In 1 Corinthians 2, Paul speaks to the simplicity of his speech when he brought the Word of God to the Church in Corinth. He did not come with fancy rhetoric or persuasive words, but in demonstration of the Spirit in order that our faith would not be in men, but God. Paul kept his message simple, Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2).
That being said, I do not believe Paul blindly follow God; though God did blind him. Paul, before coming to Christ, was a Jewish religious leader. He likely had much of the Old Testament memorized and was very educated. When he came to Corinth, he put all that aside and let the message of Jesus Christ speak for itself. He did not come bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ using complicated reasoning or a cleverly worded sales pitch, but simply Christ and Him crucified.
Too often I hear Christians use phrases like, “God said it, that settles it”. Really? Does it really though? Oh, I love this one, “let go and let God”. Please hear me, I am not questioning the truth in these statements. There are some things that we take on faith because God tells us in His Holy Word. There are things completely outside our control and must rely on God. But too often I see Christians using these as excuses to not study and dig deep into the Word of God. The fact that God is beyond our understanding is not an excuse to give up and not even try.
Paul goes on to say that no one knows the deep things of God but the Spirit of God, and that is the Spirit living inside of us! We have the ability to know the deep things of God! Think about that for a second! You hear it preached from the stage at Church, the Holy Spirit lives in you, but think about it for a second. Sit back, close your eyes. The Spirit of God, the creator and sustainer of the universe, who created the smallest of insects and the most complicated of scientific processes, the God who is so big time and space cannot contain Him, His Spirit lives inside of all who believe! WOW!
And yet, do you really want to know this Spirit? Because the actions and reality of most of us is we really don’t. Or if we do we settle for knowing just the easy part of God. We know He loves us, He’s wise, and He’s unknowable. We seem that we are perfectly content knowing the shallow part of God. We go to Church Sunday and expect that to be enough. We don’t spend the time and put forth the effort required to really know the deep parts of God.
If you have a friend who is interested in Christianity, they come to you with a question, is Jesus’ God or man? You hopefully say yes, He’s both. The next logical question is; how does that work? There are basically two options at this point. One response is, well the Bible says it, I believe it, and that settles it. Or two, actually pulling out a Bible and showing them in Scripture what says about Jesus’ humanity and divinity. One answer reveals a rather shallow understanding of God, and one reveals a deeper relationship with God.
I’m not trying to say you must have a full complete answer for every question about God anyone could ever ask you. But I do believe it to be a good guide to assess one’s own relationship with God. The other extreme of this is a dangerous trap to fall into as well, to have all the knowledge of God but no relationship with Him. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day knew an awful lot about God, but missed Him completely when He was in the flesh as Jesus. If you have a good relationship, you’ll have a good knowledge of God.
Extra thought:
Parents, you children are asking questions. They are not always in the form of a question, but they are asking. How often do you talk about God as a family? Are you challenging your kids to know Him? The truth is, you are either training them to know God or not to know God. There is no middle ground.