1 Corinthians 2
2
My Message: Jesus Christ on the Cross
1Dear brothers and sisters, when I came to you, I told you the secret truth of God. But I did not use fancy words or great wisdom. 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 human wisdom.
God’s Wisdom
6We teach wisdom to people who are mature, but the wisdom we teach is not from this world. It is not the wisdom of the rulers of this world, who are losing their power. 7But we speak God’s secret wisdom that has been hidden from everyone until now. God planned this wisdom for our glory. He planned it before the world began. 8None of the rulers of this world understood this wisdom. If they had understood it, they would not have killed our great and glorious Lord on a cross. 9But as the Scriptures say,
“No one has ever seen,
no one has ever heard,
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. The Spirit even knows the deep secrets of God. 11It is like this: No one knows the thoughts that another person has. Only the person’s spirit that lives inside knows those thoughts. It is the same with God. No one knows God’s thoughts except God’s Spirit. 12We received the Spirit that is from God, not the spirit of the world. We received God’s Spirit so that we can know all that God has given us.
13When we say this, we don’t use words taught to us by human wisdom. We use words taught to us by the Spirit. We use the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. 14People who do not have God’s Spirit do not accept the things that come from his Spirit. They think these things are foolish. They cannot understand them, because they can only be understood with the Spirit’s help. 15We who have the Spirit are able to make judgments about all these things. But anyone without the Spirit is not able to make proper judgments about us. 16As the Scriptures say,
“Who can know what is on the Lord’s mind?
Who is able to give him advice?” Isaiah 40:13
But we have been given Christ’s way of thinking.
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
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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