[:en]SCRIPTURE: 1 CORINTHIANS 2
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9)
“In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:11)
“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” (1 Corinthians 2:14)
The Corinthians depended upon their eloquence and intellectual knowledge but Paul depended on God. He used the plain gospel to minister in Corinth with fear and trembling and God gave him power of Spirit to preach and serve Him.
The Greeks looked for wisdom. But true wisdom comes from the Spirit of God, who searches all things. The Corinthians focused their eyes on human leaders with the wisdom of the world instead of on the Word of God. The wisdom of the world are man’s word which is foolishness to God that leads to condemnation. The wisdom of God is power and Spirit with the knowledge of God, but which is foolishness to men, but it leads to glory.
Paul spoke about two spirits – the Spirit of this world and the Spirit of God. Satan is the source and energizing spirit of the Spirit of the world. The Word of God is given by the Spirit of God to reveal spiritual things.
He also spoke about 2 kinds of people in the world today- the natural man and the spiritual man. The natural man is unsaved. He can not receive the things of the Spirit because they are foolishness to him. They refuse to accept the Gospel because they can not accept of God coming in human flesh to die on a cross. The Spiritual man is a believer controlled by the Holy Spirit. He has discernment to judge and evaluate things with God’s insights. He has the mind of God which the people of the world can not understand.
Paul was teaching us to focus on the plain Gospel of God and not to mix it with human wisdom or philosophies.[:]