“The Crucified Lord” - 1 Corinthians 2:6-16_SERMON NOTES

THEME: Paul’s solution to the divisions at Corinth is to
A) knock down human pride based on human earthly wisdom
B) point them towards the Crucified Lord and its implications

INTRO - 'ALEXAMENOS WORSHIPS HIS GOD'
3^rd ct. graffito (barely visible etching in a wall).  Monte Palatino, Rome. Part of a wall from the Imperial School for slave boys on the Palatine Hill (1 of 7 hills of Rome). Salvaged in the 1857. Overlooks the Colosseum (built by Jewish slaves), the Circus Maximus, and the Roman Forums. Alexamenos may have been a Jewish convert to Christianity and may even have been a martyr under Valerian. Antiquarium Museum in Rome.

The Wisdom of God is NOT …                                                    BUT

-Doomed to pass away (2:6)                                                       -Decreed before the ages (2:7)*

1 Corinthians 2:6 Yet among the mature (teleios) we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away.

              
 TWO KINDS OF WISDOM - James 3:13–17 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. ¹⁵ This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. ¹⁶ For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. ¹⁷ But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.

* THE WISDOM OF GOD WAS FOREORDAINED (2:7) AND PREPARED BY GOD (2:9).

1 Corinthians 2:7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.

For our glory? Resurrection, glorification and the eternal state! How? Jesus is the Lord of Glory and he shares with us.

Read Ephesians 1:4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

The Wisdom of God is NOT …                                                    BUT

-What the rulers this age knew (2:8)                                      -What God makes known (2:10)

1 Corinthians 2:8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

“There can scarcely be a statement in Scripture that the cross was no unfortunate historical accident; a mere act of bravery or political martyrdom later turned to good account.” – Thiselton

Read Acts 4:27–28 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, ²⁸ to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

READ Acts 13:26–31 “Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. ²⁷ For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. ²⁸ And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. ²⁹ And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. ³⁰ But God raised him from the dead, ³¹ and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people.” (Paul in the synagogue at Pisidian Antioch)

The Lord of Glory does not mean the Lord who doles or dishes out glory to people nor does it merely mean the glorious Lord but rather it means “the Lord to whom glory belongs” or “the Lord who is characterized by glory”.

1 Corinthians 2:9 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”—

                Read Isaiah 64:4 From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.

                “Every possible earthly source of wisdom is excluded, making it impossible for mortals, no matter how creative or innovative, to imagine what God has prepared. The eye, ear, and heart are organs of cognition in Semitic imagery. These things did not come from empirical sources (eye has not seen), traditional knowledge passed on in community (ear has not heard), or intuitive insight (heart has not conceived), nor is it accessible to them” (Kaiser, 1981).

1 Corinthians 2:10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

                Read Matthew 16:15–17 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” ¹⁶ Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” ¹⁷ And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

                Read 1 Corinthians 12:3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.

                Read Romans 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

“God’s wisdom and knowledge (33) refer particularly to the revelation of his purposes in Christ (Eph. 3:5, 10; Col. 2:3). These purposes, as Paul has shown in chs. 9–11, are being worked out in the context of a historical process involving both Jews and Gentiles. … Confronted with this sovereign and wise God, our response can only be Paul’s: To him be the glory for ever!” - Douglas J. Moo, New Bible Commentary.

The Wisdom of God is NOT …                                                    BUT

-What the world offers (2:12a)                                                  -What the Spirit of God gives (2:12b)

1 Corinthians 2:11 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.

“It is not simply that just as individuals have private thoughts not known to others, God has private thoughts too, rather, if human things are known only to human knowers, divine things are known only to God’s Spirit” – (PW Gooch, 1987).

                “The point of the analogy does not turn on human spirit within/divine spirit within, but on the possession of an exclusive initiative to reveal one’s thoughts, counsels, stance, attitudes, intentions, or whatever else is ‘within’ in the sense of hidden from the public domain, not in the sense of location” – Thistelton

Gordon Clark: ‘the idea … in 2:11 [is] no one by natural theology can know the thoughts of God’

1 Corinthians 2:12 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.

A QUICK NOTE … Athanasius (296-373), in his letter to Serapion, asserted the deity of the Holy Spirit from 1 Cor. 2:10-16, especially this verse because it can be translated/understood as “the Spirit who issues from God” and He –unlike creatures- also knows the thoughts of God. (Basil of Caesarea (330-379) follows him in this.

 MAIN CONTRAST … Greek culture missed out on the gulf between the divine and human. Eg …Quotes from Philo plus 3 Roman Stoics: Epictetus (55-135), Seneca (1-65), Marcus Aurelius (121-180)

The Wisdom of God is NOT …                                                    BUT

-What is taught by human wisdom (2:13a)                           -What is taught by the Spirit (2:13b)

1 Corinthians 2:13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. (pneumatikos)

                Gordon Clark says: “this passage shows clearly that spiritual matters can be explained in words”

           
    Every Christian is a spiritual person, as they are led and empowered by the Holy Spirit. This means spiritual people live and walk according to the Holy Spirit.

The Wisdom of God is NOT …                                                    BUT

-What natural humans can accept/understand (2:14)        -What the Spirit enables one to discern/judge (2:14)

1 Corinthians 2:14 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.

Read Romans 8:7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.

EXAMPLES: Paul a babbler in Acts 17:8. Gallio thought the Jewish/Paul dispute was silly talk in Acts 18:15. Festus thought Paul was insane in Acts 26:24.

Origen (185-254), in his commentary, says the reason why the natural person does not receive the things of the Spirit is that “unless the Spirit opens the words of the prophets, the things which are [otherwise] locked up cannot be opened”.

                John Chrysostom’s (347-407) Analogy: the natural person who does not receive the things of the Spirit of God IS LIKE someone with perfect vision who is trying to see into the dark – to such a one the Spirit of God must bring  light to enable them to see – otherwise they are incapable, no matter how good their “eyesight”.

1 Corinthians 2:15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.

‘There are depths and dimensions to life in the Spirit which the person who lives on an entirely human level simply cannot fathom. Aspects of Christian existence remain an enigma’ (Thiselton) … the natural man cannot adequately judge what makes the Christian what they are.

The unspiritual person INVALIDLY misjudges the cross as foolishness; believers as fools

1 Corinthians 2:16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.  

READ Isaiah 40:13–14 Who has measured  [or, who has directed] the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? ¹⁴ Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?

                No human knows the mind of God apart from revelation. No one can serve as God’s advisor. No one gives anything to God. Everything that humans have is a gift from God.

                See Philippians 2:5! The mind of Christ refers to Christ’s obedience! See also 2 Cor. 5:15.

To have the mind of Christ means to put to death selfish ambition, be humble and give of yourself!
God’s wisdom (2.7) and the mind of Christ refer to the cross applied to everyday life!

Final question: what does the wisdom of the age think about Jesus? A CRUCIFIED (false) Messiah. Crucifixion equals punishment for wrong doing. Failed Messiah, a Messianic pretender. Calling him The Lord of Glory is FOOLISHNESS to the wisdom of this age. But the resurrection!