1 Corinthians 2:13

Not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth. Lit., not in the taught words of human wisdom. Compare Plato : "Through love all the intercourse and speech of God with man, whether awake or asleep, is carried on. The wisdom which understands this is spiritual; all other wisdom, such as that of arts and handicrafts, is mean and vulgar" (" Symposium, " 203).

Which the Spirit teacheth [ε ν δ ι δ α κ τ ο ι ς π ν ε υ μ α τ ο ς]. Lit., in the taught (words) of the Spirit. Taught; not mechanically uttered, but communicated by a living Spirit.

Comparing spiritual things with spiritual [π ν ε υ μ α τ ι κ ο ι ς π ν ε υ μ α τ ι κ α σ υ γ κ ρ ι ν ο ν τ ε ς]. Notice the paronomasia. See on Romans 1:29; Romans 1:31. The dispute on this verse arises over the meanings of sugkrinontev, A. V., comparing, and pneumatikoiv spiritual. As to the latter, whether the reference is to spiritual men, things, or words; as to the former, whether the meaning is adapting, interpreting, proving, or comparing. The principal interpretations are : adapting spiritual words to spiritual things; adapting spiritual things to spiritual men; interpreting spiritual things to spiritual men; interpreting spiritual things by spiritual words. Sugkrinontev occurs only here and 2 Corinthians 10:12, where the meaning is clearly compare. In classical Greek the original meaning is to compound, and later, to compare, as in Aristotle and Plutarch, and to interpret, used of dreams, and mainly in Septuagint. See Genesis 40:8. The most satisfactory interpretation is combining spiritual things with spiritual words. After speaking of spiritual things (vers. 11, 12, 13), Paul now speaks of the forms in which they are conveyed - spiritual forms or words answering to spiritual matters, and says, we combine spiritual things with spiritual forms of expression. This would not be the case if we uttered the revelations of the Spirit in the speech of human wisdom. 81