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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1 Corinthians 2: GWC
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Translated in 1916, published in 1937.
First Letter from Small Man to the Sacred Family in Village of Pleasure 2
2
WISDOM FOR THE SPIRITUAL
1My sacred family members, when I came among you to tell you about Creator’s mysterious ways, I did not use big words or high-sounding wisdom. 2For I decided not to know anything while I was with you except about Creator Sets Free (Jesus), the Chosen One—and his death on the cross. 3I came to you as a weak human being in fear and trembling. 4I did not come with strong words or great wisdom, but with the Spirit showing his power in my weakness. 5In this way your trust would not rest on the wisdom of human beings, but in the Great Spirit’s power.
6On the other hand, there is a wisdom that we speak among those who are mature in the Chosen One. It is not the wisdom of this present world or of its rulers, who are fading away. 7Instead, with a strong voice we make known the wisdom of the Great Spirit. A wisdom that is mysterious and hidden away in Creator’s heart. He decided long ago, before the world began, that this wisdom would be for our honor.
SPIRIT WISDOM
8None of the rulers of this present world have understood this wisdom. If they had, they never would have killed our great and shining Honored Chief. 9The Sacred Teachings tell us that no human being has ever seen or heard or imagined all the good things the Great Spirit has planned for the ones who love him.#2:9 Isaiah 64:4 10But Creator has revealed these things to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches everything, even the deep things found in the mind and heart of the Great Spirit. 11No one can know the thoughts of another except for that person’s own spirit. In the same way no one can know Creator’s thoughts except his own Spirit. 12We have not received the spirit of the world, but we have received Creator’s Spirit. This is how we can know the things that have been gifted to us by the Great Spirit.
13So when we speak, we do not use words taught by human wisdom. Instead we use words taught by the Spirit—speaking in a spiritual manner about spiritual things. 14Humans without the Spirit are not able to see the things revealed by Creator’s Spirit. These things sound foolish and are beyond their understanding, for they must be interpreted in a spiritual manner. 15On the other hand, the spiritual are able to see into the meaning of all things in ways the unspiritual do not understand.
16“For who understands the mind and heart of the Great Spirit and can sit in council with him?”#2:16 Isaiah 40:13 But we who share his Spirit do understand the mind and heart of the Chosen One!
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