The Christian on his knees can see farther than the philosopher on his tiptoes, for spiritual truth can be perceived only by the spiritually prepared mind. The truths of God are foolishness and trifling to a carnal mind. The only way to understand spiritual truth is to yield to the Author of it, the Holy Spirit.
I Corinthians 2
1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
6 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
I Corinthians 2:1-3 – J. Vernon McGee
I Corinthians 2:4-5 – J. Vernon McGee
I Corinthians 2:6-7 – J. Vernon McGee
I Corinthians 2:7-11 – J. Vernon McGee
I Corinthians 2:12-14 – J. Vernon McGee
I Corinthians 2:15-16 – J. Vernon McGee
1 Corinthians 2:1-5 – God’s Glory in Men’s Weakness
Paul came to Corinth from Athens, where he had sought to win his hearers by a studied and philosophical discourse as best adapted to their needs. But as he entered Corinth, he appears to have deliberately determined that his theme would be the crucified Lord, and expressed in the simplest phrases. When we speak the truth as it is in Jesus, the Spirit is ever at hand to enforce our testimony by His demonstration and power. —Through the Bible Day by Day
1 Corinthians 2:6-16 – God’s Wisdom Spiritually Revealed
The perfect are those who are full grown and matured in Christian experience. They need strong meat. For them there are blessed unveilings of the secret things of God, such as the profoundest thinkers of this world have never reached. The words in I Corinthians 2:9 must not be applied to heaven alone; in their first intention they belong to us in this mortal life. The human eye that has seen the fairest of earth’s things, and the ear that has heard the sweetest strains of human melody, have never experienced the depths of enjoyment of those who have found the love of God in Christ. They who know Christ should not be content with the mere rudiments of the gospel, but should follow on to know those deeper things which evade men who are merely clever, but are revealed to those who are really good.
There are two types of men. There is the spiritual man, whose spirit is the temple and dwelling-place of the Spirit of God. He knows the thoughts of God, because he has a living union with the eternal Mind. And there is the natural man, possessing merely the intellect and conscience of ordinary humanity. —Through the Bible Day by Day
I Corinthians 2:10—God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit.
Eyes of my soul, ye have no need to wait until the vail of the flesh that screens off the beatific vision has been rent in twain by the mighty hands of the Angel of Death, ere ye behold the land that floweth with milk and honey!
Ears of my heart, ye need not remain dull and listless till the peal of the archangel’s trumpet thrill you, and summon you to the music of the harpers harping on their harps or the chime of the glassy sea.
Heart of mine, be expectant! Awake! Lo, there shall come into thee, penetrating, pervading, filling thy every recess, all those blessed things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. They shall enter thee, as a retinue of knights might enter a beleaguered castle to make it strong against any possible combination of the foe.
Only I must love God. Through Isaiah I am taught that I must wait for Him (Isaiah 64:4); here I learn that I must love. For love is quick to know. He that loveth knoweth God. It was the apostle whom Jesus loved that beheld Him on the margin of the lake. It is to the warm, tender atmosphere of loving hearts that the unchecked, ungrieved Spirit unfolds his secrets. Let me, therefore, bathe myself in the gracious atmosphere of my Savior’s presence, never going outside its genial glow, never falling behind his going forth, until I am entrusted, through the Spirit, with the deep things of God.
“God only knows the love of God;
Oh that it now were shed abroad
In this poor stony heart!
For love I sigh, for love I pine,
This only portion, Lord, be mine–
Be mine this better part!” —Our Daily Homily