Big Picture: After explaining why he did not speak “wisdom” to the Corinthians when he
entered Corinth (vv. 1–5), Paul qualifies that he actually does impart a different kind of wisdom to certain people – those with the Spirit. God has now revealed his wisdom only to persons with the Spirit. Those with the Spirit can understand God’s wisdom because they indeed have “the mind of Christ.” This is why it is so sad and foolish for Christians to esteem worldly wisdom over God’s wisdom—as some of the Corinthians are doing.

• First Contrast: Those who receive God’s wisdom and those who do not (2:6–10a)
• Second Contrast: The Spirit of God and the spirit of the world (2:10b–13)
• Third Contrast: The person with the Spirit and the person without the Spirit (2:14–16)

*This sermon owes a debt to D.A. Carson’s “The Cross and Christian Ministry,” and Andrew Naselli’s “1 Corinthians.”