1 Corinthians 2

1 My fellow believers, when I came to you, I proclaimed to you the message that God had revealed to me. But I did not proclaim it using eloquent words that would make people think highly of me, nor did I argue in a way that unbelievers would think was very wise.

When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with superiority of speech or wisdom, proclaiming to you the mystery of God.

2 I did that because I decided that I would speak only about Jesus Christ. Specifically, I told you [what he accomplished for us when] he was killed by being nailed {[when they] killed him by nailing him} to a cross.

For I determined not to know anything among you, except Jesus (the) Messiah, and him crucified.

3 Furthermore, when I was with you, I felt that I was not adequate [to do what Christ wanted me to do]. I was afraid [that I would not be able to do it], and because of that I was trembling very much.

When I was with you, I was weak and afraid and I shook.

4 When I taught you and preached to you, I did not speak words that [unbelievers would consider] [IRO] wise in order to convince them that my message was true. Instead, [God’s] Spirit showed that it was true by [enabling me to] powerfully [perform miracles].

My speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,

5 [I taught and preached that way] in order that you might believe [my message], not because you heard words that people [considered to be] [IRO] wise, but [because you recognized] God’s power.

that your faith would not rest on human wisdom, but on the power of God.

6 I do teach a message that people who are [spiritually] mature [consider to] be wise. But I do not teach a message that unbelievers [consider to be] wise. I also do not teach a message that unbelieving rulers in the world consider to be wise. [What they think about it does not matter], because [some day] (they will lose their power/not be ruling any more). (aiōn g165)

We speak wisdom, however, among those who are mature, but a wisdom not of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are passing away. (aiōn g165)

7 Instead, I teach about what God planned wisely [long ago]. It is something that people did not know about previously because [God] did not reveal it previously. But God determined before he created the world that he would greatly benefit us by his wise plan. (aiōn g165)

But we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom that has been hidden, which God determined in advance before the ages for our glory, (aiōn g165)

8 None of those who rule this world knew that wise plan. If they had known it, they would not have nailed our wonderful Lord to the cross. (aiōn g165)

which none of the rulers of this age has understood. For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (aiōn g165)

9 But [we believers need to remember these words that a prophet] wrote [in the Scriptures]: Things that no one has ever seen, things that no one ever heard, things that no one ever thought could happen, those are the things that God has prepared for those who love him.

But as it is written, No eye has seen, and no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined the things which God has prepared for those who love him.

10 God has caused his Spirit to reveal those things to us [(inc)] believers. His Spirit can do that because he knows thoroughly the meaning of all things. He even knows the things about God that are very difficult to understand.

But to us God revealed it through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

11 Only a person himself (OR, a person’s spirit) knows what he is thinking. Similarly, only God’s Spirit knows what God is thinking.

For what person knows the things of a person except the spirit of the person that is in him? So also, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.

12 It was not the ideas that unbelievers teach that we accepted. Instead, it was the Spirit who came from God that we received, in order that we might know the things that God has freely done for us.

But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that were freely given to us by God.

13 Those are the things that I tell you about. As I do that, I do not tell you things that someone [whom others thought] was [IRO] wise taught me. Instead, I tell you truths that [God’s] Spirit taught [me], and I explain those spiritual truths to people whose thinking is guided by God’s Spirit (OR, I teach spiritual [truths to] spiritual [people]).

And we speak of these things, not with words taught by human wisdom, but with those taught by the Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things.

14 Those who are unbelievers reject the truths that [God’s] Spirit teaches us [(inc)], because they [consider those truths to be] foolish. They cannot understand them, because it is God’s Spirit who enables us to evaluate those truths correctly, [and those people do not have God’s Spirit].

Now the natural person does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

15 We who have God’s Spirit can judge correctly the [value of] all truths [that the Spirit reveals], but [unbelievers] cannot evaluate us correctly.

But he who is spiritual discerns all things, and he himself is judged by no one.

16 As [one of our prophets wrote: ] No human [RHQ] has known what the Lord is thinking. No human [RHQ] is able to instruct him. But we believers are able to think about things [MTY] in the way that Christ thinks about them.

For, "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Who will instruct him?" But we have the mind of Messiah.