1 Corinthians 2

1 And I, brothers, when I came to you, came not in eminence of speech or of wisdom proclaiming the testimony of God to you.

And as for myself, brethren, when I came to you, it was not with surpassing power of eloquence or earthly wisdom that I came, announcing to you that which God had commanded me to bear witness to.

2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, even this crucified man.

For I determined to be utterly ignorant, when among you, of everything except of Jesus Christ, and of Him as having been crucified.

3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.

And so far as I myself was concerned, I came to you in conscious feebleness and in fear and in deep anxiety.

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

And my language and the Message that I proclaimed were not adorned with persuasive words of earthly wisdom, but depended upon truths which the Spirit taught and mightily carried home;

5 so that your faith would not be in wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

so that your trust might rest not on the wisdom of man but on the power of God.

6 But we speak wisdom among the fully developed, but not a wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who come to nothing. (aiōn g165)

Yet when we are among mature believers we do speak words of wisdom; a wisdom not belonging, however, to the present age nor to the leaders of the present age who are soon to pass away. (aiōn g165)

7 But we speak a wisdom of God in a hidden mystery, which God predestined before the ages for our glory, (aiōn g165)

But in dealing with truths hitherto kept secret we speak of God's wisdom--that hidden wisdom which, before the world began, God pre-destined, so that it should result in glory to us; (aiōn g165)

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

a wisdom which not one of the leaders of the present age possesses, for if they had possessed it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory. (aiōn g165)

9 But as it is written, What an eye has not seen, and an ear has not heard, and have not arisen in a heart of a man, are things that God prepared for those who love him.

But--to use the words of Scripture--we speak of things which eye has not seen nor ear heard, and which have never entered the heart of man: all that God has in readiness for them that love Him.

10 But God disclosed it to us through his Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

For us, however, God has drawn aside the veil through the teaching of the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, including the depths of the divine nature.

11 For what man knows the things of the man, except the spirit of the man in him? And so nobody knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.

For, among human beings, who knows a man's inner thoughts except the man's own spirit within him? In the same way, also, only God's Spirit is acquainted with God's inner thoughts.

12 But we did not receive the spirit of the world, but the Spirit from God, so that we might know the things graciously given to us by God.

But we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which comes forth from God, that we may know the blessings that have been so freely given to us by God.

13 Which things also we speak, not in things learned from mankind, in words of wisdom, but in things learned from the Holy Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things.

Of these we speak--not in language which man's wisdom teaches us, but in that which the Spirit teaches--adapting, as we do, spiritual words to spiritual truths.

14 Now the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he is unable to understand because they are evaluated spiritually.

The unspiritual man rejects the things of the Spirit of God, and cannot attain to the knowledge of them, because they are spiritually judged.

15 But truly the spiritual man evaluates all things, but he himself is evaluated by none.

But the spiritual man judges of everything, although he is himself judged by no one.

16 For who has known the mind of the Lord that he will stand with him? But we have the mind of Christ.

For who has penetrated the mind of the Lord, and will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.