Or, superiority. Paul came to Corinth not to display his excellent, superior speech or philosophical wisdom in announcing the mystery of God.

Some ancient authorities read, testimony. What the apostle testified was the mystery of God, which is Christ as the embodiment of God and the church as the expression of Christ (Rom. 16:25-26; Col. 1:26-27; 2:2; 4:3; Eph. 3:4-6, 9).

The crucified Christ was the unique subject, the center, the content, and the substance of the apostle's ministry. For this he did not determine to know anything but the all-inclusive Christ, and this One crucified, when he was going to minister the word of the testimony of God to the excellent-speech-exalting and wisdom-worshipping Greeks. What a determination! It should be a pattern to us all.

Jesus Christ denotes the Lord's person. This One crucified speaks of the example of the Lord's living, action, work, and way, indicating His humiliation and abasement. In order to overturn the pride of the Greeks in their elevated wisdom, Paul did not refer here to the Lord's resurrection in glory (Luke 24:26) and His ascension in exaltation (Acts 2:33, 36).

Referring to the apostle's physical weakness, which was due, perhaps, to his physical sufferings in his persecutions for the gospel. He did not display himself as a physically strong man while among the Greeks, who sought to be strong not only psychologically in their philosophies but also physically in their gymnastics.

Fear is the inward feeling; trembling is the outward appearance. The apostle was inwardly in fear of missing Christ in his ministry to the wisdom-seeking Greeks, and outwardly in trembling lest he be influenced by their prevailing aspiration for wisdom. By such fear and trembling he stood faithfully and steadfastly in his God-appointed ministry, according to the heavenly vision, avoiding any deviation. The religious Jews were proud of their traditional religion, and the philosophical Greeks were haughty in their worldly wisdom. In ministering Christ to both, the apostle was in fear and in much trembling. What a contrast between him and them!

Persuasive words of wisdom issue from the human mind; demonstration of the Spirit comes forth from the spirit. The apostle's speech and preaching were not from his mind with words of speculation but from his spirit with the release and exhibition of the Spirit and, hence, of power.

Lit., be.

The wisdom of men is the elementary philosophy; the power of God is the all-inclusive Christ (1 Cor. 1:24).

I.e., destroyed (the same word as in 1 Cor. 1:28).

God's wisdom is Christ (1 Cor. 1:24), who is the hidden mystery (Col. 1:26-27), predestined, predesignated, and foreordained before the ages for our glory.

I.e., in eternity.

Christ, who is the Lord of glory (v. 8). Christ is our life today (Col. 3:4) and our glory in the future (Col. 1:27). To this glory God has called us (1 Pet. 5:10), and into it He will bring us (Heb. 2:10). This is the goal of God's salvation.

The sphere of what the eye can see is narrow; the sphere of what the ear can hear is broader; and the sphere of what the heart can realize is without limitation. God in His wisdom (that is, in Christ) has ordained and prepared for us many deep and hidden things, such as justification, sanctification, and glorification. All these the human eye has never seen, the human ear has never heard, and the human heart has never realized.

Lit., on, or upon.

To realize and participate in the deep and hidden things God has ordained and prepared for us requires us not only to believe in Him but also to love Him. To fear God, to worship God, and to believe in God (that is, to receive God) are all inadequate; to love Him is the indispensable requirement. To love God means to set our entire being — spirit, soul, and body, with the heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30) — absolutely on Him, that is, to let our entire being be occupied by Him and lost in Him, so that He becomes everything to us and we are one with Him practically in our daily life. In this way we have the closest and most intimate fellowship with God, and we are able to enter into His heart and apprehend all its secrets (Psa. 73:25; 25:14). Thus, we not only realize but also experience, enjoy, and fully participate in these deep and hidden things of God.

Different from taught. To be taught is related to our mind; to have something revealed to us is related to our spirit. To realize the deep and hidden things God has prepared for us, our spirit is more necessary than our mind. When our entire being becomes one with God through loving Him in intimate fellowship, He shows us, in our spirit through His Spirit, all the secrets of Christ as our portion. This is to reveal the hidden things planned by His wisdom concerning Christ, which have never come up in man's heart.

The Greek word is used in reference to active research, implying accurate knowledge gained not by discovering but by exploring. The Spirit of God explores the depths of God concerning Christ and shows them to us in our spirit for our realization and participation.

Referring to the deep things of God, which are Christ in many aspects as our eternal portion, foreordained, prepared, and given to us freely by God. These have never arisen in man's heart but are revealed to us in our spirit by God's Spirit. Hence, in order to partake of them, we must be spiritual. We must move, act, and live in our spirit that we may enjoy Christ as everything to us.

The spirit of man is the deepest part of man's being. It has the faculty to penetrate the innermost region of the things of man, whereas the mind of man is capable of knowing only superficial things. So also, only the Spirit of God can know the deep things of God. The Corinthian believers had neglected the spirit of man and the Spirit of God, having turned instead to live in their mind by philosophy. Hence, this book shows that the proper experience of these two spirits is essential for the practice of the church life.

Praise the Lord that we, those who have been born of God by His Spirit, have received the Spirit of God. Hence, we are well able to know the deep things of God, which He has graciously given to us for our enjoyment.

The Greek word means mixing or putting together, as in interpreting or expounding. It is common in the Septuagint: Gen. 40:8; 41:12, 15.

The thought here is to speak spiritual things with spiritual words. The stress is not on the person to whom the speaking is done but on the means by which the spiritual things are spoken. The apostle spoke the spiritual things, which are the deep things of God concerning Christ, with spiritual words, which are the spiritual words taught by the Spirit.

Verse 1 Cor. 2:13 stresses the spiritual means, that is, the spiritual words with which the spiritual things are spoken. Verses 1 Cor. 2:14-15 stress the spiritual object, that is, a spiritual man (not a soulish man), who is able to discern the spiritual things. Both the means and the object need to be spiritual. The spiritual things must be spoken with spiritual words to the spiritual man.

A soulish man is a natural man, one who allows his soul (including the mind, the emotion, and the will) to dominate his entire being and who lives by his soul, ignoring his spirit, not using his spirit, and even behaving as if he did not have a spirit (Jude 1:19). Such a man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, and he is not able to know them. Rather, he rejects them. The religious Jews, who required signs, and the philosophical Greeks, who sought wisdom (1 Cor. 1:22), were such natural men, to whom the things of the Spirit of God were foolishness (1 Cor. 1:23).

Referring to the deep things of God concerning Christ as our portion.

A soulish man does not have the constitutional capacity for spiritual perception. Hence, he is not able to know spiritual things.

Or, examined, investigated; and thus made clear as to the truth of the matter.

Spiritually here refers to the spirit of man that is moved by the Spirit of God to fully exercise its function and thereby replace the human soul's rule and control over man. It is only by such a spirit that man can discern the things of the Spirit of God. A man who is ruled and controlled by his spirit is a spiritual man, as mentioned in the next verse. Since God is Spirit, all the things of the Spirit of God are spiritual. Therefore, to discern, to know, the things of the Spirit of God, man must use the human spirit (John 4:24).

A spiritual man is one who denies his soul and does not live by his soul but allows his spirit, that is, his regenerated spirit, which is occupied and energized by the Spirit of God, to dominate his entire being. Furthermore, he lives by such a spirit, moving and acting according to it (Rom. 8:4). Such a spiritual person is able to discern the things of the Spirit of God because his constitutional capacity for spiritual perception is able to manifest its function.

Because we are organically one with Christ, we have all the faculties that He has. The mind is the faculty of intelligence, the understanding organ. We have such an organ, the mind of Christ; hence, we can know what He knows. We have not only the life of Christ but also the mind of Christ. Christ must saturate our mind from our spirit, making our mind one with His.