1 Corinthians 2:5-9 ESV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Corinthians 2:1-5

In this passage the apostle pursues his design, and reminds the Corinthians how he acted when he first preached the gospel among them. I. As to the matter or subject he tell us (1 Cor. 2:2), He determined to know nothing among them but Jesus Christ and him crucified?to make a show of no other knowledge than this, to preach nothing, to discover the knowledge of nothing, but Jesus Christ, and him crucified. Note, Christ, in his person and offices, is the sum and substance of the gospel, and... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Corinthians 2:6-16

In this part of the chapter the apostle shows them that though he had not come to them with the excellency of human wisdom, with any of the boasted knowledge and literature of the Jews or Greeks, yet he had communicated to them a treasure of the truest and the highest wisdom: We speak wisdom among those who are perfect (1 Cor. 2:6), among those who are well instructed in Christianity, and come to some maturity in the things of God. Those that receive the doctrine as divine, and, having been... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 Corinthians 2:1-5

2:1-5 So, brothers, when I came to you, I did not come announcing God's secret to you with any outstanding gifts of rhetoric or wisdom, for it was my deliberate decision to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him upon his Cross. So I was with you in weakness and in diffidence and in much nervousness. My story and my proclamation were not made with persuasive words of wisdom; it was by the Spirit and by power that they were unanswerably demonstrated to be true, so that your faith... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 Corinthians 2:6-9

2:6-9 True, we speak wisdom among those who are mature--but it is a wisdom which does not belong to this world, nor to the rulers of this world whose extinction is inevitable. But we speak the wisdom of God in a way that only he who is initiated into Christianity can understand, a wisdom which up to now has been kept hidden, a wisdom which God fore-ordained before time for our eternal glory, a wisdom which none of the leaders of this world knew; for if they had known it, they would not have... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 2:5

That your faith should not stand ,.... "Or be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God". The Spirit of God directed him, and he under his influence chose, and by his assistance pursued this way of preaching, with this view, and for this reason, that faith in Christ, and in the doctrines of his Gospel, which comes by hearing, might not be attributed to the force of human eloquence and oratory; or stand upon so sandy a foundation, as that which might, if that was the case, be puffed away... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 2:6

Howbeit we speak wisdom ,.... Though the wise philosophers among the Gentiles accounted the Gospel foolishness; and though the apostle, by an ironical concession, had called the ministry of it the foolishness of preaching, and the foolishness of God, and had thought best, for wise reasons, to deliver it in a plain and simple manner, without the embellishments of human wisdom; yet he vindicates it from the charge of folly: it was not folly, but wisdom, which he and his fellow ministers... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 2:7

But we speak the wisdom of God ,.... Not of men, not of the wise politicians, the learned philosophers and Rabbins; that which human wisdom has no hand in forming, nor in revealing, nor in propagating, and which is disliked and disapproved of by it: the Gospel is the sole produce of divine wisdom, and in which there is a glorious display of it; even in those doctrines which are the most charged with folly, as salvation by a crucified Christ, justification by his righteousness, pardon by his... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 2:8

Which none of the princes of this world knew ,.... Meaning not the devils, as some have thought, who had they known what God designed to do by the death of Christ, would never have been concerned in bringing it about; nor so much the political governors of the Roman empire, particularly in Judea, as Herod and Pontius Pilate, who also were entirely ignorant of it; but rather the ecclesiastical rulers of the Jewish church state, called עולם הזה , "this world", in distinction from עולם ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 2:9

But as it is written ,.... Not in an apocryphal book, called the Apocalypse of Elijah the prophet, as some have thought, but in Isaiah 64:4 with some variation; and is brought to prove that the Gospel is mysterious and hidden wisdom, unknown to the princes of this world, and ordained before the world was, for the glory of the saints: for the following words are not to be understood of the glories and happiness of the future state; though they are indeed invisible, unheard of, and... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 2:5

That your faith should not stand - That the illumination of your souls and your conversion to God might appear to have nothing human in it: your belief, therefore, of the truths which have been proposed to you is founded, not in human wisdom, but in Divine power: human wisdom was not employed; and human power, if it had been employed, could not have produced the change. read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Corinthians 2:1-5

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Corinthians 2:6-16

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 Corinthians 2:1-5

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 Corinthians 2:6-9

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 2:5

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 2:6

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 2:7

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 2:8

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 2:9

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 2:5

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