Is it you, or the Holy Spirit

1 Corinthians 2 is my favorite passage about the role of the Holy Spirit. It’s easy to think accomplishments for the Kingdom are our doing, but this passage tells us otherwise. Try applying for work as a pastor, and one realizes search committees would rather have a person that has a “radio” voice than someone with solid teaching. The truth is that it’s the Holy Spirit that reaches the audience. The same goes for someone who presents the Gospel: the Holy Spirit persuades not a person with smooth arguments.

Paul begins the chapter by using himself as an example of the Holy Spirit being his power. He already pointed out the reason for coming (1 Cor. 1:17). Greeks liked to debate and reason as a “sport” to convince others of some point of view. He rejects this and states that he presented “the testimony of God.” Paul goes on to qualify this by keeping the message simple about the Gospel. They would know the reason they convicted of the truth was not Grecian wisdom and logic, but the Holy Spirit.

The letter references the first time Paul arrived in Corinth (see map below). Having been on the run since escaping Thessalonica would be the most logical explanation for the manner he came (2 Cor. 2:3). In spite of Paul’s hardships, he still has a laser focus on his purpose for his journey: to proclaim “Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (CSB). Paul’s argument then is that their conversion to Christianity had nothing to do with elegant argumentation or logic, but a demonstration of the Holy Spirit’s work in them