1 Corinthians 1:25-2:14

New King James Version

²⁵ Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Glory Only in the Lord

²⁶ For ^[a]you see your calling, brethren, ^(A)that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many ^[b]noble, are called. ²⁷ But ^(B)God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; ²⁸ and the ^[c]base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, ²⁹ that no flesh should glory in His presence. ³⁰ But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and ^(C)righteousness and sanctification and redemption— ³¹ that, as it is written, ^(D)“He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”

Christ Crucified

2 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the ^[d]testimony of God. ² For I determined not to know anything among you ^(E)except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. ^3 (F)I was with you ^(G)in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. ⁴ And my speech and my preaching ^(H)were not with persuasive words of ^[e]human wisdom, ^(I)but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, ⁵ that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the ^(J)power of God.

Spiritual Wisdom

⁶ However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. ⁷ But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ^[f]ordained before the ages for our glory, ⁸ which none of the rulers of this age knew; for ^(K)had they known, they would not have ^(L)crucified the Lord of glory.

⁹ But as it is written:

¹⁰ But ^(N)God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. ¹¹ For what man knows the things of a man except the ^(O)spirit of the man which is in him? ^(P)Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. ¹² Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but ^(Q)the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

¹³ These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the ^[g]Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. ^14 (R)But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.