The following is excerpted from The Way of Life Bible Commentary Series - The Corinthian Epistles, available at the Books section of www.wayoflife.org.

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The wisdom of God is the Scripture (1 Co. 2:6-16)

In the previous passage, Paul contrasts the wisdom of man with the gospel. Here he contrasts the wisdom of man with the the wisdom of God which is revealed in the New Testament Scripture. Paul does not despise wisdom. He despises false wisdom or wisdom so called, which is man’s natural wisdom apart from divine revelation. 

This is another of the fundamental passages on the divine inspiration of Scripture. Paul knew that he was writing by inspiration, which refutes every critical view of Scripture. We have a clear choice. We can believe the critics, or we can believe Jesus Christ and His apostles and prophets. 

“Thank God that our Bible is not the thing of shreds and tatters which this folly asserts; and that those who have in truth of heart listened to its lessons of holy and lofty wisdom,--who know the unique glory of the Christ that it has made their own,--know that it is not. It is not by looking deeply into it that the vulture-critics, who would rend its sacred form, have discovered the disfigurements which they so eagerly point out. It is shallowness and unspirituality only that has deceived them.  Still ‘He taketh the wise in their own craftiness’ ... those who have most diligently and with heart-exercise searched the Scripture ... the more they have examined it, the more critically they have studied even its minutiae, the more the awe of a divine Presence has been upon them, the more sweetness of divine love has drawn and enwrapped them. And as to the mere understanding of them, the less we are content with mere generatlization, the more we look with reverent care into every detail, and weigh the import of every word, the more we attain to an apprehension of a perfection everywhere which manifests in whatever human guise the glory of the divine” (F.C. Grant, The Numerical Bible). 

Consider some of the lessons:

The Scripture is “not the wisdom of this world” (1 Co. 2:6). The wisdom of this world is man’s natural wisdom unaided by the Spirit of God. It is the wisdom “under the sun,” which is the theme of Ecclesiastes (Ec. 1:3, 9, 14). It is man trusting his own resources to determine the great questions of life, such as is there a God? If so, what or who is God? What is man? What is man’s origin, purpose, future? The wisdom of this world “comes to naught.” It is nothing and it will come to nothing. It has no future. How foolish to boast in man’s pathetic wisdom, which is no wisdom at all. In Scripture, the believer has true wisdom, infinite wisdom, the wisdom of God. Why should we be tempted by the wisdom of this world and awed by “the princes of this world,” which refers to this world’s thinkers, philosophers, scientists, educators, rulers, captains of industry, etc., all of whom depend upon their own thinking and despise God’s Word. We think of TED talks, which consists of 18-minute presentations by the world’s acclaimed thinkers on a myriad of subjects. There are thousands of Ted talks available online which have been viewed billions of times, but there is only a bare glimmer of eternal wisdom. There are scientific facts and profound observations, but no real wisdom. It is the wisdom of man that comes to naught because it leaves out God.

The Scripture is not “of the princes of this world” (1 Co. 2:6, 8). The princes of this world are the great and renowned of every field, the rich, the powerful, the rulers, the captains of industry, the heads of religion, the chief educators. In Paul’s day, the princes were the emperors, senators, consuls, proconsuls, tribunes, magistrates, prefects or governors, legates, the religious leaders such as the Jewish high priests. The Scripture did not originate with them and it is not understood by them. “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes” (Mt. 11:25). The princes of this world were willfully ignorant of the mysteries of God in Paul’s day. The Caesars could have had access to the Hebrew Scriptures, but they weren’t interested. The New Testament Scriptures were written in their empire; Paul was imprisoned in Rome itself; but the princes remained ignorant. Herod and his sons and Pilate and other governors of the land of Israel had no excuse for not knowing the things of Christ, but they weren’t interested. Herod the Great tried to kill the infant Christ. His son, Herod the tetrarch, killed Christ’s forerunner, John (Mt. 14:1-12) and mocked Jesus (Lu. 23:7-11). Pilate tried to wash his hands of Christ (Mt. 27:24), but that is impossible. The Jewish high priests demanded Christ’s crucifixion. They all joined hands to crucify Christ. The vast majority of the princes of this world are in the same condition today. Their eyes are full of this world; they don’t have time nor interest in the next. They don’t look into the mysteries of God. They don’t receive the witness of God’s Word against themselves. They don’t seek God and salvation. We see that Christ is “the Lord of glory.” This verse is another of the myriad proofs that Jesus is God. Jehovah God is called “the king of glory” (Ps. 24:7-9) and “the God of glory” (Ac. 7:2). For Jesus to have this same title is irrefutable evidence that He is God.

The Scripture is “among them that are perfect” (1 Co. 2:6). It is recognized by those who are spiritually enlightened and have a new heart to know God and to perceive spiritual truth. Their perfection is in God, not in themselves. They are the spiritual of verses 15-16, which we will say more about. It is impossible to recognize the wisdom of God apart from enlightenment by God. It requires spiritual conversion. It requires repentance and faith.

The Scripture is a “mystery” (1 Co. 2:7). “Mystery” refers to New Testament truths pertaining to the church that were hidden in Old Testament times: “the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest” (Ro. 16:25-26), “the mystery of Christ which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit (Eph. 3:4-5), “Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints” (Col. 1:26). The mystery is God’s eternal plan that all things will be one in Christ, and the church is the firstfruits of this (Eph. 1:9-12). There are many mysteries pertaining to the church. There is the mystery that “the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel” (Eph. 3:6), the mystery that the church is the bride of Christ (Eph. 5:30-32), the mystery of “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27), the mystery of iniquity, which is the devil’s program to put his man, the antichrist, on the throne of the world (2 Th. 2:3-10), the mystery that Israel will be blinded until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in (Ro. 11:25-27), and the mystery of the Rapture (1 Co. 15:51-54). 

The Scripture was “ordained before the world” (1 Co. 2:7). The Scripture was pre-known by God and preordained to be delivered to men. The whole Bible existed in God’s mind before it was given to the holy prophets. Compare Psalm 119:89. 

The Scripture is “unto our glory” (1 Co. 2:7). It is “unto our glory” in the sense that it is for our salvation and eternal glorification as joint-heirs with Christ. “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together” (Ro. 8:16-17). Compare Eph. 1:4, “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world”; Eph. 3:9, “the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God”; 2 Ti. 1:9, “his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began”; Tit. 1:2, “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began”; 1 Pe. 1:20, “Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.” 

The Scripture is not a product of man’s natural abilities (“Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man,” 1 Co. 2:9). Man cannot know God’s wisdom by his eyes, by his ears, or by his heart or mind, by observation and reasoning, by science or philosophy. The wisdom of God is beyond man’s reach. “Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?” (Job 11:7). Those who trust in science alone are foolish. Science cannot discover how man originated or what man is or who God is or the purpose of life or life beyond death or the future. How can it know these things? Science must be interpreted by divine revelation. 1 Corinthians 2:9 has been misunderstood to teach that we do not know what heaven is like, but this is not what Paul is saying. He is saying that we cannot know the divine and unseen things by our own natural senses, but we can know them by Scripture because God has revealed them. 1 Corinthians 2:9 is a reference to and application of Isa. 64:4.

The Scripture reveals “the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Co. 2:9). Scripture is full of these things. They consist of the many descriptions of Christ’s millennial kingdom (e.g., Isaiah 35), of the New Covenant (Jer. 31:31-40), of the new heaven and new earth and the New Jerusalem (Re. 21-22), etc. These things are for those who “love Him.” Love of God is the product and evidence of salvation. God made man to love Him, and this is restored by redemption. “And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live” (De. 30:6). The redeemed cry Abba, Father (Ro. 8:15). They love God because He first loved them (1 Jo. 4:19). They keep His commandments as the fruit and evidence of salvation (“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous,” 1 Jo. 5:2). 

The Scripture is divine revelation (“God hath revealed them unto us,” 1 Co. 2:10). Scripture is the revelation of things that man cannot know on his own. “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law” (De. 29:29). “Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets” (Am. 3:7). This refutes the view that Scripture is man’s natural attempt to describe the things of God.

The Scripture is “by his Spirit” (1 Co. 2:10-13). 

- The Spirit of God is the Author of Scripture. Compare Zec. 7:12; Mr. 12:36; Joh. 16:13; Ac. 1:16; 1 Pe. 1:11-12; 2 Pe. 1:21. The holy prophets were carried along by the Spirit of God in such a manner that what they wrote is the very Word of God. 

- The Spirit of God is a Person. He “searches” and “teaches,” which speaks of the Spirit as a Person and not merely as a force or intelligence. The Spirit of God is not like man’s spirit, which is not a separate personality from the man. Searching and teaching implies action, thought, and individual personality. 

- The Spirit of God is an infinite Person. The Spirit searches “all things, yea, the deep things of God,” which speaks of His omniscience as the third member of the Trinity.

- Man is entirely dependent upon the Spirit of God for the wisdom of God. He revealed the wisdom of God in the Scripture, and He makes the Scripture known by His enlightenment. “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him” (1 Jo. 2:27). 

- The Spirit of God is not the spirit of man. “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?” (1 Co. 2:11). We see that it is man’s spirit that knows man. We aren’t told how the spirit operates with the physical brain, but we are told that is the spirit that is the center of man’s self-awareness and knowledge. Modern science is probing the mysteries of the brain on the presumption that man is an evolved animal that can be understood by his chemical makeup. But it is impossible to understand man apart from the knowledge of his created being and spiritual nature, which can be known only by divine revelation. Theology is true science--yea, “the Queen of Sciences”--which must enlighten all other sciences. 

- The Spirit of God is “not the spirit of the world” (1 Co. 2:11). This is “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2).

The Scripture is “the deep things of God” (1 Co. 2:10). What an amazing Book! The Bible is not man’s feeble attempt to fathom divine things. It is God’s own revelation of the deep things of God. It plumbs the infinite depths of God’s character. It reveals things hidden in God from eternity and looks into the ages of ages. There is nothing to be compared with it. To make the Bible the chief focus of one’s life is the path of true wisdom which will never be regretted. 

- That the Scripture contains the deep things of God contradicts the world’s view that the Bible is inferior to other books. In Paul’s day, the world acclaimed the Greek philosophers, the Roman educators, and the mystery religions, and the church at Corinth was tempted to consider Paul’s teaching inferior. When Paul visited vaunted Athens, he was treated by many as a mere babbler (Ac. 17:18). In truth, the born again individual who studies the Bible diligently and learns to rightly divide it finds more true wisdom than could be gleaned from all of this world’s wise men combined. Many lists have been proposed of “the world’s greatest books,” such as The World Library, Great Books of the Western World, and the Oxford Library of the World’s Great Books, but these are as nothing compared with the one truly Great Book. 

- That the Scripture contains the deep things of God contradicts the view that human language is incapable of explaining the deep things of God. For example, Eugene Nida, the guru of the popular dynamic equivalency method of translation, said, “God’s revelation involved limitations” (Message and Mission, p. 222), and, “The languages of the Bible are subject to the same limitations as any other natural language” (Theory and Practice, p. 7). In fact, God created human language, and its first purpose was for God and man to communicate (Ge. 2:15-16). God gave man the ability to understand the things of God, and He equipped man with language that is capable of communicating the deep things of God. God prepared Hebrew and Greek for this purpose. 

The Scripture is “freely given to us of God” (1 Co. 2:12). God wants man to know the things of God. He planned the Scripture for this purpose. Revelation and enlightenment is the work of God’s love and grace to undeserving sinners. The content of the Bible is far more valuable than any university education, and it is free. In Ephesians 1, we are told that the revelation of God’s will is a part of the package of redemption. It would do little good for God to provide salvation in Christ and not communicate the message of salvation to man. “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself” (Eph. 1:7-9). The word “free” in 1 Co. 2:12 is a wonderful word, and it has to do with God. He is a Giver. God has never charged man anything for His benefits. Adam was given an amazing body, a glorious wife, and a world filled with riches, all as free gifts from the the hand of a giving God. All God asked was that man love and obey Him, but he refused and fell. God then provided free redemption for sinners by the blood of His own Son. How good God is, and how unreasonable and foolish and wicked man is!

The Scripture is “words which the Holy Ghost teacheth” (1 Co. 2:13). The revelation of God was given in words, not in general thoughts. “Words” is logos, which is translated “word” 225 times. The first meaning of logos is “a word, uttered by a living voice” (Complete Word Study Bible). Scripture is verbally inspired. It is the Word of the Lord given in the words of the Lord. Though Scripture was written by men in man’s words, the product is God’s words. The doctrine of verbal inspiration is not a new doctrine; it was not invented by B.B. Warfield or any other man of recent times. It is not a Protestant doctrine or a Baptist doctrine. It is a Bible doctrine. Compare Pr. 30:5-6; Zec. 7:12; Mr. 12:36; Ac. 1:16; 2 Pe. 1:21; Re. 22:18-19. Christ stated that even the jots and tittles, which are individual letters of the Hebrew Old Testament text, are divinely inspired (Mt. 5:17-18). We can’t answer all of the questions that can be raised about this; we simply believe what Christ and the apostles and prophets taught. The doctrine of verbal inspiration speaks to the Bible translation issue. The translator’s job is, as far as is possible, to give men God’s words in the receptor language. This is called “formal equivalence.” To translate the general meaning is not sufficient. Eugene Nida, who had a large influence on Bible translation since the 1950s, erred greatly by denying the verbal inspiration of Scripture. He said the Scriptures were not written “in a kind of Holy Ghost language” (Nida, Language Structure and Translation, 1975, p. 259). What wicked arrogance to deny what Paul plainly stated, as if some man today could know more than an apostle of the risen Christ, more than one of God’s holy prophets! 

The Scripture “compares spiritual things with spiritual” (1 Co. 2:13). The context is the giving of Scripture, so the primary interpretation must pertain to revelation rather than to Bible study. “Comparing spiritual things with spiritual” describes the environment of Spirit-led revelation in which the prophets operated. It is the Spirit who compared spiritual things with spiritual in the giving of the words of Scripture. “Paul is saying that the process of inspiration involves the conveying of divine truth with words that are especially chosen for that purpose by the Holy Spirit” (Believer’s Bible Commentary). By so doing, He created a book written by multiple human authors that speaks with one voice. It all fits together. We don’t know exactly how the Spirit of God imparted the words of Scripture; we only know that He did, because He said He did. Man’s part is not to probe into the things that God has not revealed, but to believe what God has revealed. The product of the Spirit’s ministry described in 1 Corinthians 2:13 is a Book that can be interpreted by comparing one part with another, knowing that it was designed to be so used. 

The Scripture is “the mind of Christ” (1 Co. 2:16). Though penned by men, Scripture is divinely inspired and is therefore the mind of Christ. We don’t have the mind of Christ by contemplative prayer or some other form of mysticism; we have the mind of Christ in Scripture, and we know the mind of Christ by the study of Scripture. What an amazing, wonderful Book! It is the book that demands my first and best attention. Again we see that Christ is the Lord; the “mind of the Lord” and the “mind of Christ” are synonyms.