2:1 So when I came to you, sisters and brothers, I did not come with high-sounding words of wisdom as I announced the hidden secret of God to you;

2:2 I resolved to stay focused on Jesus the Anointed, the Crucified One.

2:3 I came to you in weakness, with sincere concern.

2:4 And my word and proclamation was not delivered with persuasive words of wisdom, but with the evidence of spirit and power,

2:5 so that your faith would not be in people’s wisdom but in God’s power.

2:6 Yet we do use wisdom among the mature— not the wisdom of this age nor of its rulers, which will amount to nothing—

2:7 but the wisdom of God, a hidden secret that God set up beforehand for our honor, before the ages.

2:8 Not one of the rulers of this age knew about this, or they would never have crucified the honorable Master.

2:9 As it is written, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, nor has it occurred to anyone what God prepared for those who love him.”

2:10 But God reveals this to us by means of the Spirit, for the Spirit scrutinizes everything, even to the very depths of God.

2:11 Who can know what is in a person, except that person’s own spirit? Likewise, no one can come to know what is in God except his Spirit.

2:12 Now we did not receive the spirit of the world but the Spirit of God, so that we can come to know what God has graciously given us.

2:13 And the words we speak were not taught to us in human wisdom but spiritual; spiritual words must match spiritual wisdom.

2:14 Now the soulish person does not accept what comes from the Spirit of God, because such things sound ridiculous to them; they cannot fathom them because they are spiritually examined.

2:15 But the spiritual one examines everything, while others cannot examine the spiritual one.

2:16 And who has come to know the mind of the Master or been his equal? But we have the mind of the Anointed.