1As for me, brothers, when I came to you, I declared the attested truth of God without display of fine words or wisdom. 2I resolved that while I was with you I would think of nothing but Jesus Christ—Christ nailed to the cross. 3I came before you weak, nervous and shaking with fear. 4The word I spoke, the gospel I proclaimed, did not sway you with subtle arguments; it carried conviction by spiritual power, 5so that your faith might be built not upon human wisdom but upon the power of God.
6And yet I do speak words of wisdom to those who are ripe for it, not a wisdom belonging to this passing age, nor to any of its governing powers, which are declining to their end; 7I speak God's hidden wisdom, his secret purpose framed from the very beginning to bring us to our full glory. 8The powers that rule the world have never known it; if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 [ Is.64.4, Ps.52.15. ] But, in the words of Scripture, 'Things beyond our seeing, things beyond our hearing, things beyond our imagining, all prepared by God for those who love him', 10these it is that God has revealed to us through the Spirit.
For the Spirit explores everything, even the depths of God's own nature.
11Among men, who knows what a man is but the man's own spirit within him? In the same way, only the Spirit of God knows what God is. 12This is the Spirit that we have received from God, and not the spirit of the world, so that we may know all that God of his own grace gives us; 13and, because we are interpreting spiritual truths to those who have the Spirit, we speak of these gifts of God in words found for us not by our human wisdom but by the Spirit. 14A man who is unspiritual refuses what belongs to the Spirit of God; it is folly to him; he cannot grasp it, because it needs to be judged in the light of the Spirit. 15A man gifted with the Spirit can judge the worth of everything, but is not himself subject to judgement by his fellow-men. 16 [ Is.40.13. ] For (in the words of Scripture) 'who knows the mind of the Lord? Who can advise him?' We, however, possess the mind of Christ.
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