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Wednesday, 3 September 2008

To know the mind of God

Though the contemporaries of St. Paul did not need any words of wisdom because they were able to witness the miracles worked by the apostles, (Action speaks louder than words.) with the passage of time, written records were needed to preserve the testimony of the apostles. Naturally, the best way to preserve this is to commit it to writing. So, eloquence and rhetorics are needed, not so much as to defeat your rivals and enemies but to help believers commit the teaching of the apostles into memory.
Now, St. Paul continues his theological discussion. In chapter 2 of 1 Corinthians, he began to mention the Spirit. The persuasiveness of his preaching lay in the demonstration of the Spirit and the power instead of eloquent speeches (1 Corinthians 2:4). So, the demonstration of the Spirit helped Paul in his preaching. This verse probably means the miracles Paul had worked.
God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God ἡμῖν δὲ ἀπεκάλυψεν ὁ θεὸς διὰ τοῦ πνεύματος· τὸ γὰρ πνεῦμα πάντα ἐραυνᾷ, καὶ τὰ βάθη τοῦ θεοῦ.(1 Corinthians 2:10).
It is understandable for God to reveal to us through the Spirit. But the reason Paul gave was a bit unrelated to topic at hand: that God was revealing something through the Spirit. The reason? The Spirit searches everything! This is no reason at all. What Paul tried to do was to establish the background to argue that only the Spirit knows the mind of God (1 Corinthians 2:11b).
Then Paul claimed that we have received the Spirit from God. He stopped short of saying that we might know the mind of God. Rather, he vaguely said that we might understand the gifts given by God (1 Corinthians 2:12). From this concept of 'gifts', Paul claimed that 'unspiritual' men cannot receive the gifts of the Spirit of God. Since Christians have received the Holy Spirit, they must be 'spiritual' man.
The spiritual man judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one (1 Corinthians 2:15).
Paul did not follow the Greek logical flow. Rather, in his arguments, he jumped from one key word to another, from 'the Spirit' to the 'spiritual man'. This kind of logic, this way of reasoning probably reflects his Jewish/Pharisee background.
At last, his quotation of Isaiah 40:13 from the Septuagint was incomplete, leaving behind the middle part of the text. The Hebrew text uses the verb "direct/mete out" instead of the Greek text "know". This time, Paul's quotation is based on Septuagint. He did not translate the passage from Hebrew.
For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?τίς γὰρ ἔγνω νοῦν κυρίου, ὃς συμβιβάσει αὐτόν; (1 Corinthians 2:16)
Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or as his counselor has instructed him?
τίς ἔγνω νοῦν κυρίου, καὶ τίς αὐτοῦ σύμβουλος ἐγένετο, ὃς συμβιβᾷ αὐτόν; (Isaiah 40:13)

My dear Advocate, scientists such as Paul Davis, Stephen Hawkings etc. work very hard to break the code of Big-Bang in order to understand the mind of God. But we have You. You are our direct line to the mind of God. I pray that more people may gain access to You to come close to God, our Father. Amen.

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