1 Corinthians 2:1
Parallel Verses
New International Version
And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.


English Standard Version
And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.


New American Standard Bible
And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.


King James Bible
And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.


Holman Christian Standard Bible
When I came to you, brothers, announcing the testimony of God to you, I did not come with brilliance of speech or wisdom.


International Standard Version
When I came to you, brothers, I didn't come and tell you about God's secret with rhetorical language or wisdom.


American Standard Version
And I, brethren, when I came unto you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.


Douay-Rheims Bible
AND I, brethren, when I came to you, came not in loftiness of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of Christ.


Darby Bible Translation
And I, when I came to you, brethren, came not in excellency of word, or wisdom, announcing to you the testimony of God.


Young's Literal Translation
And I, having come unto you, brethren, came -- not in superiority of discourse or wisdom -- declaring to you the testimony of God,


Commentaries
2:1-5 Christ, in his person, and offices, and sufferings, is the sum and substance of the gospel, and ought to be the great subject of a gospel minister's preaching, but not so as to leave out other parts of God's revealed truth and will. Paul preached the whole counsel of God. Few know the fear and trembling of faithful ministers, from a deep sense of their own weakness They know how insufficient they are, and are fearful for themselves. When nothing but Christ crucified is plainly preached, the success must be entirely from Divine power accompanying the word, and thus men are brought to believe, to the salvation of their souls.

CHAPTER 2

1Co 2:1-16. Paul's Subject of Preaching, Christ Crucified, Not in Worldly, but in Heavenly, Wisdom among the Perfect.

1. And I—"So I" [Conybeare] as one of the "foolish, weak, and despised" instruments employed by God (1Co 1:27, 28); "glorying in the Lord," not in man's wisdom (1Co 1:31). Compare 1Co 1:23, "We."

when I came—(Ac 18:1, &c.). Paul might, had he pleased, have used an ornate style, having studied secular learning at Tarsus of Cilicia, which Strabo preferred as a school of learning to Athens or Alexandria; here, doubtless, he read the Cilician Aratus' poems (which he quotes, Ac 17:28), and Epimenides (Tit 1:12), and Menander (1Co 15:33). Grecian intellectual development was an important element in preparing the way for the Gospel, but it failed to regenerate the world, showing that for this a superhuman power is needed. Hellenistic (Grecizing) Judaism at Tarsus and Alexandria was the connecting link between the schools of Athens and those of the Rabbis. No more fitting birthplace could there have been for the apostle of the Gentiles than Tarsus, free as it was from the warping influences of Rome, Alexandria, and Athens. He had at the same time Roman citizenship, which protected him from sudden violence. Again, he was reared in the Hebrew divine law at Jerusalem. Thus, as the three elements, Greek cultivation, Roman polity (Lu 2:1), and the divine law given to the Jews, combined just at Christ's time, to prepare the world for the Gospel, so the same three, by God's marvellous providence, met together in the apostle to the Gentiles [Conybeare and Howson].

testimony of God—"the testimony of Christ" (1Co 1:6); therefore Christ is God.

1 Corinthians 1:31
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