1 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence of speech or wisdom as I proclaimed hidden truths about God. 2 For I decided to know nothing when I was among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom. Instead, they were with the demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not be in the wisdom of humans, but in the power of God. 6 Now we do speak wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this world, or of the rulers of this age, who are passing away. 7 Instead, we speak God's wisdom in hidden truth, the hidden wisdom that God predestined before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written, “Things that no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has imagined, the things that God has prepared for those who love him.” 10 These are the things that God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of the person in him? So also, no one knows the deep things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 But we did not receive the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we might know the things freely given to us by God. 13 We speak about these things in words that man's wisdom cannot teach, but which the Spirit teaches us. The Spirit interprets spiritual words with spiritual wisdom. 14 The unspiritual person does not receive the things that belong to the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. He cannot know them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The one who is spiritual judges all things, but he is not subject to the judgment of others. 16 “For who can know the mind of the Lord, that he can instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians · Unlocked Literal Bible
1 Corinthians 2 Unlocked Literal Bible
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Cross references (16)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 1 Corinthians 1:17; 1 Corinthians 2:13; 1 Corinthians 2:4; Exodus 4:10; Romans 16:18
- 2 Galatians 6:14; 1 Corinthians 1:22–25; Philippians 3:8–10; John 17:3; Galatians 3:1
- 3 2 Corinthians 13:4; 1 Corinthians 4:10–13; 2 Corinthians 12:5–10; 2 Corinthians 13:9; Galatians 4:13–14
- 4 1 Corinthians 4:20; 1 Thessalonians 1:5; 1 Corinthians 1:17; 1 Corinthians 2:1; Romans 15:19
- 5 2 Corinthians 4:7; 2 Corinthians 12:9; 2 Corinthians 6:7; 1 Corinthians 1:17; 1 Corinthians 3:6
- 6 Hebrews 5:14; James 3:15; 2 Corinthians 4:4; 1 Corinthians 2:8; 1 Corinthians 1:28
- 7 Colossians 1:26–27; 2 Peter 1:3; Romans 16:25–26; Matthew 11:25; Psalm 78:2
- 8 Acts 13:27; James 2:1; Acts 7:2; 1 Corinthians 2:6; Psalm 24:7–10
- 9 Isaiah 64:4; Psalm 31:19; James 1:12; Romans 8:28; Isaiah 65:17
- 10 John 14:26; Ephesians 3:5; Luke 10:21; John 16:13; Ephesians 3:3
- 11 Proverbs 20:27; 1 Corinthians 2:10; Romans 11:33–34; Jeremiah 17:9; Proverbs 14:10
- 12 1 John 2:27; Romans 8:5–6; 1 John 2:20; 1 John 5:19–20; 1 John 4:4–5
- 13 1 Corinthians 2:14; 1 Corinthians 2:4; 1 Corinthians 1:17; 1 Corinthians 2:1; 1 Corinthians 12:1–3
- 14 1 Corinthians 1:18; Romans 8:5–8; Matthew 13:11–17; 2 Corinthians 4:4–6; 1 John 2:27
- 15 1 Thessalonians 5:21; Hebrews 5:14; Proverbs 28:5; 1 John 4:1; 1 Corinthians 14:37
- 16 Isaiah 40:13–14; Romans 11:34; John 16:13–16; John 15:15; Job 15:8
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
Nothing was ever more prepared for combat than the spirit of Paul; or rather, I should say, not his spirit, (for he was not himself the inventor of these things,) but, nothing was ever equal to the grace working within him, which overcometh all things.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 12 (1889)
For [the Scripture] saith, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which He hath prepared for them that wait for Him." Chapter XXXV — Immense is this reward.
… forth the material, animal, and spiritual, saying in one place, "As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy;" and in another place, "But the animal man receiveth not the things of the Spirit;" and again: "He that is spiritual judgeth all things." And this, "The animal man receiveth not the things of the Spirit," they affirm to …
… things which are before," we were seeking between ourselves in the presence of the Truth, which Thou art, of what nature the eternal life of the saints would be, which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man. But yet we opened wide the mouth of our heart, after those supernal streams of …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
… in mentioning this, he hath mentioned also the resurrection of our bodies, and the manifestation of His miracles here, and our partaking of His kingdom, and the good things, which "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man." For all these things He bestowed on us by that gift.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)