation is who? Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:10-1
He is the one who is the strength and surety of God’s building the rest of us are just general contractors. We have just been sent to do what God has called us to do. To proclaim the wisdom of God, by the Spirit of God, which is salvation through the Son of God!
He then goes on to remind them, he has left them to keep the building project going. But they are to remember, they best build out of the best materials. They better not go cheap on what they build onto the foundation of Jesus Christ.
Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
1 Corinthians 3:12
He reminds the Corinthians, there is a Day coming where God’s building will be put through fire. Whatever you have built upon the foundation with will be exposed. If you build with worthy material it will withstand the fire, if you build with junk the fire will consume your work.
You will then be left standing there covered with the smell of smoke and covered in smut. You will see the folly of your ways and the foolishness of your faulty building materials.
Although you yourself will be saved. There is hope in this text, those who are part of God’s building will not be cast aside as long as they are built on the foundation of Christ, but the work they have spent their life engaged in will be burnt up if it is not built on biblical material, that points people to salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone!
Paul has used the analogy of God’s field, God’s building, and now in verse 16 he turns to God’s temple. Paul again wants the church to have a,
C. Proper Understanding of God’s Temple. (3:16-23)
C. Proper Understanding of God’s Temple. (3:16-23)
Notice how he opens verse 16,
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
Do you hear the rebuke in Paul’s question. Remember how we got here. You have divided over teachers, you are hindered from meaty teaching, you are dividing God’s people.
Do you not know that you are God’s people and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
As R.C. Sproul has said, What is wrong with your people?
Don’t you hear Paul saying the same thing.
Don’t you know who God is?
Don’t you know who you are?
And you are going to divide the church over your fallible favoritism?????
Look at,
If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
Do you really want to be the one tearing God’s temple apart? Do you want to be the one causing division is God’s church? He will destroy you!
Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”
1 Corinthians 3:
Don’t be a fool, God will not be mocked. You are not as wise as you think you are and God will reveal that to you. He will show you your foolish ways.
Paul closes chapter three where he started this section. This I believe is why MacArthur grouped this large text together in one lesson, because he starts with the issue in
I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
Then he closes the section in verse 21-21
So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.
Are there any additional reflections or questions you noted at the end of your study guide this week?