1 Corinthians 2

1 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.

For my own part, friends, when I came to you, it was with no display of eloquence or philosophy that I came to tell the hidden purpose of God;

2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

for I had determined that, while with you, I would forget everything except Jesus Christ – and him crucified!

3 I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.

Indeed, when I came among you, I was weak, and full of fears, and in great anxiety.

4 My message and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,

My message and my proclamation were not delivered in the persuasive language of philosophy, but were accompanied by the manifestation of spiritual power,

5 so that your faith would not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.

so that your faith should be based, not on the human wisdom, but on the power of God.

6 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)

Yet there is a philosophy that we teach to those whose faith is matured, but it is not the philosophy of today, or of the leaders of today – whose downfall is at hand. (aiōn g165)

7 No, we speak of the mysterious and hidden wisdom of God, which He destined for our glory before time began. (aiōn g165)

No, it is a divine philosophy that we teach, one concerned with the hidden purpose of God – that long hidden philosophy which God, before time began, destined for our glory. (aiōn g165)

8 None of the rulers of this age understood it. For if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (aiōn g165)

This philosophy is clearly not known to any of the leaders of today, since, had they known it, they would never have crucified our glorious Lord! (aiōn g165)

9 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.”

It is what scripture speaks of as – ‘What eye never saw, nor ear ever heard, what never entered people’s minds – all these things God has prepared for those who love him.’

10 But God has revealed it to us by the Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

Yet to us God revealed it through his Spirit; for the Spirit fathoms all things, even the inmost depths of God’s being.

11 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.

For what person is there who knows what a person is, except the person’s own spirit within them? So, also, no one comprehends what God is, except the Spirit of God.

12 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.

And as for us, it is not the spirit of the world that we have received, but the Spirit that comes from God, so that we may realize the blessings given to us by him.

13 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.

And we speak of these gifts, not in language taught by human philosophy, but in language taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things in spiritual words.

14 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.

The merely intellectual person rejects the teaching of the Spirit of God; for to them it is mere folly; they cannot grasp it, because it is to be understood only by spiritual insight.

15 The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment.

But the person with spiritual insight is able to understand everything, although they themselves are understood by no one.

16 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

For who has so comprehended the mind of the Lord as to be able to instruct him? We, however, have the mind of Christ.