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Spiritual Wisdom
Paul explains that God’s wisdom is different from the world’s wisdom. In this teaching section, he shows that God reveals his wisdom by the Spirit, and that this changes how “we” know, speak, and discern God’s gifts.
Understanding the passage
The setting of these words
This part of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians focuses on wisdom. He speaks of “God’s wisdom in a mystery”, wisdom that had been hidden and foreordained before the worlds. He contrasts it with the wisdom of this world, mentions the crucifixion of the Lord of glory, and explains that God reveals these things through the Spirit.
1 Corinthians 2:6–16Main takeaway
God’s wisdom is known because God reveals it through his Spirit, not because human wisdom can discover it by itself.
Follow the letter’s teaching
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01Wisdom unlike the world’s wisdomPaul says, “We speak wisdom”, so he is not rejecting wisdom itself. The difference is its source and character.
Explanation
Paul says, “We speak wisdom”, so he is not rejecting wisdom itself. The difference is its source and character. It is not the wisdom of this world or of its rulers. Those rulers are “coming to nothing”, so their wisdom is limited and passing, unlike the wisdom Paul is about to describe.
02God’s wisdom in a mysteryPaul calls this message “God’s wisdom in a mystery”, and also “the wisdom that has been hidden”.
Explanation
Paul calls this message “God’s wisdom in a mystery”, and also “the wisdom that has been hidden”. He says God foreordained it before the worlds for “our glory”. The rulers of this world did not know it. Paul adds that if they had known it, they would not have crucified “the Lord of glory”.
03What people could not discover, God revealedPaul quotes words about things no eye saw, no ear heard, and which did not enter the human heart.
Explanation
Paul quotes words about things no eye saw, no ear heard, and which did not enter the human heart. Then he explains how such things become known: “to us, God revealed them through the Spirit”. The Spirit searches all things, even “the deep things of God”, so this knowledge comes from God’s own Spirit.
04Knowing God’s things by God’s SpiritPaul uses a comparison from human experience. A person’s own spirit knows that person’s things, and in the same way only God’s Spirit knows the things of God.
Explanation
Paul uses a comparison from human experience. A person’s own spirit knows that person’s things, and in the same way only God’s Spirit knows the things of God. Because “we received” the Spirit from God, Paul says, “we might know the things that were freely given to us by God.”
05Spirit-taught words and Christ’s mindPaul says these things are spoken in words taught by the Holy Spirit. The “natural man” does not receive the things of God’s Spirit and cannot know them because they are spiritually discerned.
Explanation
Paul says these things are spoken in words taught by the Holy Spirit. The “natural man” does not receive the things of God’s Spirit and cannot know them because they are spiritually discerned. By contrast, the spiritual person discerns all things. The section ends with the striking statement, “we have Christ’s mind.”
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01How does Paul describe the difference between the wisdom he speaks and the wisdom of this world?
Notice both the source of this wisdom and what Paul says will happen to the rulers of this world.
02What does Paul say about “God’s wisdom in a mystery”, and how does the crucifixion show that the rulers did not know it?
Use Paul’s own phrases about hidden wisdom, what God foreordained, and what the rulers would not have done if they had known.
03According to this passage, what does receiving the Spirit from God enable “us” to know, speak, discern, and have?
Look for Paul’s words about knowing what God freely gave, speaking in Spirit-taught words, spiritually discerning, and having Christ’s mind.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
1 Corinthians 2:6–16
6We speak wisdom, however, among those who are full grown, yet a wisdom not of this world nor of the rulers of this world who are coming to nothing.
7But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom that has been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds for our glory,
8which none of the rulers of this world has known. For had they known it, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory.
9But as it is written, “Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear, which didn’t enter into the heart of man, these God has prepared for those who love him.”
10But to us, God revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
11For who among men knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except God’s Spirit.
12But we received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that were freely given to us by God.
13We also speak these things, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things.
14Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him; and he can’t know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15But he who is spiritual discerns all things, and he himself is to be judged by no one.
16“For who has known the mind of the Lord that he should instruct him?” But we have Christ’s mind.