1 Corinthians 2
Berean Standard Bible · Compare translations · AD 54 – AD 55 · The early church · Tap a verse to copy, share or highlight ·
16 verses · 352 words · ~2 min read · ~2 min listen
Paulʼs Message by the Spiritʼs Power
1When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4My message and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spiritʼs power, 5so that your faith would not rest on menʼs wisdom, but on Godʼs power.
Spiritual Wisdom
6Among the mature, however, we speak a message of wisdom—but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7No, we speak of the mysterious and hidden wisdom of God, which He destined for our glory before time began. 8None of the rulers of this age understood it. For if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9Rather, as it is written:
10But God has revealed it to us by the Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11For who among men knows the thoughts of man except his own spirit within him? So too, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.
14The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyoneʼs judgment. 16“For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
Footnotes (4)
- a v7 Or we speak Godʼs wisdom in a mystery
- b v9 Isaiah 64:4
- c v13 Or to spiritual people
- d v16 Isaiah 40:13(see also LXX)
Study notes on this chapter · 1
What no eye has seen
Paul introduces the wisdom of the Spirit with 'as it is written': what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, God has prepared for those who love him. The wording is closest to Isaiah's words about God acting for those who wait for him; Paul may be combining Isaiah passages.
When: Isaiah, c. 700–540 BC; 1 Corinthians, c. AD 55.
Ways people read this (2)
- A fairly free rendering of Isaiah 64:4, joined with Isaiah 65:16-17.
- Some ancient writers thought Paul was quoting a lost work, though the closest source is Isaiah.
Editorial note by BibleWay. Interpretations vary; dates are approximate scholarly estimates.