Verses 2:1-5
“And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)
Chapter 2 is a theological explanation of what was stated in 1:17-31. Here, Paul repeats what he stated in 1:17 and 1:26-31. Namely, that it was the Spirit of God that caused these Corinthians to believe, not persuasive philosophical argumentation or moving oration.
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12-13)
“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16-17)
“In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.” (James 1:18)
Verses 2:6-9
“Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written, ‘THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.’” (1 Corinthians 2:6-9)
Likely drawing from Jesus’ words in Matthew 11:25-30, Paul states that the wisdom of this world may seem right at this point in time, but the wisdom of God is eschatological. It has been revealed in the coming of the kingdom which has been inaugurated with the First Advent of Christ and will be consummated at the end of time, at the Second Advent. As such, God is slowly displaying his wisdom through the church:
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)
“To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 3:8-10)
If the rulers1 of this age had not been blinded to this truth, then they would not have crucified Christ, the Lord of Glory:
“Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES’?”” (Matthew 21:42)
“Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know--this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power…Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ--this Jesus whom you crucified.” (Acts 2:22-24, 36)
Verses 2:10-11
“For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:10-11)
The revelation of this wisdom only comes about by the Spirit’s activity since it is He alone that has intimate access to the mind of the Father:
“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.” (John 16:13-15)
“…while making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,” (Ephesians 1:16-18)
Verses 2:12-13
“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.” (1 Corinthians 2:12-13)
Man does not come to believe in the gospel by means of the wisdom of this world2, but rather, it comes from the Spirit of God who does a work in the heart of man and teaches him the knowledge of God:
“For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.” (Psalm 36:9)
“All your sons will be taught of the LORD; and the well-being of your sons will be great. In righteousness you will be established; you will be far from oppression, for you will not fear; and from terror, for it will not come near you.” (Isaiah 54:13-14)
““But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”” (Jeremiah 31:33-34)
“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” (Ezekiel 36:25-27)
“And Jesus said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.’” (Matthew 16:17)
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” (John 14:26; see also 15:26)
“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.” (John 16:13-15)
“Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is accursed”; and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:3)
“…while making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,” (Ephesians 1:16-18)
“As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.” (1 John 2:27)
“And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” (1 John 5:20)
Verses 2:14-16
“But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:14-16)
Again, because the natural man’s mind is futile and darkened, he will always (except by the grace of God) take God’s obvious truth and exchange it for a lie:
““No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me… But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him. And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”” (John 6:44-45)
“Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.’” (John 8:42-47)
“Jesus answered them, ‘I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father's name, these testify of Me. But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep.’” (John 10:25-26)
“…because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,” (Romans 8:7)
“Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is accursed”; and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:3)
In contrast, believers see the world through a different set of glasses since they have the knowledge of God disclosed to them by the Spirit sent from Christ:
“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.” (John 16:13-15)
“And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” (1 John 5:20)
Excursus on Various Other Passages
There are a number of minor passages that have a direct bearing on our discussion of epistemology. Luke 16:30-31 is on the issue of how the unbeliever reacts to evidence of the truth. 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, Luke 24:24-26, and Acts 17:10-12 are along the same lines. Finally, Romans 3:3-4, Isaiah 40:8, and John 10:35 bear on the issue of how Christians should react to the world’s ‘majority’ opinion.
Luke 16:30-31
“But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’ ” (Luke 16:30-31)
Commentary:
The parable of the rich man and Lazarus comes right after Jesus’ condemnation of the Pharisees where Luke notes that they were “lovers of money” (v.14). Jesus then goes into the parable where a rich man (who always ignored the plight of the poor man3, Lazarus) dies and goes to lower Hades, the place of torment reserved for the wicked before the Last Day. In torment, the man asks Abraham to get him out of Hades so that he could warn his brothers of hell and plead with them to repent. Abraham responds by telling him that if one did not believe in the Sacred Scriptures, then that person would never believe even if one came back from the dead to tell him!
Notice that the text does not say, “If they do not believe even if someone rises from the dead, then they will certainly not believe the Scriptures.” Indeed, this saying sounds much more reasonable. If you saw a man whom you knew was dead and buried in the ground come back to life and told you that there was a hell, then that would seem to be of much greater evidential weight than ancient writings written centuries before (which you didn’t believe in anyway4). No, instead Jesus is teaching that it is Scripture that serves as a better proof of hell and judgment than eye-witness evidence. This was because, as we discussed in Romans 1 and 1 Corinthians 1-2, unregenerate man suppresses the obvious truth because of his sinful nature. While empirical evidence can be twisted by an unbeliever’s darkened mind, Scripture carries with it the power of the Spirit. Jesus and the apostles make this clear elsewhere:
“The Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Jesus, they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. But He replied to them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times? An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah.” And He left them and went away.” (Matthew 16:1-4)
“Therefore take heed, so that the thing spoken of in the Prophets may not come upon you: ‘BEHOLD, YOU SCOFFERS, AND MARVEL, AND PERISH; FOR I AM ACCOMPLISHING A WORK IN YOUR DAYS, A WORK WHICH YOU WILL NEVER BELIEVE, THOUGH SOMEONE SHOULD DESCRIBE IT TO YOU.’ ” (Acts 13:40-41)
1 Corinthians 15:3-4
“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)
Commentary:
Here, Paul reminds the Corinthians about the gospel and its proof. Before he goes into the eye-witness testimony, he makes it clear that the greatest proof of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ was to be found in the prophetic witness spoken of in the Old Testament Scriptures:
“But we were hoping that it was [Jesus] who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened. But also some women among us amazed us. When they were at the tomb early in the morning, and did not find His body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also had said; but Him they did not see.” And He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” (Luke 24:21-26)
“The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed, along with a number of prominent Greek women and men.” (Acts 17:10-12)5
This is not to put down the use of evidences since the New Testament writers make obvious use of them (Luke 1:1-4, John 20:30-31, 1 Corinthians 15:5-11, 2 Peter 1:16-19, 1 John 1:1-4, etc.). However, those evidences should be studied and used, not to convince an unbeliever, but to increase the faith and boldness of the believer. The Scriptural writers make this clear when they say that evidences make believers’ faith “more sure” (2 Peter 1:19) and their joy “complete” (1 John 1:4).
Romans 3:3-4
“What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it? May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written, ‘THAT YOU MAY BE JUSTIFIED IN YOUR WORDS, AND PREVAIL WHEN YOU ARE JUDGED.’” (Romans 3:3-4)
Commentary:
In context, Paul is answering a rhetorical question: if Jesus was the Jewish Messiah, then why didn’t the majority of the Jews believe? Was God unfaithful to give His people enough evidence so that they would not reject their Messiah and thus be unfaithful to the covenant?6 “No”, Paul answers. God should always be viewed by faith as faithful even though all men fail to be faithful. Every Jew could have disbelieved, but that would not have nullified God’s Word or His faithfulness.
This can be applied to any disbelief in God’s Word. We frequently hear that the majority of scientists (a.k.a. the ‘smart’ people) don’t believe in Christianity. We frequently hear that the majority of historians and archaeologists don’t believe in the Bible. This begs certain questions: Was God not faithful to give us enough evidence? This question leads to the next question: Because so many people don’t believe in Scripture, is Scripture really true; why should I believe in it? In other words, by starting to question God’s faithfulness, one inevitably starts down the path of his own faithlessness or unbelief.
To this, we must begin with God and His Word and judge the world by this standard. Even if the whole world should not believe in God or His Word, we should, by faith, still believe. God’s Word trumps all scholarly opinion on the planet for His Word cannot perish or be broken:
“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:8)
“For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:18)
“If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken),” (John 10:35)
This does require faith, but it is not fideism. Many theories against Scripture have been invented over the centuries, and most of them have been debunked with new evidence many years after the theories were created. The point is that the Christian should have faith even if an anti-Scriptural theory becomes popular or an entire nation of people rejects the gospel. Let God be true though all men be liars!
Conclusion
Commenting on Colossians 2:8, A.T. Robertson once said:
“And not after Christ (kai ou kata Christon). Christ is the yardstick by which to measure philosophy and all phases of human knowledge. The Gnostics were measuring Christ by their philosophy as many men are doing today. They have it backwards. Christ is the measure for all human knowledge since he is the Creator and the Sustainer of the universe.”7
William Lane Craig, a popular Christian apologist, is representative of this movement which starts with human philosophy and interprets the Bible according to that standard:
“Some readers of my study of divine omniscience, The Only Wise God, expressed surprise at my remark that someone desiring to learn more about God’s attribute of omniscience would be better advised to read the works of Christian philosophers than of Christian theologians. Not only was that remark true, but the same holds for divine eternity.”8
This is absolutely foolish according to Scripture, and it bears out. In his book, Time and Eternity, Craig ends up denying that God can exist outside of time once He created the universe. Of course, Craig comes to this conclusion because he started with the artificial distinctions of Greek philosophy instead of starting with Scripture and its distinctions.
The believer should always view the world and its ‘wisdom’ as being blinded and without true knowledge, even unable9 to see the truth of the gospel. Furthermore, the Christian should never believe or use one of the world’s autonomous systems of knowledge to come up with truth, and he should most certainly not try to use those systems to prove the very Word of God those systems were built to avoid! Instead, he should start with God and Scripture as his absolute and judge the world’s epistemological systems by this axiom. In the end, the truth of God’s Word will bear out.
In apologetics and evangelism, the goal of the Christian is to deny the unbeliever his own intellectual autonomy, show that he is suppressing the truth, and call him to repentance. We will see this in Paul’s example at Athens in Acts 17.
[All Scripture quotes are from the NASB, emphasis mine.]
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1 “The rulers of this age are representative; in them we see the most impressive achievements of the present world-order, measured by the standards of human pride and unbelief. Within the creation, as presently subject to the curse of sin (cf. Rom. 8:20-22), they exemplify the most that it has to offer and is capable of attaining.”
-Richard B. Gaffin Jr. in Revelation and Reason, K. Scott Oliphint and Lane G. Tipton, eds., (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2007), p.22.
2 “‘The spirit of the world’ occurs only here in the New Testament. Despite what might be an initial impression, the reference is almost surely not to Satan as “the god of this age” (2 Cor. 4:4) or to some other spiritual being. Rather, coined to sharpen the antithesis to the Spirit and his eschatological activity, the phrase captures the world as humanity in rebellion against God (cf. 1 Cor. 1:20, 21, 27, 28; 2;6b, 8), with the attitudes and standards that characterize it as a whole. It is close, perhaps identical, to the phronema (…”mind-set,” “disposition,” “attitude”) of the flesh in opposition to that of the Spirit in Romans 8:6. As we speak of “the spirit of the times” or “the spirit” that controls a culture, so here Paul speaks in effect, sweepingly, of “the spirit of this world-age.” This serves to point up, once again, the inability of sinful humanity, the constitutional incompetence of sinners in themselves to attain to a true knowledge of God, and so the absolute necessity of the revelation through the Spirit in view.”
-Richard B. Gaffin Jr. in Revelation and Reason, K. Scott Oliphint and Lane G. Tipton, eds., (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2007), p.26.
3 Poverty and/or physical disfigurement was thought by some Jewish theologians to be punishment for one’s sins before the spirit was given a body. The point is that the rich man likely ignored the plight of Lazarus because he thought that he was righteous and Lazarus wasn’t. Elsewhere, Jesus contradicts this notion and instead taught that a.) evil is allowed to happen to men because of man’s general sinfulness, and b.) evil also occurs for God’s providential purpose (see John 9:1-5; cf. Exodus 4:11 and also Isaiah 46:8-11). However, I should also note that b.) is only made possible because of a.) (Lamentations 3:31-41). God forces no one to sin, and neither does he tempt anyone (James 1:13-15).
4 I should note that the Pharisees said that they believed in the Scriptures, but many of their belief traditions directly contradicted them (Matthew 15:1-14).
5 Notice that they were able to determine if Jesus was the Christ simply from examining the Old Testament texts. It does not say, “…for they received the word with great eagerness, having become like Sherlock Holmes and Watson, traveling to Judea and cross-examining every alleged eye-witness to the Resurrection to see whether these things were so.” The Scriptures were a greater witness to the resurrection than actually going to the place where the events happened and asking around! [Of course, as I will note below, doing evidential work does have its place.]
6 This would lead one to question whether Jesus was and is actually the Messiah to begin with if the proper view of sinful man was not first taken into account (Romans 1:18-32; also see 9:1-24 and 11:1-10).
7 Archibald Thomas Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament (Nashville: Broadman, 1931) IV:491.
8 William Lane Craig, Time and Eternity: Exploring God’s Relationship to Time (Crossway: Wheaton, IL, 2001), p.11.
9 That is, without a supernatural act of God’s Spirit. As we will see in Acts 17, reminding unbelievers of the truth they suppress, i.e. bringing them to a conviction of their own sin, is the means by which God uses to bring men to repentance.
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