1 And when I came to you, brothers, I came not to proclaim God's great secret purpose in fine language of philosophy;
2 for I determined to know nothing, while among you, but Jesus as Christ, and him a crucified Christ.
3 In weakness and fear and great trembling came I among you.
4 My message and my preaching were not in the persuasive language of philosophy, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power;
5 in order that your faith should rest, not on human philosophy, but on the power of God.
6 Notwithstanding, among those who are mature I do teach philosophy; though not the philosophy of the present age, nor of its rulers who are coming to nought.
7 No, it is God's wisdom that I utter, that hidden wisdom which God had decreed before the world began, unto our glory.
8 None of the rulers of the present age understands it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory.
9 Nay, as it is written. Eye has not seen, Nor ear heard, Neither have entered into man's heart The things which God has prepared For those who love him.
10 Yet God has unveiled them to us by his Spirit. For the Spirit fathoms everything, even the abysmal depths of God.
11 For what man knows the depths of man except the man's own inner Spirit? Even so, also, the Spirit of God knows the deeps profound of God.
12 But we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which comes forth from God, that we may realize the blessings freely given us by God.
13 Of these high themes we speak in words not taught by human philosophy, but by the Spirit; interpreting spiritual things to spiritual men.
14 The unspiritual man rejects the teachings of God's Spirit; for him it is folly. He cannot understand it, for it is spiritually discerned,
15 But the spiritual man discerns everything, yet is himself discerned by no one.
16 For what man understands the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him?