2 Corinthians 2:12 And God has actually given us his Spirit (not the world’s spirit) so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. I was reading a book by Skip Moen last night where he explains parts of the Bible in the context of the Hebrew world instead of the Greek. The Bible was written from a Hebrew context but translated into Greek later (I think). The problem arises when we try to understand the Bible from a Greek point of view because, as Skip points out, the Greek and Hebrew points of view are fundamentally different. The Greek point of view revolves around man and man’s ability to think and reason. The Hebrew point of view revolves around God and His ability to reason and do. Skip makes a chart for comparison purposes of some of the different ways this is shown in scripture and in the choice of words. It’s really interesting, because it’s something I hadn’t thought of before. I mention all this now because my first reaction when I read this verse was to focus on the last part where it mentions the wonderful things God has freely given us. Cool! Free stuff! And then I thought, I’ll bet that verse isn’t talking about stuff. At least, it’s not stuff in the sense of something I can touch. I think that free stuff is more like the Holy Spirit. It’s love and salvation, spiritual gifts, fruit of the spirit, etc. Sure, there might be some other, more tangible, stuff mixed in, but that’s not the whole point of the verse. I know I get so focused on material needs and wants that I forget that in the Hebrew world view, it was about God and the Spirit and His gifts – material and immaterial. We think Greek. The Bible thinks Hebrew. It’s a miracle we understand it at all. Although, I guess that’s why we have the Holy Spirit. When He speaks to us and moves in us, it’s like a translator shifting our minds from one way of thinking to another. That way we can shift our focus from ourselves and our lofty opinions of what we can do to God and how little we can do without Him.