Missed Point

Yesterday my beloved denomination posted 1 Corinthians 2.9 "However, as it is written: 'No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.'" 27 people "liked" this Facebook post.

This posting points to one of the most misinterpreted verses in Scripture. Like the Mizpah of Genesis 31.49, this verse has been sentimentally quoted without an understanding of the surrounding pericope. (Mizpah, btw, arose from mistrust between two deceivers NOT from mutual concern and friendship.)

The usual, sentimental view of this verse looks to heaven and the future blessing of those who love God. The afterlife of believers will be so amazing no one can even imagine its glory and splendar. Thoughts and discussion quickly move to gold pavement, mansions constructed of semiprecious gemstones and the like. While there is a blessed future prepared for God's own, this verse deals with something else prepared for us.

Immediate Vicinity:
1 Corinthians 2.9 forms the first part of a sentence. verse 9 completes the sentence. This most basic context turns the saying on its head. "these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit." Because this completed sentence declares that the hidden things God has prepared have, at the time of Paul's writing, been revealed to us we do not wait for futher revelation. What ever this mystery might mean, the Spirit of God now lays it bare for us.

Expanding the Radius:
At this point in the letter Paul deals with his ministry to Corinth. He came in physical weakness and with plain language when he shared the Good News of Jesus Christ. He carefully avoided the "hard sell" of eliquent and persuasive presentation so that Corinthians would put their trust in the power of God, not his speaking skills.

Twice he refers to Jesus Christ CRUCIFIED as the center of his message. This plan of God to use the death and resurrection of his Son had been a hidden secret. Paul came to expose this secret so that people could enter into what God was doing through Jesus. He declares that if the rulers had understood this hidden truth they would not have crucified Jesus.

During this discussion Paul quotes from the prophet Isaiah (64.4) where he cried out to God, "O that you would rend the heavens and come down..." Isaiah had cried out for God to come and help his people as he had done in the time of Moses. God contacting our world would once again shake the mountains. Isaiah, like all prophets (1 Peter 1.10-12), did not fully understand the mystery, though he caught glimpses of and cried out for its coming. Paul is saying that One like Moses had come. God did come down and took on human flesh in Jesus.

Nowhere in this pericope does Paul discuss heaven or afterlife or future blessings.

Larger Context:
Later in chapter 15, Paul again recollects his ministry to the Corinthians and reminds them of the tenets of his Gospel: "that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures..." Here again we find Paul exposing the core of God's once-hidden plan. He does in Jesus, that which he designed from before creation.

Conclusion:
From before the foundation of time and space, God had a plan of action. This plan of God, though hinted at in nature and Scripture, remained outside the scope of human perception (eyes, ears...) and imagination (mental conceptions). Peter also states that this mystery didn't consist of cleaverly invented stories. But God revealed his work in the death, burial and resurrection of his Son Jesus. The benefits of Jesus are available today, the truth understandable with the help of the Spirit. While future blessings await, present blessing remains!

JESUS IS WHAT GOD PREPARED FOR US AND WHAT WE COULD NOT FIGURE OUT ON OUR OWN.