10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.
11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God,
13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.
V. 10 - “God revealed them through the Spirit” - The “them” are the things that we have not been able to imagine, or see, or hear (see verses 8 and 9 above). The sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, his burial and resurrection from the dead are not things that were (or could be) imagined. In fact, the command in the Law to sacrifice a bull, or goat, or lamb to get your sins forgiven is a, “Say, what?” (See note 3, below)
The blood of an innocent removing sin is directly from God, not our imagination. Belief, or faith, that sacrificing an innocent in this way will satisfy God’s justice is also something that cannot be made up. God says, “If you do this...” We by faith say, “We believe You O Lord are trustworthy and will do as You say.” (
The Holy Spirit confirms with our spirit that our faith is justified. We receive peace, in our spirit and with God.
“Spirit searches all things” - The Holy Spirit knows everything that God the Father, and Jesus His Son knows. He, the Spirit, knows their (the ‘three-in-one’) intentions for us all. The Holy Spirit communicates the things we need to know from God to our spirit. Nothing has been kept from the Holy Spirit - indeed nothing can be kept from Him - He is God.
V. 11 - “For who among men knows the thoughts of a man” - No other human can know what I am thinking except as I reveal it by my actions, behavior, or speech. I know my motives, my thoughts and plans, (mostly, hopefully). Sometimes my motives are buried so deep I won’t consciously admit them, especially if they are nefarious. My spirit knows what deep thoughts I have that formulate my plans and life.
“Even so the thoughts of God” - Likewise, God’s Holy Spirit knows God’s thoughts. The Holy Spirit is fully involved in the thoughts and plans of Holy God. Things that we cannot comprehend, that we will never know are fully known by the Holy Spirit.
V. 12 - “we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God” - The phrase, spirit of the world, has a couple of aspects. The first is the spirit we are born with, our human self and spirit. The second is the spirit of Satan, the ruler of the world for now. (See: John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11) Satan deceives the world, and being a powerful, but fallen angel, knows things we cannot. (See: Rev. 12:9; 2:4; 2 Cor. 11:14) But, we are free from his power and schemes - schemes to defeat the purposes of Christ and God - (see: Acts 26:18; 2 Cor. 2:11).
“So that we may know the things freely given to us by God” - Knowing what God has planned for us, costs us nothing, so to speak. Not our death for our sin - Jesus has taken that on Himself. The cost to us is our faith and belief in Jesus and God. Everything else is given to us - the peace of God, heaven, forgiveness, strength by the Holy Spirit, understanding of scripture as we read and study God’s word. God’s intentions for dealing with us is revealed in the Bible. The writings of the prophets and apostles are the “Handbook” we can use for reference.
“Freely given” - God provides what we need, both in knowledge and power to live our lives for Him. We do not need to grovel before Him. We do not give up our wages or salaries to satisfy Him. We do not need to beg, or promise to give Him our first-born child. We believe and love Him. He showers us with blessings. Our ‘payment’ is faith and allegiance and obedience.
V. 13 - “which things we also speak” - Paul repeats his assertion that the information he is sharing is not made up in his own mind or imagination. Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus came into the world, born of woman. Jesus live a sinless life. He was murdered, executed, sacrificed Himself. That perfect sacrifice takes away the sin, permanently, of those who believe in Jesus. Place your life, your spiritual eternal life, in trust that Jesus’ sacrifice paid the debt you can never pay.
“words... taught by the Spirit” - The following quote sums it up nicely: “Jesus really did intend to launch the long-promised ‘kingdom of God’ on earth as in heaven; he really did do and say things which demonstrated in action what this would mean (radically redefining existing expectations as he did so); and he really did believe this would be accomplished through his own death, and that the one he called ‘Abba, Father’ would vindicate him after his death, raising him from the dead and installing him as the world’s rightful lord. The New Testament writers were explaining and promoting this as something which had now actually happened. They were not making this up from scratch.” (See note 2) The apostolic writers knew this because they lived it.
“combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words” - Paul, later to faith, was selected (‘called’ in church-speak) to be the messenger for Jesus to the Gentiles. After his conversion from enemy to apostle, he was taught these things by the Jesus and the Spirit of God. This phrase is important in that Paul is being taught so that he can explain it to others. I believe we think in pictures or images, and God has given us the ability to convert those images into word descriptions. Think of the most beautiful sunset you have ever seen, or the view of central Oregon from the top of the South Sister mountain, or the best football play, or a spouse or grandchild. You visualize each item. Now tell someone about it - you have to convert that mental picture into words.
The “spiritual thoughts” are God’s thoughts: salvation, forgiveness of sin, resurrection, eternal life, redemption, sanctification - to name a few.
The “spiritual words” are found in Paul’s letters. Paul the premier apologist, explainer and defender of our faith.
Note 1: I think that verses 2:6-16 probably should be treated as one long paragraph, but that generates a very very long study section. So I divided it into three sections: verses 6-9, verses 10-13, and verses 14-16.
Note 2: “The New Testament in It’s World”, N. T. Wright & Michael Bird, Zondervan Academic, (2019)
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