1Corinthians 2
observation
In Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth he talked in chapter 1 and 2 about the wisdom of the world and about how God’s wisdom doesn’t make any sense to the world.
We need to know that we cannot talk about Godly wisdom to people that are not in Christ, Paul said that when he first came to Corinth that he kept his message simple:
1 Corinthians 2:1 When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan. 2 For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ,
Paul didn’t get into any deep philosophy or wise discussions instead he kept his message very focused on Jesus and the message of the cross, he told us that they cannot understand deep spiritual truths without the help of the Holy Spirit, which they do not have yet. There are a lot of unbelievers that are stuck on trying to understand some deep theological truth about God when they just need to grasp the truth of the gospel, the message of God’s love displayed for us on the cross.
However you do have the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit will help you to present the gospel to an unbeliever so that you are not alone:
1 Corinthians 2:4 And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit
Jesus also told us about the role of the Holy Spirit in helping us know what to say:
Luke 12:12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what needs to be said.
Now if you want to get deep with a brother in Christ and talk about what you have learned about God then that’s fine. Just remember that an unbeliever cannot understand and neither can a baby Christian that is still on the milk of the word.
1 Corinthians 2:6 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
The Holy Spirit will reveal wonderful things to you about God as you become a mature believer the Spirit will reveal to you things about God that the world cannot understand.
1 Corinthians 2:10 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. 11 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. 12 And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.
application
I need to remember that the Holy Spirit will give me words to say to present the gospel with simplicity to an unbeliever and he will help me to explain things that I have learned to other mature believers as we all learn more about God together.
I hope that this blog can speak to both groups of people as some days the gospel is plainly given and other days the deeper truths, the meat of the word is given.
prayer
I am so thankful that I do not need to worry any more than Moses did about what to say. Thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit and for his help in sharing the gospel. I have five cards to give out to invite people to church, give me the boldness to hand them out.
