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1 Corinthians 2 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

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Paul’s Message of Wisdom
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 2:1 - When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters,[fn] I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan.[fn]
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 2:2 - For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 2:3 - I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 2:4 - And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 2:5 - I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 2:6 - Yet when I am among mature believers, I do speak with words of wisdom, but not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers of this world, who are soon forgotten.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 2:7 - No, the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God[fn]—his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 2:8 - But the rulers of this world have not understood it; if they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 2:9 - That is what the Scriptures mean when they say,
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
and no mind has imagined
what God has prepared
for those who love him.”[fn]
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 2:10 - But[fn] it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 2:11 - No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 2:12 - And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 2:13 - When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths.[fn]
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 2:14 - But people who aren’t spiritual[fn] can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 2:15 - Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 2:16 - For,
“Who can know the LORD’s thoughts?
Who knows enough to teach him?”[fn] But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.
NLT Footnotes
Greek brothers.
Greek God’s mystery; other manuscripts read God’s testimony.
Greek But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery.
Isa 64:4.
Some manuscripts read For.
Or explaining spiritual truths in spiritual language, or explaining spiritual truths to spiritual people.
Or who don’t have the Spirit; or who have only physical life.
Isa 40:13 (Greek version).
NLT

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Full copyright information is provided here. Visit the New Living Translation website.

For more information on this translation, see the NLT Preface.

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