I Corinthians 2
2
Christ Crucified
1And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. 2For I determined not to know anything among you #1 Cor. 1:23; Gal. 6:14except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3#Acts 18:1I was with you #(2 Cor. 4:7)in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4And my speech and my preaching #2 Pet. 1:16were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, #Rom. 15:19; 1 Cor. 4:20but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the #Rom. 1:16; 1 Thess. 1:5power of God.
Spiritual Wisdom
6However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, 8which none of the rulers of this age knew; for #Luke 23:34had they known, they would not have #Matt. 27:33–50crucified the Lord of glory.
9But as it is written:
#(Is. 64:4; 65:17)“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
10But #Matt. 11:25; 13:11; 16:17; (Gal. 1:12; Eph. 3:3, 5)God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11For what man knows the things of a man except the #Job 32:8; Eccl. 12:7; (1 Cor. 6:20; James 2:26)spirit of the man which is in him? #Rom. 11:33Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but #(Rom. 8:15)the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
13These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14#Matt. 16:23But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. 16For #Job 15:8; Is. 40:13; Rom. 11:34“who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” #(John 15:15)But we have the mind of Christ.
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I Corinthians 2: NKJV
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
1 Corinthians 2
2
1And this was the way it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I didn’t come with fancy words or human wisdom. I preached to you the truth about God’s love. 2My goal while I was with you was to talk about only one thing. And that was Jesus Christ and his death on the cross. 3When I came to you, I was weak and very afraid and trembling 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. Your faith would not be based on human wisdom.
God’s Wisdom Through the Holy Spirit
6The words we speak to those who have grown in the faith are wise. Our words are different from the wisdom of this world. Our words are different from those of the rulers of this world. These rulers are becoming less and less powerful. 7No, we announce God’s wisdom. His wisdom is a mystery that has been hidden. But before time began, God planned that his wisdom would bring us heavenly glory. 8None of the rulers of this world understood God’s wisdom. If they had, they would not 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 known.” (Isaiah 64:4)
God has prepared these things for those who love him.
10God has shown these things to us through his Spirit.
The Spirit understands all things. He understands even the deep things of God. 11Who can know the thoughts of another person? Only a person’s own spirit can know them. In the same way, only the Spirit of God knows God’s thoughts. 12What we have received is not the spirit of the world. We have received the Spirit who is from God. The Spirit helps us understand what God has freely given us. 13That is what we speak about. We don’t use words taught to us by people. We use words taught to us by the Holy Spirit. We use the words taught by the Spirit to explain spiritual truths. 14The person without the Spirit doesn’t accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. These things are foolish to them. They can’t understand them. In fact, such things can’t be understood without the Spirit’s help. 15The person who has the Spirit can judge all things. But no human being can judge those who have the Spirit. It is written,
16“Who can ever know what is in the Lord’s mind?
Can anyone ever teach him?” (Isaiah 40:13)
But we have the mind of Christ.
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