Direct Answer
The transcript suggests that God’s wisdom worked through a real letter addressed to real people, not through an abstract document detached from history. The Holy Spirit knew later Christians would read it, but Paul’s immediate communication was to the Corinthians, so understanding that original setting matters.
Support from Transcript
- Bercot says, "the Holy Spirit, of course, knew this," referring to later readers like "you and I" reading the letter centuries later. - He immediately qualifies that "Paul was purposefully communicating to the Corinthians; he was not purposefully communicating to you and me." - He says there was a "meeting of the minds," but "the minds that came together were Paul's and the Corinthians." - The letter was embedded in history: "Paul has spent a year and 6 months in Corinth, founding and shepherding the congregation there." - He emphasizes, "Scripture was not written in a vacuum."
Discussion Follow-ups
This raises a useful tension: Scripture is for us, but it was not first addressed to us. The transcript implies that honoring God’s wisdom means taking the original audience seriously.