1 CORINTHIANS Chapter 2 (GNB)

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2:1   When I came to you, my friends, to preach God's secret truth, I did not use big words and great learning.

2:2   For while I was with you, I made up my mind to forget everything except Jesus Christ and especially his death on the cross.

2:3   So when I came to you, I was weak and trembled all over with fear,

2:4   and my teaching and message were not delivered with skillful words of human wisdom, but with convincing proof of the power of God's Spirit.

2:5   Your faith, then, does not rest on human wisdom but on God's power.

2:6   Yet I do proclaim a message of wisdom to those who are spiritually mature. But it is not the wisdom that belongs to this world or to the powers that rule this world---powers that are losing their power.

2:7   The wisdom I proclaim is God's secret wisdom, which is hidden from human beings, but which he had already chosen for our glory even before the world was made.

2:8   None of the rulers of this world knew this wisdom. If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

2:9   However, as the scripture says, "What no one ever saw or heard, what no one ever thought could happen, is the very thing God prepared for those who love him."

2:10   But it was to us that God made known his secret by means of his Spirit. The Spirit searches everything, even the hidden depths of God's purposes.

2:11   It is only our own spirit within us that knows all about us; in the same way, only God's Spirit knows all about God.

2:12   We have not received this world's spirit; instead, we have received the Spirit sent by God, so that we may know all that God has given us.

2:13   So then, we do not speak in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, as we explain spiritual truths to those who have the Spirit.

2:14   Whoever does not have the Spirit cannot receive the gifts that come from God's Spirit. Such a person really does not understand them, and they seem to be nonsense, because their value can be judged only on a spiritual basis.

2:15   Whoever has the Spirit, however, is able to judge the value of everything, but no one is able to judge him.

2:16   As the scripture says, "Who knows the mind of the Lord? Who is able to give him advice?" We, however, have the mind of Christ.

CHAPTER ENDS