1 Corinthians 2
2
The new wisdom
1So I never thought in coming amongst you to be able by my own persuasiveness, logic or rhetoric to make a message of God, a revelation of the mystery of His being, understood by you. It could never have come to you through such human means as that. 2And so I judged that to know nought but Jesus Christ and him crucified was the way, the only way of this Gospel, which is demonstrated divinely by the Spirit and by power, not by persuasive preaching. 3I was as nothing in myself, only conscious of my weakness, and full of deep reverence and fear, 4yes, even of what I had to say, which could not express itself in clever words; 5and so your faith was built not on any man’s personal influence and wisdom, but on divine power and its demonstration. 6Yet it is a wisdom that I speak, a deep and holy wisdom known to the perfect, unknown to the passing world of the flesh, and unknown to the powers that control that world, powers and influences which even now, are breaking up and vanishing. 7This wisdom of God is spoken by me in a mystery. Unknown to the former generations of the world, it was to be our glory, our light, and God’s fore-ordination of it preceded all other things. 8Unknown too to all powers of the mortal state, for they crucified its Lord. Had they known this hidden delectable wisdom, would they have crucified him? 9They knew it not, “for eye,” says the scripture, “hath not seen it, ear hath not heard it, the heart of mankind has not received the things that God makes ready for those that love Him.” (Isa. 44:4.)
Deep things can only be apprehended spiritually
10So it was through the Spirit, through revelation that we learned them. The very depths of God are searched by the Spirit, which also sheds light on all things; and the Spirit alone can know and reveal them, nought else; 11no more than one can tell any man’s thoughts that he thinks in himself [none can tell them save the thinker himself], so none knoweth God’s thoughts, but God Himself, the Spirit. 12And in our hearts and minds there now doth work not that spirit, which is the influence and animal intelligence of the world, but the divine Spirit, and this it is which reveals to us those things that are bestowed on man by God. 13It is that legacy which passes from God to man, those messages and bestowals which man receives from God which I teach you of, and how can I make it known by an utterance invented in the schools of learning, how can I teach it except as the Spirit teaches it, representing spiritual things in a spiritual method, to be spiritually discerned? Only thus can it be taught, for the materially minded man, who thinks through the senses, is totally and utterly ignorant of God’s spiritual messages. They are to him absolute foolishness, and he cannot reach them, for they are only made known to the spiritual character. 14Now the true spiritual man has all experience at his feet to dispose of, to reject or accept according to the dictates of the Spirit, he himself being beyond the reach of the things wherein this judgment operates. 15For it is as spiritual beings, and not carnal, that we possess the mind of Christ. None teacheth us or judgeth us. 16“Who has known the mind of the Lord or being His counsellor hath taught Him?”
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Translated in 1916, published in 1937.
1 Corinthians 2
2
Paul’s Reliance on Spiritual Power
1My brothers and sisters, # 2:1 Or “brothers.” when I first came to proclaim to you the secrets # 2:1 As translated from the Aramaic. Some Greek manuscripts have “testimony.” Paul, as a steward of the mysteries of God (1 Cor. 4:1), comes to them bringing a clear revelation of God’s mysteries. The Greek word mustērion (secret, or mystery) is found twenty-eight times in the New Testament. of God, I refused to come as an expert, trying to impress you with my eloquent speech and lofty wisdom. 2For while I was with you I was determined to be consumed with one topic—Jesus, the crucified Messiah. # 2:2 Paul could have easily impressed the Corinthians with his vast knowledge of the Torah and the Jewish laws. But he was resolved to forget every other topic and stay focused on Christ and his cross. He wanted the power of the Spirit to work through his singular message. 3I stood before you feeling inadequate, filled with reverence for God, # 2:3 As translated from the Aramaic. The Greek is “I was with you in fear and trembling.” and trembling under the sense of the importance of my words. # 2:3 Paul was not simply filled with dread or fear, but filled with how important it was to present the gospel clearly to the Corinthians. See also 2 Cor. 10:10; 11:6. 4The message I preached and how I preached it was not an attempt to sway you with persuasive arguments but to prove to you the almighty power of God’s Holy Spirit. 5For God intended that your faith not be established on man’s wisdom but by trusting in his almighty power.
Wisdom from God
6However, there is a wisdom that we continually speak of when we are among the spiritually mature. # 2:6 Or “those who have reached perfection.” The Greek term for “spiritually mature” in this verse is found in classical Greek, describing those who have been initiated into mysteries. It most likely refers in this context to those who believed Paul’s message containing the mysteries of God (2:1). Paul uses the word wisdom sixteen times in the first three chapters of 1 Corinthians. It’s wisdom that didn’t originate in this present age, nor did it come from the rulers of this age who are in the process of being dethroned. # 2:6 Or “rulers who are doomed to come to nothing” or “the nullified overlords of this present age.” This does not refer merely to human governments, but to the dethroned rulers of darkness that know nothing of God’s secret wisdom. 7Instead, we # 2:7 Many times in 1 and 2 Corinthians when Paul uses the pronoun we, he is referring to the apostles of the church, gifts of Christ who are sent to teach the mysteries of God. See 1 Cor. 4:1; Eph. 4:11–13. continually speak of this wonderful wisdom that comes from God, hidden before now in a mystery. # 2:7 That is, something so profound it is beyond the scope of human ingenuity and unattainable by human reasoning. Wisdom comes from above and is given to those who love God and live in awe of him. It is his secret plan, destined # 2:7 Or “decreed.” The Greek word proorizo means “to mark out the boundaries.” It is a form of the word horizon. God has marked out ahead of time the horizon of the ages and will finish his predetermined plan perfectly. before the ages, to bring us into glory. # 2:7 The Aramaic can be translated “for our glorification” or “so that glory may be ours.” 8None of the rulers of this present world order understood it, # 2:8 Although it is possible that this refers to human rulers, it is hard to imagine how Herod, Pilate, and the Jewish authorities could be equated to the words “rulers of [over] this present world order (aeon).” It seems clear that Paul is speaking of the principalities and powers of darkness, who were clueless about the efficacy of Christ’s crucifixion to realign the universe and initiate a new kingdom under our Lord Jesus Christ. for if they had, they never would have crucified the Lord of shining glory. # 2:8 Or a genitive of quality, “the Lord, to whom glory belongs.” This is the only place in the New Testament with the term “Lord of shining glory.” The church father Augustine translated this “the Lord who dispenses glory” (an objective genitive: Augustine, On the Trinity, 1:12:24). 9This is why the Scriptures say:
Things never discovered or heard of before,
things beyond our ability to imagine # 2:9 Or “entered the heart.” —
these are the many things God has in store
for all his lovers. # 2:9 See Isa. 64:4.
10But God now unveils these profound realities to us by the Spirit. # 2:10 Or “God has provided us with a revelation through the Spirit.” This difficult-to-translate Greek sentence may contain an ellipsis, which would render it “Yet we speak [or we know] what God has revealed to us by the Spirit.” Yes, he has revealed to us his inmost heart and deepest mysteries through the Holy Spirit, who constantly explores all things. 11After all, who can really see into a person’s heart and know his hidden impulses except for that person’s spirit? So it is with God. His thoughts and secrets are only fully understood by his Spirit, the Spirit of God.
12For we did not receive the spirit of this world system but the Spirit of God, so that we might come to understand and experience all that grace has lavished upon us. 13And we # 2:13 It is possible that Paul uses “we” in reference to apostles. articulate these realities with the words imparted to us by the Spirit and not with the words taught by human wisdom. We join together Spirit-revealed truths with Spirit-revealed words. # 2:13 Or “We explain spiritual realities to spiritual people” or “We interpret spiritual truths by spiritual faculties.” 14Someone living on an entirely human level # 2:14 Or “the natural man” or “the one without the Spirit.” The Aramaic can be translated “A man in his natural self cannot receive spiritual concepts.” rejects # 2:14 Or “does not have access to.” the revelations of God’s Spirit, for they make no sense to him. He can’t understand the revelations of the Spirit because they are only discovered by the illumination of the Spirit. 15Those who live in the Spirit are able to carefully evaluate all things, and they are subject to the scrutiny of no one but God. 16For
Who has ever intimately known the mind of the Lord Yahweh # 2:16 As translated from the Aramaic. well enough to become his counselor? # 2:16 See Isa. 40:13.
Christ has, and we possess Christ’s perceptions. # 2:16 That is, we believers possess the Holy Spirit, who reveals the thoughts and purposes of Christ. The revelation of the kingdom of God that Jesus preached was not understood by the intellect of men but by those who welcomed his truth. Humanly speaking, no one can understand the mysteries of God without the Holy Spirit. Those who have the Holy Spirit now possess the perceptions of Christ’s mind and can implement his purposes on the earth.
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