Bible Study God’s Wisdom Revealed By His Spirit

[WalterandDebbie]

Sunday 1-29-23 1st. Day Of The Weekly Cycle, Shavat 6 5783 39th. Winter Day

1 Corinthians 2 NIV

1 And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.[a] 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.

6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 However, as it is written:​

“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”[b]—
the things God has prepared for those who love him—

10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 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.[c]

14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for,

“Who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct him?”[d]
But we have the mind of Christ.

Footnotes​

1. 1 Corinthians 2:1 Some manuscripts proclaimed to you God’s mystery
2. 1 Corinthians 2:9 Isaiah 64:4
3. 1 Corinthians 2:13 Or Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual
4. 1 Corinthians 2:16 Isaiah 40:13

Wisdom and Understanding

For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. Proverbs 2:6

In 1373, when Julian of Norwich was thirty years old, she became ill and nearly died. When her minister prayed with her, she experienced a number of visions in which she considered Jesus’ crucifixion.

After miraculously recovering her health, she spent the next twenty years living in solitude in a side room of the church, praying over and thinking through the experience. She concluded that “love was his meaning”; that is, that Christ’s sacrifice is the supreme manifestation of God’s love.

Julian’s revelations are famous, but what people often overlook is the time and effort she spent prayerfully working out what God revealed to her. In those two decades, she sought to discern what this experience of His presence meant as she asked Him for His wisdom and help.

As He did with Julian, God graciously reveals Himself to His people, such as through the words of the Bible; through His still, small voice; through a refrain of a hymn; or even just an awareness of His presence. When this happens, we can seek His wisdom and help.

This wisdom is what King Solomon instructed his son to pursue, saying he should turn his ear to wisdom and apply his heart to understanding (Proverbs 2:2). Then he would “find the knowledge of God” (v. 5).

God promises to give us discernment and understanding. As we grow in a deeper knowledge of His character and ways, we can honor and understand Him more.

How does God reveal Himself to you most often? When He does, how do you come to understand what He’s revealed?

Gracious God, help me to grow in Your wisdom.

INSIGHT
The book of Proverbs helps us understand theology—the nature of wisdom as centered in God—and also guides us toward practical skill in living. From an ethical standpoint, this leads to flourishing not only for the individual but also for the community.

The proverbs of the Bible help guide us toward wise attitudes and behavior and away from foolish ones. Some of the insights found in this book include: relationships (6:16–19), sexual ethics (6:24–29), listening to advice (9:7–9), work ethics (10:4–5), business ethics (11:1, 24–26),

planning (16:1–3, 9, 33), dealing with authority (23:1–3), the misuse of alcohol (23:29–35); relationships with friends/neighbors (24:28–29; 27:17), conflict (26:17, 20–21), anger (27:3–4), taking care of the vulnerable (28:27), and the danger of pride (29:23).

Adapted from Amy Boucher Pye|July 5th, 2022

Prayer Proverbs Two:1-11

1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;

2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;

3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;

4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;

5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.

6 For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.

8 He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.

9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.

10 When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;

11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:

Love Walter and Debbie

 

[Tenchi]

In 1373, when Julian of Norwich was thirty years old, she became ill and nearly died. When her minister prayed with her, she experienced a number of visions in which she considered Jesus’ crucifixion.

Or, maybe, she didn't. We have no way to assess the truth of the claims of her "visions" and so it's foolish to give them any significant weight.

After miraculously recovering her health, she spent the next twenty years living in solitude in a side room of the church, praying over and thinking through the experience. She concluded that “love was his meaning”; that is, that Christ’s sacrifice is the supreme manifestation of God’s love.

This must have been one dull lady. She could have spared herself twenty years of isolation and simply read the Bible, which communicates very clearly to us the message of God's love expressed in Christ's sacrifice on the cross for mankind (though, maybe ready access to the Bible wasn't available in the 1300s). What's more, there is nothing of God in withdrawing from humanity. God commands His children to go out into the world and preach the Gospel, from all nations making disciples of Jesus, being His hands and heart to the spiritually-sick, materially needy and vulnerable. God's love always move His children out of themselves and into the lives of others. (Philippians 2:3-10; Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; 1 Corinthians 13:4-8; Matthew 22:36-39, 1 John 4:7-11, etc.) It is not of God, then, that this woman secluded herself for two decades to consider her "visions."

Julian’s revelations are famous,

Never heard of her...

In those two decades, she sought to discern what this experience of His presence meant as she asked Him for His wisdom and help.

God is not the Author of Confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33). He is not eager to keep His truth veiled in mystery but, rather, gives His wisdom (that is, the Holy Spirit who teaches us God's wisdom - John 14:26; John 16:13; 1 Corinthians 2:10-16) liberally to all who ask for it (James 1:5-6; Luke 11:9-13). If took twenty years for Julian to figure out basic Christian doctrine, there was something profoundly wrong with her approach to doing so.

As He did with Julian, God graciously reveals Himself to His people, such as through the words of the Bible; through His still, small voice; through a refrain of a hymn; or even just an awareness of His presence. When this happens, we can seek His wisdom and help.

It is primarily through the special revelation of Scripture that God reveals Himself to His children. (2 Timothy 3:16-17, Matthew 4:4; Psalm 119:105, 130; Psalm 1) It is God's truth found in Scripture that the Spirit "brings to remembrance" in the minds and hearts of God's own. Nowhere, though, in the Bible will one ever read that God commonly speaks to His children in a "still, small voice" - especially within their own mind. Even Elijah, who was the only one in the Bible to hear God speak with such a voice, did not hear it within his mind, but went out to the mouth of the cave he was hiding in to better hear God speak. Anyway, if God wants to say something to us, He'll make Himself very plain, as He did with Moses, Abraham, Gideon, Lot, David, Paul and John (to name a few). No straining to learn to hear from Him, no voice so small and faint its almost impossible to discern, but, instead, burning bushes, visits from angels, thunder, wind and earthquake, talking donkeys, a disembodied hand writing on wall, and so on.

But we don't have to wait on such occurrences to seek God's wisdom and help. Every believer, in the Person of the Holy Spirit, has been given all they need to walk well with God. Any who want to be, who will submit themselves daily to his will and way, will be constantly taught, strengthened, comforted, and changed by the Spirit. (Ephesians 3:16; Romans 8:13-14; 2 Corinthians 3:18, Philippians 2:13; Titus 3:5, etc.)

God promises to give us discernment and understanding. As we grow in a deeper knowledge of His character and ways, we can honor and understand Him more.

And enjoy fellowship with Him more. That's the really important thing God wants with us. (1 Corinthians 1:9; 2 Corinthians 13:14; 1 John 1:3)

How does God reveal Himself to you most often? When He does, how do you come to understand what He’s revealed?

See above.

The book of Proverbs helps us understand theology

Actually, it doesn't. Proverbs is largely concerned with practical, as opposed to spiritual, wisdom. The book offers almost nothing, really, about the nature of God, the Gospel, or how best to walk with God. It does at points refer to God, making occasional statements about Him, but many other books of the Bible offer far, far more actual theology than Proverbs does.

It's been an...interesting lesson you've offered.