1 Corinthians 2

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

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, and him crucified.

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

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

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

4 My speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of 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 that your faith would not rest on human wisdom, but on the power of God.

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

6 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)

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 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)

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 has understood. For had they known it, 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, 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.

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 to us God revealed it through the 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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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

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? Who will instruct 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.