⁴ My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words,^(A) but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,^{(B) 5} so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.^(C)

God’s Wisdom Revealed by the Spirit

⁶ We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature,^(D) but not the wisdom of this age^(E) or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.^{(F) 7} No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery^(G) that has been hidden^(H) and that God destined for our glory before time began. ⁸ None of the rulers of this age^(I) understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.^{(J) 9} However, as it is written:

¹⁰ these are the things God has revealed^(L) to us by his Spirit.^(M)

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. ¹¹ For who knows a person’s thoughts^(N) except their own spirit^(O) 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^(P) of the world,^(Q) 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^(R) but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.^{[b] 14} The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God^(S) but considers them foolishness,^(T) and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. ¹⁵ The person with the Spirit^(U) makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, ¹⁶ for,

But we have the mind of Christ.^(W)

⁶ For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”^[a](A) made his light shine in our hearts^(B) to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.^(C)

⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay^(D) to show that this all-surpassing power is from God^(E) and not from us. ⁸ We are hard pressed on every side,^(F) but not crushed; perplexed,^(G) but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted,^(H) but not abandoned;^(I) struck down, but not destroyed.^{(J) 10} We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus,^(K) so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.^{(L) 11} For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake,^(M) so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.