July 16, 2025
1 Corinthians 2 ESV
And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who [which] is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
Discussion Questions:
1) How was Paul’s preaching in Corinth different from the teachings of other Apostles and elders?
2) How does Paul describe the activity of the Spirit in a Christian’s life?
Discussion Summary:
Paul describes his preaching style as weak. He was not a gifted speaker. He did not have a “presence” or outward boldness. He did not rely on his own human abilities. His success in preaching Christ were because of the power of the Spirit working in him.
In Chapter 3:1 he relates that he had to tone down his message because the people of Corinth were not spiritually minded. Even the Christians were immature in their thinking.
Paul also does not refer to Jesus’ life or ministry as found in the gospels in his discussions throughout this letter. His preaching was only about Christ’s death. “I preach Christ crucified.” He restricted his teaching to a narrow focus in order to appeal to those who recognized that they were in need of salvation.
Paul describes the activity of the spirit in a Christian’s life in the following ways:
- A transforming process in the heart of the believer
- The opening of the mind to view things from a spiritual instead of a human perspective
- A realization that what is important to humans is not important to God and therefore not important to Christians
Leave a Reply