1 Corinthians 2
2
The Message of Christ’s Death
1Dear brothers, when I came to you, I did not come as a proud man. I preached God’s truth, but not with fancy words or a show of great learning. 2I decided that while I was with you I would forget about everything except Jesus Christ and his death on the cross. 3When I came to you, I was weak and shook with fear. 4My teaching and my speaking were not with wise words that persuade people. But the proof of my teaching was the power that the Spirit gives. 5I did this so that your faith would be in God’s power, not in the wisdom of a man.
God’s Wisdom
6Yet I speak wisdom to those who are mature. But this wisdom is not from this world or of the rulers of this world. (These rulers are losing their power.) 7But I speak God’s secret wisdom, which he has kept hidden. God planned this wisdom for our glory, before the world began. 8None of the rulers of this world understood it. If they had, they would not have killed the Lord of glory on a cross. 9But as it is written in the Scriptures:
“No one has ever seen this.
No one has ever heard about it.
No one has ever imagined
what God has prepared for those
who love him.” Isaiah 64:4
10But God has shown us these things through the Spirit.
The Spirit knows all things, even the deep secrets of God. 11It is like this: No one knows the thoughts that another person has. Only a person’s spirit that lives in him knows his thoughts. It is the same with God. No one knows the thoughts of God. Only the Spirit of God knows God’s thoughts. 12We did not receive the spirit of the world, but we received the Spirit that is from God. We received this Spirit so that we can know all that God has given us. 13When we speak, we do not use words taught to us by the wisdom that men have. We use words taught to us by the Spirit. We use spiritual words to explain spiritual things. 14A person who is not spiritual does not accept the gifts that come from the Spirit of God. That person thinks they are foolish. He cannot understand the Spirit’s gifts, because they can only be judged spiritually. 15But the spiritual person is able to judge all things. Yet no one can judge him. The Scripture says:
16“Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Who has been able to teach him?” Isaiah 40:13
But we have the mind of Christ.
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
1 Corinthians 2
2
Paul’s Proclamation
1When I came to you, brothers, announcing the testimony # Other mss read mystery of God to you, I did not come with brilliance # 1Tm 2:2 of speech # Col 4:6 or wisdom. 2For I didn’t think it was a good idea to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. # 1Co 1:23-24; Gl 6:14 3I came to you in weakness, # 2Co 11:30 in fear, # Rv 11:11 and in much trembling. # Php 2:12 4My speech # Mt 12:37 and my proclamation were not with persuasive # Php 1:25 words of wisdom # Other mss read human wisdom but with a powerful demonstration by the Spirit, 5so that your faith might not be based on men’s wisdom but on God’s power. # Mk 5:30; Lk 1:35; 6:19; Ac 19:11; 2Co 13:4; 2Tm 1:7; Rv 11:17
Spiritual Wisdom
6However, we do speak a wisdom among the mature, # Mt 5:48 but not a wisdom of this age, or of the rulers # Lk 12:58 of this age, who are coming to nothing. # Heb 2:14 7On the contrary, we speak God’s hidden wisdom in a mystery, a wisdom God predestined # Eph 1:5 before the ages for our glory. # Lk 24:26; 1Pt 5:1,4 8None of the rulers of this age knew this wisdom, for if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. # Ps 24:7 9But as it is written:
What eye did not see and ear did not hear,
and what never entered the human mind —
God prepared this for those who love Him. # Is 52:15; 64:4; Lk 10:27; 1Jn 4:20 # Is 52:15; 64:4
10Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything, # Ps 17:3; Jn 14:26 even the depths of God. # Rm 8:39; 11:33; Eph 3:18 11For who among men knows the thoughts # Or things of a man except the spirit # Rm 1:9 of the man that is in him? In the same way, no one knows # 1Jn 4:8 the thoughts # Or things of God except the Spirit of God. 12Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God. 13We also speak these things, not in words # Mt 12:37 taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. # Or things with spiritual words 14But the unbeliever # Or unspiritual; lit natural does not welcome what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated # Or judged, or discerned spiritually. 15The spiritual person, however, can evaluate # Or judge, or discern everything, yet he himself cannot be evaluated # Or judged, or discerned by anyone. 16For
who has known the Lord’s mind,
that he may instruct Him? # Is 40:13 # Is 40:13
But we have the mind of Christ. # Col 2:2
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