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AUGUST 20
Nor let me flatter any man. among you except Jesus Christ and Him cru-
22 For I do not know how to flatter, cified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and
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Else my Maker would soon take me in much trembling. And my speech and my
away. preaching were not with persuasive words of
human wisdom, but in demonstration of the
Psalm 98:1–3
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Spirit and of power, that your faith should not
A Psalm. be in the wisdom of men but in the power of
God.
h, sing to the LORD a new song! 6
O For He has done marvelous things; However, we speak wisdom among those
His right hand and His holy arm have who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this
gained Him the victory. age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are com-
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ing to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of
God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which
God ordained before the ages for our glory,
98:1 right hand…holy arm. These are sym-
bols of power. the victory. The Lord is often
pictured in the Old Testament as a divine war-
rior (Ex. 15:2,3; Pss. 18; 68:1–8; Is. 59:15ff.). 2:7 mystery.This term does not refer to some-
According to the prophets, Christ will begin thing puzzling, but to truth known to God
His millennial reign following His victory over before time, that He has kept secret until the
the nations of the world which will gather appropriate time for Him to reveal it. for our
against Israel in the end times (Zech. 14:1–15; glory. The truth God established before time
Rev. 19:11–21). and revealed in the New Testament wisdom of
the gospel is the truth that God will save and
glorify sinners.
2 The LORD has made known His
salvation; 8
His righteousness He has revealed in which none of the rulers of this age knew; for
the sight of the nations. had they known, they would not have cruci-
3 He has remembered His mercy and fied the Lord of glory.
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His faithfulness to the house But as it is written:
of Israel; “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
All the ends of the earth have seen the Nor have entered into the heart of man
salvation of our God. The things which God has prepared for
those who love Him.”
Proverbs 23:17–18
10 But God has revealed them to us through His
17 Do not let your heart envy sinners,
Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes,
But be zealous for the fear of the LORD the deep things of God. For what man knows
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all the day;
18 For surely there is a hereafter, the things of a man except the spirit of the
And your hope will not be cut off. man which is in him? Even so no one knows
the things of God except the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the
world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we
might know the things that have been freely
23:18 there is a hereafter. Anyone who given to us by God.
might envy sinners needs to know that their 13 These things we also speak, not in words
prosperity is brief. They will die (“be cut off”); which man’s wisdom teaches but which the
then there will be a time when all iniquities Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things
will be dealt with and divine justice will prevail with spiritual. But the natural man does not
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(Ps. 37:28–38).The righteous will live forever.
receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they
are foolishness to him; nor can he know them,
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because they are spiritually discerned. But
1 Corinthians 2:1–16
he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he
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And I, brethren, when I came to you, did himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who
2 not come with excellence of speech or of has known the mind of the LORD that he may
wisdom declaring to you the testimony of instruct Him?” But we have the mind of
God. For I determined not to know anything Christ.
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