The Great Gift of the Holy Spirit

1 Corinthians 2:6-3:4 - Riley Boggs

Last week we looked at how God has brought about the redemption story in such a way that it seems foolish to those who are wise according to the world’s standards. The fact that our Savior and King was crucified, that we find our identity and salvation in Christ, and that the power of the Gospel lies not in our speech at all, all seems a bit crazy to the world. Especially to the Jews who wanted more signs and an earthly kingdom, and the Gentiles who wanted more proof and better reasoning. But God orchestrated this story so that the foolish would shame the wise and the weak would shame the strong. 

Remember, Paul is writing this letter to the church is Corinth that has been reported to have all kinds of issues. One of which was the fact that all the people around them, the Jews and Gentiles, were constantly calling what they believed foolish, which is why he wrote what we looked at last week. But now he begins to address some of the more specific issues taking place within the church itself. 

In a very oversimplified statement what Paul is about to say is this, “God has shown Himself to you, caused you to believe what everyone around you says is foolish, and has given the Spirit to you. Now act like it.” And so, that is really the struggle of the sermon today. 

But before we get into this text, I want to take a brief minute to give us a better theological understanding of the Holy Spirit. He is the theme of the section we are looking at and I think it’s best we all get our feet set before diving in. So, if you will, follow me to a few different texts.

The first text is in John 14. Starting in verse 15, Jesus says, “15 ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.’” Then, jumping down to verse 25, He says, “25 ‘These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.’”

Flip over 1 chapter to John 15. Starting in verse 26, He says, “26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.”

Now jump forward a few verses to John 16. Starting in the 2nd half of verse 4, Jesus says, ““I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. 5 But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer;11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

In these texts Jesus is talking to His disciples about what is to come. This is before Jesus’ death, and He is saying to them that He did not come to stay. They don’t understand in full just yet, though they soon will, but Jesus is going to be crucified, He will die, and then He will be buried. But then, He is going to resurrect, and then very soon after ascend back to heaven. And Jesus is telling them that when He leaves, The Spirit will come.

Now, turn to the next book in the Bible, Acts. Look with me chapter 2, starting in verse 1. The text says, “When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

Skip down to verse 36. It says, “36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” 37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.”

So at this point, Jesus has ascended, and the church is beginning to form for the first time. And what Jesus had promised takes place. The Spirit of God descends onto His people. Then, Peter begins to preach the Gospel, people become convicted and ask what they are to do and he tells them to repent of their sins, place their faith in Christ, be baptized, and what will happen? They will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And then, in this instance, about 3,000 people did this.

Let me make a few quick notes and then we’ll get into our text. First, the Holy Spirit does not come to dwell in someone at their baptism. That is not what Peter is saying here. The Spirit resides in people at salvation, and baptism is the public profession that such a thing as happened.

Second, you all know this but just as for a little language reminder. The Spirit is not an “it”. He is a He. He is God. One of the 3 persons of our Triune God. He is not lesser than the Father or less than Christ, though sometimes we speak like that might be the case. The Spirit’s role is vast and as we look at our text this morning, we will see a few specific roles. Alright, enough preface. Let’s first look at what Paul is telling the Corinthians at the beginning of this passage.

1.) God reveals Himself to those who love Him

This passage doesn’t break up very clean to draw points from specific sections, but we will be working our way generally from the beginning to the end.

Paul starts off by saying that that among the mature he imparts wisdom. From this, there’s really 2 questions that if you have to answer. Who are the mature? And What is the wisdom imparted? I think he answer both of these questions for us here in the text.

First, the mature is not an elite group of Christians who have figured it out. It’s not more sanctified people, more intelligent people, or any of that. The mature here is all believers. It is everyone who has placed their faith in Christ and is now a part of the body of Christ. How do we know this? We know this because he talks about how the opposite of the mature are the rulers of the age, who are doomed to pass away, and because he says it explicitly at the end of verse 9. “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.” 

That is the divide Paul is making here, continuing on from the previous passages we looked at. There are those who are of this age, who think they are wise, but they are actually foolish. On the other hand, there are those who are in Christ, who the world sees as foolish, but who are actually wise. And all Paul is doing here is using another term to describe this same reality. 

Interesting, the Greek word being translated here is often rendered as “perfect or complete”. So he is saying, those in Christ are perfect, complete, or mature. And those who are not in Christ, but are of this world, are not perfect, not complete, and not mature.

So that answer the first question, who are the mature? But what is the wisdom being imparted here? What is the wisdom that makes the mature, mature? Again, Paul tells us clearly. It is the plan of redemption, the fact that Jesus is the Lord of glory, and all the things of God. Paul is saying that these are the things that God has revealed to those who love Him, but has not revealed to those who do not love him. These are the things that have been shown to the mature, to make the mature, but has been withheld from those who of this world.

Now, he mentions one other thing here that I want you to see. In verse 7 he says, “But we impart a secret or hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.” What he is saying here is so important for us to get. God’s plan, from the very beginning, was for the great redemption story to take place. He decreed it, or decided it, before the ages for our glory. But, for a time, it was hidden. What do I mean by that?

Throughout the Old Testament there is a constant looking forward. There is a constant hope. There are prophecies and foreshadowing. But the way redemption is going to take place isn’t clear yet. They put their hope and faith in the promise that God is going to deliver His people, but the specific way it was going to play out wasn’t abundantly clear. And we know that they didn’t understand in full for sure because when Jesus came, the Jews rejected Him as the Messiah. They didn’t think this was their Savior. But He certainly was. And that was God’s plan all along.

And now this wisdom is being revealed to all those who love Him. God is revealing this story, in its beauty, to Jews and Gentiles and all who would place their faith in Christ. Paul describes this same reality in 2 other places. In Ephesians 3:1-6 he says, “For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles—2 assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, 3 how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. 4 When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. 6 This mystery isthat the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”

And then in Romans 16:25-27 he says, “25 Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages 26 but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— 27 to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.”

The Son of God coming, taking on flesh, dying on the cross, atoning for the sins of His people, and then resurrecting again was something that was hidden for ages. They knew salvation was need and through prophecies they had ideas about how salvation would come, but they couldn’t see it like we see it now.

And here’s the point being made. The people of this age, who do not follow Christ, who do not love God, are living like those people. They can’t see it. It’s hidden. They may see bits and pieces, but it’s not clear.

Ironically, what is a saying that progressive people might say about us? They might say, “You’re living in the past! Get with the times, love is love man.” But this text says the opposite. If you do not love God, you’re living in the past. You are acting like the most glorious thing of all time has not happened in Christ. You are blind to the truth; it is hidden from you like it was hidden from all the people before.

Let me make one comment to clarify my point before going on to the next. I am not saying God’s revealing Himself to you is dependent upon your love for Him. God reveals Himself to people and as a result they love Him, and those who love God, God reveals Himself to. It goes hand-in-hand. The point I am making, and the point that Paul is making, is that when you survey the culture at large you have 2 groups of people. You have the church, who love God, and who God has shown Himself to. And then you have those who reject God and who God has not revealed Himself to. 

And God is in the business of revealing Himself to people by us sharing the Gospel with people. We go out and tell people of this glorious story of Christ and God opens their eyes and they see what was once hidden. They see the glorious Christ and what He has done for them. And then we can say of them, God has revealed Himself to them, through our words, and now they love God.

I know I spent a good chunk of time talking working through a proper understanding of the Holy Spirit and then I haven’t even mentioned Him yet. But now I am. When this revealing takes place and someone places their faith in Christ, as I mentioned earlier, they are indwelled with the Spirit of God. And that has implications in our lives. And that is where Paul goes in this text. 

2.) God has given us the Spirit

Now, he points out that’s one of the problems with the Corinthians. They are acting as if the Spirit indwelling in them doesn’t change their change anything in their life. Look at verses 1-4 of chapter 3. He says that he can’t address them like spiritual people, not because they are in Christ. He says that they are. But it’s because they are like infants in Christ. Their being babies. Immature, acting like the Spirit of the living God isn’t in them. Acting as if God has not revealed Himself to them. 

Andrew Wilson describes what Paul is saying like this. He says, “You like to think you are spiritual and mature, and that you understand the deep, meaty things of God rather than depending on milky baby food. But when you squabble and divide like this, which are you really?” (Spiritual or fleshly? Mature or Immature?)”

I think that’s a good way of putting it. Paul is unable to speak to them about the deep things of God because they are acting this way. He has to stay at the surface, the basics, until they act more mature. They are dividing themselves by who follows Paul vs Apollos, and getting drunk on the communion wine, this isn’t the time to start in on Systematic Theology. 

But this isn’t how things are supposed to be, that’s the point. The Spirit of God in believers is supposed to enable us in countless ways. I think there are 2 ways Paul points out in this text.

a.) God has given us His Spirit so that we may know Him more (10-13)

One of the reasons that God has given us, His people, His Spirit, is so that we may know God more. Look at verses 10-13. The Spirit is how we come to know God more and more. 

Really, when think about theology, which is the study of God, we should realize that all theology is done by the Spirit. Andrew Wilson describes it like this, “Theology, when done properly, is a Spirit-lead and Spirit-guided exercise. We read Scriptures, which the Spirit has inspired, in the midst of the church, whom the Spirit has filled, in search of Christ, whom the Spirit reveals. Without the Spirit, we would have no access to the thoughts of God (v.11) and would end up with nothing more than the spirit of the world. With him, however, ‘we may understand what God has freely given us’ (v.12).” 

The Spirit is who lets us see. He illuminates to us the things of God, that we could not see on our own accord. That is why God has given us His Spirit. When we open our Bibles, the reason that we come to any understanding at all, is because the Spirit is granting us understanding. When we try to think and prayer through hard doctrines of God, the only reason we get any clarity is because of the Spirit of God giving us clarity. 

My encouragement to you, because of the Spirit does live in you, is to open the Bible with confidence. Yes, approach it with humility and honestly and knowing not everything will make sense at first. But don’t think that you aren’t capable. Or remember that you are capable because the Spirit will give you insight and understanding. That doesn’t mean we should practice and train and study to become better at understanding, but it does mean that all of it comes for the gracious illuminating of the Spirit of God. 

And I would also encourage you to move past the milk as grow. Go deeper, past the very basics. And as you do, you won’t forget the basics, but you’ll come to understand them better.    

b.) God has given us His Spirit so that we exhibit the fruits of the Spirit (14-16)

Look at verses 14-16. What Paul is saying here is that the Spirit grants us insight, wisdom, or knowledge even beyond the things of God. Yes, the Spirit enables us to know God more. But He also enables us to discern and judge the things around us better. Or another way of putting is that He enables us to exhibit the fruits of the Spirit.

The fruits of the Spirit are “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control.” Imagine now that the church of Corinth displayed these things. They all had the Spirit, but instead allowing the Spirit to work through them in these ways, they wanted to quarrel, divide, and sin. And that’s the point Paul is making. One of the reason’s we have been given the Spirit is so that we live more like Christ, displaying the fruits of the Spirit. So that we can grow in Christ, become more mature, and stronger in our faith. On our own this is impossible, but with the Spirit it is possible.

We don’t approach situations in our life alone anymore. We are able to judge and discern in a way that we once couldn’t. We are able to be more gracious, more forgiving, more bold, more kind, more self-controlled, and so on. The Spirit is such a great gift in this way, and we should act like it.

In just a few weeks we will start looking at some of the issues that the Corinthians have, but remember that this is where Paul starts for a reason. He starts with, you’re the church. You have been seen God, you know God. You have been given the Spirit who blesses you in all these ways. And yet, you have done this. The Corinthians need to be reminded of who they are and what they have been given, and then they can begin working through specific issues.

In closing, I’ll just say this. We cannot comprehend God on our own, we need the Spirit. And we now have Him so that we might understand what was once hidden. And yet, the difference between the Corinthians and those who did not know Christ was too small. They had been given the Spirit, in Salvation, so that they come to know God more. But instead, they chose to act as people without the Spirit and acted as if these things were still hidden. They were too busy arguing and dividing and sinning to allow the Spirit to show them the deeper things.

And it’s easy to just say, “don’t do this” and move on. But, while I think that is one application, it’s not the best one. What I think we are supposed to do is remember all of this and respond in praise and thanksgiving. Thank God that He has shown Himself to us, that He made a way for us, sinful people, to be made right with a Holy God. And not only that, but He has equipped us. He has given us the Spirit to aid us in knowing Him more and to walk more like Christ, demonstrating the fruits of the Spirit. There are not enough words and praises for us to lift up for all of this. Don’t let these truths grow cold and forget them like the Corinthians, but instead think on them and walk in them.