1 Corinthians 2

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

While 1 Corinthians has a much different feel than Romans, I'm still having just as much trouble keeping the memory selections down to manageable numbers. The barometer I have set up for myself is the 'brain fry' factor; as long as they keep sticking in my head and hiding in my heart, I'll keep putting them in. I don't know how many times I've said, 'Ooo, that's a good one, I'll have to memorize that one....but this one's really good, too.' I try not to 'value' certain words of Scripture more than others. In order to fulfill my current goal in this Chapter Memory Study, I do make certain judgments about verses. Feel free to disagree and chose your own. As we study this chapter, we are reminded that Holy Spirit helps us all 'understand the things freely given us by God'(12) and it's not always the same thing at the same time.

That said, the memory section for chapter 2 is
1 Corinthians 2:4-5, 12-13, 16 (ESV)
⁴ and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, ⁵ that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
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. 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.
¹⁶ "For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

The outline theme is Correct Wisdom from the Spirit

While the theme of chapter 1 is Christ as the center, chapter 2 deals with the Spirit as the source. It was easy for the Corinthian church (and us today) to be swayed by the 'lofty speech and wisdom' of certain magnetic personalities. Paul contradicts this attraction by bringing their attention back to THE source of wisdom; Holy Spirit. Verses 1-5 outline the argument; Paul came to them with the single message of Christ crucified. He testified in weakness, fear, and trembling without 'plausible words of wisdom', but filled with the power of Holy Spirit. (v4) Not that Paul's, or our, message was/should be void of reason and clarity, but by focusing on the content and not the delivery their faith would rest on the power of God, not the wisdom of man.
Wisdom is a part of our message, but not the wisdom of this age(v6). The wisdom that comes from the Spirit is secret and hidden from the world and only revealed to us through the work of Holy Spirit. (vv6-11)

As Christ-followers we have received the Holy Spirit, not the spirit of the world. He helps us understand the things from God and impart His wisdom to each other (12-13). This wisdom is lost on the lost, but as fellow members in the body of Christ, we have the mind of Christ (16).

The correct wisdom for the church to seek and impart comes only from the Holy Spirit. Resting on the wisdom of man robs us of sharing in the power of God.

How does this affect my worship?
The attitude of this chapter challenges my approach to worship. When selecting, or writing, worship songs for worship services, our natural tendency is to go with the latest sound or fad. Sometimes it seems that we make things much more complicated than they need to be. In order to have spirit-and-truth worship, the music needs to resonate with the 'heart song' of the worshiper. This may be a song with 3 chords and a simple melody. The vehicle of the music is important, but not as important as the message. If we focus our worship on the single goal of glorifying God through Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit, what comes out should be our heart song. I believe it's ok to do difficult and challenging music, but not at the expense of true worship.

How does this affect my discipleship?
Verse 13 hits me right between my discipleship eyes; "and we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual". If we let our flesh take over, discipleship can easily turn into a 'here's how much I know and I'll prove it to you' session. The respect and admiration oozing from a hungry disciple is not meant to be kept to the disciple-maker. All you have to remember is that if the Spirit didn't reveal it to me, I couldn't impart it to you. And however difficult it is for me to grasp, as believers we have the mind of Christ. Without 'the same mind' (1:10), unity is impossible.

May you trust in, walk in, and dwell in the mind of Christ,

Ethan