But We Have the Mind of Christ

But We Have the Mind of Christ – 1 Corinthians 2:6-16 Paul was concerned about a great danger, that his hearers might be interested in him and in his own personality instead of the living Lord. How incapable of blessing or saving, then leads men to trust only in God and not in the wisdom of men.

I. Wisdom is of divine origin.

A. It's in the gospel.

1. The gospel is of "divine" origin.

2. We speak wisdom among those who have reached maturity or full growth.

3. However, this wisdom is "not" "of this world," nor would it be wisdom in the eyes "of the princes of this world."

4. The wisdom of them (princes) is something perishable, that, like them, "they are born for a good day."

5. (1 Corinthians 2:7) "We speak wisdom of God in mystery."

6. A "mystery" is a New Testament truth that had not previously been revealed but is now given to believers by the apostles and prophets of the early "Church Age" (era- is the date of an event taken as reference).

7. This mystery is "hidden wisdom," which predestined before the ages for our glory.

8. The mystery of the gospel includes such wonderful truths as the fact that Jews and Gentiles are now made one in Christ; that the Lord Jesus will come and take away His people who are waiting to be with Him forever; and that not all believers will die, but all will be transformed.

9. The princes of this world can refer to diabolical spirit beings in heavenly places or to their "human agents" on earth.

10. They did not understand the "hidden wisdom of God" (Christ on a cross), nor did they realize that their murder of the Holy Son of God would result in the destruction of themselves.

11. "If they had known it" (the wisdom of God), they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

12. (9) They tell us how these wonderful truths were made known to the apostles by the Holy Spirit; how they, in turn, conveyed these truths to us by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and how we understand them by the illumination of the Holy Spirit.

13. In verse 9 is a prophecy that God has treasured up wonderful truths that could not be known by the natural senses but that in due time He would reveal them to "those who love Him".

14. (Isaiah 64:4) It relates three faculties by which we learn earthly things (the eye, the ear, the heart or the mind) but our faculties are not sufficient for the reception of divine truths, because there "the Spirit of God is necessary."

15. The verse is commonly interpreted as referring to the glories of heaven and when this meaning takes hold of our mind it is difficult to dislodge it and accept any other meaning.

16. Paul is actually referring here to the truths that have been revealed for the first time in the New Testament.

17. No one could ever have arrived at these truths by scientific research or philosophical inquiry.

18. The human mind, left to its own devices, could never discover the wonderful mysteries that were made known at the beginning of the "gospel age."

19. Human reason is totally inadequate to find God's truth.

20. (10) "God revealed them to us through the Holy Spirit."

21. It was by the Spirit of God that the apostles and prophets received illumination, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

22. The Spirit of God, one of the members of the Godhead, is infinite in wisdom and comprehends all the truths of God and can impart them to others.

23. (11) No one knows what a man may be thinking but himself.

24. Man is the one who decides to make it known.

25. The only one who can comprehend the things of God is "the Spirit of God."

26. (12) Because the apostles and prophets had received the Holy Ghost, they could share with them the profound truths of God.

27. This is what the apostle means when he says: And we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that comes from God, that we may know what God has freely given us.

28. Apart from the Spirit that comes from God, the apostles could never have received the divine truths to which Paul refers and which have been preserved to us in the New Testament.

29. (13) They used the same words that the Holy Spirit "taught" them to use.

30. "Accommodating the spiritual to the spiritual."

31. Teach spiritual truths with words given by the Spirit.

32. "Preparing spiritual truths with spiritual words."

33. (14) The wise Christian wastes no time trying to explain God's program to unregenerate men, it is to cast pearls on pigs.

34. One might as well try to catch the sun's rays with a hook as understanding God's revelation without the help of the Holy Spirit.

35. (15) Man enlightened by the Spirit of God can discern these wonderful truths even though "he" himself "is not rightly judged" by any of the unsaved.

36. It can be anyone; but he is an able scholar of the Holy Scriptures.

37. The Spirit-led Christian investigates, inquires, and scrutinizes (examines, explores, searches carefully) the Bible, and comes to understand its contents.

38. (16) However, those who have "the mind of Christ" can understand the profound truths of God. Amen.