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Proclaiming Christ Crucified

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the testimony[a] of God to you with superior speech or wisdom.(A) For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. My speech and my proclamation were made not with persuasive words of wisdom[b] but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power,(B) so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.

The True Wisdom of God

Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are being destroyed.(C) But we speak God’s wisdom, a hidden mystery, which God decreed before the ages for our glory and which none of the rulers of this age understood, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written,

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
    nor the human heart conceived,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—(D)

10 God has revealed to us through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.(E) 11 For what human knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God.(F) 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. 13 And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.[c](G)

14 Those who are unspiritual[d] do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.(H) 15 Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny.

16 “For who has known the mind of the Lord
    so as to instruct him?”

But we have the mind of Christ.(I)

Footnotes

  1. 2.1 Other ancient authorities read mystery
  2. 2.4 Other ancient authorities read the persuasiveness of wisdom
  3. 2.13 Or interpreting spiritual things spiritually or comparing spiritual things with spiritual
  4. 2.14 Or natural

And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom(A) as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.[a] For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.(B) I came to you(C) in weakness(D) with great fear and trembling.(E) My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words,(F) but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,(G) so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.(H)

God’s Wisdom Revealed by the Spirit

We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature,(I) but not the wisdom of this age(J) or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.(K) No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery(L) that has been hidden(M) and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age(N) understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.(O) However, as it is written:

“What no eye has seen,
    what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”[b]
    the things God has prepared for those who love him—(P)

10 these are the things God has revealed(Q) to us by his Spirit.(R)

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts(S) except their own spirit(T) within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit(U) of the world,(V) but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom(W) but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.[c] 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God(X) but considers them foolishness,(Y) and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit(Z) makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for,

“Who has known the mind of the Lord
    so as to instruct him?”[d](AA)

But we have the mind of Christ.(AB)

Footnotes

  1. 1 Corinthians 2:1 Some manuscripts proclaimed to you God’s mystery
  2. 1 Corinthians 2:9 Isaiah 64:4
  3. 1 Corinthians 2:13 Or Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual
  4. 1 Corinthians 2:16 Isaiah 40:13