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"Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from
Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of God."
No wonder Paul avoided the shallow attractiveness of a golden tongue, especially as
I Cor. 2: 5 states:
"In order that your faith should not depend on men's wisdom, but on God's power."
(100: K. Barrett).
There is only one safe place for faith to rest upon, and that is Christ, His Person and
His work which are complete and changeless. To rest it anywhere else is to ask for
disillusionment and misery. How often men and women have been swayed by attractive
and brilliant speakers in Christian meetings, and been carried away by the messenger
rather than the message! We can be certain of one thing, that any results from this are
external only. They cannot and do not last, and when the effect has worn off, the
listeners feel they have been "let down".
However, the Apostle declares that, while carnality prevents spiritual growth and
keeps such in a state of babyhood, he was prepared to minister deeper truth to mature
believers:
"Howbeit we speak wisdom among the mature (perfect): yet a wisdom not of this age
(world), nor of the rulers of this age (world), which are coming to nought; but we speak
God's wisdom in a secret (mystery), even the wisdom that hath been hidden, which God
fore-ordained before the ages (worlds) unto our glory; which none of the rulers of this
age (world) knoweth; for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of
glory" (2: 6-8 R.V.).
God's wisdom here is practically identical with His truth and His purpose. This, for
good reasons, God kept hidden. One of the reasons for the "mystery" (secret) truths of
the Scriptures is to hide from Satan and his hosts valuable knowledge about God's plans,
just as in wartime, any facts that would be valuable to the enemy are suppressed. Let us
never forget that ever since Satan's fall there has been enmity and spiritual warfare
between himself and God. There is a tremendous battle being fought and redemption has
as much to do with its final victory as with the salvation of the individual sinner.
Consequently we must be prepared to find that "the rulers of this age (world A.V.)" may
mean more than human beings. Satan is described by Christ three times as the "ruler of
this world" (John 12: 31; 14: 30; 16: 11) and Eph. 6: 12 speaks of "world rulers of
this darkness", "spiritual wickedness in heavenly places". These are the evil spirit hosts
under the control of Satan who are animating unbelievers to carry out their deadly work.
From these, God in His wisdom, hides vital aspects of His redemptive purpose, so they
shall not have the advantage.
In verse 8 we cannot exclude the earthly rulers, such as Pontius Pilate and Caiaphas
the high priest; these were but the tools of evil spiritual foes who engineered the
crucifixion of Christ. Neither of these human beings could be truthfully called a ruler of
this age. Little did Satan realize that in murdering the Son of God, this very act would
accomplish his overthrow and destruction, for Calvary means victory over Satan and his
hosts as well as over sin and death (Col. 2: 14, 15). Had they known this, they would not