In 1 Corinthians 2:4, Paul said, “And my speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” The Spirit is the speaking Spirit. The apostle’s speech and preaching were not from his mind with words of speculation, but from his spirit with the release and exhibition of the Spirit, hence, of power.
The Spirit unveils the things God prepared for the believers (1 Cor. 2:9-10a). The Spirit unveils to us all the secret, mysterious, hidden, and concealed things which God prepared for us. God reveals the deep and hidden things to us through the Spirit, for these things have not been seen by man’s eyes, heard by man’s ears, nor have they come up in man’s heart. This means that man has no idea concerning them, no thought of them. They are altogether mysterious, hidden in God, and beyond human understanding. But God has revealed them to us through the Spirit, who searches all things, even the depths of God.
The Spirit searches the depths of God (1 Cor. 2:10b). To know the depths of God is to know Christ in many aspects as our eternal portion. Christ is the depth of the universe because His dimensions are the dimensions of the universe (Eph. 3:18). Only the Spirit can search the deep things of God concerning Christ. The Spirit of God explores the depths of God concerning Christ and shows them to us in our spirit for our realization and participation.
The Spirit knows the things of God. First Corinthians 2:11b and 12 say, “So also the things of God no one has known except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we may know the things which have been freely given to us by God.” Praise the Lord that we, those who have been born of God by His Spirit, have received the Spirit of God. Hence, we are well able to know the deep things of God which He has freely given to us for our enjoyment.
In 1 Corinthians 2:13 Paul said that he spoke the things of God “not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, communicating spiritual things by spiritual things.” This shows that the Spirit functions in teaching the things of God. Paul spoke the spiritual things, which are the deep things of God concerning Christ, by the spiritual things, which are the spiritual words taught by the Spirit. The Spirit teaches the believers spiritual words—the things of the Spirit of God—for spiritual communication.
First Corinthians 2:14 and 15 say that a soulish man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God and that they are spiritually discerned. This indicates that the Spirit discerns and receives the things of God.
The Spirit indwells the believers as the temple of God (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19). We believers are not ordinary people because we are collectively and universally the temple of God. In our experience we are made the temple of God by the indwelling Spirit. When a king comes to dwell in a house, that house becomes his palace. The indwelling of the Spirit is to make us God’s temple.
The Spirit has the function of washing, sanctifying, and justifying. First Corinthians 6:11 says, “These things were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” This washing, sanctifying, and justifying are inward and in life. Inwardly the Spirit works to wash, sanctify, and justify the believers in life. First, we are washed from sinful things; second, we are sanctified, separated, unto God; and third, we are justified, accepted, by God.