1Cor 2 | ISV | STEP | Preaching in the Power of God When I came to you, brothers, I didn't come and tell you about God's secret with rhetorical language or wisdom.

1 Corinthians 2

1 Preaching in the Power of GodWhen I came to you, brothers, I didn't come and tell you about God's secret ^{▼▼Other mss. read testimony} with rhetorical language or wisdom.1Cor 1:4, 6, 13, 17; 2Cor 10:10; 11:6 2 For while I was with you I resolved to know nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified.Gal 6:14; Phil 3:8 3 It was in weakness, fear, and great trembling that I came to you.Acts 18:1, 6, 12; 2Cor 4:7; 11:30; Gal 4:13 4 My message and my preaching were not accompanied by clever words of wisdom, but by a display of the Spirit's power,Rom 15:19; 1Cor 1:17; 2:1; 1Thes 1:5; 2Pet 1:16 5 so that your faith would not be based on human wisdom but on God's power.2Cor 4:7; 6:7

6 God's Spirit Reveals EverythingHowever, when we are among mature people, we do speak a message of ^{▼▼The Gk. lacks a message of} wisdom, but not the wisdom of this world or of the rulers of this world, who are passing off the scene.1Cor 1:20, 28; 14:20; 2Cor 1:12; Eph 4:13; Phil 3:15; Heb 5:14; James 3:15 7 Instead, we speak about God's secret wisdom that has been hidden, which God destined for our glory before the world began. ^{▼▼The Gk. lacks began}Rom 16:25-26; Eph 3:5, 9; Col 1:26; 2Tim 1:9 8 None of the rulers of this world understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory.Matt 11:25; Luke 23:34; John 7:48; 16:3; Acts 3:17; 13:27; 2Cor 3:14 9 But as it is written,Isa 64:4

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard,

and no mind has imagined

the things that God has prepared

for those who love him.” ^{▼▼Isa 64:4}

10 But ^{▼▼Other mss. read For} God has revealed those things to us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the deep things of God.Matt 13:11; 16:17; John 14:26; 16:13; 1John 2:27

11 Is there anyone who can understand his own thoughts except by his own inner spirit? In the same way, no one can know the thoughts of God except God's Spirit.Prov 20:27; 27:19; Jer 17:9; Rom 11:33-34 12 Now, we have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we can understand the things that were freely given to us by God.Rom 8:15 13 We don't speak about these things in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words ^{▼▼Lit. in things} taught by the Spirit, as we explain spiritual things to spiritual people. ^{▼▼Or in spiritual words}1Cor 1:4, 17; 2Pet 1:16 14 A person who isn't spiritual doesn't accept the things of God's Spirit, for they are nonsense to him. He can't understand them because they are spiritually evaluated.Matt 16:23; Rom 8:5-7; 1Cor 1:18, 23; Jude 1:19 15 The spiritual person evaluates everything but is subject to no one else's evaluation.Prov 28:5; 1Thes 5:21; 1John 4:1 16 ForJob 15:8; Isa 40:13; Jer 23:18; John 15:15; Rom 11:34

“Who has known the mind of the Lord

so that he can advise him?” ^{▼▼Isa 40:13}

However, we have the mind of Christ.