Paul’s Proclamation

1When I came to you, brothers and sisters, announcing the mysteryA of God to you, I did not come with brilliancea of speechb or wisdom. 2I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.a 3I came to you in weakness,a in fear,b and in much trembling.c 4My speecha and my preaching were not with persuasiveb words of wisdomA but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5so that your faith might not be based on human wisdom but on God’s power.a

Spiritual Wisdom

6We do, however, speak a wisdom among the mature,a but not a wisdom of this age, or of the rulersb of this age, who are coming to nothing.c 7On the contrary, we speak God’s hidden wisdom in a mystery, a wisdom God predestineda before the ages for our glory.b 8None of the rulers of this age knew this wisdom, because if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.a 9But as it is written,

What no eye has seen, no ear has heard,

and no human heart has conceived —

God has prepared these things for those who love him.a b

10Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, since the Spirit searches everything,a even the depths of God.b 11For who knows a person’s thoughtsA except his spirita within him? In the same way, no one knowsb the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God. 13We also speak these things, not in wordsa taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.A 14But the person without the SpiritA does not receive what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluatedB spiritually. 15The spiritual person, however, can evaluateA everything, and yet he himself cannot be evaluated by anyone. 16For

who has known the Lord’s mind,

that he may instruct him?a b

But we have the mind of Christ.c