* The engraving titled "Devotional for Saturday Night" is from a book "Of prayer, and meditation : wherein are contained fourteen devote meditations for the seven days of the week, both for the mornings and evenings, and in them is treyted of the consideration of the principal holy mysteries of our faith / written first in the Spanish tongue by Lewis de Granada."
It is by Luis, de Granada, (1504-1588) and is now in public domain.
Angels of all caliber surround Jesus who stands gloriously in the top-center. Near the bottom of the angels, Revelation 21 is presented in Latin. 1 Corinthians 2, located at the bottom, serves as the sixth of seven devotionals selected by the author, Luis de Granada.
Courtesy of the Digital Image Archive, Pitts Theology Library, Candler School of Theology, Emory University: http://www.pitts.emory.edu.
>1. Who is the Lord and glory and what wisdom did he display that is in regard to true believer's future glory? (6-8)
* 1 Corinthians 2:6-8 "We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."
* 1 Corinthians 2 Overview.
Paul was highly educated for his day. Yet, his human education lead him to false beliefs that were reinforced by an impure spirit and mind. Knowledge is one thing, wisdom another, and the truth is absolute. Paul did not know the truth. This lead him to cruel and evil acts.
God's wisdom and truth are not human wisdom and truth. Before I came into a personal relationship with God through Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit, I was educated but did not know God's truth. Thus like Paul I sinned. Slowly God is revealing his truth to me through His Spirit. So that now, I am known by God and I am knowing God and his will for me.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. The Spirit reveals these to me so that I may understand what God has freely given me. (12) I am thankful he brought me out of foolish and dark thinking.
Mature Christian questions examine and apply what the Holy Spirit reveals. An unbeliever cannot judge and understand the believer's spiritual nature. (15) From the soil comes pure white flowers.
Listen to the above comments on 1 Corinthians chapter 2 overview.
* "speak a message of wisdom among the mature" -"Mature", translated "perfect" in the KJV and YLT, and "fullgrown" in the ASV, is the adjective "teleios" in the original Greek meaning "complete in growth -mental and moral character", a full aged person.
When Paul arrived in Corinth, earlier he had said in verse 5 that his message was simple so that the Holy Spirit's power would be revealed. It was. Later, he taught wisdom to those who would be mature enough to understand and comprehend it. "Mature" means having the mental capability, moral aptitude, and willingness to learn more.
* "not the wisdom of this age" -Based on how to improved one's life with improper ethics and morals.
* "who are coming to nothing" -Based on improper ethics and morality. Having a wrong concept of right and wrong. Having a damaged conscience.
* "we speak of God's secret wisdom... hidden" -We need to be very careful here and not fall into a trap that believes it is still hidden. When Paul wrote this letter all the church had was the Old Testament and Jesus' teaches conveyed verbally by the apsotles, and perhaps some of the newly transcribed passages by Matthew and Mark. Matthew and Mark finished their gospels five or six years later. Luke and John would write their accounts later.
The secret wisdom is given through the Holy Spirit to our spirit. Paul spoke to the whole congregation. Paul is writing to the whole congregation. The wisdom is hidden by a false concept of right and wrong and a burnt conscience, blinded by a lie.
* "that God destined for our glory before time began" -I, like Augustine, do not have the ability to comprehend time (though it is a fun subject to think about), let along before time began. I know Apostle Paul's statement is purely meant to be a reassurance of God's love plan for me all along. As a site thought, this is strong evidence of predestination salvation, another subject that I have a hard time comprehending. I am not saying I do not know what it means and have not thought about, read about, talked about, and studied predestination salvation. All I am saying, it is to easy of a temptation to get bogged down into a desire to comprehend it in this lifetime. Well now look, I have deviated from the point at hand and thus, proven the temptation to be real.
* "our glory" -Our glory begins with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and will be revealed when Jesus comes again. Our glory is the glory that Christ Jesus now displays. Jesus spoke of his glory often at the end of this ministry. (John 8:54, 17:1, 24)
* "Lord of glory" -While of Old Testament often speaks of the glory of the Lord, the phrase "Lord of glory" is only used here. Why? The NIV text note states Paul is contrasting the cross with the majesty of the victim.
Commentary on the Holy Bible states, "The glory is His; and He came to bestow it upon us, to bring us to the perfection of our nature," which does seem to fit within the meaning of Paul's statements here, and thus is why he uniquely uses the phrase "Lord of glory".
Adam Clarke states, "or 'the glorious Lord', infinitely transcending all the rulers of the universe; whose is eternal glory; who gave that glorious Gospel in which his followers may glory, as it affords them such cause of triumph as the heathens had not, who gloried in their philosophers..."
>To whom has God's secret wisdom been revealed? (9-10)
* 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 "However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"-- but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God."
* Isaiah 64:1-4 "Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you! As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you! For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you. Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him."
* "No eye... God has prepared for those who love him" -Paul is quoting from Isaiah 64:4 is sense only, not a direct quote. This application, or fulfillment, is not so much the glory to come in the life-after, but as Paul applies it, with the gift of the Holy Spirit for all believers which started on the day of Pentecost. No one before the Holy Spirit was sent, not even the apostles knew that God had planned to send the Spirit to all those who called on the name of Jesus. They did not know how the Holy Spirit worked and what he does in and through a believer. When a prophet or king was filled with the Spirit, it was very strange for the observer to behold.
"God has prepared for those who love him" is a paraphrase of verses 1 thru 3. God opened the heavens and came down as the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. Jesus told the disciples he would send the Holy Spirit to his apostles, but they needed to wait for it. They did not know the Spirit would come down with wind and flames as of fire resting on their heads and that they would speak languages of other nations, the "nations quaking". Nor did Israel know what would happen at Mount Sinai.
Every since Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes down from heaven at the Father's command and rests within the person who accepts His One and Only Son, Jesus. The Spirit is a testimony to our spirit.
* "God has revealed it to us by his Spirit" -The message that the Spirit of God gives is to our spirit. We can pay attention to the Holy Spirit. Or we can drown the Spirit out. The Spirit testifies to our spirit the things of God.
* "The Spirit searches all things" -Nothing can hold back and block the Spirit of God.
* "even the deep things of God" -The Spirit is one with the Father.
* "deep things" -Paul defines "deep things" so that we can understand. We have thoughts and feeling bearied within that nobody knows. They are locked within. God does too. However, the Spirit goes in and out of these locked doors with ease.
>How is it that we have come to know it? (11-12)
* 1 Corinthians 2:11-12 "For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us."
* "that we may understand what God has freely given us." -God has given many things freely. However, staying within the context of the paragraph.
* Analyze Your Wisdom
Solomon, imprinted by the Holy Spirit, was gifted with God's wisdom as the Corinthians were gifted with knowledge and speech. However, wisdom can be flawed and misguided when based on improper morality and ethics. When one's concept of right and wrong is not based in absolute truth, then the wisdom that comes forth, though it may temporarily show gain, will lead to nothing in the end. Such flawed wisdom led to the crucifixion of the Lord of glory (6-8).
The same Spirit that imprinted Solomon and Apostle Paul was gifted to all those who call on the name of Jesus and he has imprinted a divine message in our soul (10). The Holy Spirit knows the heart of God and reveals the heart of God only to those who he dwells in. The Spirit does not dwell in an unbeliever. The Holy Spirit lives only in us who call on Jesus' name (9-12).
The Spirit has revealed to us a secret message of wisdom. Jesus taught the message. The apostles, including Paul repeated the secret message, and the Holy Spirit testifies to our soul that the message is true.
John 7:37-39 record Jesus saying, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified." (See also John 14:26)
Listen to the above comments on 1 Corinthians 2:6-12.
>2. How did Paul come to know God's secret wisdom? (13)
* 1 Corinthians 2:13 "This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words."
* "in words taught by the Spirit" -Paul goes into great detail and explanation of the Spirit in this letter, chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 12, 14, and 15. Verses 10-14 in this chapter is the beginning. Paul, is revealing to those who are proud of their knowledge and speaking gifts, that the Holy Spirit's work is so much more and greater than this.
* "Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words." -NIV text note says this can also read, "Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to spiritual men."
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>Why even though an unbeliever is told the truth does he not understand and accept it? (14)
* 1 Corinthians 2:14 "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned."
* "The man without the Spirit" -Those who do not believe in Jesus.
* "does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God" -In keeping with the topic Paul started in 2:6, Paul is speaking of the Spirit's message about Christ as is witnessed to our spirit. Actually, he started speaking of the message of the cross in 1:17-18, but that message was conveyed by Paul, can confirmed by the Spirit (1:6).
* "he cannot understand them"
* "because they are spiritually discerned."
>What can true believers learn about themselves in verses 15 and 16?
* 1 Corinthians 2:15-16 "The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ."
* Paul is quoting Isaiah 40:13. Isaiah 40:13-14 "Who has understood the mind of the LORD, or instructed him as his counselor? Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding?"
* "The spiritual man makes judgments about all things" -"Judgments" is the Greek particle "men" properly indicative of affirmation or concession (in fact), usually followed by a contrasted clause.
* "not subject to any man's judgment" -"Judgment" is the Greek verb "anakrino" meaning "examine" from "ana" and "krino", together meaning "scrutinize" and "investigate", "interrogate", and "determine".
* The Spirit Imparts The Mind of Jesus.
Apostle Paul is still redressing the Corinthians Christians, who are proud of the gifts of knowledge and teaching, the gifts they were given upon receiving the Holy Spirit when they first believed. Paul introduces the topic of the office and work of the Holy Spirit in verses 10-16, which he will maintain and build upon in the rest of the letter.
Jesus' words to the knowledgeable Jewish rabbi Nicodemus, "Israel's teacher", are related to those of Apostle Paul in these verses, "Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." (John 3:6-8)
God gives us the Spirit, which communicates to us spiritually, "that we may understand" by experiencing God through Him, "what God has freely given to us", that is God, the very essence of the eternal most high God, within and a part of ourselves. "We had the mind of Christ." (16)
On the night he was betrayed, Jesus gave us this promise, "But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you... When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me." (John 14:26, 15:26) Read also John 16:5-15. Believe Jesus when he says the Spirit within us, testifying spiritually to us, is a very good thing, though it his hard to understand.
Listen to the above comments on 1 Corinthians 2:10-16.
II. Who We Follow and What We Do (3:1-15)
>3. What stage of spiritual life were the Corinthian Christians at? (3:1)
* 1 Corinthians 3:1 "Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly--mere infants in Christ."
* 1 Corinthians 3 Overview.
In ancient times people did not go to an institution, school, college, nor university to get an education. Rather, they went to a person and asked them if they could become a disciple. If a Jew wanted to learn about God the same was true. They went to a prominent rabbi to be trained as a disciple.
Proper Jews went to the synagogue every Sabbath to worship and hear the Bible since most did not and could not have a copy at home. They did not go to synagogues to learn as some Christian do today. For small congregations, a prominent visiting rabbi would speak. But that was the exception, not the norm.
God was doing something different in the early church. What he was doing in the church had never been done before in antiquity.
Jesus taught that we should not call a person rabbi nor father. Instead in Christ, people were a community. Everyone had different functions and gifts. Different people preached and taught at different times, taking turns as the Holy Spirit prompted and equipped. No one was a disciple of someone else. That is what Paul is rebuking the Corinthians about in this chapter. They were calling themselves disciples of a human.
Some in the Corinthian congregation were still thinking and doing as others did. They followed people and became their disciples. Paul said, "No. Don't say 'I follow Paul' nor 'I follow Apollos'." This was not the way the Holy Spirit is working amongst them. The same is true today.
I go to and lead Bible studies, talk to other Christians, read books, and study the Bible. The Holy Spirit slowly reveals to me as I pray and humbly submit to him. I have had to change my understanding of truths along the way. I am grateful for the ways of God. No human is my rabbi nor shepherd. I am not a sheep to men. I am God's sheep. I thank God for all the people he leads into my life to show me the truth and the way. Yet, I know it's not them that changes me in character and thought. Its God, my one and only Father.
Listen to the above comments on 1 Corinthians chapter 3 overview.
* Paul is stating that while he was their around two years ago, and that only for a few months, they were still young in Christ. So, they could not be addressed, or rather, taught the deep things of God.
* "mere infants in Christ" -New to the faith in Christ. Paul uses this analogy elsewhere. Several of Jesus' parables imply a growth process.
>What kind of Bible study did they still need? (2)
* 1 Corinthians 3:2 "I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready."
* "I gave you milk" -Like a baby received mother's milk. Easy to digest was the instruction Paul gave them.
* "for you were not yet ready for it" -Jesus said the same thing to Nicodemus. (John 3)
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>What's a characteristic of an infant in Christ? (3-4)
* 1 Corinthians 3:3-4 "You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men?"
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>4. Why is paying to much honor and praise to others wrong? (5)
* 1 Corinthians 3:5 "What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe--as the Lord has assigned to each his task."
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>Can any man make us grow spiritually? (6-7, 9)
* 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow."
* 1 Corinthians 3:9 "For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building."
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>Why then should a man be honored?
* "neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything"
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>How then should God's servants expect to be rewarded? (8; Matt. 16:27)
* 1 Corinthians 3:8 "The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor."
* Matthew 16:27 "For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done."
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>5. To what is our new life of faith compared to? (10)
* 1 Corinthians 3:10 "By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds."
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>What is the foundation that all rest and relies on? (11)
* 1 Corinthians 3:11 "For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ."
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>What is the Christian acts we do compared to? (12)
* 1 Corinthians 3:12 "If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw,"
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>6. To what day will all Christians actions be examined? (13-15; Eph. 6:8; Col. 3:24-25; and 2 John 1:8; Rev. 11:18, 22:12)
* 1 Corinthians 3:13 "his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames."
* Ephesians 6:8 "because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free."
* Colossians 3:24-25 "since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism."
* 2 John 1:8 "Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully."
* Revelation 11:18 "The nations were angry; and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great-- and for destroying those who destroy the earth."
* Revelation 22:12 "Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done."
III. Temples of God (3:16-4:5)
* The engraving titled "One Planted, One Watered" is from a book "La Biblia. que es, los Sacros Libros del Vieio y Nvevo Testamento : Revista y conferida con los textos Hebreos y Griegos y con diversas translaciones / Por Cypriano de Valera"
It is by Valera, Cipriano de, (1532?-1625) and is now in public domain.
A title page illustration featuring one man planting and another watering, surrounded by an ornamental border featuring angels or putti. The title page has been interpreted as representation of 1 Cor 3:6, "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase".
Courtesy of the Digital Image Archive, Pitts Theology Library, Candler School of Theology, Emory University: http://www.pitts.emory.edu.
>7, After talking about buildings what does Paul equate each Christian to? (16)
* 1 Corinthians 3:16 "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?"
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>Considering all this talk about buildings, what does verse 17 mean?
* 1 Corinthians 3:17 "If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple."
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>8. What does verse 18-19 mean to you especially considering what Paul wrote about wisdom in 1:21?
* 1 Corinthians 3:18-20 "Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a "fool" so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written: "He catches the wise in their craftiness"; and again, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile."
* 1 Corinthians 1:21 "For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe."
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>How does this explain why they were arguing about following Christian leaders? (21)
* 1 Corinthians 3:21 "So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours,"
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>How does this understanding make unity in Christ paramount? (22-23)
* 1 Corinthians 3:22-23 "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 of Christ, and Christ is of God."
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>9. What did it mean to be a servant in the Roman empire? (1)
* 1 Corinthians 4:1 "So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God."
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>How does that equate to a proper view of self and others in Christ?
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>Who is our master and what has he entrusted us with? (2; Matt. 25:14)
* 1 Corinthians 4:2 "Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful."
* Matthew 25:14 "Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them."
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>10. Whose judgment should matter to us? (3-4)
* 1 Corinthians 4:3-4 "I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me."
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>When he judges us, what will he look at? (5)
* 1 Corinthians 4:5 "Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God."
