Paul’s Message by the Spirit’s Power
When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 1Co 1:171Co 2:131Co 2:4Exo 4:10Rom 16:181Jn 5:11-132Ti 1:8Jer 1:6-7 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Gal 6:141Co 1:22-25Php 3:8-10Jhn 17:3Gal 3:1 I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 2Co 13:41Co 4:10-132Co 12:5-102Co 13:92Co 10:102Co 4:12Co 4:162Co 4:7-12 My message and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 1Co 4:201Th 1:51Co 1:171Co 2:1Rom 15:192Pe 1:161Co 2:13Col 2:4 so that your faith would not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power. 2Co 4:72Co 12:92Co 6:71Co 1:171Co 3:6Act 16:14
Spiritual Wisdom
(Ephesians 1:15–23)
Among the mature, however, we speak a message of wisdom—but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. Heb 5:14Jas 3:151Co 2:82Co 4:41Co 1:18-201Co 1:281Pe 5:10Eph 4:11-13 No, we speak of the mysterious and hidden wisdom of God, 1 which He destined for our glory before time began. Col 1:26-272Pe 1:3Rom 16:25-26Mat 11:25Mat 13:35Psa 78:21Pe 5:10Eph 3:4-9 None of the rulers of this age understood it. For if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Act 13:27Jas 2:11Co 2:6Act 7:2Psa 24:7-101Co 1:26-281Ti 1:132Co 3:14 Rather, as it is written: Isa 64:4Psa 31:19Jas 1:12Rom 8:28Isa 65:17Jas 2:5Heb 11:16Mat 25:34
“No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no heart has imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love Him.” 2
But God has revealed it to us by the Spirit. Jhn 14:26Eph 3:5Luk 10:21Jhn 16:13Eph 3:3Gal 1:12Mat 13:11Mat 16:17
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of man except his own spirit within him? So too, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Pro 20:271Co 2:10Jer 17:9Pro 14:10Rom 11:33-34Pro 20:5 We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 1Jn 2:27Rom 8:5-61Jn 2:201Jn 5:19-201Jn 4:4-5Jhn 16:14-15Rom 8:15-162Co 4:4 And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 3 1Co 2:141Co 2:41Co 1:171Co 12:1-31Co 2:1Col 3:161Pe 1:121Co 10:3-5
The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1Co 1:18Rom 8:5-8Mat 13:11-172Co 4:4-61Jn 2:271Co 15:46Jud 1:19Jas 3:15 The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment. 1Th 5:21Heb 5:14Pro 28:51Jn 4:11Co 14:37Gal 6:1Eph 4:13-14Php 1:10 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct Him?” 4 But we have the mind of Christ. Isa 40:13-14Rom 11:34Jhn 16:13-16Jhn 15:15Job 15:8Jer 23:18Eph 3:3-4Jhn 17:6-8