Paul’s Proclamation

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, announcing the mystery[a] of God to you, I did not come with brilliance(A) of speech(B) or wisdom. I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.(C) I came to you in weakness,(D) in fear,(E) and in much trembling.(F) My speech(G) and my preaching were not with persuasive(H) words of wisdom[b] but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not be based on human wisdom but on God’s power.(I)

Spiritual Wisdom

We do, however, speak a wisdom among the mature,(J) but not a wisdom of this age, or of the rulers(K) of this age, who are coming to nothing.(L) On the contrary, we speak God’s hidden wisdom in a mystery, a wisdom God predestined(M) before the ages for our glory.(N) None of the rulers of this age knew this wisdom, because if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.(O) But as it is written,

What no eye has seen, no ear has heard,
and no human heart has conceived—
God has prepared these things for those who love him.[c](P)

10 Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, since the Spirit searches everything,(Q) even the depths of God.(R) 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts[d] except his spirit(S) within him? In the same way, no one knows(T) the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God. 13 We also speak these things, not in words(U) taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.[e] 14 But the person without the Spirit[f] does not receive what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated[g] spiritually. 15 The spiritual person, however, can evaluate[h] everything, and yet he himself cannot be evaluated by anyone. 16 For

who has known the Lord’s mind,
that he may instruct him?[i](V)

But we have the mind of Christ.(W)

Footnotes

  1. 2:1 Other mss read testimony
  2. 2:4 Other mss read human wisdom
  3. 2:9 Is 52:15; 64:4
  4. 2:11 Or things
  5. 2:13 Or things with spiritual words
  6. 2:14 Lit natural person
  7. 2:14 Or judged, or discerned, also in v. 15
  8. 2:15 Or judge, or discern
  9. 2:16 Is 40:13

When I came to you, brothers, I didn’t come with excellence of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. My speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith wouldn’t stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

We speak wisdom, however, among those who are full grown, yet a wisdom not of this world nor of the rulers of this world who are coming to nothing. But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom that has been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds for our glory, which none of the rulers of this world has known. For had they known it, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written,

“Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear,
    which didn’t enter into the heart of man,
    these God has prepared for those who love him.”(A)

10 But to us, God revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except God’s Spirit. 12 But we received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that were freely given to us by God. 13 We also speak these things, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. 14 Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him; and he can’t know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he who is spiritual discerns all things, and he himself is to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he should instruct him?” (B) But we have Christ’s mind.