November 20

Read: I Corinthians 2:6-7; 3:1-3

We speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world,.., we speak the wisdom of God (I Corinthians 2:6-7).

Them That Are Perfect

Who are the perfect to whom this wisdom is given? They are not the men of this world -­ not even the leaders of this world. One commentator writes: “[They are] distinguished not only from worldly and natural men, but also from babes, who though ‘in Christ’ retain much that is ‘carnal'” (3:1). The perfect of whom Paul speaks are a different kind of Christian from the Corinthians to whom Paul writes. Both are followers of Christ but the perfect have received the Spirit and are taught by Him. Paul cannot say this of his Corinthian converts. There is something still missing from their life in Christ. The Corinthians are unspiritual brethren; they still act like ordinary men. They are not the kind of Christians who are Spirit-filled.

The perfect are Christian men who “have received… the Spirit which is from God.” Is it unreasonable to believe that they are those who receive the Spirit as He was received on the Day of Pentecost? Is it not probable that Paul was thinking of Spirit-filled men in the same sense that he

had asked disciples at Ephesus, “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” (Acts 19:2) Is this assumption not given added weight when we remember that this very Corinthian letter was being written from Ephesus, where Paul had pressed the converts with the importance of receiving the gift of God’s Holy Spirit?

Question For Today

Am I “among them that are perfect”? Have I received the Holy Spirit since I became a Christian? Does God’s truth come to me as a spiritually mature Christian or must I still be treated as an immature, unspiritual babe in Christ?