Holier than Thou


13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

1 Corinthians 2:13 

Perhaps your story is very much like my own. I had grown up in the church believing that if I did not speak in “tongues” then I had not received a special anointing from the Spirit. I would actively attend special worship services to be “filled” more with the spirit and eagerly joined prophetic word services to receive a “special” word from God. It was not until I heard the Gospel for the very first time (more than 17 years after being in the church) that God saved me in my sins. It was then that I, like Dorothy, finally looked behind the green curtain to see the fraud behind.

While it may be commendable that these false prophets are leading people to desire a deeper relationship and nearness to God, it does not excuse the fact that they are leading people to have a superficial desire for God, their methods are anti-Bible, and their messages are anti-God. These false prophets are misleading many into thinking they themselves have been “baptized” in the Spirit and have more of “it” in them. And they tell people that, although they may be saved, they are lacking the Spirit; contrary to God’s Word which states clearly “if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.” (Rom 8:9) All true believers have the Spirit of God indwelling them and anyone who claims otherwise, especially those who require a seed offering, are wolves in sheep’s clothing, false teachers, and sons of the Devil.

Some, in an effort to defend these wicked men and women, will twist God’s perfect and holy word in order to defend their position. Take for example today’s text which some violate by teaching that Paul meant that the Spirit had taught him a special truth and that there are individuals who have reached a certain level in their faith to be granted access to these "special" truths. In modern packaging, this is exactly what the Gnostics taught and what God, through Paul, condemned. (Gnostics claimed to have possessed a higher and deeper knowledge of God and that only a certain few had reached that level)

In its context, Paul is not stating that he has received some special revelation from God exclusive to him, but rather all believers have been illuminated by the Spirit and have come to know Christ. What the “rulers of this age” (2:8) had not understood is what all believers see and hear clearly by the Spirit. It is the Gospel that is considered as foolishness by those without the Spirit of God (2:14) and is the mystery that was hidden (2:7).

A mystery that Paul also explained in his letter to the church of Ephesus as being the hidden beauty of the Gospel. It is a mystery that confounds all that the Messiah, in suffering and dying on the cross in order to bear the wrath of God and the curse of sin, was reigning on the throne and defeating Satan and death. It is by the Spirit, who searches the depths of God, that we are able to know these things. And the world may call us foolish and the rulers may never understand, but we will rejoice because of the gospel. This is not a message that is reserved for the spiritual elite, but rather a spiritual truth that was unknown in the Old Testament but has been revealed to us in the Gospel.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Alex

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