Bible Study 1 Corinthians 2
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1 Corinthians 2 · WEB

The Wisdom of God Revealed by the Spirit

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When 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.
13Which things also we speak, 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.
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Summary

When Paul came to Corinth he deliberately refused the dazzle of impressive rhetoric and elegant philosophy — he came in weakness, fear, and trembling, resolved to know nothing among them but Jesus Christ and him crucified, so that their faith would rest on God's power rather than men's wisdom. Yet there is a true wisdom — God's hidden, foreordained wisdom that no ruler of this age has grasped (or they would not have crucified the Lord of glory). What no eye has seen God has revealed to us through the Spirit, who alone knows the depths of God. The natural person cannot accept the things of the Spirit because they are spiritually discerned; but believers, having received the Spirit, have the mind of Christ.

Themes

  • Gospel preaching that depends on power, not eloquence
  • A hidden, mature wisdom of God
  • The Spirit revealing what no human could discover
  • Two kinds of hearer: natural and spiritual
  • Believers given the mind of Christ

Key verses

  • 1 Corinthians 2:10 — “God revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.”
  • 1 Corinthians 2:16 — “We have Christ's mind.”
  • 1 Corinthians 2:2 — “I determined not to know anything among you, except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.”
  • 1 Corinthians 2:9 — “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.”

Context & background

Written c. AD 54-55 from Ephesus. Paul's arrival in Corinth (Acts 18) followed his Areopagus speech in Athens (Acts 17), where he had attempted some philosophical engagement; his resolve in v. 2 may reflect a deliberate adjustment of approach for the Greco-Roman city most addicted to fashionable wisdom. The quotation in v. 9 — "what no eye has seen..." — paraphrases Isaiah 64:4 (combined with elements from 65:17 and possibly Jeremiah 3:16). The "rulers of this age" (v. 8) may refer to political authorities (Pilate, Herod, Caiaphas, who literally crucified Jesus) and/or to the spiritual powers behind them (cf. Ephesians 6:12); both readings have ancient support. The "natural" person (v. 14, Greek *psychikos*) is the merely soul-life person, lacking the Spirit. To have "the mind of Christ" (v. 16) — quoting Isaiah 40:13 — is the breathtaking claim that the Spirit gives believers Christ's way of perceiving reality.

Cross-references

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  1. Observe

    How does Paul describe the manner in which he came to Corinth, according to 1 Corinthians 2:1-4?

  2. Observe

    What does Paul say in 1 Corinthians 2:9, quoting from the prophet Isaiah?

  3. Interpret

    Paul says he "determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified" (v. 2). What is the theological reason he gives for this deliberate choice in verse 5?

  4. Interpret

    What is the difference between the "natural person" (v. 14) and the "spiritual person" (v. 15), and why can the natural person not receive the things of the Spirit?

  5. Apply

    Paul avoided relying on impressive rhetoric "so that your faith wouldn't stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God" (v. 5). How might a modern Christian communicator or church apply this principle without falling into anti-intellectualism?

  6. Apply

    Paul claims believers have "the mind of Christ" (v. 16). What practical difference should that make in how a Christian approaches a difficult ethical decision or confusing life situation?

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