1 Corinthians 2
2
The Message of Christ’s Death
1Dear brothers and sisters, when I came to you, I did not come preaching God’s secret with fancy words or a show of human wisdom. 2I decided that while I was with you I would forget about everything except Jesus Christ and his death on the cross. 3So when I came to you, I was weak and fearful and trembling. 4My teaching and preaching were not with words of human wisdom that persuade people but with proof of the power that the Spirit gives. 5This was so that your faith would be in God’s power and not in human wisdom.
God’s Wisdom
6However, I speak a wisdom to those who are mature. But this wisdom is not from this world or from the rulers of this world, who are losing their power. 7I speak God’s secret wisdom, which he has kept hidden. Before the world began, God planned this wisdom for our glory. 8None of the rulers of this world understood it. If they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9But as it is written in the Scriptures:
“No one has ever seen this,
and 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 searches out all things, even the deep secrets of God. 11Who knows the thoughts that another person has? Only a person’s spirit that lives within him knows his thoughts. It is the same with God. No one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12Now we did not receive the spirit of the world, but we received the Spirit that is from God so that we can know all that God has given us. 13And we speak about these things, not with words taught us by human wisdom but with words taught us by the Spirit. And so we explain spiritual truths to spiritual people. 14A person who does not have the Spirit does not accept the truths that come from the Spirit of God. That person thinks they are foolish and cannot understand them, because they can only be judged to be true by the Spirit. 15The spiritual person is able to judge all things, but 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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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
1 Corinthians 2
2
Proclaiming Christ Crucified
1And I, when I came to you, brothers,#2:1 Or brothers and sisters #ver. 4, 13; [2 Cor. 1:12]; See ch. 1:17 did not come proclaiming to you #See Rom. 16:25the testimony#2:1 Some manuscripts mystery (or secret) of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2For I decided to know nothing among you except #Gal. 6:14Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3And #Acts 18:1, 6, 12 I was with you #2 Cor. 11:30; 12:5, 9; 13:4, 9; Gal. 4:13in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of #ch. 4:20; Rom. 15:13, 19; 1 Thess. 1:5; 2 Pet. 1:16the Spirit and of power, 5so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men#2:5 The Greek word anthropoi can refer to both men and women but #2 Cor. 4:7; 6:7; [Zech. 4:6; 2 Cor. 10:4; 12:9]in the power of God.
Wisdom from the Spirit
6Yet among #Phil. 3:15; [ch. 3:1] the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not #[James 3:15] a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, #ch. 1:28who are doomed to pass away. 7But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, #Rom. 16:25, 26; Eph. 3:5, 9; Col. 1:26; 2 Tim. 1:9which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8None of #Acts 13:27; See Luke 24:20 the rulers of this age understood this, for #See Acts 3:17 if they had, they would not have crucified #James 2:1; [Ps. 24:7-10; Acts 7:2]the Lord of glory. 9But, as it is written,
# [Isa. 64:4] “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has #See Matt. 25:34 prepared #James 1:12for those who love him”—
10these things #Matt. 16:17; Gal. 1:12, 16; Eph. 3:3, 5; See John 14:26 God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even #[Rev. 2:24]the depths of God. 11For who knows a person’s thoughts #Prov. 20:27except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12Now #Rom. 8:15 we have received not #[1 John 4:4]the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13And we impart this #ver. 1, 4; See ch. 1:17 in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, #2 Cor. 10:12interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.#2:13 Or interpreting spiritual truths in spiritual language, or comparing spiritual things with spiritual
14The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are #ch. 1:18 folly to him, and #Rom. 8:7he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15The #ch. 3:1; 14:37; Gal. 6:1; [Prov. 28:5]spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16#Cited from Isa. 40:13; See Rom. 11:34 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But #[John 15:15]we have the mind of Christ.
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