08-12-2023, 03:58 PM
The whole Corinthian incident shows that Jews are not always the problem. Most of what was wrong in Corinth was the direct result of pagan Gentile culture following people into the church. Jews were not the problem in Corinth. It was the Gentiles with highly rational Hellenism. I cannot do better than my previous commentary on this:
In the entire Bible, there is no statement so blunt, so patently obvious as this one in rejecting the importance of human reasoning and logic in understanding spiritual truth. Lest anyone forget, Paul wrote this to a congregation that came out of a Hellenist intellectual background, either of the Jewish brand, or the original Greek. Short of using the term “Aristotelian” itself, how can he not be addressing that very false worldview?
Paul had been to Athens before coming to Corinth. Doing his best to reach that particular audience in Athens, he spoke on their academic level, offering a very well-reasoned and logical explanation of the gospel. Mostly, it fell flat. Upon coming to Corinth, he was rather low-key for a while. During that time, we can sense that he regained his composure after that bad experience in Athens, realizing that the gospel of Christ could not be made reasonable enough to win hearts that way. So, he writes here how he approached the Corinthians altogether differently than he had the Athenian crowd.
Setting aside the fine oratory, the sharp logical structure, and anything arising from human intellectual authority, Paul spoke simply the truth of Jesus on the Cross. This was not some grand performance and skill, but a man shaken by the vast glory with which he was entrusted. If the power of God Himself could not accomplish the mission, nothing any man could do would make any difference. Thus, many in the city came to Christ simply because Paul told the truth and told it simply.
Surely, there is wisdom from God among mature believers, but it is nothing like the wisdom of this world. The most brilliant of rulers can’t possibly grasp the wisdom of Heaven. This world and its rulers will be forgotten, but the mysteries of God are eternal. Had the high and mighty been aware of this wisdom, Christ would have been crowned, not crucified. Paul quotes Isaiah 64 where the prophet notes that if God were to make a demonstration that human minds must acknowledge, they still would not understand the things God shows His servants without all that noise. The truth comes through the Spirit, not the intellect. And it is the full and ultimate truth of all things, because the Spirit who dwells in us has seen it all. Do you understand that no one knows the intentions of man so well as the man himself? Just so, God the Spirit knows the mind of God the Father.
When the Lord awakens our spirits to receive His Spirit, we reject the things of this world. Whatever God has for us comes through His Spirit. This is what Paul had been teaching, not speaking with the best understanding of human intellect, but the way God speaks to us. He spoke in a way that required exercising the spirit to grasp spiritual truth. Men with dead spirits have no place for God’s Spirit, and no capacity for receiving the Truth. They dismiss the whole thing as senseless babble. We who have living spirits see things through God’s eyes, and we are above human understanding, living in ways mere intellect finds incomprehensible.
Again, Paul quotes the prophet, this time Isaiah 40 where God is described as measuring the universe with the span of His hands. Who is on a par with God? Who has standing to advise Him, let alone evaluate what He has done? By implication, the only answer would be His own Son. That Son has brought His mind into our spirits.
In the entire Bible, there is no statement so blunt, so patently obvious as this one in rejecting the importance of human reasoning and logic in understanding spiritual truth. Lest anyone forget, Paul wrote this to a congregation that came out of a Hellenist intellectual background, either of the Jewish brand, or the original Greek. Short of using the term “Aristotelian” itself, how can he not be addressing that very false worldview?
Paul had been to Athens before coming to Corinth. Doing his best to reach that particular audience in Athens, he spoke on their academic level, offering a very well-reasoned and logical explanation of the gospel. Mostly, it fell flat. Upon coming to Corinth, he was rather low-key for a while. During that time, we can sense that he regained his composure after that bad experience in Athens, realizing that the gospel of Christ could not be made reasonable enough to win hearts that way. So, he writes here how he approached the Corinthians altogether differently than he had the Athenian crowd.
Setting aside the fine oratory, the sharp logical structure, and anything arising from human intellectual authority, Paul spoke simply the truth of Jesus on the Cross. This was not some grand performance and skill, but a man shaken by the vast glory with which he was entrusted. If the power of God Himself could not accomplish the mission, nothing any man could do would make any difference. Thus, many in the city came to Christ simply because Paul told the truth and told it simply.
Surely, there is wisdom from God among mature believers, but it is nothing like the wisdom of this world. The most brilliant of rulers can’t possibly grasp the wisdom of Heaven. This world and its rulers will be forgotten, but the mysteries of God are eternal. Had the high and mighty been aware of this wisdom, Christ would have been crowned, not crucified. Paul quotes Isaiah 64 where the prophet notes that if God were to make a demonstration that human minds must acknowledge, they still would not understand the things God shows His servants without all that noise. The truth comes through the Spirit, not the intellect. And it is the full and ultimate truth of all things, because the Spirit who dwells in us has seen it all. Do you understand that no one knows the intentions of man so well as the man himself? Just so, God the Spirit knows the mind of God the Father.
When the Lord awakens our spirits to receive His Spirit, we reject the things of this world. Whatever God has for us comes through His Spirit. This is what Paul had been teaching, not speaking with the best understanding of human intellect, but the way God speaks to us. He spoke in a way that required exercising the spirit to grasp spiritual truth. Men with dead spirits have no place for God’s Spirit, and no capacity for receiving the Truth. They dismiss the whole thing as senseless babble. We who have living spirits see things through God’s eyes, and we are above human understanding, living in ways mere intellect finds incomprehensible.
Again, Paul quotes the prophet, this time Isaiah 40 where God is described as measuring the universe with the span of His hands. Who is on a par with God? Who has standing to advise Him, let alone evaluate what He has done? By implication, the only answer would be His own Son. That Son has brought His mind into our spirits.
