God teaching us about God
by Pastor Joshua Pfeiffer
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For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no-one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:11).
Read 1 Corinthians 2:1–13
Many times in the Scriptures, one of the inspired biblical authors gives us an analogy from our human experience to gain a deeper understanding of spiritual realities. This verse is one of those times and makes a simple but profoundly important point. The issue at hand is how a person can come to know something about God. Can we work God out, beginning with our own ideas?
The Apostle Paul tells us to think about it like this – who really knows you? Others can get to know you through your words and actions, but no-one can read your thoughts (incidentally, this is one thing that makes human relationships difficult!). As such, no-one really knows you in your innermost self, with all your deepest thoughts, desires, fears, and such. There’s a profound sense in which you’re the only one who truly knows yourself.
St Paul says if you can resonate with this, you have a window into how we can know about God. Just as it’s only our spirit that knows our thoughts, so it’s only the Spirit of God who knows the thoughts of God. Of course, this is infinitely more mysterious in God’s case, as the Spirit of God is a distinct person within the Trinity. Yet we can still get the point of the analogy. You know you. God knows God.
What this means, then, for us is very simple. If we want to learn about God, we don’t start with our own ideas. Instead, we look to the Spirit to reveal to us what we can know about God. The Spirit does this for us through his word and his ongoing work of enlightening our minds to understand his word.
This is good news for us because the secret wisdom of God is not to do with justice, vengeance or punishment but with grace and mercy. Marvellously, when the Spirit reveals to us the innermost thoughts of God, they are centred on our salvation in Christ Jesus.
Gracious Father, thank you for revealing yourself to us by your own Spirit through your word. Enlighten us more and more by your Spirit, so we may truly know you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Joshua is married to Kimberley, and they have four children together. He is a pastor of the Lutheran Church of Australia and previously served at St Paul’s Nundah in Queensland and Bethlehem Adelaide in South Australia. He is currently pursuing doctoral studies at Concordia Seminary St Louis, USA, and enjoying the adventure.
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