And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Wisdom from the Spirit Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 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. (1 Corinthians 2:1-11, ESV)
Have you ever listened to somebody talk about something and you didn’t understand anything they said? You heard the words and could make sense of the sentence structure and the language, maybe some of the words they said you didn’t know, but you got most of them, but it was just not making sense to you. Like they had a lot of knowledge but they were not able to convey it to you.
Paul says here, when he first came to Corinth he did not speak in lofty language, but spoke to the Corinthians on a level they would understand. How often do we, who claim to be Christian, use words that mean something to us, but to someone not a part of our inside group don’t understand? Can you think of some of them?
Eucharist
Communion
Narthex
Sanctuary
Kyrie
Sanctus
Nave
Can you name some more? Do you know all of the above words? We use these words and expect people not part of the inside group to get it. We are not speaking on their level, on a plain they can understand. That is what Paul speaks about. We can not use terms or words to describe God to people that do not know those words. It is the great quote from Attack of the Clones “Seems you Jedi would know the difference between knowledge and wisdom…” You see we can know all the right things and use all the big words in our vocabulary, but the wisdom of the situation deems we speak on a level not at that point and to the community and place we are at. Our knowledge will not get us any where, and no one will come to an understanding of who God is through our lives if we do not become part of the community and impart the wisdom we have.
Don’t dumb it down, because that is not it at all, it is making so the audience can understand.
The people are listening, will you help them see God, or will you confuse them with your knowledge of your redeemer?
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.” But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ (Acts 2:1-21 NRSV)
