1 Corinthians 2:1–3:5

PAUL’S PROCLAMATION

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

SPIRITUAL WISDOM

6 We do, however, speak a wisdom among the mature,l but not a wisdom of this age, or of the rulersm of this age, who are coming to nothing.n 7 On the contrary, we speak God’s hidden wisdom in a mystery, a wisdom God predestinedo before the ages for our glory.p 8 None 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 9 But 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

10 Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, since the Spirit searches everything,s even the depths of God.t 11 For who knows a person’s thoughtsH except his spiritu within him? In the same way, no one knowsv the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now 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. 13 We also speak these things, not in wordsw taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.A 14 But the person without the SpiritB 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. 15 The spiritual person, however, can evaluateD everything, and yet he himself cannot be evaluated by anyone. 16 For

who has known the Lord’s mind,

that he may instruct him?E,x

But we have the mind of Christ.y

THE PROBLEM OF IMMATURITY

3 For my part, brothers and sisters, I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as babies in Christ.z 2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, since you were not yet ready for it. In fact, you are still not ready, 3 because you are still worldly. For since there is envyaa and strifeF,ab among you, are you not worldly and behaving like mere humans? 4 For whenever someone says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,”ac are you not acting like mere humans?

THE ROLE OF GOD’S SERVANTS

5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, and each has the role the Lord has given.