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The experts of our day haven't a clue about what this eternal plan is. If they had, they wouldn't have killed the Master of the God-designed life on a cross. That's why we have this Scripture text:
No one's ever seen or heard anything like this,
Never so much as imagined anything quite like it—
What God has arranged for those who love him.
But you've seen and heard it because God by his Spirit has brought it all out into the open before you. – 1 Corinthians 2:8-10 (The Message)
In relation to the subject of this particular Bible study, I would like to take a closer look at the context of First Corinthians 2 (specifically in relation to verse 9) and address the immediate context of the verses cited above.
If you were like me, maybe when you were growing up (or maybe even now), you heard such things in reference to First Corinthians 2:9 like: “Yep! ‘Eye has not seen,’ or ‘ear heard,’ what God has in store for us as far as ‘Heaven’ is concerned! We can’t even begin to imagine what heaven is going to be like, and what God has in store for us there!”
In other words, of course, when the context of verse 9 of First Corinthians 2 is referenced of “eye having not seen,” or “ear having not heard,” more times than not, in the minds of many, it is about what we haven’t yet ‘seen’ or ‘heard’ as far heaven is concerned; that is, in relation to what is to come, in the age to come. But is this really what the apostle Paul is referring to here in these verses? Is "heaven" really the main focus of this passage - let alone the main focus of Paul in general? The answer to these questions is what I hope to address in brief in this particular Bible study.
As far as what the “experts” didn’t understand in relation to the “eternal plan” of God (1 Cor. 2:8 [according to Eugene Peterson’s translation above, The Message]), the apostle Paul, in the previous verses, had just addressed the fact that he and those that speak in behalf of God simply speak the “wisdom of God” (vv. 6-7 […in contrast to the wisdom of the world, that is]). And it is through this “wisdom”—a wisdom that was “hidden” but “ordained” by God before the ages (v. 7)—that God has now made known to those who are more “mature” in relation to the “deep things of God” (vv. 6, 10). In other words, simply: What God had kept “hidden” from man’s full understanding before time began, He has now made known that “mystery” through the proclamation of His wisdom. (See Romans 16:25-26a as well.) …And what is the essence of this “wisdom”? It is none other than Jesus Christ Himself! (More specifically, it is the plan of salvation by God as made known now to all through the manifestation of Jesus Christ in the flesh!)
You see, as far as God’s wisdom is concerned, Paul had just addressed in this letter of his to the believers of the Church at Corinth that Jesus Himself is simply THE “Wisdom of God” (see 1 Corinthians 1:24 & 30). (In essence, Jesus - as Paul states in verse 30, specifically - has now become to us “wisdom FROM God.”) In other words, simply: If you want to ‘see’ and know the essence of God’s “wisdom,” look to Jesus! And when we ‘see’ Jesus through the proclamation of the Gospel - which is about Christ and Him crucified (see 1 Corinthians 2:2; cf. 1:17-18, 23-24) - we ‘see’ for ourselves (that is, in our spiritual maturity we see) what the “rulers of this age” refused to see. (Therefore the rulers of this age simply crucifying Christ as a result through their lack of ‘sight’ [1 Corinthians 2:8].)
But, once again, as Paul states in verse 10 of First Corinthians 2, what the rulers of this age refused to ‘see’ for themselves, God - through the indwelling Spirit, because of those in question who decided to hear and believe the Gospel for themselves (that is, hearing and believing the Gospel initially by and through faith, no less) - can truly see these things personally for themselves! …Why? –Why can they truly see these things for themselves now, that is? Because, as Paul goes on and states in this same passage to those that he was writing to then: “Now we have received [past tense], not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God [Why?], [Answer] that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God” (1 Corinthians 2:12). (…‘Things’ like salvation in Christ, that is, no less.)
Now with all these things above in mind, I would like to share with you in brief the understanding of a couple of Biblical scholars (Ciampa & Rosner) on this very subject - the subject of what is truly being addressed in First Corinthians 2:8-12. The following is taken from the book, Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (2007); Eds., Beale & Carson, p. 701:
In [1 Corinthians] 2:8-12 Paul discusses the revelation of the wisdom that came to the apostles and prophets through the Holy Spirit. Negatively, it was not known (perceived or grasped) by the rulers of this age (2:8-9); positively, it was revealed by God through the Spirit to the apostles and prophets, who received the Spirit of God (2:10-12)…Paul, in citing this Scripture [Ciampa & Rosner referring to Isaiah 64:4 in verse 9 of First Corinthians 2], shows that the wisdom that he and other apostles and prophets preach is nothing less than THE FULLNESS OF GOD’S PLAN OF SALVATION. What Isaiah promised as part of a dramatic divine intervention (see [Isaiah] 64:1), Paul takes to be fulfilled in THE MESSAGE AND PROCLAMATION OF THE CROSS. (Capitalized emphasis added to text.)
(Note: Interestingly enough - Whereas the middle of Isaiah Chapter 65 [beginning with verse 17] through Chapter 66 would seem to apply more so to a “heaven” interpretation of things, Isaiah Chapter 64 [once again, the chapter acknowledged by others of where Paul gets his citation found in First Corinthians 2:9] – as Ciampa & Rosner are cited above as pointing out – has to do with deliverance/salvation; a salvation, according to Paul in First Corinthians 2, that has now been made known by God through His “wisdom” - the essence of that “wisdom” to us, once again, being none other than Jesus Christ Himself [1 Corinthians 1:24,30].)
In other words, simply: Paul, in First Corinthians 2, specifically verses 8-10, is not talking about what we haven’t seen or heard as far as HEAVEN is concerned, No!, but what we now know through the indwelling Spirit (…You know, that Spirit who searches “the deep things of God”? [v. 10b]) concerning God’s plan of salvation - by and through Jesus Christ! (…Once again, Jesus is ‘something’ that the “rulers of this age” just couldn’t - and still cannot - accept for themselves[!].)
With all these things in mind now, I hope that we can be encouraged that, yes, we can know the things of God - as Paul states in essence - that have been “revealed” to us “through His Spirit.” Why? Because we now - as the apostle Paul goes on and states as well in this very same passage in First Corinthians 2, through the indwelling Spirit - simply have “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16b); If we have the mind of Christ because He (Jesus) resides in our hearts through the indwelling Spirit (see Eph. 3:17-19), can we not also know the things that God has truly revealed to us through His indwelling Spirit? It would seem so! As Jesus stated so long ago to His disciples then about what it truly means to be friends/disciples of His: “…But I have called you friends [Why?], [Answer] for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15b); “…All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He [the Spirit] will take of Mine and declare it to you” (John 16:15).
May we rejoice in the reality that as Christ resides in us through the indwelling Spirit by faith, we too - like Christ - can know for ourselves the things that have truly been “freely given to us by God” (1 Corinthians 2:12 NKJV; see also Romans 12:2 [By having a “transformed mind,” we can know for ourselves, truly, what is that “good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.”]); …in relation to those things that God does choose to reveal to us, that is, of course (e.g., Deuteronomy 29:29).
[Jesus speaking in the following verse of the reality of how freely each one of us can have the Holy Spirit in our lives, of course - that same Holy Spirit once again who “searches the deep things of God”] “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” – Luke 11:13 NKJV
Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; [here’s the result for us who believe and accept the Gospel for ourselves] and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise [of the Holy Spirit] is to you and to your children, and to ALL who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” – Acts 2:38-39 NKJV (Words in brackets added to text.)
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