11 For who knows a person’s thoughts(A) except their own spirit(B) within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit(C) of the world,(D) but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom(E) but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Corinthians 2:13 Or Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual

11 For who among people knows the thoughts of a person except the (A)spirit of the person that is in him? So also the thoughts of God no one knows, except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we (B)have not received the spirit of (C)the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God. 13 We also speak these things, (D)not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, [a]combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Corinthians 2:13 Or interpreting spiritual things for spiritual people

6-10 We, of course, have plenty of wisdom to pass on to you once you get your feet on firm spiritual ground, but it’s not popular wisdom, the fashionable wisdom of high-priced experts that will be out-of-date in a year or so. God’s wisdom is something mysterious that goes deep into the interior of his purposes. You don’t find it lying around on the surface. It’s not the latest message, but more like the oldest—what God determined as the way to bring out his best in us, long before we ever arrived on the scene. The experts of our day haven’t a clue about what this eternal plan is. If they had, they wouldn’t have killed the Master of the God-designed life on a cross. That’s why we have this Scripture text:

No one’s ever seen or heard anything like this,
Never so much as imagined anything quite like it—
What God has arranged for those who love him.

But you’ve seen and heard it because God by his Spirit has brought it all out into the open before you.

10-13 The Spirit, not content to flit around on the surface, dives into the depths of God, and brings out what God planned all along. Who ever knows what you’re thinking and planning except you yourself? The same with God—except that he not only knows what he’s thinking, but he lets us in on it. God offers a full report on the gifts of life and salvation that he is giving us. We don’t have to rely on the world’s guesses and opinions. We didn’t learn this by reading books or going to school; we learned it from God, who taught us person-to-person through Jesus, and we’re passing it on to you in the same firsthand, personal way.

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11 No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. 12 And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.

13 When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 2:13 Or explaining spiritual truths in spiritual language, or explaining spiritual truths to spiritual people.

11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

12 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.

13 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.

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