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 eloquence or wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about 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 resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ 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.
I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.
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 message and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s 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.
so that your faith would not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.
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)
Among the mature, however, we speak a message of wisdom—but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. (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)
No, we speak of the mysterious and hidden wisdom of God, which He destined for our glory before time began. (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)
None of the rulers of this age understood it. For if they had, 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.
Rather, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined, what 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 God has revealed it to us by the Spirit. 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 who among men knows the thoughts of man except his own spirit within him? So too, no one knows the thoughts 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.
We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.
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 this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.
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].
The natural man does not accept the things that come from 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.
The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment.
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, so as to instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
