The All-Knowing Spirit.
1 Corinthians 2:9-11
1 Corinthians 2:9-11 (NKJV) But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him." [10] But God has revealed [them] to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. [11] For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
1 Cor. 2:9. This verse is often quoted to excuse ignorance about the things of God. However, Paul quoted Isaiah 64:4 here to relate the restrictions normally placed on our minds. But, praise God, Paul didn't stop with verse 9 as many of his readers do today. In the next verse he told us that part of the Holy Spirit's ministry is to remove those restrictions so we can see what we normally could not see on our own. He says, "But God hath revealed them [hidden things] unto us by His Spirit...."
The word "revealed" is the Greek word apokalupsis. The root word is kalupsis, which describes something that is veiled or hidden to the human eye and mind. It is there, but it isn't seeable or knowable. It's like my wife's beautiful redbud tree outside our window, when the curtains inside the house are closed, a guest is unaware of the beauty that is right outside for them to see.
1 Cor. 2:10. Here, the word apo is added to the front of the word kalupsis, and that little addition of apo means the curtain that once hid the redbud tree from our view has been removed. Suddenly what was unseen becomes visible, and what was hidden becomes revealed. This is the reason apokalupsis is translated as something revealed or as a revelation. And Paul stated that this was a strategic part of the Holy Spirit's ministry—to take hidden things that we cannot know on our own and reveal them to us.
Jer. 10:23 says, "O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." The Lord did not give His wisdom to man. Instead, man was made to depend upon God to impart His supernatural wisdom as needed.
1 Cor. 2:11. Paul was saying that in the same way that no one really knows the deep thoughts of others except those individuals themselves, likewise, no one really knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Therefore, people must be dependent upon the Holy Spirit to receive the wisdom of God in their lives.
Christians who have not received the baptism of the Holy Spirit (see note 1 at Acts 19:1) can have some revelation knowledge (see note 1 at Luke 2:26 and note 9 at John 6:45), but it will be limited. One of the greatest benefits to having received the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the tremendous amount of God's wisdom that becomes available (see note 2 at Acts 2:16).
