1Corinthians 2
Outline:
I. \\#1:1-4:21\\ In Answer to Chloe’s Report
A. \\#1:1-9\\ Introduction
1. \\#1:1-3\\ Greetings of Grace
2. \\#1:4-9\\ Prayer of Thanksgiving
B. \\#1:10-13\\ Report of Divisions
C. \\#1:14-4:21\\ Reasons for Divisions
1. \\#1:14-3:4\\ Misunderstanding of the Gospel Message
a. \\#1:14-17\\ The Gospel Message is not BAPTISM.
b. \\#1:17-2:16\\ The Gospel Message is in the PREACHING.
(1) \\#1:17-22\\ It is not the preaching with wise
words.
(2) \\#1:22\\ It is not the preaching with signs.
(3) \\#1:23-31\\ It is the kind of preaching "we"
do.
(4) \\#2:1-5\\ It is not preaching with "eloquent"
words, "excellency of speech."
(5) \\#2:6-8\\ It is preaching with the wisdom of
Christ.
(6) \\#2:9-16\\ It is preaching anointed with the
Holy Spirit.
\\#1:14-3:4\\ Misunderstanding of the Gospel Message
I. \\#1:14-17\\ The Gospel Message is not in Baptism.
II. \\#1:17-2:16\\ The Gospel Message is in the preaching.
A. \\#1:17-22\\ It is not the preaching with wise words.
B. \\#1:22\\ It is not the preaching with signs.
C. \\#1:23-31\\ It is the kind of preaching "we" do.
D. \\#2:1-5\\ It is not preaching with "eloquent" words,
"excellency of speech."
1. \\#1\\ Paul preached Jesus without "excellent" words of
"wisdom," by which he meant the wisdom of men \\#4\\.
2. \\#3\\ Paul also came with weakness, fear, and trembling.
a. These would seem to be physical characteristics.
b. It would appear that Paul chose not to mask his inner
most weaknesses, but to allow them to rise to the
surface for others to see; for who is not weak and
fearful when it comes to sharing Christ with others?
c. Although Paul often thundered and threatened the
very judgment of God, he was a mere man with fears
who trembled when he preached too.
3. \\#4\\ Neither Paul preach with "enticing" words.
4. \\#2\\ "For I determined"
a. Paul came that way not because he lacked ability, but
because he chose:
(1) \\#4\\ To come "in demonstration of the Spirit
and of power"
(2) \\#5\\ "That you faith should not stand in the
wisdom of men, but in the power of God."
b. Paul’s use of common speech will be viewed by some as
a reason to call him an inferior apostle!
\\See SS note related to 1Cor 4:3.\\
2Cor 11:5 For I suppose I was not a whit behind
the very chiefest apostles.
6 But though I b] rude in speech, yet not in
knowledge; but we have been throughly made
manifest among you in all things.
E. \\#2:6-8\\ It is preaching with the wisdom of Christ.
1. Wisdom is mentioned 8 times in this chapter.
a. Throughout the chapter, Paul was contrasting man’s
wisdom to God’s.
b. God’s wisdom produces salvation and a changed life.
c. Man’s wisdom "comes to naught" \\#6\\.
2. \\#7\\ God’s wisdom had been "a mystery" which was
"hidden" since "before the world."
a. The nugget of wisdom that Paul referred to was that
God would become a Man and die for our sins!
b. \\#8\\ If the princes of this world had known THAT
nugget of wisdom, they would not have crucified
Jesus.
c. I wonder if Paul meant earthly princes or demonic.
(1) If earthly princes had known what God was doing,
they should have been frighten to have crucified
the Lord.
(2) If demonic princes had known what God was doing,
they would not have wanted to crucify Jesus. In
doing so, they helped provide a salvation for
mankind and doomed themselves!
F. \\#2:9-16\\ It is preaching anointed with the Holy Spirit.
1. The only kind of preaching that will do any good is the
preaching anointed with the Holy Spirit.
2. Taking the foolishness of preaching \\#1Cor 1:18\\ and
anointing it with the power of the Holy Ghost is what
gives preaching its power.
3. \\#9\\ Paul quoted from Isaiah to describe this hidden
action of God:
Isa 64:4 For since the beginning of the world
men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear,
neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee,
what he hath prepared for him that waited for
him.
4. \\#10\\ Then Paul explained how it is the Holy Spirit that
makes people see and understand the hidden, previously
unknown truths of God.
a. \\#11\\ For the spirit of man cannot fathom the things
of God. The Spirit of God must do that.
b. \\#12\\ Neither can the spirit of this world
understand the things of God.
c. God has given us His Spirit that we may know God’s
truths.
5. \\#13\\ And those "revealed" things that "we speak."
6. \\#14\\ The natural man with his natural spirit cannot
understand the things of God because they are spiritual.
7. \\#15\\ Yet the spiritual-minded has the potential to
understand, to discern, to render a right decision in all
things—both earthly and spiritual while others will not
understand or be able to discern him.
8. \\#16\\ For what carnal mind will ever be able to instruct
a spiritually minded person.
a. That is rhetorical, meaning it should not have to be
answered.
b. But, alas, the spiritual can become carnal too.
9. "But we have the mind of Christ."
a. This was a fact. Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit
and sensed it.
b. It was also a precursor. Paul, being filled with the
Holy Spirit was capable of judging the things he had
heard were happening in Corinth; and he would do so
before he finished this epistle.
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