1 Corinthians 2
2
The Message of Christ’s Death
1Dear brothers, when I came to you, I did not come as a proud man. I preached God’s truth, but not with fancy words or a show of great learning. 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 the wisdom of a man.
God’s Wisdom
6Yet I speak wisdom to those who are mature. But this wisdom is not from this world or of the rulers of this world. (These rulers are losing their power.) 7But I speak God’s secret wisdom, which he has kept hidden. God planned this wisdom for our glory, before the world began. 8None of the rulers of this world understood it. If they had, they would not have killed the Lord of glory on a cross. 9But as it is written in the Scriptures:
“No one has ever seen this.
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 knows all things, even the deep secrets of God. 11It is like this: No one knows the thoughts that another person has. Only a person’s spirit that lives in him knows his thoughts. It is the same with God. No one knows the thoughts of God. Only the Spirit of God knows God’s thoughts. 12We did not receive the spirit of the world, but we received the Spirit that is from God. We received this Spirit so that we can know all that God has given us. 13When we speak, we do not use words taught to us by the wisdom that men have. We use words taught to us by the Spirit. We use spiritual words to explain spiritual things. 14A person who is not spiritual does not accept the gifts that come from the Spirit of God. That person thinks they are foolish. He cannot understand the Spirit’s gifts, because they can only be judged spiritually. 15But the spiritual person is able to judge all things. Yet 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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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.