Proclaiming Christ Crucified

2 And I, when I came to you, brothers,^{[a] (A)}did not come proclaiming to you ^(B)the testimony^[b] of God with lofty speech or wisdom. ² For I decided to know nothing among you except ^(C)Jesus Christ and him crucified. ³ And ^(D)I was with you ^(E)in weakness and in fear and much trembling, ⁴ and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of ^(F)the Spirit and of power, ⁵ so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men^[c] but ^(G)in the power of God.

Wisdom from the Spirit

⁶ Yet among ^(H)the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not ^(I)a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, ^(J)who are doomed to pass away. ⁷ But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, ^(K)which God decreed before the ages for our glory. ⁸ None of ^(L)the rulers of this age understood this, for ^(M)if they had, they would not have crucified ^(N)the Lord of glory. ⁹ But, as it is written,

¹⁰ these things ^(R)God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even ^(S)the depths of God. ¹¹ For who knows a person's thoughts ^(T)except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹² Now ^(U)we have received not ^(V)the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. ¹³ And we impart this ^(W)in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, ^(X)interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.^[d]

⁸ For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of ^(A)wisdom, and to another the utterance of ^(B)knowledge according to the same Spirit,

^3 (A)Therefore, brothers,^[a] pick out from among you seven men ^(B)of good repute, ^(C)full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.

¹⁰ But ^(A)they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.

^5 (A)If any of you lacks wisdom, ^(B)let him ask God, ^(C)who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. ⁶ But ^(D)let him ask in faith, ^(E)with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like ^(F)a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.

¹⁵ And count ^(A)the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as ^(B)our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you ^(C)according to the wisdom given him,

¹⁶ as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. ^(A)There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, ^(B)as they do the other Scriptures.