APR 8

1 Corinthians 2:12-14
Memorise John 16:13
“…he will guide you into all truth…”

1 Corinthians 2:12 teaches us that born-again believers receive the Spirit of God and not the spirit of the world, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. These things are the Gospel of Jesus Christ and other spiritual truths as proclaimed by God’s Word. It is the Holy Spirit which inspired holy men used by God to record Scripture. It is the Holy Spirit that quickens (revive, to make alive) the spiritually dead souls of those not born-again. And it is the Holy Spirit within us that teaches us spiritual things (v13) – even a new-born believer would be able to grasp spiritual truths, whereas even the most intelligent genius, without the quickening of the Spirit, would never be able to understand a single spiritual truth.

We can understand how it is impossible to communicate with a dead person. We can speak to the person after he has breathed his last breath and not get any response at all. He is dead to the world. Likewise, it is impossible for someone who is spiritually unregenerate to perceive spiritual things (v14). He is dead and completely unresponsive to such things, just as someone who has just died a physical death cannot respond to stimulus of any kind. How then can we expect the unregenerate to be able to interpret God’s Word, which is of a spiritual nature, when they cannot even perceive spiritual truth in the first place?

In Matthew 5, Jesus teaches us not only to refrain from retaliation against those who abuse us but to even pray for them. Unbelievers would not be able to understand or accept this as their instinct would be to strike back. However, genuine believers who bear the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) would exhibit longsuffering, gentleness, meekness and temperance in such situations. Only a supernatural transformation within us empowered by the Holy Spirit could enable us to conduct ourselves in this manner. Moreover, interpreters of God’s Word are not just Bible students, teachers or pastors who must preach to others. Anyone, even a lay-person, interprets the Bible every time he reads it. This means that we all need the Holy Spirit’s enablement to interpret God’s Word and to read it with understanding.

Thought: God gave us His inspired Word through the Holy Spirit. We therefore receive it through the Holy Spirit also.
Prayer: O Lord we thank Thee for the Holy Spirit who points us to the cross of Christ, revealing it to us in Scripture.