2When I came to you, brothers and sisters, announcing the mystery^E of God to you, I did not come with brilliance^c of speech^d or wisdom. ²I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.^e ³I came to you in weakness,^f in fear,^g and in much trembling.^h ⁴My speechⁱ and my preaching were not with persuasive^j words of wisdom^F but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, ⁵so that your faith might not be based on human wisdom but on God’s power.^k

SPIRITUAL WISDOM

⁶We do, however, speak a wisdom among the mature,^l but not a wisdom of this age, or of the rulers^m of this age, who are coming to nothing.ⁿ ⁷On the contrary, we speak God’s hidden wisdom in a mystery, a wisdom God predestined^o before the ages for our glory.^p ⁸None of the rulers of this age knew this wisdom, because if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.^q ⁹But as it is written,

What no eye has seen, no ear has heard,

and no human heart has conceived—

God has prepared these things for those who love him.^G^r

¹⁰Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, since the Spirit searches everything,^s even the depths of God.^t ¹¹For who knows a person’s thoughts^H except his spirit^u within him? In the same way, no one knows^v the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹²Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God. ¹³We also speak these things, not in words^w taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.^A ¹⁴But the person without the Spirit^B does not receive what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually. ¹⁵The spiritual person, however, can evaluate^D everything, and yet he himself cannot be evaluated by anyone. ¹⁶For

who has known the Lord’s mind,

that he may instruct him?^E^x

But we have the mind of Christ.^y

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Footnotes

EOther read testimony
FOther read human wisdom
HOr things
AOr things with spiritual words
B natural person
DOr judge, or discern

Cross references

c 1Tm 2:2
d Col 4:6
e 1Co 1:23–24; Gl 6:14
f 2Co 11:30
g Rv 11:11
h Php 2:12
i Mt 12:37
j Php 1:25
k Mk 5:30; Lk 1:35; 6:19; Ac 19:11; 2Co 13:4; 2Tm 1:7; Rv 11:17
l Mt 5:48
m Lk 12:58
n Heb 2:14
o Eph 1:5
p Lk 24:26; 1Pt 5:1,4
q Ps 24:7
G Is 52:15; 64:4
r Is 52:15; 64:4; Lk 10:27; 1Jn 4:20
s Ps 17:3; Jn 14:26
t Rm 8:39; 11:33; Eph 3:18
u Rm 1:9
v 1Jn 4:8
w Mt 12:37
E Is 40:13
x Is 40:13
y Col 2:2