1 Corinthians 2:1

Contextual Overview

¹ As for me, brothers, when I arrived among you, it was not with surpassing eloquence or wisdom that I came announcing to you the previously concealed truth about God; ¹ And *I*, when I came to you, brethren, came not in excellency of word, or wisdom, announcing to you the testimony of God. ¹ When I came to you, brothers, I didn't come with excellence of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. ¹ When I came to you, brothers, I didn't come and tell you about God's secrettestimony">[fn] with rhetorical language or wisdom.1 Corinthians 1:4,6, 13,17; 2 Corinthians 10:10; 11:6;">[xr] ¹ And I, my brethren, when I came to you, not with grandeur of speech, nor with wisdom, did I evangelize to you the mystery of Aloha. ¹ And I, my Brethren, when I came to you, did not preach to you the mystery of God in magnificent speech, nor in wisdom. ¹ And I, brethren, when I came unto you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. ¹ And when I came to you, my brothers, I did not come with wise words of knowledge, putting before you the secret of God. ¹ And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. ¹ And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellencie of woordes, or of wisedome, shewing vnto you the testimonie of God.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

when: Acts 18:1-4

with: 1 Corinthians 2:4, 1 Corinthians 2:13, 1 Corinthians 1:17, Exodus 4:10, Jeremiah 1:6, Jeremiah 1:7, Romans 16:18, 2 Corinthians 10:10, 2 Corinthians 11:6

the testimony: 1 Corinthians 1:6, Isaiah 8:20, Acts 20:21, Acts 22:18, 2 Thessalonians 1:10, 1 Timothy 1:11, 2 Timothy 1:8, 1 John 4:14, 1 John 5:11-13, Revelation 1:2, Revelation 1:9, Revelation 19:10

Reciprocal: Acts 18:24 - an Acts 24:1 - orator 1 Corinthians 2:6 - not 2 Corinthians 6:6 - knowledge 2 Timothy 4:3 - having 2 Peter 1:16 - we have Revelation 7:5 - tribe of Juda Revelation 12:17 - and have

Cross-References

Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1
God created the sky and the earth. At first,

Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the eretz.

Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Genesis 1:1
At the first God made the heaven and the earth.

Genesis 1:1
In the beginnyng GOD created ye heauen and the earth.

Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heauen and the earth.

Genesis 1:1
GOD created the heavens and the earth in the very beginning.

Genesis 1:1
In the beginning, when God created the universe,

Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And I, brethren, when I came to you,.... This account the apostle gives of himself is occasioned, either by what he had said in the latter part of the preceding chapter, concerning the choice God has made of the foolish, weak, base, and despicable things of the world, and of his calling them by his grace both to fellowship with the saints in common, and therefore he accommodated his ministry unto them, and in particular to the ministry of the word, of which he himself was a like instance and an example; or else by what he had declared in 1 Corinthians 1:17 of the same chapter, that he was sent to preach the Gospel,

not with wisdom of words; which he here reassumes, and affirms agreeably, that when he first came to Corinth, he

came not with excellency of speech, or of wisdom; for though he was not only versed in Jewish learning, being brought up at the feet of Gamaliel; but had also a good share of Grecian literature, and was capable, upon proper occasions, to cite the Greek poets, as he does Aratus, Acts 17:28 and Menander, Titus 1:12 and so could, had he thought fit, have adorned his discourses with pompous language, with the flowers of rhetoric, and the eloquence of the Grecians; yet he chose not such a high and florid style, and which savoured so much of human wisdom and art; for the subject he treated of required no such dress, nor any great swelling words of vanity, or a bombast style to set it off, and gain the applause and assent of men: for what he delivered were plain matters of fact, attested by God himself,

declaring unto you the testimony of God; that is, the Gospel, which bears a testimony to the love, grace, and mercy of God, his kindness and good will to the sons of men, in giving and sending his only begotten Son to be the Saviour and Redeemer of them; and in which God bears a testimony of his Son, of his sonship, deity, mediation, incarnation, obedience, sufferings, and death, of his resurrection, ascension to heaven, session at his right hand, intercession for his people, and his second coming to judgment, and of eternal life and salvation by him. All which being matter of fact, and depending upon the witness of God, which is greater than that of men, needed no art nor oratory of men to recommend it: it was enough in plain words, and easy language, to declare it, with the evidence by which it was supported. The Alexandrian copy, and some others, read, "the mystery" of God: and so the Syriac version

רזא דאלהא, "the mystery of God" one of Stephens's copies reads, "the mystery of Christ"; and the Vulgate Latin version, "the testimony of Christ".

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And I, brethren - Keeping up the tender and affectionate style of address.

When I came unto you - When I came at first to preach the gospel at Corinth. Acts 18:1 ff.

Came not with excellency of speech - Came not with graceful and attractive eloquence. The apostle here evidently alludes to that nice ant studied choice of language; to those gracefully formed sentences, and to that skill of arrangement in discourse and argument which was so much an object of regard with the Greek rhetoricians. It is probable that Paul was never much distinguished for these (compare 2 Corinthians 10:10), and it is certain he never made them an object of intense study and solicitude. Compare 1Co 2:4, 1 Corinthians 2:13.

Or of wisdom - Of the wisdom of this world; of that kind of wisdom which was sought and cultivated in Greece.

The testimony of God - The testimony or the witnessing which God has borne to the gospel of Christ by miracles, and by attending it everywhere with his presence and blessing. In 1 Corinthians 2:6, the gospel is called “the testimony of Christ;” and here it may either mean the witness which the gospel bears to the true character and plans of God; or the witnessing which God had borne to the gospel by miracles, etc. The gospel contains the testimony of God in regard to his own character and plans; especially in regard to the great plan of redemption through Jesus Christ. Several mss. instead of “testimony of God,” here read “the mystery of God.” This would accord well with the scope of the argument; but the present reading is probably the correct one. See Mill. The Syriac version has also “mystery.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER II.

The apostle makes an apology for his manner of preaching, 1.

And gives the reason why he adopted that manner, 2-5.

He shows that this preaching, notwithstanding it was not with

excellence of human speech or wisdom, yet was the mysterious

wisdom of God, which the princes of this world did not know,

and which the Spirit of God alone could reveal, 6-10.

It is the Spirit of God only that can reveal the things of God,

11.

The apostles of Christ know the things of God by the Spirit of

God, and teach them, not in the words of man's wisdom, but in

the words of that Spirit, 12, 13.

The natural man cannot discern the things of the Spirit, 14.

But the spiritual man can discern and teach them, because he

has the mind of Christ, 15, 16.

NOTES ON CHAP. II.

Verse 1 Corinthians 2:1. When I came to you — Acting suitably to my mission, which was to preach the Gospel, but not with human eloquence, 1 Corinthians 1:17. I declared to you the testimony, the Gospel, of God, not with excellency of speech, not with arts of rhetoric, used by your own philosophers, where the excellence of the speech recommends the matter, and compensates for the want of solidity and truth: on the contrary, the testimony concerning Christ and his salvation is so supremely excellent, as to dignify any kind of language by which it may be conveyed. See the Introduction, sect. ii.