1 Corinthians 2

Page 79 of Papyrus 46 (c. AD 200) showing 1 Corinthians 2:11–3:5. P. Mich Inv. 6238. University of Michigan.

The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 16 verses.

Acts 18:1–17[11] recounts Paul's departure from Athens and his arrival in Corinth. The writer of the Acts of the Apostles states that Paul "testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ, but when [the Jews] opposed him and blasphemed, [Paul] shook his garments and said to them, 'Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles'." Lutheran theologian Harold Buls describes Corinth as "was much like the city of Athens. They admired philosophers and orators. They were always sitting around waiting to hear or tell the latest philosophy. Many of them were sophists, teachers of speech and philosophy who came to be disparaged for their oversubtle, self-serving reasoning. Many of them were skilled in devious argumentation."[12] In 1 Corinthians 2:1,[13] Paul recalls that he "did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom". He states that he spoke "in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling" and "my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom".[14] Acts reports that:

The Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, "Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you".

— Acts 18:9–10, New King James Version[15]

For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

— 1 Corinthians 2:2, New King James Version[16]

Buls notes that "'For' is the explanatory 'you see' and explains verse 1".[17]

Paul refers twice to "the archons (rulers, princes) of this age" (Ancient Greek: τῶν ἀρχόντων τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου, romanized: tôn archóntōn toû aiônos toútou).[18] Dutch theologian Hugo Grotius suggests that the rulers of this age are the "politicians, who adhere to justice and understand history."

Grotius's opinion reflects a time when the religious categories of late antiquity had been all but forgotten, before the rise of modern biblical and classical scholarship. In fact, Paul's reference is to spiritual powers (fallen or rebellious angels) who rule over the nations from on high, in the heavenly places. This idea of cosmic archons whom Christ has conquered and taken captive through his death and resurrection is a running theme in Paul's theology.

For "who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

— 1 Corinthians 2:16, New King James Version[19]

• "Who has known the mind of the Lord[...]?" is either a citation or allusion to Isaiah 40:13.[20] The "scheme of salvation by Jesus Christ" is drawn in his eternal mind with the sense of the Spirit of God in the writings of the Old Testament, so that no natural man could have known any of these things.[21]
• "The mind of Christ": the same with "the mind of the Lord", proves that Christ is the Lord. The apostles and ministers of the Gospel, even all true believers, cannot get it from any natural man, but from Christ alone.[21]

• Crucifixion of Jesus
• Jesus Christ
• Related Bible parts: Isaiah 40, Isaiah 64, Romans 11, 1 Corinthians 1

• Barton, John; Muddiman, John, eds. (2007). The Oxford Bible Commentary (first (paperback) ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199277186. Retrieved February 6, 2019.

• 1 Corinthians 2 King James Bible - Wikisource
• English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate
• Online Bible at GospelHall.org (ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
• Multiple bible versions at Bible Gateway (NKJV, NIV, NRSV etc.)