1 Corinthians 2

Chapter 2

Paul’s Message of Wisdom

1 When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters,t I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan.t2 For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified.3 I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling.4 And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit.

5 I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God.
6 Yet when I am among mature believers, I do speak with words of wisdom, but not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers of this world, who are soon forgotten.7 No, the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of Godt—his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began.8 But the rulers of this world have not understood it; if they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord.

9 That is what the Scriptures mean when they say,
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
and no mind has imagined
what God has prepared
for those who love him.”t10 Butt it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets.11 No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit.

12 And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.
13 When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths.t14 But people who aren’t spiritualt can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.15 Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others.

16 For,
“Who can know the LORD’s thoughts?
Who knows enough to teach him?”t
But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.

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.2 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”–

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.14 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?”But we have the mind of Christ.