1 Corinthians 2

V 1–5: RESOLVE Paul’s determined resolve in preaching to the Corinthians is never to parade his excellent vocabulary or wisdom, but to concentrate solely on ‘Jesus Christ and Him crucified’. He admits that he feels his great weakness, fear, and trembling and that it is not human wisdom or persuasion that gives power to the message, but the Holy Spirit, as he concentrates on the message of the cross, the true preaching of which always is accompanied by God’s power to save. V 6–10: REVELATION God’s revealed wisdom is shared with those who are spiritually mature. The world has rejected this wisdom and this is why ‘the Lord of glory’, the Lord Jesus Christ, was crucified. But, through His Spirit, God has revealed the truths of His word and the blessings He has prepared for His redeemed people. The same Holy Spirit, who reveals the word of God, is at work in the hearts of men to reveal to them their sin and need for this gospel of Christ crucified. V 11–15: RECEPTION The Christian has received ‘the Spirit who is from God’ who teaches him both the truth about God and the truth about himself, underlines his need, and intensifies his desire for God’s revelation through His word. The unconverted man (the ‘natural man’) cannot understand these things, because they are spiritually discerned and only become real to a person who has turned from sin and received the Holy Spirit by faith in Christ. God’s enlightenment follows the receiving of the Holy Spirit in conversion. V 16: RÉSUMÉ No one can have God’s mind unless he or she has been converted. The simplest person who trusts Christ, through grace, receives ‘the mind of Christ’ within through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.