Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 141
2:5–3:4
1 C o ri n thia n s
129
using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the
Holy Spirit. I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the
power of God.
Yet when I am among mature believers, I do speak with words of wisdom, but not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers
of this world, who are soon forgotten. No, the wisdom we speak of is the
mystery of God—his plan that was previously hidden, even though he
made it for our ultimate glory before the world began. But the rulers of
this world have not understood it; if they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord. That is what the Scriptures mean when they say,
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
and no mind has imagined
what God has prepared
for those who love him.”
But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his
Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. No one
can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one
can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received
God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things
God has freely given us.
When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from
human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using
the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to
them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can
understand what the Spirit means. Those who are spiritual can evaluate all
things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others. For,
“Who can know the Lord’s thoughts?
Who knows enough to teach him?”
But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.
Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as
I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this
world or as though you were infants in Christ. I had to feed you with milk,
not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And
you still aren’t ready, for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You
are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove
you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of
the world? When one of you says, “I am a follower of Paul,” and another
says, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you acting just like people of the world?
