Worldly Wisdom or Spiritual Power

“And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” I Corinthians 2:3-5


These are powerful words, intertwined with what may seem to be negatives and positives of the human language. Mankind does not like the idea of weakness, fear, and a trembling spirit. This world prefers to hear many words, mistakenly considered as wisdom, or to hear a great orator speak, mistakenly considered as the strength of power.




Paul, one of the most educated men in the New Testament, counted most of his worldly experience as rubbish to be underneath one’s feet. It was not because he believed one should not study for he said, “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” II Timothy 2:15


It is not the absence of Truth that we are to avoid, but that which puffs one up with the accumulation of much learning, mistakenly believing that such knowledge will give one the ability to speak with power. I can read, study, and see the diagram of a bike, but until I get up on that bike and feel the wind blowing over me as I pedal, only then will I have knowledge and know experientially what it means to ride a bike.


The Law, the knowledge of God’s will, taught sinners their need of God. But the letter of the Law killed because there was no Spirit to bring its hearers redemption. Paul knew and taught that the Spirit was given into the hearts of receptive hearers and not simply written down. 2 Corinthians 3:8 says: “how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory?” Paul knew and promising that it was in the Spirit’s power that we would experience the mighty work of God and it would bring glory to God.


Ultimately this is why we need to remember that it is not in our means and ways that God will be glorified but rather by His Spirit’s work in and through us. It is not in the enticing words of man’s wisdom that we try to bring the lost to Christ, but rather through the demonstration and power of the Spirit. It is not in intellectual comprehension of the Bible that man and women are saved. It is in the work of the Holy Spirit as Jesus told Nicodemus … "The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit." John 3:8


Paul knew that just espousing truths does not save a person. If that was true, then the religious leaders would have understood the prophecies and received Christ, because they knew the written scriptures up till then. They refuse the power of God’s Spirit through Christ, who was the revealer of God’s redemptive grace for them.


Christ said: “You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” Luke 24:48-49. Paul said: “I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:25-27

It was the wisdom from on high, not man’s ability here below, but the ability of Christ in us, through the residing Holy Spirit that brings people to encounter God’s work and his Glory.


My Brothers, beware of much learning, accumulating much knowledge for the sake of being seen as full of wisdom. Instead allow God’s Spirit to empower you to speak forth in demonstration and power so that those that hear will be moved by God’s hand. Then you will be under true Wisdom and Knowledge for your ministry.


It is my desire to hear of the demonstration of His Power and Wisdom in you all. In His Grace to you all! Brother James Ulmer