2 ⁶ And 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; 2 ⁷ I speak God's hidden wisdom, his secret purpose framed from the very beginning to bring us to our full glory. 2 ⁸ The powers that rule the world have never known it; if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 2 ^{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',

2 ¹⁰ these it is that God has revealed to us through the Spirit.

For the Spirit explores everything, even the depths of God's own nature.
2 ¹¹ Among 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. 2 ¹² This 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; 2 ¹³ and, 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.

2 ¹⁴ A 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. 2 ¹⁵ A man gifted with the Spirit can judge the worth of everything, but is not himself subject to judgement by his fellow-men. 2 ^{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.