1 Corinthians 2
2
Paul only said the words that the Holy Spirit gave him
1My Christian friends, remember when I first came to you and told you God’s message. I didn’t use smart words, like a man that thinks he knows everything. 2No. I only told you about Jesus Christ, and that he died on the cross for us. I didn’t talk about other things. 3I felt weak and frightened while I was with you. I was so frightened I was shaking.#Acts 18:9 4I didn’t think up smart ideas or use smart words to get you to believe my message. No. I trusted God’s spirit to use his power to show everyone that my message is true. 5I did that so that you will not trust in a smart person, but you will trust in the power of God.
6You see, whenever I am with people that trust in Jesus, and are strong for him, that’s when I can talk about things that are wise and good. I don’t mean smart ideas that people in this world think up, like how the bosses in this world plan things. Those bosses will finish up anyway. 7No, the wise and good things that we talk about are the things that belong to God. He planned those things a long time ago, before he made the world, but he didn’t tell anybody about them until now. 8None of the bosses in this world understood those things. So they killed Jesus. They nailed our very great and good leader to a cross. 9But, you know, God says this in his book,
“God got good things ready for the people that love him.
Those things are better than anything anybody else can ever think up.
Nobody ever saw or heard anything as good as the things that God got ready for us.”#Isaiah 64:4
10But God’s spirit shows these things to us. His spirit understands everything, even those things that God has not yet told anybody. 11You see, nobody knows what another person is thinking. Only that person’s own spirit knows, nobody else. Well, it is like that with God too. Only God’s spirit knows what God is thinking. 12And remember this, God didn’t get us to think the way the people of this world think. No. God gave us his spirit, and his spirit helps us, so we can understand all the good things God gave us. 13Those are the things that we tell you about. We don’t use words that smart people taught us, but we use the words that God’s spirit teaches us. And we tell God’s message to people that have God’s spirit living inside them, and we help them understand it.
14You see, if God’s spirit is not living inside people, they can’t believe any message from God. They can’t understand what God wants to teach them. They think it is all stupid. You see, the Holy Spirit is the only one that can help people understand the things of God. 15People that have God’s spirit can think about all these things and understand them. But people that haven’t got God’s spirit can never understand the people that have got his spirit. 16God says this in his book,
“Nobody can know what God is thinking.
Nobody can try to tell him the right way to think.”#Isaiah 40:13
But the Holy Spirit is in us, so we can think the same way that Jesus Christ thinks.
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© 2021, Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc. All rights reserved.
1 Corinthians 2
2
Telling about Christ and the cross
1Friends, when I came and told you the mystery#2.1 mystery: Some manuscripts have “testimony”. that God had shared with us, I didn't use big words or try to sound wise. 2In fact, while I was with you, I made up my mind to speak only about Jesus Christ, who had been nailed to a cross.
3At first, I was weak and trembling with fear.#Ac 18.9. 4When I talked with you or preached, I didn't try to prove anything by sounding wise. I simply let God's Spirit show his power. 5That way you would have faith because of God's power and not because of human wisdom.
6We do use wisdom when speaking to people who are mature in their faith. But it isn't the wisdom of this world or of its rulers, who will soon disappear. 7We speak of God's hidden and mysterious wisdom that God decided to use for our glory long before the world began. 8The rulers of this world didn't know anything about this wisdom. If they had known about it, they would not have nailed the glorious Lord to a cross. 9But it is just as the Scriptures say,#Is 64.4.
“What God has planned
for people who love him
is more than eyes have seen
or ears have heard.
It has never even
entered our minds!”
10God's Spirit has shown you everything. His Spirit finds out everything, even what is deep in the mind of God. 11You are the only one who knows what is in your own mind, and God's Spirit is the only one who knows what is in God's mind. 12But God has given us his Spirit. That's why we don't think the same way that the people of this world think. That's also why we can recognize the blessings that God has given us.
13Every word we speak was taught to us by God's Spirit, not by human wisdom. And this same Spirit helps us teach spiritual things to spiritual people.#2.13 teach spiritual things to spiritual people: Or “compare spiritual things with spiritual things.” 14That's why only someone who has God's Spirit can understand spiritual blessings. Anyone who doesn't have God's Spirit thinks these blessings are foolish. 15People who are guided by the Spirit can make all kinds of judgments, but they cannot be judged by others. 16The Scriptures ask,#Is 40.13 (LXX).
“Has anyone ever known
the thoughts of the Lord
or given him advice?”
But we understand what Christ is thinking.#2.16 we understand what Christ is thinking: Or “we think as Christ does.”
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012