1CO 2
2
Paul's Message and Preaching
1 And when I came to you, fellow believers, I deliberately chose not to arrive with impressive oratory skills or philosophical sophistication as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God's redemptive plan.
2 For I had determined in advance that while among you I would focus my attention entirely on Jesus Christ, specifically on the reality of His crucifixion, and nothing else.
3 Moreover, I came to you in a state of physical weakness, emotional fear, and considerable apprehension.
4 My speaking and my preaching did not rely upon persuasive arguments drawn from human wisdom, but instead demonstrated the Spirit's presence and power working through me.
5 I took this approach so that your faith would rest firmly on the power of God rather than on human wisdom and intellectual argumentation.
The Wisdom of God
6 Yet when we speak to believers who are spiritually mature, we do communicate wisdom, though it is a wisdom that does not originate from this present age, nor from the rulers of this age who are being brought to nothing.
7 Rather, we proclaim God's wisdom that has been hidden as a mystery, the wisdom that God predetermined before the ages began, intending it for our ultimate glory.
8 None of the rulers of this present age understood this wisdom. If they had comprehended it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 But just as Scripture says:
"Things which no human eye has ever seen
and no human ear has ever heard,
and which have never even entered into human imagination,
all these things God has prepared for those who love Him."*
10 For God has unveiled these truths to us through the working of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit searches and examines all things, even the profound depths of God's own nature.
11 For who among human beings truly comprehends the inner thoughts and nature of another person except that person's own spirit dwelling within? In the same way, no one can truly know the thoughts and nature of God except the Spirit of God Himself.
12 Now we have not received the spirit that characterises this fallen world system, but rather we have received the Spirit who comes from God, enabling us to understand and appreciate the things that God has graciously given to us.
13 These are the very things we speak about, not using words taught by human wisdom and philosophy, but using words taught by the Spirit, as we explain spiritual realities through Spirit-given language.
14 But the person who remains in his natural, unregenerate state does not welcome or accept the things that belong to the Spirit of God, because such things appear as foolishness to him. He lacks the capacity to understand these truths because spiritual realities require spiritual discernment.
15 By contrast, the person who is spiritual evaluates and assesses all things correctly, yet that spiritual person is not subject to accurate judgment or evaluation by unspiritual or natural people.
16 For Scripture asks, "Who has come to know the mind of the Lord? Who could presume to instruct Him?"* Yet we who believe possess the mind of Christ and share His perspective.
Notes
9 Quoted from Is. 64:4
16 Quoted from Is. 40:13
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1CO 2: AFINT
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Copyright © 2026 Michael Adeyemi Adegbola. This Scripture text is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).
