Tag: searches

1 Corinthians 2:10 – The Spirit Reveals

Posted on by Will

But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

Truth to Learn

The Holy Spirit reveals the truth of the gospel to Christians.

Behind the Words

“Has revealed” is translated from the verb apokaluptō. This word is made up of apo, meaning “from” or “away from” and kaluptō, meaning “to cover” or “to conceal.” Therefore, we see that apokaluptō means “to uncover” or “to reveal.”

The words “to us” are from the first person plural personal pronoun humin, meaning “to us, by us, or in us.” As we have mentioned before, word order is important in Greek. In the Greek text, this is the first word in this sentence, indicating special emphasis on this word.

“Searches” is from the Greek verb ereunaō, which means “to search into,” “to investigate,” or “to explore.”

The words “all things” are from the Greek word pas, meaning “all” or “every.” It is expressed in the neuter person, so it refers to “all things” or “everything.”

Bathē is the Greek word translated “deep things.” It refers to something that is deep, like the ocean. Metaphorically, it refers to something that is very great or profound.

Meaning Explained

Paul has been talking about God’s wisdom in His plan of salvation. This truth is hidden from the minds and hearts of natural man but is now being revealed to those who believe God’s truth. You may recall that Paul told us that “the rulers of this age” did not, and do not, understand the wisdom of God. Instead, they think they are wise in their own reasonings, which God sees as foolishness. In yesterday’s verse we were told that the natural mind of man cannot understand God’s wisdom. But now, we learn why Christians can understand this wisdom.

We are told here that the understanding of God’s plan of salvation is revealed to us (those who believe His truth regarding the substitutionary death and subsequent resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God) by His Spirit. When Jesus was speaking to a crowd of people, He thanked the Father for hiding these truths from the “wise and prudent” and for revealing them to us:

At that time Jesus answered and said, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes." (Matthew 11:25)

Notice that our salvation is the work of all three persons of the godhead. The father chose us (Ephesians 1:3, 4; 1 Peter 1:2), the Son gave His life for us (1 Thessalonians 4:14), and the Holy Spirit reveals the truth to us (1 Corinthians 2:10, John 16:12-14). Also notice that even though Christ’s death was sufficient to pay the penalty for everyone’s sins, without the Father having chosen us and the Holy Spirit having revealed the truth to us, we could not be saved.

Application

These truths about our election, God’s choice to save us and the revealing of this truth to us by the Holy Spirit, are hard to accept by many Christians. Instead, they want to believe that salvation is based on their own choice to believe the truth. However, the Bible clearly teaches that our salvation is God’s work, not our own. This should cause us to be humbly grateful.

In God's service, for His glory,

Copyright © 2013 Will Krause. All rights reserved

 

Romans 8:27 – Holy Intercessor

Posted on by Will

Romans 8:27 – Holy Intercessor

Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Truth to Learn

The Holy Spirit knows what to say and how to say it when He prays to the Father for us.

Behind the Words

The word translated “searches” is the Greek verb ereunaō, which means “to investigate, explore, or make inquiry.”

“Mind” is translated from phronema, a derivative of the verb phroneō, meaning “to think or to have a mind set.” Hence, phronema means “the thinking or mindset” that is to say “the tendency or inclination of the mind.”

“Intercession” is translated from the Greek word enthugchanō. We looked at a form of this word in yesterday’s verse. It is a compound word made up of en, meaning “in” and thugchanō, which literally means “to strike an opponent with a weapon.” When these two words are combined, however, the word has the meaning of “to fall in with or in behalf of another” or “to make a defense or appeal with another person.”

The word translated “saints” is the Greek word hagios, which means “a holy one” or “sanctified (set-apart) one.” Contrary to the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, you don’t have to be canonized in order to be a saint. Anyone who has accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior has been justified and cleansed of all sins, has been set-apart (sanctified) by God as His own, and is referred to as a “saint” in the New Testament.

Meaning Explained

In the previous verse Paul told us that the Spirit of God within us prays for us when we are spiritually or physically weak. There are many who believe that this verse applies to us any time we are praying since, compared to God, we are always weak. But whether it is in those times when we think we are weak or at all times since we are spiritually weak compared to Him, the Holy Spirit is our perfect prayer partner.

Notice that the words “the will of” are in italics in our translation (The New King James Version). These are words inserted by the translators; there are no equivalent words in the Greek text. A more literal translation of the last phrase of the current verse would be: “because He makes intercession for the saints according to God.” That is to say, the intercessory work of the Holy Spirit is according to what God has determined, not according to our wants or desires.

When we put this all together we see why the Holy Spirit is such a perfect prayer partner. It is because He (God, who is the one who searches our hearts and knows us even better than we know ourselves) also knows what His own thinking is and, therefore, can speak directly to the Father for us in the most effective way and in perfect keeping with the will and purpose of God the Father.

Application

I have heard Christians say, “I’m not very good at praying.” What Paul is telling us is that we don’t have to be. In Phillipians 4:6 he tells us, “let your requests be made known to God.” We don’t have to use a lot of theological words, with an occasional “Thee” and “Thou” sprinkled in. We simply have to open our hearts and talk directly to God. Then, the Holy Spirit will be our interpreter, our representative to the Father.

In God’s service, for His glory,

Copyright © 2010 Will Krause. All rights reserved.

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