In the last BLOG the effort was to show how vital it is to understand the nature of Scripture as having spiritual meaning as its primary meaning and then to show that humility is at the heart of all of that. When Paul prayed for the Colossian people to be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, he was not praying for them to understand things intellectually. He was praying for them to understand God and His glory in a spiritual manner which has to do with the Holy Spirit and has to do with grace. Anything that a saved human being receives from God is by grace alone and God only gives grace to the humble.
“For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.13 For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Col 1:9-13).
Paul does not just tell the Colossian people that he prayed for them to be filled with the knowledge of His will, but he told them why. It was so that they would walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects. Now, if all spiritual understanding comes by the Holy Spirit, and all that He gives is by grace and only the humble receive grace, then we can see how it is true that walking in a manner worthy of the Lord requires humility. We can also see how it takes humility to please the Lord. Once again, however, it is so hard for the human mind to see its utter dependence on God in all things. We strive to set out how much ability man has by saying man is responsible in order to avoid hyper-Calvinism, but we don’t see it as much of a concern to avoid Pelagianism. What we must be concerned about is to be biblical in this area and Jesus said without equivocation that apart from Him we can do nothing (John 15:5). There is no spiritual fruit regardless of the religious exercises done apart from abiding in Christ and Christ abiding in us. There is no walking in a manner worthy of the Lord and there is no pleasing the Lord apart from Christ in the soul working in the soul so that it would walk and please the Lord.
“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, that we might 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. 14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.” (I Cor 2:10-14).
Colossians 1 speaks of a spiritual wisdom and understanding that is necessary to please the Lord. The passage just above speaks of how no one can (has the ability) know anything spiritual except by the Spirit of God. It is the Spirit that knows the depths of God as it is the spirit of man that knows (rather than other humans) the spirit of man. Who can reveal spiritual things and the thoughts of God but the Spirit of God? Only those who have received the Spirit can know the things given to human beings by God. Paul said that he spoke, not in words taught by human wisdom, but with spiritual thoughts with spiritual words taught of the Spirit. The natural man cannot understand the things of the Spirit of God. The text says that “he cannot understand them.” In other words, the natural man has no ability to even understand spiritual things. Only those who have the Spirit can understand the things of God. But even there we must be careful because those who are not walking with God at the moment He will oppose and not give them greater understanding. A spiritual understanding only comes by grace and God will only give grace to the humble. The proud, and in this context it would mean those who trust in man’s wisdom, cannot understand the things of God even if they are ordained ministers and even if they have taught Sunday School for years. It takes humility to understand the things of God regardless of a person’s brilliance, personality, or education level. The Spirit of God alone can give understanding into the things of God and that is spiritual wisdom and spiritual understanding. How badly we need to learn this.
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