Authentic Church: True Spirituality in a Culture of Counterfeits by Vaughan Roberts

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A u t h e n t i c

c h u r c h

t Spaly a cl cs

Vaga rbs



InterVarsity Press

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© Vaughan Roberts, 2011

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Library o Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Roberts, Vaughan.

Authentic church: true spirituality in a culture of counterfeits /

Vaughan Roberts.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-8308-3798-4 (usa; paper: alk. paper)—ISBN

978-1-84474-518-0 (uk; paper: alk. paper)

1. Bible. N. T. Corinthians, 1st—Critic ism, interpretation, etc. I.

Title.

BS2675.52.R63 2011

227’.206 —dc23

20110123153

P 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Y 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11



contentS

Acknowlegments

Introuction: The Authentic Church in

Serch o True Spiritulity 11

1. The Cross o Christ, Not Humn Wisom 17

2. Fithul Leers, Not Flshy Ones 37

3. Holiness, Not Permissiveness 57

4. Mrrige n Singleness, Not Asceticism 81

5. Spiritul Concern, Not Unettere Freeom 105

6. Gener Dierences, Not Socil Divisions 135

7. The Priority o Love, Not Spiritul Gits 159

8. A Physicl Future, Not Just the Spiritul Present 191

Epilogue 209

Notes 211



introduction

t A c Sa t Spaly

A spiritual crisis

The rst mjor crisis in my Christin lie cme bout yer

ater my conversion. I had come to Christ shortly beore

leving school, simply through reing Mtthew’s Gospel.

It ws s i the Lor Jesus wlke o the pges n into my

lie, lling me with a deep assurance o orgiveness and a

conviction that I could never be the same again. In those

erly months I grew rpily in unerstning my new ith

n strove hr to live it out. It ws honeymoon perio in

which I enjoye pece n joy I h never known beore; but then cme the crisis.

Shortly ter leving school I went s volunteer helper to

holiy centre or the isble. There I met two Christins

who were roughly the sme ge s me. It ws the rst time I

h got to know believers rom very ierent bckgrouns

rom mine, n I elighte in the ellowship we enjoye s

we prayed together and tried to witness to the guests and

other volunteers. All went well until my new riens begn

to describe some experiences they had received and urged me

to sk Go to o the sme or me. They tol me tht I h



Authentic church

receive Christ, but tht the Holy Spirit ws still not living in

my lie. I only I woul open mysel up to him, then I woul

be ble to know r greter power in my Christin lie n

closer wlk with Christ.

I was conused by what they said but I certainly did not

want to miss out on anything rom God, so I prayed earnestly

to receive the experiences they had told me about. When

nothing happened I prayed again, but still with no eect. The

joy I had previously known deserted me, and I was lled with

spiritul insecurity. Ws it true tht I h never receive theHoly Spirit? Ws there whole plne o Christin experience

that I was missing out on? I so, was that because God did not

love me as much as he loved my riends? Had I not been

prying ernestly enough? Or ws it possible tht my riens

were misguided and were pointing me in the wrong direction?

How coul I tell?

True spirituality: a contemporary issue

The questions I ws grppling with were prticulr mni-

estation o an issue that has an urgent relevance: what is the

nture o true spiritulity? Perhps no other subject cuses

greater conusion and, sadly, division among Christianstoy. Wht oes it men to be truly spiritul Christin?

New trens requently sweep through the Christin worl,

which can give the impression that those who do not embrace

their teaching and practices are second-class disciples. None

o us wnts to miss out on ll tht Go is oing, so our ers

prick up when we hear o some movement, teaching or per-

sonlity climing to oer new work o Go’s Spirit. Buthow cn we iscern wht is relly rom Go?

I am very grateul to an older Christian who came alongside

me during my spiritual crisis and pointed me in the right



Introduction

irection. He tol me not to ocus on rmtic experiences,

clever arguments or the personalities o my riends, although

they were unoubtely sincere n pssionte, but rther to

look to the teaching o the Bible. Taking his advice, I read the

whole New Testment n mesure wht I h been tol

ginst it. The result ws both ressuring n chllenging. I

saw no evidence in the New Testament that there are two

clsses o Christins, spiritul n unspiritul, or tht some

believers have progressed into a dierent sphere o spirituality

through prticulr experience. It becme cler to me thtall people are spiritually dead by nature and can only become

Christians, or stay Christians, by the miraculous lie-giving

work o the Holy Spirit within them. All Christians are

spiritul becuse, s Pul puts it, ‘I nyone oes not hve the

Spirit o Christ, they o not belong to Christ’ (Romns 8:9).

Paul’s letter to the Colossians was especially helpul to me.

The apostle counters those in Colosse who claimed that it was

not enough simply to know Christ and taught that there

was a deeper knowledge o God that could be enjoyed by

those who also embraced extra revelation, experiences and

prctices. These wors in prticulr lept out t me n gve

me great reassurance: ‘For in Christ all the ullness o the

Deity lives in bodily orm, and in Christ you have been broughtto ullness’ (Colossins 2:9–10). I, by coming to Christ, I h

lrey entere into reltionship with the One who is the

ullness o God, how could there be more o God to be

received rom some other source? But along with the encour-

gement cme prooun chllenge: I h receive so much

rom Go in Christ by the Spirit, but ws I living in the light

o all that I had received? Was I keeping ‘in step with the Spirit’(Galatians 5:25), delighting in ellowship with Christ, resisting

sin, walking in holiness and taking every opportunity to build

up others n point unbelievers to Christ?



Authentic church

True spirituality: a Corinthian issue

The gol o this book is to help Christins who re seeking

to discern the nature o true spirituality, by applying thevice my mentor gve to me n looking to the Bible or

answers. We will be ocusing on Paul’s rst letter to the

Corinthins, becuse it irectly resses our subject. Pul

had been used by God to establish a church in Corinth, which

was a major port and commercial centre in what is now

southern Greece, during his eighteen-month stay there in

his secon missionry journey in the erly 50s ad (see Acts

18). He wrote 1 Corinthins bout two or three yers ter

his departure to respond to developments in the church that

were cusing concern. It seems tht the Corinthins prie

themselves on being very ‘spiritual’ (a word that appears

twelve times in the letter, more thn in the rest o the New

Testament put together). Other words that are oten repeatedalso seem to be qualities they admired and believed they

possesse: ‘wisom’, ‘knowlege’ n ‘power’.

Corinthian buzzwords

Spiritual 2:13, 14, 15; 3:1; 9:11; 10:3–4; 12:1; 14:1, 37; 15:44, 46

Wisdom 1:17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 30; 2:1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 13; 3:19; 12:8

Knowledge 1:5; 8:1, 7, 10, 11; 12:8; 13:2, 8; 14:6

Power 1:18, 24; 2:4–5; 4:19, 20; 5:4; 6:14; 12:10; 15:24, 43, 56

The Corinthins relly thought they h rrive in these

res n tht they h let Pul behin. In contrst to them,

he ws unspiritul, ignornt, wek n oolish. The postlewrites a strongly corrective letter, not simply to deend his

reputation but also to restore them to true Christian aith. He

picks up the words they use themselves and is basically saying,



Introduction

‘The knowlege, power n wisom you clim to hve re

not the rel thing. Wht you cll spiritulity isn’t spiritulity

t ll, it’s worlly. You’re being irecte by the minset n

principles o the non-Christian world around you rather than

by the Holy Spirit.’

Tht chllenge is not just or the Corinthins; it lso hs

irect ppliction to Christins toy. It is striking how very

Corinthian the twenty-rst-century church is. The buzzwords

tht h such currency in Corinth still pper requently in

book blurbs and conerence brochures today. We value exactlythe same qualities and yet we oten have very inadequate

unerstnings o them. Pul’s ppel to the Corinthins is

God’s appeal to us. We also need to repent o inadequate and

worldly understandings o what it means to live by the Spirit,

n inste embrce true spiritulity.

A challenge or today

The approach I adopt as we study 1 Corinthians is expository

rther thn topicl. By tht I men tht I m not, rst n

oremost, coming to the text with a xed set o questions on

particular contemporary topics and looking to see what

answers it gives. I am rather starting with the text and seeing wht issues n questions it rises or us, which my ier

rom the ones with which we began. To understand what

the Holy Spirit is saying to us through this letter in the

twenty-rst century, we must begin by sking wht he ws

sying through Pul to the Corinthins in the rst century.

Tht will require us to stuy the text creully. There will

not be spce or etile iscussion o every verse, but Iam aiming to draw out the major themes. (For a more

detailed look at the text I would especially recommend David

Jackman’s Let’s Study 1 Corinthians, or the longer commentary



Authentic church

by David Garland.) You will gain most rom this book i you

read the relevant section o 1 Corinthians beore each chapter

n then keep it open. The Bible stuy questions t the en

o ech chpter re esigne to help you iniviully n in

groups to look more deeply into the passages and think

urther bout how they pply toy.

Some o the issues Paul addresses in 1 Corinthians, such as

whether or not to et oo scrice to iols, my seem lien

to us, but the principles are prooundly relevant. The sovereign

Go, who by his Holy Spirit ensure the Bible writers wroteexctly wht he wnte them to write, lwys intene tht

Paul’s letter to a particular group o Christians in one particu-

lar place and time would be his living word or all generations.

As we stuy 1 Corinthins, we will her Go’s wor to us

today, bringing both encouragement and challenge, whether

our temptation is towards a super-spirituality which claims

more rom God than we should expect, or a sub-spiritualitywhich is so nervous o excess that it contents itsel with ar

less than God wants to give us. In our desire to be spiritual,

we too re in nger o substituting the vibrnt hert o

our ith with ple echo o the worl. In correcting the

Corinthians, Paul challenges us too and calls us back to true

spiritulity.



1. the c roSS of chriSt,

not humAn wiSdom

1 cas 1 – 2

Longing or spiritual power

I recently went to lunch in an Oxord University college with

member o our congregtion, who introuce me s his

pastor to a proessor sitting opposite. To my surprise, the

proessor ske immeitely i I believe in Go – I woul

hve hope tht this ws obvious rom my job! When I tol

him that I did, he was politely scornul, clearly regarding me

as intellectually simplistic and naive. I coness that at the time

I ws reluctnt to respon by tlking bout Christ; I longeto be ble to prouce something more obviously powerul,

such s rmtic mircle or knock-own philosophicl

rgument or the existence o Go.

All o us eel wek n oolish s Christins t times. It is

hr not to eel wek when we look t the strient theism,

advancing secularism, apathetic spiritual ignorance and

increasing strength o Islam in our society. Even closer tohome, we re boun to eel wek when we n tht we re

the only believer in our mily, oce or sports tem. An we

will certainly eel oolish when riends laugh at us or our



Authentic church

outdated morality or colleagues dismiss our belies as narrow-

minded, undamentalist nonsense. We long or the eyes

o those roun us to be opene so tht they too cn come

to know God through Christ. However, it can be very hard to

believe that could happen, especially when we remember

Go’s chosen mens to bring it bout: the proclmtion o

the gospel o Christ crucie.

The world’s rejection o the cross

Non-Christians have never been impressed by the cross.

Archaeologists discovered some second-century grati in

Rome mking un o young mn bowing own beore

gure on a cross, which was drawn with the head o a donkey.

Besie this is the cption: ‘Alexmenos worships Go!’ His

riens clerly thought it ws riiculous tht he shoul be

oolish enough to worship as a god a man who had been

execute s common criminl. Still toy, there re those

who are scornul or dismissive o ‘crosstianity’. They can

unerstn version o Christinity which ocuses on the

moral teaching o Jesus, but have no time or those who

retin the emphsis on Christ s Sviour through his scri-

cial death. Others are simply mystied. Talk o Christ’sgonizing eth being nything other thn trgic ilure

mkes no sense to them.

In worl tht regrs the messge o Christ crucie s

wek n oolish, it will lwys be tempting or Christins to

look elsewhere or the power n wisom we eel we nee

to impress others. Our ttention cn so esily shit rom the

message o the Bible, with its ocus on the saving work o Christ through the cross, to other preoccupations. This devel-

opment will oten be justied as the result o the Spirit’s

leing or n increse in spiritul mturity, but in relity it is



The Cross of Christ, Not Human Wisdom

prompte by the minset o the non-Christin worl. Pul’s

teching in 1 Corinthins 1 – 2 mkes it very cler tht true

spiritual power and wisdom are ound in Christ and the

messge o the cross.

A goo test, thereore, o ny movement or messge tht

claims to be spiritual is to ask, ‘Does this point me to the

crucied Christ and encourage me to grow in knowledge and

love o him, to serve him and imitate him?’ I not, it does not

come rom the Holy Spirit, however impressive it may appear.

We must be on our guard against any departure rom a ocuson Christ n the cross, whether it is cuse by eliberte

decision or a gradual drit which fows rom a orm o

spiritul mnesi.

Spiritual amnesia

Ater some introductory words, Paul begins his letter byexpressing his concern about reports he had heard o the

divisions in the Corinthian church: ‘My brothers and sisters,

some rom Chloe’s househol hve inorme me tht there

re qurrels mong you. Wht I men is this: One o you

says, “I ollow Paul”; another, “I ollow Apollos”; another, “I

ollow Cephas”; still another, “I ollow Christ.” ’ (1 Corinthians1:11–12).

Travelling philosophers were common in Greek society,

each proclaiming their particular brand o wisdom or lie.

Those with academic pretensions would attach themselves to

one o these and to the school o philosophy they represented.

It was a orm o one-upmanship, with dierent groups arguing

or the superiority o their wy o thinking n intellectulheroes. What shocked Paul so much was that this worldly

ctionlism h entere the Corinthin church.

There is no hint in the letter as to what the dierent groups



Authentic church

stood or. As ar as we can tell, Paul, Apollos and Cephas

(Peter) i not ier on ny signicnt theologicl question.

In act, Paul stresses in 1 Corinthians 3 that God worked both

through him, in planting the church, and through Apollos,

who succeeded the apostle as its leader, in establishing it (3:6).

It is most likely, thereore, tht the ctions in Corinth were

ivie, not by octrine, but by minset; inste o ocusing

on Christ they exalted human leaders, adopted them as heroes

n plce them on peestls. Pul is horrie: ‘I ppel to

you, brothers and sisters, in the name o our Lord Jesus Christ,tht ll o you gree with one nother in wht you sy n

that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perectly

unite in min n thought’ (1:10).

We cn imgine the ierent groups in the church: PPT

(Pauline Preaching Trust) and ARM (Apollos Renewal

Ministries), each with its own oce with posters o the great

leader on the walls and piles o photographs ready to be sentto donors. They assumed they would be fattered: ‘We’ve

read all your books, Paul, and downloaded every sermon;

we’re even thinking o calling our church St Paul’s. You’d like

that, wouldn’t you?’ But Paul is ar rom impressed; the

Corinthians ocused on their heroes, Paul, Apollos and

Cephas, but he wants to bring them back to Christ alone. Jesus Christ is mentioned eleven times in the rst nine verses

o the letter. It is likely tht ‘I ollow Christ’ in 1:12 is not

reerence to a ourth group, but rather Paul’s indignant

response to the other personlity cults: ‘You ollow Apollos,

Cephs n even me, but s or me, I ollow Christ – n so

shoul you.’

Paul took the actions in Corinth very seriously, becausethey were showing symptoms o spiritual amnesia. They had

orgotten the power o Paul’s message o Christ crucied,

through which they had been converted, and had chosen




inste to ocus on corrupte version o Christinity tht

tted better with the worldly ways o thinking that were

popular. They thought that by so doing they had grown in

power and wisdom, but in act they had oreited both. In

1 Corinthians 1 – 2, the apostle corrects their thinking by

stressing two importnt truths:

True power is oun in wekness.1.

True wisom is receive by reveltion.2.

. True power is ound in weakness (:8 – :5)

Ater Pul h let them, the Corinthins begn to eel tht

his understated style o ministry and his message, which

ocused on Christ’s cross, was too weak to make much o an

impact on sophisticated Corinth. They were increasingly

drawn to the emerging leaders in the church who had

more in common with the wisdom teachers who were so

popular in the Greek world and gave people what they

demanded: clever arguments and impressive oratory (that is,

the wy n ie ws presente ws s importnt s the ie

itsel ). No doubt a personality cult attached itsel to the

most ble Christin prechers, s it i to the best trvelling

philosophers, who coul gther lrge uiences n receivehigh ees.

Supercilly it must hve looke s i these new leers in

the Corinthian church were brilliantly successul. Perhaps

their congregations were overfowing, and the world had

begun to tke notice o them: they h become personlities

with the rst-century equivalents o their own newspaper

columns and a regular slot on a television discussionprogramme. They appeared to be ar more powerul than

Pul, whose messge o Christ crucie h been ismisse

by most in Corinth; but the apostle urged the Corinthians not



Authentic church

to be taken in, or God’s understanding o power is very

dierent rom the world’s. By adopting human wisdom, these

new leaders had in act oreited God’s power. As Paul himsel

reminded them, he had been commissioned ‘to preach the

gospel – not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross o

Christ be emptie o its power’ (1:17).

The weakness of the cross

The cross, as we have already seen, has always attracted

strong responses. I remember one brillint stuent exclim-ing contemptuously, ‘That’s ridiculous’, ater I had explained

tht we cn only be cceptble to Go becuse Jesus Christ

died or sinners on the cross to take the punishment we

deserved. Another clergyman told me why he and others had

so strongly opposed a church plant we had started: ‘The truth

is, Vaughan,’ he said, ‘we hate your theology.’ He was

speaking, above all, about the message o the cross. The

Bible’s teching tht we ll eserve Go’s jugment or our

sin, n tht Christ’s eth s substitute is our only hope,

ws eeply oensive to him.

While some ismiss the cross, others know tht they owe

everything to it. Our church recently bptize teen people

in the River Thames. They were a diverse group: a ew raisedin atheistic China, one rom the local council estate and some

brilliant young British students, yet all spoke o how they had

been trnsorme by the sme messge o Christ crucie.

As Paul puts it, ‘The message o the cross is oolishness to

those who re perishing, but to us who re being sve it is

the power o Go’ (1:18).

The power of the cross

What is our strategy in the huge task o seeking to win

our riends and neighbours or Christ and reaching out to our




ntion n the wier worl? Churches re quick to rely on

money, impressive builings n cpble st members, but

these hve no power in themselves. Nor o the techniques

tht come in n out o shion, n on which we plce so

much emphasis: church growth principles, cell churches,

seeker services or planting. They have their place but at their

best they re simply vehicles or the communiction o the

messge tht is Go’s power: the cross o Christ.

The messge o the cross is not wht the worl is sking

or: ‘Jews emn signs n Greeks look or wisom’ (1:22).Still today there are many who expect God to prove his

existence by supernturl isply, like the mn who shoute

t me when I ws preching in the open ir, ‘Prove Go; you

cn’t, cn you?’ Others look or version o Christinity tht

stises them intellectully n ts with the worl’s current

mindset, and there are plenty o proessing Christians who are

prepre to give them wht they wnt. The result is n ems-

culte gospel, robbe o nything tht might cuse oence.

It is sot on sin n jugment, strong on rmtion, without

any call or repentance (‘God loves you just as you are – you’re

wonerul!’), n explicitly enies the uniqueness o Christ,

who is oere s just one o mny pths up the mountin to

Go. This new gospel, which relly is no gospel t ll, my bepopulr, especilly when ttrctively pckge, but it hs no

spiritual power. I we want to see people saved rom God’s

wrath and reconciled to him, we must resist the temptation to

give people what they want and instead ollow Paul’s example:

‘We preach Christ crucied: a stumbling block to Jews and

oolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called,

both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power o God and thewisdom o God. For the oolishness o God is wiser than

human wisdom, and the weakness o God is stronger

thn humn strength’ (1:23–25).



Authentic church

The weakness of preaching . . . and its power

I we wnt to be spiritully powerul, mking n impct on

the world as individuals and churches, we must be willing to

be weak. God’s power works through weak people proclaim-

ing a seemingly weak message, which is oten dismissed and

despised by the world. Hudson Taylor, the great nineteenth-

century missionary to China, was right when he said, ‘All

God’s giants have been weak people.’ That is the result

o God’s deliberate strategy: ‘God chose the oolish things o

the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak thingso the worl to shme the strong’ (1:27). I he h ecie to

save people by depending on the brilliant intellect and oratory

o especially able preachers, they would receive much o the

credit, but as it is, ‘No one may boast beore him’ (1:29), and

ll the glory goes to Go.

When Paul rst visited Corinth, he knew that he would

be r more cceptble i he gve people the humn wisom

they wnte: the kin o teching they were use to, with

Christian veneer, attractively presented in impressive oratory.

However, he deliberately resisted that temptation: ‘When I

came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom

as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved

to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ andhim crucie’ (2:1–2).

It is no surprise that Paul entered the city ‘with much

trembling’ becuse the worl htes the messge o the cross,

dismissing it as weak and oolish. And yet, God worked mightily

through him n mny were converte: ‘My messge n my

preching were not with wise n persusive wors, but with

a demonstration o the Spirit’s power, so that your aith mightnot rest on humn wisom, but on Go’s power’ (2:4–5).

The apostle is hoping that this reminder o the remarkable

story o the establishment o their church will awaken the




Corinthians rom their spiritual amnesia and prompt them to

return to the messge through which they were converte.

Tht is chllenge neee by every genertion o believers.

The devil will always do everything he can to divert the church

rom the cross. We can hear his voice whenever we are encour-

aged to believe those scholars who caricature the glorious

octrine o Christ ying in our plce to tke our punishment

s primitive n unbiblicl. An we shoul recognize his evil

scheming behind every temptation to sideline the message o

Christ crucied and rely instead on human personalities,wisdom, techniques or oratory to make an impact on the

world. Let us never orget that true power is ound in the

wekness o the cross.

. True wisdom is received by revelation (:–)

The wisdom of the cross

The worl my ismiss the gospel o the cross o Christ s

oolish, but Pul insists tht his messge is in ct wise: ‘We

do, however, speak a message o wisdom among the mature’

(2:6). His words contain an implicit rebuke to the Corinthians:

i they relly were spiritully mture, s they clime, they

would recognize the wisdom o the gospel, but worldlypeople like them are unable to see it. The cross is God’s

‘wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden’ (2:7), which cannot

be iscovere or unerstoo by humn brin power lone.

Living in n intellectul centre like Oxor, I m boun to

cknowlege tht humn wisom hs chieve much. It ws

here in 1662 that Robert Boyle devised his law o gas expansion

tht gve birth to the ge o stem, n in 1785 tht EmunCartwright invented the power loom, which launched the

Inustril Revolution. Who knows wht chievements my

ollow in the uture – cure or AIDS or cncer, perhps? But



Authentic church

despite its ne record and the brilliance o the minds gathered

in my home city, there is one discovery which Oxord will

never be ble to bost: the truth bout Go. The worl in its

wisdom has split the atom, put men on the moon and created

rticil intelligence, but it cnnot tell us wht Go is like or

how we cn know him.

The Spirit reveals God’s wisdom

I was once in a taxi in Indonesia with a riend, when we

notice hieous object ngling rom the mirror. Whenthe river tol us it ws his go, my rien ske him i his

god spoke to him. The driver just laughed at what was

obviously a ridiculous idea; but we were then able to tell him

that our God speaks to us. In his amazing grace, God has not

let us in the dark but has chosen to reveal his secret wisdom

to us by his Spirit: ‘ “Wht no eye hs seen, wht no er hs

her, n wht no min hs conceive” – the things Go

hs prepre or those who love him – these re the things

Go hs revele to us by his Spirit’ (2:9–10).

In the remarkable verses that ollow, Paul describes our

stages in the process o the Spirit’s revelation o God’s wisdom

to us:

a) t Sp kows (‘al vlao’)

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who

among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within

him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the

Spirit of God (2:10b–11).

I I concentrte on prticulr imge in my min n then

ask you to tell me what I am thinking about, the best you can

o is guess. You o not know my thoughts, but my spirit, the




inner me, oes. You woul never hve suggeste tht I ws

imagining an elephant balancing on a tennis ball with a crown

on its he, but my spirit shres tht knowlege with me.

In a similar way, no-one knows the Father’s thoughts except

the Spirit. We may call this ‘internal revelation’. God him-

sel knows what he is thinking; his word is understood by

his Spirit.

b) t Sp vals (aposol vlao)

What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who

is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us

(2:12).

The Spirit oes not keep his knowlege o Go’s wisom to

himsel, but revels it to those Pul reers to s ‘we’. It is true

tht ll Christins receive Go’s Spirit n re thereore bleto understand his word, but the context here suggests that

Paul is reerring chiefy to himsel and his ellow apostles, who

rst receive the reveltion o the gospel. He seems to use ‘I’

n ‘we’ interchngebly in this section, reerring to himsel

in the rst person singular in 2:1–5, switching to the plural

‘we’ in 2:6–16 n then reverting to ‘I’ in 3:1. He is mking bold personal claim: that the message he and the other apostles

received was not invented by them but was rather revealed by

the Spirit. Pul is not religious genius; he is recipient o

ivine reveltion.

) t Sp sps (spal vlao)

This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but

in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual realities with

Spirit-taught words (2:13).



Authentic church

Pul i not keep his Go-given knowlege o the gospel to

himsel, but rather passed it on to others. As he did so, the

Spirit who entruste him with the messge lso ensure tht

he psse it on ccurtely, giving him the very wors to sy.

Tht is why we cn trust the New Testment, conent tht

it is not simply humn book, but tht Go spoke through

those who wrote it, ensuring that they said exactly what he

wanted them to say. The Holy Spirit is the divine author o the

Bible n so, i we wish to live by the Spirit, we must listen to

its messge. We shoul certinly resist the kin o tlk I hvesometimes heard: ‘I know the Bible teaches X, but I believe

the Spirit is telling us Y.’ That must be wrong because the Holy

Spirit inspire the Bible n will not contrict himsel. The

voice o the Spirit is oun in the teching o Scripture.

d) t Sp llms (dvdal vlao)

The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from

the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand

them because they are discerned only through the Spirit (2:14).

Since the all, when Adam and Eve rebelled against God,

humn nture hs been corrupte so tht we re by ntureworlly in our thinking. We re unble to unerstn Go’s

wisom but rther ismiss it s oolish nonsense. However,

‘the spiritual man’, the Christian who has received God’s Holy

Spirit, ‘makes judgments about all things’ (2:15). The word

‘judgments’ comes rom the same root as the word translated

‘discerned’ in the previous verse. While the natural man,

without the Spirit, hs no spiritul iscernment n cnnotunerstn or ccept Go’s truth, the Christin is ble to see

things clerly. For ‘who hs known the min o the Lor so

s to instruct him?’ (2:16). Pul expects us to reply, ‘No-one.’




None o us by nture knows Go’s thoughts. ‘But,’ he con-

tinues, ‘we hve the min o Christ’ (2:16). By the mircle o

new birth, light hs fooe into our rk mins, so tht ll

who belong to Christ cn see things rom his perspective. As

result o our conversion, we no longer n the Bible e

book; it hs come live. We cn now recognize the messge

o the cross or wht it is: Go’s power n wisom.

This whole pssge is esigne to correct the Corinthins’

alse view o spirituality. They thought they were mature and

spiritul, possibly becuse they believe they h receive new revelation rom the Spirit that had raised them to an élite

spiritual plane, above Paul and other ordinary Christians

whom they judged inerior. Paul responds by insisting that

the truly spiritul person hs not receive some extr revel-

tion, but is rather the Christian who has been enabled to

unerstn n ccept Go’s wisom: the messge o Christ

crucied revealed by the Spirit to the apostles and now ound

in the Bible.

It is very importnt tht we grsp this truth. There is no

eeper reveltion o the Spirit beyon the reveltion o the

Bible. The authentic work o the Spirit is seen, not when

people get excited by some new message or miracle, but

rather when their eyes are opened and their hearts lled withn ever-eepening pprecition o the Bible’s teching bout

what God has done or them in Christ and a growing longing

to live in the light o ll they hve receive rom him.

Pul’s teching in these rst two chpters o 1 Corinthins

contins importnt chllenges or us toy:

Expect to be consiere oolish.•

Don’t look or short cuts to spiritul power.•

Never ivie the Spirit n the wor.•

Alwys keep the ocus on Christ crucie.•



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Expect to be considered oolish

In The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins dismisses the message

o the cross s ‘vicious, so-msochistic n repellent’. He

continues, ‘We should also dismiss it as barking mad, but or

its ubiquitous amiliarity which has dulled our objectivity. I

Go wnte to orgive our sins, why not just orgive them,

without having himsel tortured and executed in payment?’

That is a particularly strong expression o a widely held view.

The worl cnnot unerstn the messge o the cross n

rejects it s oolish nonsense. We shoul not be surprise,thereore, i we ourselves are regarded with a mixture o

conusion n contempt or holing to the gospel o Christ

crucie n trying to explin it to others.

When I nnounce tht I ws no longer going to pursue

legl creer but woul become pstor inste, one mily

rien recte with horror. ‘Tht is the en!’ she shoute. It

me no sense to her tht I shoul give up the possibility o

a job with high status and pay to preach the Christian message.

‘Wht wste!’ She coul see the vlue o legl creer, but

wht ws the use o being precher?

It is always hard when amily members, colleagues or

riends cannot understand why we are so gripped by the

gospel. They think we hve lost our mins n even beentaken in by a cult. The result can be a painul sense o loneli-

ness and disconnection rom those around us. Although that

is hard, it should be expected. The wisdom o this world,

corrupte by the ll, will lwys regr the cross s wek

and oolish. We only recognize its power and wisdom because

o the miraculous work o God’s Spirit in open-

ing our eyes to understand the truth. Until that miracleoccurs in the lives o others, we should expect them to

be mystied by us and even contemptuous. Surely this

shoul be spur to us to pry tht Go woul hve mercy




on them n enble them to see or themselves the woner

o the cross.

Don’t look or short cuts to spiritual power

My prie bristles when I sense tht I m being consiere

weak or oolish because o my Christian aith. The immediate

tempttion is to prove the other person wrong by trying to

impress them in worlly wys. I might tlk bout the lrge

numbers who come to our church, the size o the sta team

or the new congregtions we hve plnte n builings wehve bought, hoping they will be struck by how successul

we re. Or I might use clever rguments n show o how

much I have read, so that they will know that I am intelligent

n knowlegeble. But even i I chieve my gol n they

are impressed by my personality and abilities, they are no

more likely to become Christians. The power does not lie in

mysel and anything I am, have or do. Only God can achievethe miracle o conversion as, by his Spirit, he opens blind

eyes to see the glories o the crucie n risen Christ.

We woul be wrong to tke this principle to n extreme

n conclue, or exmple, tht it leves little or no room or

pologetics (the use o resoning to rgue or the vliity o

the Christin ith). Luke explicitly tells us tht Pul himsel ‘resone in the syngogue’ when he visite Corinth, ‘trying

to persue Jews n Greeks’ o the truth o the gospel (Acts

18:4). There will be mny circumstnces in which wise evn-

gelism emns the use o rtionl rgument.

We will meet some people who re convince tht Chris-

tianity cannot be true because, or example, they believe there

is contriction between science n ith, or tht the NewTestment is not historiclly relible. Others re so content

with their own world-view that they will not be willing to

consider the Christian alternative unless we chip away at their



Authentic church

certainties. Even those who are prepared to hear the Christian

message may raise objections that cannot just be ignored.

Faithul evangelism does not mean simply repeating a

ormulic presenttion o the ABC o the gospel. We hve to

use our minds so we can engage intelligently with alternatives

to Christinity n objections to it but, s we o so, we must

not orget tht we will not convert nyone through the bril-

lince o our rguments. Apologetics shoul never be n en

in itsel, but rather a tool that is prayerully and humbly

employe s mens o bringing people to the messge o Christ crucied. Conversion is achieved not by intellectual

persusion, but rther by the mirculous power o the Spirit,

enbling sinners to believe the gospel.

Never divide the Spirit and the word

It is common to hear o Christians dividing the word and the

Spirit, and saying, or example, ‘St X’s church is strong on

the Spirit, but St Y’s is strong on the word.’ However, the

Bible does not allow us to separate the word and the Spirit in

that way. I a church is led by the Spirit, it will surely be

committe to lerning rom the Bible, which is inspire by

the Spirit; and i it is serious about the Bible, it must also long

to live by the Spirit, to whom Go’s wor points so clerly.The Corinthians claimed to be spiritual, but had drited

rom Christ crucied, so Paul directs them back to the message

o Scripture. His wors in 2:14 woul hve hurt those who

prided themselves on how spiritual they were: ‘The man

without the Spirit oes not ccept the things tht come rom

the Spirit o God, or they are oolishness to him, and he

cannot understand them, because they are spirituallyiscerne.’ The impliction is cler. The postle is sying, ‘I

you cn’t ccept the messge o Go’s reveltion in Scripture

bout Christ crucie, which is Go’s wisom, tht suggests




you o not hve the Spirit t ll, s it is only by the Spirit tht

we cn receive tht messge.’

Truly spiritual people do not abandon or contradict the

teaching o the Bible, but rather make every eort to hear and

obey its message. I you want to nd a Spirit-lled church,

look or one which tkes the Bible very seriously n gives

time to hering Go spek through it. Tht will be church

where the sermon is central to its meeting and not a platorm

or the prechers to put orwr their own ies, but rther

ithul exposition o the truth o Scripture.Some proessing Christins clim tht the Bible is out o

te n so they opt new unerstnings o Go’s will. As

result, they eel ree to reject the cler teching o the Bible

whenever it clshes with the ominnt views o our culture,

or exmple, with regr to sexul immorlity or the unique-

ness o Christ. They may claim that God’s Spirit has led them

to their reinterpretation o the aith, but Paul’s teaching in

1 Corinthians is against them. We are not ree to produce our

own iniviul contemporry versions o Christinity; true

spiritulity recognizes the reveltion o Go communicte

by the Spirit through the apostles in the Bible and seeks to

submit to it.

It is not just those who overtly put Scripture aside who canle us rom the pths o true spiritulity. We shoul lso be

wary o the danger posed by those who may uphold the

Bible’s teching in theory n yet in prctice prech very

dierent message. We should not be dazzled by the brilliance

o prechers, their populrity, the mircles they my clim

to hve perorme or the number o people who spek o

the spiritul benet they hve receive rom their ministry.Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 1 – 2 urges us to keep a

cler he n sk o ny church or leer: Is their im to sit

uner the teching o the Bible n proclim wht it sys,



Authentic church

rather than dismiss and distort it? And does their message

ocus on the Lor Jesus Christ n his cross? I not, it comes

rom humn wisom, not Go’s; it is worlliness, not true

spiritulity.

Always keep the ocus on Christ crucifed

Pul’s resolution s he entere Corinth ‘to know nothing . . .

except Jesus Christ and him crucied’ (2:2) presents a challeng-

ing example or us. We must not take his words as a justication

or a wooden orm o evangelism which makes no real attemptto engge with people or listen to them, but just recites the

same ew basic truths at every opportunity. It is very clear rom

Luke’s account o his missionary journeys in Acts,

and rom his own letters, that Paul sought to teach people ‘the

whole will o God’ (Acts 20:27) when he taught them

the gospel and presented it in a variety o ways, depending on

his audience. We should not, thereore, understand him to be

sying in 1 Corinthins 2:2 tht he only ever spoke bout the

cross o Christ when he ws in Corinth n not, or exmple,

his incrntion, resurrection, scension or return s well. In

act, later on he explicitly states that the resurrection was

centrl to his messge (15:3–4). Pul’s eclr tion shoul be

tken rther s n expression o his etermintion never to be efecte rom the centrl importnce o the cross in his

lie n preching, espite its unpopulrity in the worl. We

too shoul mke the sme resolution.

I vivily remember the rst time the Holy Spirit opene

my eyes to understand the amazing truth that Christ had died

or me. Until then Go h been rther istnt gure who

let me cold, but now I knew that he was my Father who lovedme so much tht he h sent his only Son to ie or me. Such

love blew my min n sotene my hert to love Go like I

h never one beore. It is lwys chllenging to remember




those erly ys ter my conversion n sk mysel i I m

still s thrille by the messge o the cross s I ws then.

O course, it is right to seek to grow in unerstning o

the depth and breadth o the Bible’s teaching, but that growth

must lwys spring rom the ountion o the messge o

Christ crucie. I some new teching or movement, which

claims to be rom the Spirit, has led me to shit my ocus away

rom the crucie Christ, I shoul be concerne. The Holy

Spirit will keep pointing me back to the cross, enabling me to

elight in it mysel, s well s prompting me to point othersto it. We shoul pry tht the Holy Spirit woul enble us to

keep proclaiming the praises o the crucied Christ all our

ys on erth until we join the chorus o heven: ‘Worthy is

the Lmb, who ws slin’ (Reveltion 5:12).



Authentic church

Bible study ( Corinthians – )

In wht circumstnces re you me to eel wek n1.

oolish s Christins by the unbelieving worl?Re through 1 Corinthins 1 – 2. Which wors n2.

themes re repete?

1:17–31

Wht oes Pul men by ‘the wisom o the worl’3.

(1:20)? Wht re its limittions?Wht o you lern bout true spiritul power n4.

wisom?

Do people still seek ‘signs’ n ‘wisom’ (1:22)? In wht5.

wys re you tempte to give them wht they wnt?

2:1–5

Wht i it men or Pul ‘to know nothing . . . except6. Jesus Christ n him crucie’ (2:2) when he visite

Corinth?

Wht will the sme ttitue men or us toy?7.

2:6–16

How oes Go revel his wisom to us?8.

Wht is the reltionship between the Spirit n the9.

Bible?

Wht re the prcticl implictions o these truths or us?10.

Finally . . .

Wht hve you lernt bout true spiritulity rom these11.

chpters?Wht lterntive thinking oes this chllenge?12.

Documents

Authentic Church: True Spirituality in a Culture of Counterfeits by Vaughan Roberts