1 Corinthians 2:1

And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. AND I - So I, I also, as one of the 'foolish, weak, and despised' instruments employed by God: 'glorying in the Lord,' not in man's wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:27). My mode of speaking and acting accords with God's plan. WHEN I CAME (, etc.) Paul might, had he pleased, have used an ornate style, having studied at Tarsus of Cilicia, famed for learning: here he read the Cilician Aratus' poems (which he quotes, ), and Epimenides (), and Menander ...

1._And I, when I came _Paul having begun to speak of his own method of teaching, had straightway fallen into a discussion as to the nature of gospel preaching generally. Now again he returns to speak of himself, to show that nothing in him was despised but what belonged to the nature of the gospel itself, and did in a manner adhere to it. He allows therefore that he had not had any of the aids of human eloquence or wisdom to qualify him for producing any effect, but while he acknowledges himself to be destitute of such resources, he hints at the inference to be drawn from this — that the power of God shone the more illustriously in his ministry, from its standing in no need of such helps. This latter idea, however, he will be found bringing forward shortly afterwards. For the present he simply grants that he has nothing of human wisdom, and in the meantime reserves to himself this much —...

1-5 Christ, in his person, and offices, and sufferings, is the sum and substance of the gospel, and ought to be the great subject of a gospel minister's preaching, but not so as to leave out other parts of God's revealed truth and will. Paul preached the whole counsel of God. Few know the fear and trembling of faithful ministers, from a deep sense of their own weakness They know how insufficient they are, and are fearful for themselves. When nothing but Christ crucified is plainly preached, the success must be entirely from Divine power accompanying the word, and thus men are brought to believe, to the salvation of their souls....

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 i

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...

EXPOSITION 1 CORINTHIANS 2:1 _St. Paul's own method._ 1 CORINTHIANS 2:1 AND I; "I too;" I in accordance with God's method. WHEN I CAME TO YOU. The date of his first visit was in A.D. 52, and he had stayed a year and a half (Acts 18:11). He had since been (roughly speaking) "three years" (τριετίαν_, _Acts 20:31) at Ephesus. OF SPEECH OR OF WISDOM. I spoke to you neither oratorically nor philosophically. Hence the Apollos party, fond of the brilliant rhetoric of the young Alexandrian, spoke of Pau

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

1 CORINTHIANS 2:1 musth,rion {B} From an exegetical point of view the reading martu,rion tou/ qeou/, though well supported (ac B D G P Y 33 81 614 1739 _Byz_ itd, g vg syrh copsa arm eth Origen _al_), is inferior to musth,rion, which has more limited but early support in î46vid? a* A C 88 436 itr, 61 syrp copbo Hippolytus Ambrosiaster Ephraem Ambrose Pelagius Augustine Antiochus. The reading martu,rion seems to be a recollection of...

CHAPTER 2 _ 1. The Apostle's Preaching. (1 Corinthians 2:1)._ 2. The Revelation of the Spirit. (1 Corinthians 2:6). 3. The Helplessness and Ignorance of the Natural Man. (1 Corinthians 2:14). The Apostle had been among them and declared unto them the testimony of God. This he had not done with excellency of speech or wisdom. He preached unto them the Person of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He, who is the wisdom of God, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3), was his one theme; he determined not to know anything among them but the Person

1 CORINTHIANS 1:18 TO 1 CORINTHIANS 2:5. THE CROSS, FOLLY TO THE WORLD, IS THE POWER AND WISDOM OF GOD. Paul now explains and justifies 1 Corinthians 1:17_ b_, which to Greek readers must have sounded strange, almost a defiant paradox. The story of the Cross is folly to those who are in the way of ruin, but it attests itself in our experience to us, who are in the way of salvation, as the power of God. And this is in harmony with Scripture. For God's wise purpose ordained that the world's wisdom should be unable to know Him. There is an effective contrast between Divine and human wisdom. The world seeks through its wisdom to know God, but God's wisdom checkmates the world's wisdom and thw