1 Corinthians 2: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

Paul reminds the Corinthians that when he first came to them he did not use polished speech or clever arguments; he spoke only about Jesus Christ and his death on the cross, so their trust would rest on God's power rather than on human skill. He then says that there is a wisdom he does speak among those who are mature, a wisdom of God that was hidden and that the rulers of this age did not recognize. That wisdom is made known by God's Spirit, who alone knows God's thoughts, and it is received by those who have the Spirit rather than by those who judge only by human ability.

Claim by Claim

1. 2:1
   • Paul came to the Corinthians, whom he calls brethren
   • Paul did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom
   • Paul proclaimed to them the testimony of God
2. 2:2
   • Paul decided to know nothing among them except Jesus Christ
   • Paul decided to know Jesus Christ as crucified
3. 2:3
   • Paul was with them in weakness
   • Paul was with them in fear
   • Paul was with them in much trembling
4. 2:4
   • Paul's speech and his preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom
   • Paul's speech and his preaching were with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power
5. 2:5
   • The purpose was that their faith should not rest in the wisdom of men
   • The purpose was that their faith should rest in the power of God
6. 2:6
   • Paul and his companions speak wisdom among those who are mature
   • The wisdom they speak is not the wisdom of this age
   • The wisdom they speak is not the wisdom of the rulers of this age
   • The rulers of this age are being brought to nothing
7. 2:7
   • Paul and his companions speak the wisdom of God in a mystery
   • That wisdom has been hidden
   • God ordained that wisdom before the ages
   • God ordained that wisdom for the glory of Paul and those with him
8. 2:8
   • None of the rulers of this age has known that wisdom
   • If the rulers had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory
9. 2:9
   • What follows is written in scripture
   • Eye has not seen the things God has prepared
   • Ear has not heard the things God has prepared
   • The things God has prepared have not entered into the heart of man
   • God has prepared these things for those who love him
10. 2:10
    • God has revealed these things to Paul and those with him
    • God revealed them by his Spirit
    • The Spirit searches all things
    • The Spirit searches the deep things of God
11. 2:11
    • No man knows the things of a man except the spirit of that man which is in him
    • No one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God
12. 2:12
    • Paul and those with him did not receive the spirit of the world
    • Paul and those with him received the Spirit that is from God
    • The purpose was that they might know the things freely given to them by God
13. 2:13
    • Paul and his companions speak these things
    • They do not speak in words taught by human wisdom
    • They speak in words taught by the Spirit
    • They compare spiritual things with spiritual
14. 2:14
    • The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God
    • The things of the Spirit of God are foolishness to the natural man
    • The natural man is not able to know them
    • The reason he cannot know them is that they are discerned spiritually
15. 2:15
    • The spiritual man judges all things
    • The spiritual man is himself judged by no one
16. 2:16
    • No one has known the mind of the Lord
    • No one is able to instruct the Lord
    • Paul and those with him have the mind of Christ

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

2:1

"Brethren" translates a Greek word for fellow members of a group; it covers a gathering of both men and women, which is why the rendering says "brothers and sisters." "Excellency of speech" points to trained public speaking. In a city like Corinth, traveling speakers were paid, rated and compared on polish and delivery, much as performers are; Paul is saying he did not compete on those terms. A note on the text itself: where most manuscripts read "testimony of God," some early ones read "mystery of God," and translators have to choose.

2:2

Crucifixion was a Roman public execution, used on slaves, rebels and non-citizens, and designed to humiliate as much as to kill. To Paul's first readers the phrase carried disgrace, not decoration; "him crucified" named the most shameful thing that could be said about a person.

2:3

According to Acts 18, Paul arrived in Corinth alone, after being run out of Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea and getting a thin response in Athens. "Fear and much trembling" was a common phrase for someone badly out of their depth.

2:4

"Demonstration" translates a word borrowed from formal speech and logic, where it meant a proof that compels agreement. Paul is not rejecting proof; he is contrasting two kinds of it, one resting on a speaker's skill and one on what the Spirit and God's power actually did.

2:5

"Faith" means trusting someone. Here it means trusting God.

2:6

"Perfect" in 1611 English meant complete or full-grown, and the Greek word behind it means mature, an adult rather than a child. It does not mean flawless. "This world" here translates a word meaning age or era, a stretch of time rather than the planet. "Princes" translates a word for those holding authority; Paul's readers could hear it as human officials, as unseen spiritual powers, or as both, and the letter does not settle the question.

2:7

"Mystery" did not mean a puzzle nobody can solve. In ordinary Greek it meant a secret deliberately kept, then disclosed to those let in on it. "Before the world" is literally "before the ages," that is, before time as we count it began.

2:8

"Lord of glory" is a Hebrew-style way of saying "the glorious Lord," using a noun where English would use an adjective. The "princes" are the same rulers of verse 6, and the ambiguity there carries over here.

2:9

"As it is written" normally introduces a quotation from the Jewish Scriptures, but these exact words are not found in any text we have. The closest wording is in Isaiah, chapters 64 and 65; Paul may be quoting loosely, combining passages, or drawing on a version now lost. In Hebrew usage the "heart" is the seat of thought and decision, not of feeling, so "entered into the heart" means occurred to the mind.

2:10

"Searcheth" translates a verb meaning to explore or fathom something thoroughly. It does not suggest hunting for information one lacks; the picture is of sounding out depths, as the rest of the verse says.

2:12

Greek was written without capital letters, so "spirit of the world" and "Spirit which is of God" look identical in kind on the page. Whether the first means a rival spirit, a general outlook or attitude, is a decision the translator makes and the original leaves open.

2:13

"Ghost" simply meant spirit in 1611 English, with none of the modern sense of a haunting. The last phrase is genuinely uncertain: the Greek verb can mean compare, combine or interpret, and its object can be read as "spiritual things" or as "spiritual people." So it may mean explaining spiritual truths in spiritual words, matching spiritual truths with one another, or interpreting spiritual things to people who have the Spirit.

2:14

"Natural" translates an adjective built on the Greek word for the soul or life-force that every living person has. It describes someone operating on ordinary human capacity alone, and Paul sets it against "spiritual," a person in whom God's Spirit is at work. It does not mean unsophisticated or uneducated.

2:15

"Judgeth" and "judged" here translate a verb meaning to examine, question or weigh up, the word used for a preliminary legal hearing that sifts evidence rather than for handing down a verdict. Paul's point is about who is in a position to assess whom.

2:16

This quotes Isaiah chapter 40 in its Greek translation, which reads "mind of the Lord" where the Hebrew has "spirit of the Lord." Paul's readers knew the Scriptures mainly in Greek, and the wording lets him move straight to "the mind of Christ."