What Does God's Wisdom Look Like? 1 Corinthians 2

 2 And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.

In chapter 2 Paul compares and contrasts the wisdom of the world with the wisdom of the gospel.  The Greek culture prized philosophers, and there were even cults that espoused secret wisdom, which became known as the heresy of "gnosticism".  Paul got criticized because he was not quite the orator they had become accustomed to.  He was not a polished showman like the speakers in the marketplace and at the Greek theater.  Paul's message was simple, yet powerful  Paul doesn't hide the fact that he was anxious when he came to bring the testimony about Jesus.  But Paul's sense of inadequacy actually worked in his favor because it made him more reliant God's Spirit when he preached.  

To the contrary, one of the worst mistakes a preacher can make is to try to influence members in the congregation by personality, performance and human driven persuasion.  A pastor or teacher can actually GET IN THE WAY of the gospel.  David Guzik warns would be pastors and preachers about this, 

If a preacher is not careful, he will get in the way of the gospel instead of being a servant of the gospel. They can obscure Jesus by their preaching, either in the presentation or the message. Like the little girl, who when a smaller man was guest speaking could finally see the stained glass window of Jesus behind the pulpit said, “Where’s the man who usually stands there so we can’t see Jesus?” (Guzik)

God’s Wisdom Revealed by the Spirit

6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 However, as it is written “What no eye has seen what no ear has heard and what no human mind has conceived”—the things God has prepared for those who love him— 10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

Just because Paul didn't cater to the cultural wisdom of his age, didn't mean there wasn't true wisdom in his message.  But God's wisdom is different than the world's wisdom, primarily by the fact that God's wisdom is spiritually discerned. Paul describes God's wisdom as a "mystery".  Though human philosophy makes sense at some level, it doesn't not reveal God's plan for all humankind.  It doesn't address issues like how do we deal with our sinful nature before a holy God?  Where do we go when we die?  Importantly Paul states that God's wisdom cannot be known by a human being unless it is revealed to them by God himself through the Spirit.  Though God's plan was revealed through Jesus, instead of recognizing God's wisdom through Christ, they crucified him.  

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

The key to us understanding the mystery of God as revealed in Jesus Christ is the Holy Spirit.  As human beings we could never know the mind of God unless it was revealed to us.  Paul is borrowing a concept from Greek philosophy that only "like is known only by like."

"You can guess what your dog is thinking, but you really can’t know unless he was to tell you. Even so, we could guess what God is thinking, and about His wisdom, but we would never know unless He told us." (Guzik)

Since only the Spirit knows the deep the things of God, we need the Spirit to know and understand God.  This leads Paul to make a crucial distinction.  When a person is not guided by the Spirit they cannot see or understand the things the Spirit is revealing.  In fact they are "foolishness" to them.  This explains how you might try to share the gospel to a friend or family member and they just don't "get it".  It is as if there is a wall between the two of you when you explain the basics of what God has done for us in Christ.  Even when you share your own testimony of discovering God's unconditional love in Christ they remark, "Well that's good for you!"  

This reminds us that God's true work of drawing someone to his saving love is His work not ours.  We can be part of God's work as we lead people to Christ, but it is only God through the work of Holy Spirit who enlightens them.  God calls us to Himself and makes us his sons of daughter through faith, a gift from God! That is the sense in which are "born again", which means "born from above".  

LIke in Paul's day, how do people try to get wisdom in our culture?  Would you like Paul say that "gospel is foolishness to them"?  How did you experience God's guiding you to understand His mysteries through Christ?  How do you think God might use you to proclaim Christ in a way that focuses on Christ not on how good your presentation is? How can you rely on the Holy Spirit more? What does that look like for you?