Reflections on 1 Corinthians 2:13
“This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.” (1 Corinthians 2:13, NIV)
Paul says the message he carries isn’t dressed in the polished phrases of human philosophy. It comes in words the Spirit teaches. Williams calls it “fitting spiritual words to spiritual truths.” The Living Bible says it simply: “So we use the Holy Spirit’s words to explain the Holy Spirit’s facts.” Dr. Tim Jennings of Come and Reason Ministries puts it this way in The Remedy: “the very secret thoughts of God – his true nature and character of Love taught by His Spirit – expressing the life-giving truths in ways we can comprehend.”
This isn’t only for apostles. The Spirit brings to our minds the truths that fit the moment we are sharing with someone. I see it every day as I work with the members who call with their questions and concerns. As a young mother, I was constantly amazed at what came out of my mouth: wisdom and truth, spoken exactly as my child could grasp it. In church, sharing in a study class or teaching the adult class, I have felt the Spirit fill the room and bring the conversation to the things we all needed to know. This is not an uncommon thing in the life of a Christian.
But the same truths land very differently in a heart that hasn’t welcomed the Spirit. Without the indwelling Spirit, the truths about Christ, about salvation, and about the Love our Father has shown toward humanity are not welcomed. They can’t be understood without the Spirit of God in the life to bring them home to the heart and mind. They stay only words. Facts. Cold facts.
The spirit of the world filters every truth about God before it reaches the mind and heart. What a believer hears as beautiful, loving words of truth and healing, another hears as folly, of no value at all.
Without the Holy Spirit to help us see what reality really is, who we are, and our need of Christ, His sacrifice would be of no avail to our fallen race. Ellen White put it this way: “The Spirit was to be given as a regenerating agent, and without this the sacrifice of Christ would have been of no avail” (The Desire of Ages, p. 671). Without the Spirit drawing us to Christ, we would not even want to be saved. What Christ did for us would never reach our hearts without the Gift of the Holy Spirit applying the truth to them.
But every gift heaven has to give is ours for our salvation. Our only contribution to our own salvation is to accept it and place our will on the side of the Lord. We choose with our hearts and minds, and act with our will, to move in the direction the Spirit is leading.
The moment we do, we have the power: the Fires of Truth and Love from the throne of God, brought home to us by the Holy Spirit. He is constantly drawing us and supporting us as we keep choosing to follow the Lord.
Truth is a powerful knowledge. The more we dwell on it, spending time with the Lord in His Word, the more we want to. The mind-numbing fare we once fed our minds on loses its appeal. We are changing: what we like, how we spend our time. As the Fires of Truth and Love burn out the dross in our minds and hearts, we are becoming more like Him. The quality of who we are is being refined, and we live the life of joy, because joy is what Love produces.
