Predicazioni/1Corinzi/Dalla fede infantile alla piena maturità: crescere nella sapienza di Dio/English version
From Childlike Faith to Full Maturity: Growing in the Wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 2:6-8)
Have you ever heard of "maturity"? No, we're not referring to the final high school exam, but growing in the Christian life means much more. Our biblical reflection today explores the difference between the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God, revealed in Christ and communicated by the Holy Spirit, showing how to move from childish faith to a mature and conscious spiritual life. Through the message of 1 Corinthians 2:6-8, we will discover how to discern what is eternal, live deeply, and build our lives on God's wisdom. An open reflection to be guided step by step toward the full image of Christ, the very goal of our redemption.
Maturity: What is it?
What comes to mind when you hear the word "maturità"? For us Italians, our first thoughts often turn to the dreaded (at least in my day) high school graduation exam: the final exam after high school, which allows you to enter university. I confess that I still dream about it sometimes at night! It's undoubtedly a moment filled with anxiety and anticipation, and symbolically marks the transition from adolescence to adulthood.
Maturity, however, isn't limited to a school exam. In a broader sense, it's the quality that should characterize every adult. A mature person is someone who has acquired a sense of responsibility, who can distinguish right from wrong, who no longer lives solely by instinct or emotion, but with balance, wisdom, and discernment. At least in theory, growing up means becoming a person capable of thinking and making informed and responsible choices.
This concept of maturity also applies to Christian life, in a very unique way. Scripture speaks to us of a moral and spiritual growth that accompanies the experience of the disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ along the path of faith. Unfortunately, this aspect is often overlooked or taken for granted. Certainly, it is a "natural process" of God's grace working within us; however, it also requires concrete and constant commitment, both on our part and on the part of those who accompany us pastorally.
At the beginning of faith, we are like infants: we need to be guided, instructed, and supported in our first steps. But over time, God expects us to grow, to acquire greater knowledge of his Word, greater depth of experience, and to tend "to the full image of Christ" (Ephesians 4:13). The apostle Paul and the author of the Letter to the Hebrews use concrete images to describe this growth: they speak of "milk" and "solid food." Milk is necessary for infants, but it cannot nourish an adult; similarly, faith cannot remain in an infantile stage forever. The Christian is called to gradually move on to solid food: to a richer, deeper, and more robust understanding of God's truth, capable of sustaining daily life and facing the challenges of faith.
Here then is the question that will guide us in this reflection today: are we growing towards spiritual maturity, or have we remained stuck in a childish and superficial faith?
The biblical text
Maturity as a development and stage of growth for Christ's disciples is mentioned by the apostle Paul in his first letter to the Christians of Corinth. He does so by imparting further teachings and reserving them for "those who are mature" to receive them! Yes, in Christian teaching there are things that concern "beginners" and things that concern "those who are mature" that the former would not understand or would not be sufficiently "digestible" to them! He states:
“Now we do speak wisdom among the mature, but not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are perishing. Instead we speak the wisdom of God, hidden in a mystery, that God determined before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood it. If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But just as it is written, “Things that no eye has seen, or ear heard, or mind imagined, are the things God has prepared for those who love him.” God has revealed these to us by the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. ” (1 Corinthians 2:6-10).
The context of these words is a very charged passage from the First Letter to the Corinthians. To fully understand it, we must take a step back and recall the situation of the Corinthian community. It was a young, vibrant church, but riven with profound tensions. Corinth was a great port city, a crossroads of commerce and cultures, a cosmopolitan but also corrupt place, where unbridled luxury and poverty, cultural refinement and immorality coexisted. In that context, the Christian community risked being influenced by the dominant logic: the love of brilliant rhetoric, the pursuit of social status, the mania to appear "wise" according to worldly standards. It is no coincidence that at the beginning of the letter, Paul denounces internal divisions: some said, "I belong to Paul," others, "I belong to Apollos," still others, "I belong to Cephas." In other words, people boasted about their teachers as if in a competition for prestige.
Paul then intervenes forcefully: the Christian faith is not founded on human wisdom, but on the cross of Christ, which to the world is foolishness, but to us who are saved is the power and wisdom of God. In this passage, he develops the contrast: there is a "wisdom of this world," which succeeds for a time but is destined to fail; and there is a "wisdom of God," hidden from the eyes of the proud, but revealed through the Holy Spirit to those who are mature or are maturing in faith.
Here, Paul does not despise intelligence, nor does he encourage us to remain ignorant. He himself was a cultured man, capable of engaging in dialogue with the philosophers and thinkers of his time. But he warns against confusing worldly wisdom, tied to power, prestige, and appearance, with spiritual wisdom, which comes from God and which alone leads to eternal life. This is why Paul speaks of maturity. The "mature" are not simply the most educated or the most brilliant, but those who have learned to discern the voice of God amidst the din of the world's many voices. True Christian maturity does not consist in, nor is it acquired by, knowing many things, but by being rooted in Christ, guided by the Spirit, open to receiving and living the wisdom that comes from above.
And so here's the question that challenges us: on what are we building our life of faith? On the fragile prestige of worldly wisdom, destined to pass away, or on the stable rock of God's wisdom, revealed in Christ? Acquiring such wisdom is part of the process of Christian maturation.
The wisdom of this world is fleeting (v. 6)
Paul acknowledges that there are forms of wisdom in the world, but he immediately defines them as "the wisdom of this world" and "of the rulers of this world." It is a wisdom measured in terms of power, prestige, success, and eloquence. In Corinth, a city renowned for its orators, this meant knowing how to speak elegantly and impress with refined speeches. But even today, in our societies, worldly wisdom is expressed in the art of appearances, of asserting oneself, of excelling over others. It is a wisdom that can also fascinate, but it has an insurmountable limitation: it is tied to time and the transience of human structures.
Paul not only relativizes this wisdom, but also states that the rulers who represent it "are about to be brought to nothing." With these words, he unmasks the illusion of earthly glory: the great men of this world, with all their intelligence and power, are destined to disappear. History offers countless examples: fallen empires, dissolved regimes, philosophical thoughts that seemed eternal and are now forgotten. What seemed stable and indestructible proves ephemeral. This is the fragility of worldly wisdom: it shines for a moment, but does not have the strength to endure.
The mature believer is not fooled by this appearance. He knows that true wisdom is not measured by worldly standards, but by the ability to know and follow Christ. The mature Christian does not disdain culture or intelligence, but rather places them in their proper place, recognizing that they cannot give eternal life. This is why Paul says: "To those who are mature, let us speak wisdom." Only those who grow spiritually, only those guided by the Spirit of God, understand the difference between what is fleeting and what is eternal. Acquiring such wisdom is part of the Christian's process of maturation: it is a journey that leads one not to be dazzled by the artificial lights of the world, but to orient oneself toward the authentic light of God.
After clarifying the fragility of worldly wisdom, Paul announces a different wisdom: "We speak the wisdom of God, a mysterious and hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the ages for our glory." Here the apostle is not thinking of an unsolvable enigma, but of a divine plan that man cannot discover on his own. It is a wisdom that does not arise from the human intellect, but from God's initiative. For this reason it is called "mysterious": not because it is incomprehensible, but because it is revealed only to those whose eyes God opens. This wisdom is fully manifested in the gospel of Christ crucified, an event that to the world appears foolishness, but to those who believe is the power and wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24). The mature believer learns to recognize that true knowledge does not consist in inventing, but in humbly receiving what God reveals in Christ.
This wisdom is not subject to the ravages of time, nor does it depend on fashions or opinions. Paul describes it as something God established "before the ages": therefore eternal, immutable, rooted in God's very being. While human wisdom changes with the ages, divine wisdom remains steadfast. It is the rock on which our faith rests, and it has been made accessible to us precisely through the cross and resurrection of Christ, in which God's eternal plan was fulfilled. The mature Christian finds security in this stability: not in passing theories, not in ideologies that seem strong today and fall tomorrow, but in the wisdom that God chose to reveal in his Son, who is "the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).
Finally, Paul adds a surprising detail: this eternal wisdom was preordained "for our glory." This is not a worldly glory, but a participation in the glory of the risen Christ, an eternal communion with God. God's wisdom is not cold theory, but a plan of salvation that lifts us to the fullness of life. This is why growing in faith means increasingly penetrating this plan, being guided by it. The mature Christian progressively discovers that everything God has established converges toward our transformation in Christ: this awareness gives him depth, stability, and hope. Acquiring this wisdom means learning to see life and history not from the perspective of man, but from the eternal perspective of God, revealed in Jesus Christ.
The wisdom of God is inaccessible to the natural man, but revealed by the Spirit (vv. 8-10)
Paul continues his reasoning by recalling that "none of the rulers of this world knew" the wisdom of God, for "if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." This shows the radical blindness of the human mind when left to itself: even the most powerful religious and political authorities failed to recognize Jesus as the promised Messiah. To the eyes of natural wisdom, the cross could only appear as defeat and shame. But precisely therein lay the triumph of God. This warns us: the human mind, without the light of the Spirit, remains incapable of grasping the true meaning of divine things. Christian maturity begins with recognizing the limits of one's own reason and bowing to the authority of divine revelation.
To emphasize the inaccessibility of divine wisdom, Paul quotes Isaiah: "Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and the heart of man has not conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" (v. 9). The natural mind not only fails to comprehend, but cannot even imagine the riches of God's plan. Salvation in Christ, the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, communion with God: all of this was and is unthinkable for human beings without revelation. Here, the difference between worldly wisdom, which explores and deduces, and divine wisdom, which is received as a gift, is highlighted once again. The mature Christian learns to marvel at this grace: it is not the fruit of human calculation, but the gift of a God who prepares glorious things for his children.
If this wisdom is inaccessible to the natural man, how can it be known? Paul answers: "To us God has revealed them through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God" (v. 10). It is the Holy Spirit who makes the cross comprehensible, who makes us see Christ as the Lord of glory, who penetrates our hearts with the light of the gospel. Without the Spirit, faith cannot be born; with the Spirit, the believer progressively enters into the very depths of God's mind. Christian maturity is precisely this: learning to be guided and formed by the Spirit, growing in knowledge of Christ and his implications for our lives. True wisdom is not the accumulation of notions, but living in communion with the Spirit who reveals the eternal things of God.
The wisdom of God revealed in Christ crucified (v. 8)
Paul finally emphasizes that the "princes of this world" did not understand the wisdom of God and, precisely for this reason, crucified "the Lord of glory." This is the great paradox of the Gospel: what in the eyes of men appears weak, scandalous, and a failure, in the eyes of God is power and wisdom. The cross is not an accident of history, but the supreme revelation of divine wisdom. The mature Christian recognizes that the logic of the world and the logic of God are often opposed: what appears to be failure and weakness can conceal salvation and eternal glory.
This wisdom is not abstract or theoretical: it manifests itself concretely in the person and work of Jesus Christ. His life, his suffering, and his death on the cross reveal God's eternal plan for the redemption of humanity. What the world deems foolish, God uses to accomplish his work of salvation. Christian maturity consists precisely in knowing how to recognize this wisdom hidden in God's actions, in not being deceived by appearances, in trusting in the divine will and plan even when they contradict human logic.
Acquiring this wisdom is an integral part of the Christian maturation process. The believer grows in the ability to see with the eyes of faith, to judge with spiritual discernment, and to live according to the truth revealed in Christ. The cross then becomes the principal guide of the disciple's life: every choice, every value, every action is measured in the light of divine wisdom and eternal reality. Thus, maturity is not merely intellectual or moral, but profoundly spiritual: those who reach it learn to build their lives on Christ, the rock of God's wisdom, and to orient themselves in an often blind and superficial world.
Conclusion
We began our reflection today by asking ourselves what maturity truly means. In Italy, our thoughts often immediately turn to the final exam, that final test that marks the transition from adolescence to adulthood. But Christian maturity goes much further: it consists in becoming people capable of discernment, of choosing wisely and responsibly, and of living with depth, balance, and fidelity to God. In the life of faith as disciples of Christ, growing means moving from the first steps, nourished by the "milk" of the Word, to a more mature and solid understanding, capable of withstanding daily challenges. We have seen that the wisdom of the world is fragile and destined to vanish, while the wisdom of God is eternal, hidden, and fully revealed in the crucified and risen Christ. Without the Spirit, this wisdom remains inaccessible; but those guided by the Spirit discover the depth of the divine plan, the meaning of the cross, and the eternal glory to which we are destined.
Thus, Christian maturity is not a privilege reserved for a few, nor an accumulation of abstract knowledge, but a journey of daily formation: learning to distinguish the ephemeral from the eternal, allowing ourselves to be enlightened by the Spirit, and living according to God's wisdom. May we then be formed by Him, open our hearts and minds to the truth of the Gospel, and strive each day, with humility and perseverance, toward the full image of Christ, building a stable life rooted in His grace. All this is not optional but part of being and becoming a Christian.
Final Prayer
Lord God, we thank you for calling us to yourself and for promising to guide us with your Spirit. Help us to grow in your wisdom, not to settle for superficial faith, but to seek the fullness of your truth every day. Open our eyes, enlighten our minds, and strengthen our hearts, so that we may discern the eternal from the fleeting, and live according to your will. Do not allow the fragility of the world to deceive us or distance us from you. May your Word be solid nourishment for our lives, and may the Holy Spirit accompany us step by step on this journey of growth. Lord, shape us in your image, make us strong in faith and consistent in our daily lives, for your glory and our eternal joy. Amen.