2 Corinthians 6:6; By Knowledge
2 Corinthians 6:6 By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,
The Apostle Paul’s preaching and teaching were divinely endowed, enabling him to pen the larger part of the New Testament Scriptures. He shared the Source of his knowledge when he revealed in 1 Corinthians 2:12-16 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. What privilege it is to be endowed with the wisdom of God that enabled him to understand the eternal things of God!
The Apostle Paul testified after he was saved and called by Christ to the gospel work on the road to Damascus that he retreated into Arabia for three years to prepare himself to fulfil the call of Christ recorded in Galatians 1:15-17
But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.
George Peters aptly observed the need to cultivate faith through the work of the Holy Spirit, “taking time, discipline, patience, much humble waiting in the presence of God, an abiding in Christ and an absorbing interest in the Word of God.” He further cited the example of Paul
It is no surprise that Paul spent three years in Arabia soon after his conversion, and somewhat later, five to seven years in Tarsus. He needed time and solitude for theological orientation, biblical solidification, as well as spiritual maturation before he became the greatest missionary of the Christian era.
John Sung testified of his call and commission to preach the gospel recalling the night of Feb 10th, 1927 in an interview, “That night of nights, Feb 10th, 1927, was the birth of new life in me after forty days of wilderness struggle. I shall never forget. The same night I received our Lord’s commission to go into all the world to be His end-time witness. The Lord changed my name to John that I should be a forerunner to Him in this age, like John the Baptist in His first coming. The Lord is coming very soon. He needs heralds before His return. Our Lord’s Second Coming is different from his First Coming. He requires many forerunners, not one, today. We are to preach, “The Lord is at hand. Christ is coming very soon.”[1]John Sung’s God appointed seminary was 193 days in Room 415 of a Mental Hospital.[2]
May the Lord endow His servants with the knowledge of His Word to be His witnesses in this generation. Amen.
[1]Timothy Tow, John Sung My Teacher, (Singapore: Christian Life Publishers, 1985), 73.
[2]Ibid., 75.