1 Corinthians 2:1-13
Spiritual Wisdom

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.

Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish. But we speak God's wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him"--these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God's except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.

New Revised Standard Version

I have always enjoyed learning. I like to keep up on the latest news on technology research, space exploration, archaeological finds, audio engineering, and artificial intelligence, but I never seem have enough time to read everything I find. I have managed to learn at least one new programming language each year for the past several years, sometimes by choice and other times by necessity. In writing these scripture meditations, I particularly enjoy research into the historical, philosophical, and social contexts of the scripture passages, and I am occasionally rewarded by a different insight to a familiar verse.

In each of these ways, learning is an exercise of challenging and questioning new information, comparing it to information I have previously accepted as true, and incorporating this validated information into my knowledge base. Logic plays a major part in this style of learning: for example, in the first verse of this passage, Paul writes about avoiding "lofty words or wisdom" to residents of Corinth, a city heavily influenced by ancient Greek culture. Had this been Peter writing to Jerusalem Christians, "wisdom" would have meant something mystical; in Paul's case, "wisdom" would have been more logical, influenced by Socratic thinking. When I dig a little deeper, I find that the Greek word in this passage translated as "lofty" can also be translated to mean "authority" or "superiority", and the word for "wisdom" is occasionally translated as "cleverness". These alternate meanings add a shading of criticism to this phrase, so I wonder if Paul was not merely stating his preferred style of teaching (after his frustrating encounter with the philosophers in Athens) or if he was rebuking the methods of the Corinthian church... While I enjoyed chasing these snippets of knowledge, I find I have distracted myself from the important issues--and I may have even demonstrated the kinds of sterile mental exercises that the Corinthian church was substituting for true spiritual worship.

Particularly in societies that value scientific thought, like Corinth, Athens, and our modern world, Paul recognized that spiritual learning involved more than logic. For Paul, who was one of the best educated men of his day, logic was one way of approaching spiritual truth, but Paul knew that actually reaching the truth required engaging not only the mind but the soul. Paul emphasized this point earlier in this letter when he wrote that the word--the "logos" or logic--of the cross "is foolishness to those who are perishing". The Spirit teaches our souls that God intentionally allowed Jesus to suffer a humiliating and abject earthly defeat so that God could transform it into victory over sin, death, and everything else that would separate us from God.

Paul also knew that people skilled in logical thought could explain away the Spirit. I have heard messages and read lessons comparing Jesus's sacrifice on the cross to the sacrifices of the Old Testament, and those lessons have power in emphasizing the consistency of humanity's relationship with God. However, I have also heard similar lessons used to attempt to explain using logic why Jesus was required to die the death of the lowest form of criminal, and every one of those logical explanations collapsed under detached logical scrutiny. To those of us who would seek to explain the cross with our minds, Paul challenges us to listen to the Spirit instead.

We have a primal urge to know. We are creatures with powerful minds that can examine subatomic particles, can explore other planets, can travel faster than sound, and can map the codes written in our very DNA. The church at Corinth could not have foreseen how powerfully logic would have shaped the world from its ancient Greek origins, but they were fascinated at the possibilities. We, seeing the fruits of scientific reason, are eager for what creative minds will invent next.

But our minds cannot do what our souls are supposed to do.

We can study the texts, examine the history, and map the consistency of the message across the history of the Christian church, but if we do not listen for the Spirit, we are wasting our time in a mental exercise. Without the Spirit, we are replacing worship of God with worship of a logical abstraction that our minds can understand. We can and should study eagerly the words of devoted Christian teachers, but we must use their teachings to open ourselves to what the Spirit wants to teach us. Even the best of human teachers cannot instruct our souls.

The Spirit uses all creation to teach us. Certainly the Spirit can use our ability to reason to guide us to a stronger understanding of God, just as the Spirit can use miracles, stories, friends, strangers, music, art, nature, or even something as simple as a glass of water to spark in our souls a greater recognition of the Truth of God. Paul was concerned that the church in Corinth was substituting the power of logic for the power of the Spirit, so he refrained from demonstrating his superior logic to confront them with Truth that defies and supersedes logic. He directed them away from their overdependence on human thought and urged them to learn from the Spirit.

Learning from the Spirit requires prayer, meditation, and patience. It requires accepting that there is more to life than can be seen, and more to truth than can be reasoned. It requires reminding ourselves that only God is God. It requires practice as we develop the habit of listening with our souls. Most of all, it requires a conscious effort of asking the Spirit what God would have us to learn, and how God wants us to grow.

There is truth, which our minds can logically validate, and there is Truth, which our souls can affirm by the Spirit living in us. Seek the Truth!