Paul’s Reliance upon the Spirit

1And when I came to you, brothers, I did not come with superiority of word or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the [†]witness of God. 2For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 3And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, 4and my word and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5so that your faith would not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

6Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature, a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are being abolished. 7But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom which has been hidden, which God predestined before the ages to our glory, 8which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9But just as it is written,

“THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD,

AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN,

ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.”

10[†]But to us God revealed them through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. 11For who among men knows the depths of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the depths of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. 12Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the depths graciously given to us by God, 13of which depths we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, [†]combining spiritual depths with spiritual words.

14But [†]a natural man does not accept the depths of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually examined. 15But he who is spiritual examines all things, yet he himself is examined by no one. 16For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE [†]LORD, THAT HE WILL DIRECT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.