Class: First Corinthians 2

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01_09_2019_1Co2_DonRuhl

 

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First Corinthians 2

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • January 2, In the year of our Lord Christ, 2019

1. First Corinthians 2.1–5 | Faith in the Power of God
   
   1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
   
   1. How did Paul not go to them?
      1. What did he mean that he did not go to them with excellence of speech or of wisdom?
      2. Is not the Gospel message excellent speech and is it not wisdom?
      3. If you answer yes, then what did Paul mean?
      4. Why did he not go with excellence of speech or of wisdom?
   2. What is the testimony of God?
   3. What was Paul only determined to know?
      1. Why was he determined only to know Christ and Him crucified?
      2. What is all that is involved?
      3. How does this come into play with the problem of division?
   4. Rather than coming to them in excellence of speech and of wisdom, he came to them in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.
      1. What was he conveying with these words?
      2. Was Paul always bold and fearless?
         1. See Acts 18.9–10.
         2. He reminded them of his condition among them, and he certainly was not someone worthy that others should carry his name.
   5. What was his preaching not like and what was it like?
      1. Why did he purposely leave out human wisdom and preach in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power?
      2. How would you describe your faith? In what is it rooted?
2. First Corinthians 2.6–9 | The Wisdom of God
   
   6 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. 7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 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.”
   

   1. To whom did Paul speak the wisdom of God?
      1. Why did he not speak the wisdom of this age nor of the rulers of this age?
      2. If they are coming to nothing, why speak their wisdom?
      3. Should we not want something that lasts forever?
   2. Why is the wisdom of God a mystery?
      1. It is a mystery because it is hidden.
      2. When did God ordain it?
      3. For whose glory did He ordain it?
   3. Did the rulers of this age know the wisdom of God?
      1. If they had know the wisdom of God, what would they not have done?
      2. They truly did not believe that Jesus was the Lord of glory.
         1. Does that excuse their sin?
         2. See John 19.11.
   4. What did Paul quote to make his point?
      1. See Isaiah 64.4 and Psalm 31.19.
      2. In the context of First Corinthians 2, to what did Paul refer?
3. First Corinthians 2.10–13 | The Spirit Reveals the Things of God
   
   10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 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. 12 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. 13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
   
   1. What has God revealed through His Spirit?
      1. Reconsider what you thought Paul, Isaiah, and David meant in verse 9.
      2. Paul has been addressing the wisdom of God versus the wisdom of man.
   2. Among people, who knows what is inside of you?
      1. Who then only knows what is inside of God?
      2. If the Spirit of God chose to reveal what was inside of God, then we can in fact know those things.
   3. We speak these things according to whose teaching?
   4. With what do we compare spiritual things?
4. First Corinthians 2.14–16 | We Have the Mind of Christ
   
   14 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. 15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. 16 For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
   
   1. Why does the man of the world not receive the things of the Spirit of God?
      1. Why does that man consider them as foolish?
      2. Why can’t he know them?
   2. Why can the spiritual judge all things?
      1. Can he be judged?
   3. Has anyone so known the mind of the Lord that such a person can instruct the Lord?
      1. What do we have from Christ?
      2. How does this relate to what Paul said in verses 14 and 15?