PRAY: Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us to hear them, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
READ: 1 Corinthians 2:6–10b
MEDITATE:
No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden… (v. 7) What is Paul’s secret? What is the hidden wisdom? These words must have tantalized the Corinthian congregation. The Corinthians were wrestling with the allure of a nascent Gnosticism. Although Gnostic religions would take many shapes and forms in the coming decades and centuries, one of their central tenets was that secret knowledge of God could be attained only by a select few (gnosis is the Greek word for wisdom).
Paul does away with any concept of a secret and selective wisdom by declaring God’s secret from the rooftop: Jesus Christ and him crucified. That’s it! That’s the big secret. Jesus Christ and him crucified: This is God’s hidden wisdom (v. 7) . Jesus Christ and him crucified: This is God’s preordained plan for our glory (v. 7) . Jesus Christ and him crucified. Nothing more. Nothing less. That is it. That is all! I imagine that this was a bit of a letdown for the Corinthians. I imagine they wanted something new, something exciting, a new secret word of insight about God. But Paul, as he always does, draws the Corinthians back to the Christ and his cross.
Consider an example from marriage: a husband and wife do not grow in their marriage by creating new and exciting marriage vows every few months, but rather by returning to the same basic, wonderful, inexhaustible vows exchanged at the altar. The Christian life does not grow by exploring new and variant ways of being a Christian, but rather by returning to the basic, wonderful, inexhaustible truth of Jesus Christ and him crucified.
Questions and Application:
- What does this passage say?
- What does this passage mean?
- Are there any ways in which we have drifted from the basic truth: Jesus Christ and him crucified?
- Does someone you know need to know the “secret” of Jesus Christ and him crucified?
PRAY: Merciful God, creator of all the peoples of the earth and lover of souls: have compassion on all who do not know you as you are revealed in your Son Jesus Christ; let your Gospel be preached with grace and power to those who have not heard it; turn the hearts of those who resist it; and bring home to your fold those who have gone astray; that there may be one flock under one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.