Reflections on 1 Corinthians 2:7
“No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.” (1 Corinthians 2:7, NIV)
The NEB says God’s secret purpose was “framed from the very beginning to bring us to our full glory.” The Remedy says it was “the wisdom that God determined to restore in us before anything was created.” Before there was a problem, there was a plan to heal it (2 Timothy 1:9).
What is God’s Glory? The word means honor, splendor, radiance, the weight of intrinsic worth. But Scripture defines it more simply. When Moses asked, “Shew me thy glory,” God answered, “I will make all my goodness pass before thee,” and He proclaimed Himself “merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth” (Exodus 33:18–19; 34:6). His Glory is His character.
The truth about the character of God is the mystery hidden since the lies of Satan blinded Adam and Eve and a third of the angels. This truth is being revealed now, since the revelation Christ made on the Cross showed all creation who God truly is. “Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son… I have glorified thee on the earth” (John 17:1, 4). The Fires of Truth and Love flowing from Him into this sick world are the truth of who He is, and this is the power to heal all the damage we were born with.
Truth is healing. Lies will destroy you from the heart and mind out, until the whole being is wretched. But the truth of Love, brought into the heart and mind, heals. The Glory of God moves from God to His saints. As we become more like Christ, and His character of Love shows in us, we reveal more of the Glory of God to the world around us. “We all… are changed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18). This is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).
Our connection with heaven is lighting up our lives, and lightening them too. There is a light that shines out as that connection grows stronger. Science is just beginning to see how deeply our choices resound in our minds; Dr. Tim Jennings of Come and Reason Ministries brings this out strongly in his Reality of God seminar. But Scripture saw the light long before. It clothed Adam and Eve in Eden. It lit up the face of Moses when he came down from the mountain (Exodus 34:29). It shone from Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration, when “his face did shine as the sun” (Matthew 17:2). This is the connection we have with Christ and heaven.
The glow can be seen in the eyes and presence of one who is truly connected with the heart of Christ, who has the mind of Christ in them. Not everyone will be drawn to it. Those who have set their heart and mind against Him may feel a repulsion toward a child of Christ. Jesus said it would be so: “every one that doeth evil hateth the light” (John 3:20). This is to be expected. Let it go. They are only reacting to what they have chosen to become.
And yet we love as Christ loved, willing to give to anyone who shows even a small amount of goodness, which can only come from Christ. Even the lost soul who is hard to look upon may still carry a glimmer of Christ in their countenance. The Jesus in me sees the Jesus in you.
The Love of God shapes our minds, healing us in heart and mind. Truth believed, understood, embraced, and applied has the power of heaven in it. Truth taken in and absorbed into the heart is a power able to transform and re-create the image of God in sin-sick humans.
But we must do more than just hear truth. We must learn to love the truth for it to have its healing effect in our lives. Paul warned of those who “received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved” (2 Thessalonians 2:10). Love the truth, and let it shine.
