1 Corinthians 2

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The SBLGNT reads mystērion ('mystery') rather than martyrion ('testimony'), though manuscripts are divided. 'Mystery' fits the chapter's theme better — Paul is about to describe God's hidden wisdom. The phrase kath' hyperochēn logou ē sophias ('with superiority of speech or wisdom') targets the very skills Corinthian culture prized most. Paul deliberately chose not to compete on their terms.

Translator Notes

1. The verb ekrina ('I decided, I determined') indicates a deliberate choice, not inability. Paul could have displayed rhetorical brilliance but chose instead to make Christ crucified his single message. The emphatic kai touton estaurōmenon ('and this one crucified') uses the perfect passive participle again — the crucified state is ongoing and definitive.

Translator Notes

1. Paul's triple description of his condition — astheneia ('weakness'), phobos ('fear'), tromos ('trembling') — is a shocking self-portrait for someone claiming apostolic authority. The combination phobos kai tromos ('fear and trembling') appears elsewhere in Paul (2 Corinthians 7:15; Philippians 2:12; Ephesians 6:5) and may reflect awareness of standing before God's calling rather than mere stage fright. Paul arrived in Corinth after being beaten in Philippi and mocked in Athens (Acts 16-17).

Translator Notes

1. The Greek peithois sophias logois ('persuasive words of wisdom') is textually uncertain — peithois is a rare word, possibly coined by Paul. The contrast is between human persuasion techniques and apodeixis pneumatos ('demonstration of the Spirit') — a term from rhetoric (apodeixis means 'proof') now applied to spiritual reality. Paul uses the rhetorician's own vocabulary to subvert rhetorical culture.

Translator Notes

1. This purpose clause reveals why Paul chose weakness over eloquence — a faith built on impressive rhetoric would collapse when a better speaker came along. Only faith grounded in God's power endures. This is particularly pointed for the Corinthians, who were apparently swayed by Apollos's more polished speaking style (Acts 18:24-28).

Translator Notes

1. The shift is significant: Paul is not anti-wisdom per se — he does speak sophia, but only among the teleioi ('mature, complete'). The term may ironically echo Corinthian self-descriptions; the Corinthians considered themselves advanced, but Paul will soon call them infants (3:1). The archontes tou aiōnos toutou ('rulers of this age') could refer to human political authorities, demonic powers, or both — the ambiguity may be deliberate.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase en mystēriō ('in a mystery') modifies how wisdom is spoken — it comes wrapped in divine secrecy, requiring revelation to understand. The verb proōrisen ('predetermined, foreordained') places this wisdom in eternity past — it was not an afterthought or improvisation. The phrase eis doxan hēmōn ('for our glory') is stunning: the destiny of believers is glory (doxa), the very attribute of God.

Translator Notes

1. The title ton kyrion tēs doxēs ('the Lord of glory') is extraordinary — it applies to the crucified Jesus a title that in the Old Testament belongs to YHWH alone (Psalm 24:7-10). The irony is devastating: the rulers thought they were executing a criminal; in reality they were crucifying the cosmic Lord. Their ignorance was not exculpatory but revelatory — it exposed the bankruptcy of worldly power and wisdom.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] References Psalm 24:7-10 — the TCR OT rendering of that text provides the Hebrew source and explains the translation decisions involved.

Translator Notes

1. The quotation loosely combines Isaiah 64:4 and Isaiah 65:17 but does not match any known Old Testament text exactly. Some scholars suggest Paul draws on an otherwise unknown Jewish source. The phrase epi kardian anthrōpou ouk anebē ('has not ascended upon the human heart') is a Semitic idiom meaning 'has not entered the mind' or 'has never been imagined.' The point is not about heaven but about the incomprehensibility of God's plan apart from revelation.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] Echoes Isaiah 64:4. See the TCR's OT rendering for the Hebrew behind this passage and the translation rationale.
3. [TCR Cross-Reference] Echoes Isaiah 65:17. See the TCR's OT rendering for the Hebrew behind this passage and the translation rationale.

Translator Notes

1. The verb apekalypsen ('revealed, unveiled') is the aorist of apokalyptō — God has already disclosed His hidden wisdom. The agent of revelation is the Spirit (dia tou pneumatos). The claim that the Spirit eraunā ('searches, explores') even ta bathē tou theou ('the deep things of God') is a remarkable statement about the Spirit's access to the inner life of God. The Corinthians may have used 'the deep things' as spiritual self-congratulation; Paul relocates the concept entirely in the Spirit's activity, not human spiritual achievement.

Translator Notes

1. Paul uses an analogy from human self-knowledge to explain divine self-knowledge. Just as only a person's own spirit knows their inner thoughts, only God's Spirit knows God's inner reality. The argument establishes that knowledge of God requires God's own Spirit as mediator — human intellect alone cannot penetrate divine reality, no matter how brilliant.

Translator Notes

1. The contrast between 'the spirit of the world' (to pneuma tou kosmou) and 'the Spirit from God' (to pneuma to ek tou theou) parallels the wisdom contrast of chapter 1. The verb charisthenta ('freely given, graciously bestowed') shares the root of charis ('grace') — everything believers possess is gift, not achievement. The purpose clause hina eidōmen ('so that we may know') establishes that the Spirit's role is specifically cognitive — enabling understanding of what God has given.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase pneumatikois pneumatika synkrinontes is highly debated. Synkrinō can mean 'to compare,' 'to combine,' or 'to interpret' (as in Genesis 40:8 LXX). Pneumatikois could be neuter ('spiritual things with spiritual') or masculine ('spiritual realities to spiritual people'). We follow the interpretation that Paul means 'interpreting/explaining spiritual realities to spiritual people,' which best fits the context of the mature versus immature distinction.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] References Genesis 40:8 — the TCR OT rendering of that text provides the Hebrew source and explains the translation decisions involved.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The Greek psychikos ('natural, soulish') derives from psychē ('soul/life') and describes someone operating on merely human capacities without the Spirit's illumination. It does not mean 'sinful' but 'limited to natural human faculties.' The verb anakrinetai ('are discerned, examined, judged') is a legal/judicial term — spiritual realities require a spiritual faculty of judgment that the psychikos person simply does not possess.

Translator Notes

1. The pneumatikos ('spiritual person') possesses Spirit-given discernment that operates on a different plane than human evaluation. The claim that the spiritual person is 'judged by no one' (hyp' oudenos anakrinetai) does not mean they are above accountability but that their Spirit-informed judgments cannot be evaluated by those lacking the Spirit. Paul will ironically undercut the Corinthians' self-identification as pneumatikoi in the next chapter (3:1).

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. Paul quotes Isaiah 40:13 (LXX) — the original context is the incomprehensibility of God's wisdom. The expected answer is 'no one can know or instruct the Lord.' But then Paul makes a stunning claim: hēmeis de noun Christou echomen ('but we have the mind of Christ'). Through the Spirit, believers have access to Christ's own way of thinking. This is not omniscience but a Spirit-given orientation toward reality that aligns with God's purposes.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] Quotes Isaiah 40:13. The TCR rendering of that OT passage preserves the Hebrew source text and documents the translation decisions behind it.