July 18th
1 Corinthians, 2
The
Power of the Holy Spirit
1: And I, brethren, when I came to
you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the
testimony of God. 2: For I determined not to know any thing among you, save
Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3: And I was with you in weakness, and in
fear, and in much trembling. 4: And my speech and my preaching was not with
enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of
power: 5: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the
power of God.
True
wisdom
6: Howbeit we speak wisdom among
them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of
this world, that come to nought: 7: But we speak the wisdom of God in a
mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our
glory: 8: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it,
they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
Paul had been educated in the
oratory of the Greek philosophers. He had learnt all the tricks and tactics of
the speech makers. He had learnt logic and the very best of the wisdom of men.
However when he arrived at Corinth
he laid aside all oratory and human wisdom and he preached simply in the power
of the Holy Spirit. Paul had been flogged at Philippi.
He had been persecuted at Thessalonica. He had been chased out of Berea and he had been laughed at, at Athens. So what will he do at Corinth? He made up his
mind to say nothing but Christ crucified. If he was going to face the mob again
and maybe seal his testimony in his blood, then at least it would be for the
Gospel. He says, l was with you in weakness and fear and in much trembling. -
I’m not surprised. And he says my manner of speaking and my preaching was not
with the flattering and clever words of men, that entice unwary men, but it was
in demonstration of the Spirit and of Power. Pauls preaching was powerful. Not
because Paul was in it, but because God was in it. And the Holy Spirit took up
this battered and frightened man of God and demonstrated his almighty power in
the simple preaching of the Gospel. It was what we call today revival. Men were
struck by it and they came face to face with God in the message of Christ
crucified. Only those who have experienced God speak to them, can imagine the
all pervading presence of God and the overpowering conviction of the Holy
Spirit. They were struck dumb and they wept under the terrible conviction of
sin and yet they wept themselves right on into the joy of sins forgiven, when
they saw Christ crucified. They rejoiced that God had stepped into human
history and made provision for their salvation. They believed the Good News and
they marvelled at the Grace of God. Paul goes on to say that when giving Bible
teaching we do teach very wonderful and the deep things of God, yet these
things are not the clever things of this world which amount to nothing in the
end, but we speak about the wisdom of God which was a mystery - which was
hidden in God before the world began, but now God has revealed which is to the
glory of God seem now in our lives. The princes of this world knew nothing of
this. If they had known it they would never have crucified the Lord of Glory.
No comments:
Post a Comment