1 Corinthians 2:6-10. Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—
10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.
Secret and hidden wisdom?
The depths of God?
Whoa, what is all this about? Well, it’s about “to live is Christ.” The secret and hidden wisdom of God is no longer secret and hidden. It is in us in the person of Jesus Christ. The depths of God have been revealed in Christ and now in us.
In Paul’s day many religions were mysterious. They had secret information that only some could attain. And the Corinthians would have loved this idea. “Oooo we love secrets” they might say. “We want Christianity to have secrets too.” But Paul is redefining these terms. The Spirit is not giving us a secret and hidden NEW knowledge. He is giving us simply the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:16. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
Spiritual maturity never goes beyond the cross. I remember once a young person in the church saying to me that he wanted to get past the basics of “Jesus loves me this I know.” Nope. There is no getting past that. There is only going deeper into it. The love of Christ on the cross is the depths of God.
“To live is Christ” makes the wisdom of God and the depths of God accessible to us by the indwelling life of Christ inside of us. It makes spiritual maturity possible for all who humbly receive it and seek it. The cross is spiritual maturity. And it is a wisdom that is given not achieved. It is available to all who would humble themselves and repent of their own wisdom and receive the grace of God through Christ.
Are you afraid you’ll never be spiritually mature? Are you seeking a maturity beyond the cross and the self sacrifice it empowers? In what way is the cross the “depths of God?”
To Live is Christ 