2:6
Paul has been using “wisdom” and “foolishness” in a rhetorical sense. He has not been saying that the gospel is not based on wisdom, or is completely incoherent nonsense. What he is saying is that the gospel is not based on worldly wisdom, but on God’s wisdom. We need to realise that the world is blind, we cannot expect to the truth if we start with human wisdom. This is why the church is so foolish whenever it chooses to abandon Biblical wisdom in favour of the wisdom of the world. The wisdom of this age and the rulers of this age will come to nothing. If we choose the wisdom of the world then we are without doubt backing the wrong horse! The “rulers of this age” could refer to demonic powers (as in principalities and powers) or to the human rulers which seem to be in the ascendency at any one moment, or to both. The message is clear, trust God’s wisdom, not man’s wisdom.
2:7
The mystery was hidden. In what sense is the gospel a mystery? It is a mystery in the sense that the man cannot work out what the gospel is based on human wisdom. We need revelation from God. Now, this revelation is not magic, it is not difficult, all we need to do is listen to the word of God. And the gospel was not a new plan. It was always God’s plan, but it is only in the last two thousand years that the plan was revealed in its fulness to the world. All of the Old Testament is pointing forward to Jesus Christ.
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