1 Corinthians 1:26-2:16
New International Version
26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called.(A) Not many of you were wise(B) by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose(C) the foolish(D) things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not(E)—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him.(F) 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus,(G) who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness,(H) holiness(I) and redemption.(J) 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”[a](K)
2 And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom(L) as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.[b] 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.(M) 3 I came to you(N) in weakness(O) with great fear and trembling.(P) 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words,(Q) but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,(R) 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.(S)
God’s Wisdom Revealed by the Spirit
6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature,(T) but not the wisdom of this age(U) or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.(V) 7 No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery(W) that has been hidden(X) and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age(Y) understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.(Z) 9 However, as it is written:
“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”[c]—
the things God has prepared for those who love him—(AA)
10 these are the things God has revealed(AB) to us by his Spirit.(AC)
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts(AD) except their own spirit(AE) 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(AF) of the world,(AG) 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(AH) but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.[d] 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God(AI) but considers them foolishness,(AJ) and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit(AK) makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for,
But we have the mind of Christ.(AM)
Footnotes
- 1 Corinthians 1:31 Jer. 9:24
- 1 Corinthians 2:1 Some manuscripts proclaimed to you God’s mystery
- 1 Corinthians 2:9 Isaiah 64:4
- 1 Corinthians 2:13 Or Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual
- 1 Corinthians 2:16 Isaiah 40:13
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