1 Corinthians 2:1-16
2 And so I, when I came to YOU, brothers, did not come with an extravagance* of speech+ or of wisdom declaring the sacred secret+ of God to YOU.
2 For I decided not to know anything among YOU except Jesus Christ,+ and him impaled.
3 And I came to YOU in weakness and in fear and with much trembling;+
4 and my speech and what I preached were not with persuasive words of wisdom but with a demonstration of spirit and power,+
5 that YOUR faith might be, not in men’s wisdom,+ but in God’s power.+
6 Now we speak wisdom among those who are mature,*+ but not the wisdom+ of this system of things nor that of the rulers of this system of things,*+ who are to come to nothing.+
7 But we speak God’s wisdom in a sacred secret,+ the hidden wisdom, which God foreordained before the systems+ of things* for our glory.
8 This [wisdom] not one of the rulers+ of this system of things came to know,+ for if they had known [it] they would not have impaled+ the glorious Lord.
9 But just as it is written: “Eye has not seen and ear has not heard, neither have there been conceived in the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love him.”+
10 For it is to us God has revealed+ them through his spirit,+ for the spirit+ searches into all things, even the deep+ things of God.
11 For who among men knows the things of a man except the spirit+ of man that is in him? So, too, no one has come to know the things of God, except the spirit+ of God.
12 Now we received, not the spirit+ of the world, but the spirit+ which is from God, that we might know the things that have been kindly given us by God.+
13 These things we also speak, not with words taught by human wisdom,+ but with those taught by [the] spirit,+ as we combine spiritual [matters] with spiritual [words].*+
14 But a physical* man does not receive the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot get to know [them],+ because they are examined spiritually.
15 However, the spiritual+ man* examines indeed all things, but he himself is not examined+ by any man.
16 For “who has come to know the mind of Jehovah,*+ that he may instruct him?”+ But we do have the mind+ of Christ.*
Footnotes
^ Or, “superiority.”
^ Or, “full grown.” Lit., “perfect (ones).”
^ Or, “orders of things.” Gr., ai·oʹnon; Lat., saeʹcu·la; J22(Heb.), ha·ʽoh·la·mimʹ, “the orders of things.”
^ Or, “as we match spiritual [matters] to spiritual [men].”
^ Or, “soulical.” Gr., psy·khi·kosʹ; Lat., a·ni·maʹlis.
^ Lit., “the spiritual (one).” Gr., ho . . . pneu·ma·ti·kosʹ; Vgc(Lat.), spi·ri·tu·aʹlis.
^ See App 1D.
^ “Christ,” P46אACVgSypJ17,18,22; BD*It, “Lord.”
