1 Corinthians 2:6-16 (Pt 4)

1 Corinthians 2:10-12 (ESV)

[10] these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. [11] For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. [12] Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.

Greek mystery religions were popular in the first century and an important part of the religious scene in Corinth and across the Roman empire. The mystery cults involved a special initiation to join. They were exclusive. Only the initiated got in. Only the initiated understood the secrets of the cult. The cult leader knew the deep secrets that would be partially revealed over time to the initiates. The cults were exclusive, elitist, and secret. Not so Christianity.

The early Christian church held no secrets. Knowledge of God was “freely given” (1 Cor 2:12). Initiation was simply faith and baptism. The secrets of the church were not held by an elite leader. They were revealed by the Spirit to every believer. Someone said that before God we all stand on level ground. A Native American pastor once shared with me that when he came to faith in Christ he had a vision in which everyone in the church was floating with their feet off the ground and their heads all at the same level. His point was that there is no elite in the church of God.

Certainly some are more fully trained in the scriptures than others. Clearly some are more mature. But biblical maturity is not a matter of elitism. It is available to all. The indwelling Spirit of God in every believer empowers, equips, reveals, and directs. If you want to know God you don’t have to attend a secret initiation. You simply believe. If you want to know the deep things of God you don’t have to be taught by a leader who possesses the secret knowledge of God. When you find a Bible teacher in the church that holds the “truth” that all others have missed, that’s a red flag. The secrets of God are simple, clear, and available to all through his Word and his indwelling Spirit. God has no secrets. “We have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor 2:16).