—However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
—1Corinthians 2:7-8 (NKJV)
God’s wisdom is not a mystery that He hides “from” His children. His wisdom is hidden “for” His children. The Holy Spirit offers God’s wisdom beginning with the revelation that we all have the need of a Savior. If we put our faith in Jesus and receive this truth in our hearts, we receive the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). We can have the revelation of the things of God that we believe. But if we discard the revelation wisdom that the Holy Spirit tries to impart to us, then God’s wisdom remains a mystery. Paul declared that Jesus Christ was both the power and wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24). But God’s power and wisdom are only for God’s children in Christ. His wisdom is hidden from those who don’t know Him. The Holy Spirit is the only one who grants access to the wisdom found in Christ (1 Corinthians 2:13). And God’s wisdom is only spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14).
The enemy can never spiritually discern the things of God. If the people the enemy used to crucify Christ had had any spiritual perception, they would never have crucified him. Jesus had stated many times that He would be crucified and would rise from the dead. When they crucified Jesus, evil defeated itself. What the enemy tried to accomplish actually brought about God’s plan of salvation.
—But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
—1 Corinthians 2:9-10 (NKJV)
1 Corinthians 2:9 quotes from Isaiah 64:4 and from a time when God was a mystery to His people and His ways could not be understood. But Jesus changed all this for those who believe in Him. Fulfilling the Old Covenant law, Jesus became a curse for our sins (Galatians 3:13) and gave us right-standing with God.
Many believe that this New Testament verse (1 Corinthians 2:9) says that we can’t know the things of God. But when read in context with the other verses and in the understanding of what Christ has done for us, that is not what this verse says. Verses 9-10 reveal that what keeps us from knowing the things of God is not receiving revelation knowledge from the Holy Spirit. When we only use human wisdom, we can’t understand the things of God. We are blind to them. But 1 Corinthians 2:10 clearly shows that God has granted us revelation knowledge through the instruction of the Holy Spirit. We have to believe what is ours in Christ and open our hearts to receive.
—For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
—1 Corinthians 2:11-12 (NKJV)
In 1 Corinthians 2:11, Paul says that just like no one really knows the deep thoughts of anyone else no one really knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. We have received the Spirit of God, but we must be totally reliant on the Holy Spirit to give us God’s wisdom. In verse 12, Paul explains that if we have received the Holy Spirit, we have an open door to His wisdom. Observe in verse 12 that the Holy Spirit “freely” gives us His revelation. We don’t have to beg or strive to get what is freely ours.
The Holy Spirit wants to give us the revelation of Christ more than we want to receive it (John 14:26, 15:26, and 16:13). But the revelation from the Holy Spirit just doesn’t fall on us. We have to be still and quiet and listen to what the Spirit reveals (Psalms 46:10). We have to receive what is ours in Christ.
—These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
—1 Corinthians 2:13-16 (NKJV)
The things of God are not foolishness. They are spiritually understood and are life and peace (Romans 8:6). You have received the mind of Christ. Be still and listen—not with your natural-thinking mind but with His spiritual one. Your natural eye may not have seen or your natural ear heard, but Christ within you knows and wants you to receive the wisdom that God liberally gives (James 1:5).
The things of God are not hidden from you. They are hidden for you. You have received the Spirit who is from God, that you might know the things that have been freely given to you by God. Open yourself to the Holy Spirit and receive.
© 2021 Lynn Lacher
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