1 Corinthians 2:6-13
GOD’S WORD Translation
6 However, we do use wisdom to speak to those who are mature. It is a wisdom that doesn’t belong to this world or to the rulers of this world who are in power today and gone tomorrow. 7 We speak about the mystery of God’s wisdom. It is a wisdom that has been hidden, which God had planned for our glory before the world began. 8 Not one of the rulers of this world has known it. If they had, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as Scripture says:
“No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
and no mind has imagined
the things that God has prepared
for those who love him.”
10 God has revealed those things to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches everything, especially the deep things of God. 11 After all, who knows everything about a person except that person’s own spirit? In the same way, no one has known everything about God except God’s Spirit. 12 Now, we didn’t receive the spirit that belongs to the world. Instead, we received the Spirit who comes from God so that we could know the things which God has freely given us. 13 We don’t speak about these things using teachings that are based on intellectual arguments like people do. Instead, we use the Spirit’s teachings. We explain spiritual things to those who have the Spirit.[a]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 2:13 Or “We explain spiritual things in spiritual words.”
1 Corinthians 2:6-13
New International Version
God’s Wisdom Revealed by the Spirit
6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature,(A) but not the wisdom of this age(B) or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.(C) 7 No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery(D) that has been hidden(E) and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age(F) understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.(G) 9 However, as it is written:
“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”[a]—
the things God has prepared for those who love him—(H)
10 these are the things God has revealed(I) to us by his Spirit.(J)
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts(K) except their own spirit(L) 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(M) of the world,(N) 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(O) but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.[b]
Footnotes
- 1 Corinthians 2:9 Isaiah 64:4
- 1 Corinthians 2:13 Or Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual
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