Spirit wisdom

However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him— these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.  –1 Corinthians 2:9-10 (NIV)
 
The church at Corinth was infected with the culture of the world. Not surprising. They were a fairly young church and they lived at a crossroads of trade, art, wealth, philosophy, and pleasure. Think Wall Street meets Hollywood meets Mardi Gras. The worst thing you could be in Corinth was uncool – out of touch with the newest and neatest trends.
 
A god who died was a loser god. And if you believed he came back from the dead, that made you an idiot. Early in his letter to the Corinthians, Paul contrasted this “foolishness” of God with the “wisdom” of the age. He compared their standing before and after meeting the Savior. Seems most of them hadn’t been all that cool to start with, but now…
 
It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”  –1 Corinthians 1:30-31 (NIV)
 
That’s not to say the church needed to hold their breath waiting for the rest of Corinth to catch up with them. Turns out the ability to see and comprehend the truth of the gospel is not a matter of time, teaching, or even of evidence. The reason some (most, according to Jesus) never “get it” is because they are incapable of “getting it” because such understanding only comes through the Spirit.
 
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. 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. 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.  –1 Corinthians 2:12-14 (NIV)
 
Now for some irony and some hope…. Paul introduced this idea of Spirit wisdom as a message for the mature (1 Cor. 2:6), then told the Corinthians the reason they weren’t getting it yet is because they were spiritual babies (1 Cor. 3:1-2). But, and this is important, he still addressed them as brothers and sisters in Christ.
 
We know the Spirit was with them and in them because they had committed themselves to Christ. But their spiritual development was stunted by the influence of the culture they were living in. The goal is the mind of Christ. His salvation, which includes the spiritual protection of, instruction by, and transformation in His Spirit, is available to “whosoever will”. But even His followers can find themselves confused, muddled, and stuck when they allow an immature faith and the distractions of the world to mute the Spirit within. Hence this admonition of Paul to another church, the one at Thessalonica:
 
Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.  –1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 (NIV)