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1Cor.2:1. And when I came to you, brethren, I came to proclaim to you the testimony of God, not in excellence of speech or wisdom. Not only, he says, were people chosen as disciples of the Gospel who were not wise and of noble birth, but the preacher of the Gospel himself came, proclaiming to you “the testimony of God,” that is, the death of Christ, without eloquence and human wisdom. Note that the preacher was a simple and uneducated man, and the subject of the sermon was the cross and death, and yet they won the victory. So, it is obvious that the power that did all this is indescribable. So what? Couldn't Paul, even if he wanted to, come with wisdom? He himself could not, because he really was a simple and uneducated man; but Christ, Who gave him even more, could: only this was not beneficial for preaching. For it is more glory for Christ that He overcame others by the simplicity of Paul, than if He had achieved this by wisdom and eloquence. 1Cor.2:2. For I have determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And Christ, he says, wanted this, that is, for me to be a simple man, and I myself recognized it as good not to know external wisdom at all, but to know only that Jesus Christ was crucified, and to be able to preach to you about Him. 1Cor.2:3. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in great trembling. Not only, he says, did I come to you poor by word, but I also lived among you in weakness, and fear and trembling, that is, among persecutions, temptations and countless dangers. For he himself, as a man, was afraid of dangers, even trembled at them; Therefore, he is worthy of great praise, because, being of the same nature with us, he surpassed us with his will. With the above words, he shows the power of Christ, that is, that He overcame so many obstacles, and at the same time overthrows the pride of the Corinthians, who relied on wisdom, wealth and strength. 1Cor.2:4. And my word and my preaching are not in convincing words of human wisdom, but in the manifestation of the spirit and power. My preaching, he says, was not removed by external persuasiveness and eloquence, but consisted “in the manifestation of the spirit,” that is, it had the Holy Spirit Himself as proof. This means either that the apostle, through his grace-filled service to the Word, instilled faith in his listeners in some extraordinary way, or that he performed signs and wonders; for he adds: “and powers,” that is, signs. Indeed, seeing the dead rise again was a powerful proof of the truth of faith. But since demons also produce signs through obsession, the apostle added the word “powers,” saying “Spirit” in advance, showing that his signs depended on the Holy Spirit. However, the word “strength” can be understood differently, for, having said I came not in “wisdom”, but in “weakness,” the words “in the manifestation of the spirit” refers to wisdom, and the word “strength” contrasts with weakness, as if to say: although I suffered persecution and was whipped, I turned out to be even stronger, and this serves as the greatest proof for the word. 1 Corinthians 2:5. So that your faith rests not on human wisdom, but on the power of God. He calls persuasiveness and eloquence human wisdom, and by the power of God, as shown above, he means the strengthening of the weak and persecuted, as well as the manifestation of signs. It was by these means, Corinthians, that your faith was established—not by the ability to express itself convincingly and eloquently, but by the power of God. 1 Corinthians 2:6. We preach wisdom among the perfect, but the wisdom is not of this age and not of the passing authorities of this age. Above I called the sermon madness, because that’s what the Greeks called it. But, having proven by his own deeds that this is true wisdom, he finally boldly calls both the preaching of Christ wisdom and salvation by the cross; for to destroy death by death is indeed a matter of the greatest wisdom. “Perfect” he calls the faithful; for they are truly perfect, because, having despised everything earthly, they strive for heavenly things. “The wisdom of this age” refers to external wisdom, since it is temporary and ends with this age; “the authorities of this age” does not refer to demons, as some thought, but to the wise men, orators, and rhetoricians who were together with the leaders and leaders of the people. Since they are also temporary, he calls them “the powers of this age” and “transitory,” that is, ceasing to be, and not eternal. 1 Corinthians 2:7. But we preach the wisdom of God, secret, hidden. He calls preaching about Christ a mystery. For it is both a sermon and at the same time a mystery, because the angels did not know about it before it was announced (1 Peter 1:12), and we, seeing one thing in it, understand another: so I see the cross and suffering, but I understand power, I hear the slave, but I worship the Master. This wisdom is completely hidden from unbelievers, but only partially for the faithful; for we see now as in a mirror (1 Cor. 13:12). 1 Corinthians 2:7. Which God ordained before the ages for our glory. The word “ordained” indicates God’s love for us. For he truly loves us, who was ready to do good to us long ago. Likewise, God, before the ages, ordained for us salvation through the cross, a salvation that constitutes the greatest wisdom. He said “to our glory” because He made us partakers of glory. For being partakers with the Lord in the hidden secret constitutes glory for the servant. 1 Corinthians 2:8. Which none of the authorities of this century knew. Here he calls Herod and Pilate princes. There will be no mistake, however, if we take into account both the high priests and the scribes. The words “of this age” express, as shown above, their temporal power. 1 Corinthians 2:8. For if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. If they knew the hidden, as said above, wisdom and the secrets of the divine economy, namely the mystery of the incarnation of God, the mystery of the cross, the mystery of the calling and assimilation of the pagans, the mystery of the rebirth, adoption and inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven, in a word - all the secrets revealed to the apostles by the Holy Spirit, so would the high priests know that their city would be conquered and they themselves would be taken to captivity: then Christ would not have been crucified. He called Christ here “Lord of glory.” That is, since they considered the cross to be something dishonorable, it shows that Christ did not lose His glory through the cross at all; on the contrary, He became even more glorified, because through the cross He more clearly revealed His love for mankind. So, if they did not know, then should they be forgiven this sin? Yes; if after this they had repented and turned, their sin would have been forgiven, just like Paul and the other Jews. 1 Corinthians 2:9. But, as it is written. The words “that’s what happened” are missing. The apostle uses the figure of omission in many places. 1 Corinthians 2:9. The eye has not seen, the ear has not heard, and what God has prepared for those who love Him has not entered into the heart of man. What has God prepared for those who love Him? Knowledge of Christ and salvation through incarnation. Neither the human eye has seen this, nor the human ear has heard, nor the human heart has imagined. The prophets did not see with human eyes, and did not hear with human ears, and did not understand the revelations about Christ with human minds (Is. 64:4), but everything they had was divine. For it is said: “The Lord... has attached an ear to me” (Is. 50:4), that is, spiritual, and other similar things. And who are those who love God? Faithful. Where, next, is this saying written? Perhaps it really was written in these very words, but now this book is no longer there, or perhaps the wise Paul expressed the following words with this saying: “they will see what was not told to them, and they will know what they have not heard” (Is. 52:15). 1 Corinthians 2:10. And God revealed this to us by His Spirit. Someone might ask: if it didn’t cross a person’s heart, how did you know about it? Answer: God revealed it to us by the Spirit, and not by human wisdom. For she was neither worthy nor could see the mysteries of God. 1 Corinthians 2:10–11. For the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For which man knows what is in a man except the spirit of man that dwells in him? Likewise, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Such, he says, was this sacrament and so secret that we could not have learned it from anyone if the Spirit had not taught us, who knows the depths of God. The word “pierces” does not show ignorance, but perfect knowledge, just as it is said about the Father: “You search the hearts” (Ps. 7:10), instead of: you know the depth of hearts. It can be understood this way: it is said that the Spirit penetrates the mysteries of God, in the sense that He delights in contemplating them. The perfect knowledge of the Spirit is also shown in the following words. For just as the human spirit knows what is in man, so says the Spirit of God; knows what belongs to God. From here we learn, among other things, that the Spirit is not a different essence in comparison with the Father, just as the spirit of man is not different in comparison with man. 1 Corinthians 2:12. But we did not receive the spirit of this world, but the Spirit from God. He called human wisdom the spirit of this world. We did not accept this wisdom so that it would not make our preaching vain and useless; no, our teacher was the Spirit “from God,” that is, a Being Consubstantial with God, originating from His essence. 1 Corinthians 2:12. In order to know what has been given to us from God. The Spirit, he says, is light, and we have received this light, so that, being enlightened by it, we may recognize what has been hidden until now. What is this? “That which was given to us from God,” that is, everything that relates to the economy of Christ, namely: how He died for us, how He made us children of God, how He seated us in Himself at the right hand of the Father. Therefore, those who do not have the Spirit do not know those mysteries. 1 Corinthians 2:13. Which we proclaim not in words learned from human wisdom, but in words learned from the Holy Spirit. We, he says, have all the more wisdom in comparison with the Hellenic sages, because they were taught by people, and we speak at the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:13. Matching the spiritual with the spiritual. That is, if any spiritual questions arise, we reason about them, that is, we resolve them with other spiritual teachings or stories. So, for example, the spiritual question: has Christ risen? we discuss and resolve on the basis of another spiritual teaching, namely the story of Jonah. Similarly, another question: how could the Virgin give birth? is solved by the infertility of Sarah, Rebecca, Elizabeth, who conceived not according to the laws of nature, since conception depends on the power of falsehood, also by the fact that Eve came from Adam without a seed, as well as other cases considered in relation to the birth of a person. However, the words “considering the spiritual with the spiritual” can also be understood this way: discussing and resolving spiritual issues together with spiritual people; for they alone can understand them. Therefore he adds the following. 1 Corinthians 2:14. The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, because he considers them foolishness. A spiritual person is one who relies on his own conclusions in everything and does not think that he needs higher help, and one who does not want to accept anything by faith, and considers everything that cannot be proven to be madness. So, the one who thinks that everything happens in a natural order, and does not allow anything supernatural, is called spiritual, that is, natural: for his soul is engaged only in the economy of nature. And just as the eyes of the body, which in themselves are beautiful and extremely useful, cannot see anything without light, so the soul, having become capable of receiving the Holy Spirit, cannot contemplate divine objects without Him. 1 Corinthians 2:14. And he cannot understand, because this must be judged spiritually. That is, he does not understand that such objects require faith and cannot be comprehended by reason; for this means “this must be judged spiritually,” that is, it has evidence in faith and in the Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:15. But the spiritual one judges everything, but no one can judge him. The spiritual one, he says, knows everything; knows that everything here is temporary, but the future is permanent; knows that he will receive salvation, and the unfaithful will be punished. Therefore, he denounces them, “but no one can judge him,” then they cannot denounce him, for the one who sees sees both his own and what belongs to those who do not see; on the contrary, they, like blind men, do not see either what is theirs or what belongs to him. 1 Corinthians 2:16. For who has known the mind of the Lord so that he can judge him? The spiritual mind is called the mind of the Lord. The word "judge" (συμβιβάσει) stands instead of: correct (διορθώσεται). Having said above: “no one can judge the spiritual,” he now proves that he said it rightly. “For who has known the mind of the Lord” so as to decide to “judge” him, that is, to correct him? For if no one can even know the mind of the Lord, and such is the mind of a spiritual man, then much less can he teach him and correct him. 1 Corinthians 2:16. And we have the mind of Christ. Do not be surprised, he says, that I called the spiritual man and his mind the mind of the Lord. All “we have the mind of Christ,” that is, everything that we know, Christ revealed to us, and we have our understanding (τον νουν) regarding divine things from Christ; in other words: the knowledge that we have about the spiritual objects of faith we have from Christ, so that no one can truly judge us. Some, however, called the Father the mind of Christ, while others called the Spirit. You might be interested in: