1 Corinthians 2
2
My Message: Jesus Christ on the Cross
1Dear brothers and sisters, when I came to you, I told you the secret truth of God. But I did not use fancy words or great wisdom. 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 human wisdom.
God’s Wisdom
6We teach wisdom to people who are mature, but the wisdom we teach is not from this world. It is not the wisdom of the rulers of this world, who are losing their power. 7But we speak God’s secret wisdom that has been hidden from everyone until now. God planned this wisdom for our glory. He planned it before the world began. 8None of the rulers of this world understood this wisdom. If they had understood it, they would not have killed our great and glorious Lord on a cross. 9But as the Scriptures say,
“No one has ever seen,
no one has ever heard,
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. The Spirit even knows the deep secrets of God. 11It is like this: No one knows the thoughts that another person has. Only the person’s spirit that lives inside knows those thoughts. It is the same with God. No one knows God’s thoughts except God’s Spirit. 12We received the Spirit that is from God, not the spirit of the world. We received God’s Spirit so that we can know all that God has given us.
13When we say this, we don’t use words taught to us by human wisdom. We use words taught to us by the Spirit. We use the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. 14People who do not have God’s Spirit do not accept the things that come from his Spirit. They think these things are foolish. They cannot understand them, because they can only be understood with the Spirit’s help. 15We who have the Spirit are able to make judgments about all these things. But anyone without the Spirit is not able to make proper judgments about us. 16As the Scriptures say,
“Who can know what is on the Lord’s mind?
Who is able to give him advice?” Isaiah 40:13
But we have been given Christ’s way of thinking.
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
1 Corinthians 2
2
1And that’s how it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I didn’t use fancy words or human wisdom to preach the truth to you about God’s love. 2My goal while I was with you was to talk about only one thing: Jesus Christ and his death on the cross. 3When I came to you, I was weak and afraid and shaking all over. 4I didn’t preach my message with clever and compelling words. Instead, my preaching showed the Holy Spirit’s power. 5This was so that your faith would be based on God’s power and not on human wisdom.
God’s Wisdom Through the Holy Spirit
6However, when we speak to those who are mature in the faith, we do share our wisdom. But it’s not the wisdom of this world or its rulers, who are fading away. 7No, we share God’s wisdom, which is a mystery that has been hidden until now. But before time began, God planned that this wisdom would bring us heavenly glory. 8None of the rulers of this world understood God’s wisdom. If they had, they wouldn’t have nailed the Lord of glory to the cross. 9It is written that
“no eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
and no human mind has imagined”
the things God has prepared for those who love him.
10But God has shown these things to us through his Spirit.
The Spirit understands all things, even the deep things of God. 11Who can know the thoughts of another person? Only that person’s own spirit. In the same way, only the Spirit of God knows God’s thoughts. 12What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we can understand what God has freely given us. 13That’s what we speak about, and we don’t use words that we’ve learned from human wisdom. We use words that the Holy Spirit has taught us, and we use them to explain spiritual truths. 14The person who doesn’t have the Spirit doesn’t accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. Those things seem foolish to them, and they can’t understand them, because they can’t be understood without the Spirit’s help. 15But the person who does have the Spirit can make judgments about everything, though no human being can judge them. It is written,
16“Who can ever know the Lord’s mind?
Can anyone teach him anything?”
But we have the mind of Christ.
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