Dear Heart Precious Angel-Gal,
On just arising and reading this post first, I'm so blessed and thrilled in my spirit as to be moved to tears. PRAISE GOD! Your words are so true and such a blessing this Lord's Day Morning. [tears] I tried to sleep longer but kept feeling an urge to get up and come check this thread. Soooo blessed that I did. Words cannot express my thanks sufficiently. The following parts were particularly blessed to me.
Paul was not taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ by flesh and blood, it was revealed to him.
Justin Martyr testified to the astonishing difference between wisdom he gained by diligent learning v. revelations.
And I too, having experienced nearly a half century of the indwelling Spirit – also testify to the piercing difference between understanding gained by revelation v reasoning v sensory perception, e.g. listening to the counsel of men.
Scriptures are the best example. I used to pour over them with lexicons, maps, commentaries and the whole nine yards. They were text on paper to me, like any other ancient manuscript - until I finally learned to yield to the Spirit at which time they came alive within me. Since then, as my eyes casually scan over the words, truths appear within me. Not all Truth of course, but what I need to know – moment by moment.
So on personal experience, I assure you that Paul is speaking of the mind of Christ as revealed by the indwelling Spirit in I Corinthians 2.
Nevertheless, for the Lurkers I will attempt to show that the Hebrew word concepts of soul/spirit at four levels do not translate one-to-one with the Greek word concepts at two levels and illustrate how Paul conveyed spiritual understanding from holy Hebrew word concepts to Greek word concepts.
First on the importance of the Hebrew language. Before Christ’s appearing to him on the Road to Damascus, Paul’s teacher was none other than Gamaliel who not only was a prominent member of the Sanhedrin but was also the grandson of Hillel. It is no coincidence that Gamaliel was specifically cited for this prophesy in Acts 5:34-39:
When a foreign language is used in testimony, the Sanhedrin must have at least two members who speak that language to examine the witnesses. There must also be a third member who understands the language. These three members then constitute a minor court (beit din) of three, who can report the testimony to the entire body. Once testimony has been accepted by a minor court, it is no longer considered second-hand testimony.
I assert that having the language skills he learned at Gamaliel's feet, Paul’s understanding of spiritual Truth which he received from the Holy Spirit, was in holy Hebrew word concepts which he carefully translated when he was speaking in Greek.
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I again had the NT on MP3 player playing all night as I slept, awoke, prayed, slept etc. And just prior to arising had been particularly blessed by Col 2—here in the Message version [emphasis Qx’s]:
Colossians 2
2-4I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God's great mystery. All the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in that mystery and nowhere else. And we've been shown the mystery! I'm telling you this because I don't want anyone leading you off on some wild-goose chase, after other so-called mysteries, or "the Secret."
5I'm a long way off, true, and you may never lay eyes on me, but believe me, I'm on your side, right beside you. I am delighted to hear of the careful and orderly ways you conduct your affairs, and impressed with the solid substance of your faith in Christ.
From the Shadows to the Substance
6-7My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you've been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You're deeply rooted in him. You're well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you've been taught. School's out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.
8-10Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spirit beings. But that's not the way of Christ. Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don't need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything.
11-15Entering into this fullness is not something you figure out or achieve. It's not a matter of being circumcised or keeping a long list of laws. No, you're already in—insiders—not through some secretive initiation rite but rather through what Christ has already gone through for you, destroying the power of sin. If it's an initiation ritual you're after, you've already been through it by submitting to baptism. Going under the water was a burial of your old life; coming up out of it was a resurrection, God raising you from the dead as he did Christ. When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. God brought you alive—right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ's cross. He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets.
16-17So don't put up with anyone pressuring you in details of diet, worship services, or holy days. All those things are mere shadows cast before what was to come; the substance is Christ.
18-19Don't tolerate people who try to run your life, ordering you to bow and scrape, insisting that you join their obsession with angels and that you seek out visions. They're a lot of hot air, that's all they are. They're completely out of touch with the source of life, Christ, who puts us together in one piece, whose very breath and blood flow through us. He is the Head and we are the body. We can grow up healthy in God only as he nourishes us.
20-23So, then, if with Christ you've put all that pretentious and infantile religion behind you, why do you let yourselves be bullied by it? "Don't touch this! Don't taste that! Don't go near this!" Do you think things that are here today and gone tomorrow are worth that kind of attention? Such things sound impressive if said in a deep enough voice. They even give the illusion of being pious and humble and ascetic. But they're just another way of showing off, making yourselves look important.
. . . . HMMMM . . . making yourselves look important . . . probably because earthly daddies didn’t cause them to feel important enough the first 8 years of life. Dreadfully sad how satan takes such hideous advantage of such histories and bludgeons them about the head and shoulders relentlessly with dry husk chaff RELIGION as though it were the truly truest truly true truest truth vs those idiots over THERE who don’t know enough to adhere to OUR !!!!TRADITIONS!!!! of men; doctrines of men; traditions of demons; doctrines of demons. Sigh.
AND, It’s not ‘merely’ that such things occur with us human critters. We’ve most all been there at some time or other in our Christian walk. It’s that our insecurities and blinding pride can foster such a cold steely DEATH GRIP on such deadly constructions on reality.
Mercifully, clarity and freedom from such are afforded when we forsake the idolatry of our own constructions on reality and seek GOD ALONE FIRST, FOREMOST & ALWAYS.
I have spent many a long night meditating on how I know what I know and how sure I am that I know it.
Of a Truth, the only certain knowledge I possess is that which has been revealed to me by the Spirit. My own reasoning, my sensory perception and the counsel of men simply do not compare. They are not even in the same league.
In sum, a thing is True because God says it.
Of course all of this is foolishness to anyone who trusts his own mind, sensory perceptions or the counsel of men
But that is the question, isn’t it?
Thank you for the ping Quix. I'm so glad I was able to read this. All of it was wonderful but I especially liked the following:
"They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spirit beings. But that's not the way of Christ."