1 Corinthians 2

1 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.t2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.3 I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power,5 so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.

Wisdom From the Spirit

6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.7 No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.9 However, as it is written:
"No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him"t-10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no-one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.t14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.15 The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment:16 "For who has known the mind of the Lord
that he may instruct him?"t
But we have the mind of Christ.

1 CORINTHIANS 2

Telling about Christ //and the Cross

1 Friends, when I came and told you the mysteryt that God had shared with us, I didn't use big words or try to sound wise.

2 In fact, while I was with you, I made up my mind to speak only about Jesus Christ, who had been nailed to a cross.
3  t At first, I was weak and trembling with fear. 4 When 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.

5 That way you would have faith because of God's power and not because of human wisdom.
6 We 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. 7 We speak of God's hidden and mysterious wisdom that God decided to use for our glory long before the world began. 8 t The 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.

9 t But it is just as the Scriptures say,
“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!”
10 God's Spirit has shown you everything. His Spirit finds out everything, even what is deep in the mind of God. 11 You 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.

12 But God has given us his Spirit. This is why we don't think the same way that the people of this world think. This is also why we can recognize the blessings God has given us.
13 Every 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.t 14 This is 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. 15 People who are guided by the Spirit can make all kinds of judgments, but they cannot be judged by others.

16 t The Scriptures ask,
“Has anyone ever known
the thoughts of the Lord
or given him advice?”
But we understand what Christ is thinking.t