1 Corinthians 2
- Who wrote it
- Paul
- Who it was for
- The church in Corinth
- What was happening
- Paul's weakness, God's hidden wisdom, and the Spirit who reveals it
What’s happening
Paul reminds the Corinthians how he came to them: not with lofty speech or wisdom, but with the testimony of God, "for I determined not to know anything among you, except Jesus Christ, and him crucified." He came in weakness, fear, and much trembling, so that their faith would rest on God's power and not on human wisdom. Yet among the mature he does speak wisdom, a hidden wisdom of God decreed before the ages, which none of the rulers of this age understood, "for had they known it, they wouldn't have crucified the Lord of glory." Quoting Scripture, Paul says what no eye has seen or ear heard is what God has prepared for those who love him, and God has revealed it through the Spirit, who searches even the depths of God. Just as only a person's own spirit knows what is in them, only the Spirit of God knows God's thoughts. Paul speaks words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things in spiritual words. The natural person does not receive the things of God's Spirit, but the spiritual person discerns all things, "for who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct him? But we have Christ's mind."
Why the setting matters
Paul's refusal to impress would have stood out in Corinth, where traveling speakers were judged by their polish and Paul had been criticized for being unimpressive (2 Corinthians 10:10). "The rulers of this age" probably means the human authorities who crucified Jesus, and possibly the powers behind them; Paul does not say which. The words "natural" (psychikos) and "spiritual" (pneumatikos) probably echo the Corinthians' own boasting about being spiritual. For Paul, being spiritual is not an elite status but having received the Spirit by grace (2:12), and the "mature" (teleioi) are not a special class but those who grasp the cross. The quotation in 2:9 is a combination of Isaiah texts (Isaiah 64:4 and 65:17), which some early readers also found in other writings. Paul's "mind of Christ" is not a claim to secret knowledge, but to receive what the Spirit has made known.
Who’s in this chapter
Paul
Came in weakness, preaching Christ crucified.
Jesus
The crucified Lord of glory.
The believers in Corinth
Told that their faith rests on God's power.
Talk it through
- Paul chose not to impress the Corinthians. What might he have gained or lost by choosing a different style?
- Paul says the rulers of the age crucified "the Lord of glory" without understanding. What does that say about how the world measures wisdom?
- What does Paul mean by a "natural" person and a "spiritual" person, and why might the Corinthians have enjoyed those words?
- "We have the mind of Christ." How does the setting keep that from being a boast?
Read 1 Corinthians 2
World English Bible
1When I came to you, brothers, I didn’t come with excellence of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. 2For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4My speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5that your faith wouldn’t stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
6We speak wisdom, however, among those who are full grown, yet a wisdom not of this world nor of the rulers of this world who are coming to nothing. 7But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom that has been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds for our glory, 8which none of the rulers of this world has known. For had they known it, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory. 9But as it is written,
“Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear, which didn’t enter into the heart of man, these God has prepared for those who love him.”
10But to us, God revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11For who among men knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God, except God’s Spirit. 12But 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. 13We also speak these things, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. 14Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and he can’t know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15But he who is spiritual discerns all things, and he himself is judged by no one. 16“For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct him?” But we have Christ’s mind.
Text: World English Bible, Public domain. About our sources