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The following article illustrates how the help apparatus of the New American Bible helps in understanding 1 Corinthians 2:1-5. The reader will however have to invest some time to reading the text with the use of a sentence flow. The sentence flow will find its confirmation in an outline that is created as a result. In the case of 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, it is obvious that with the repetition of the phrase “I came”, the main controlling idea is Paul’s remembrance of the way he first came among the Corinthians. The explanatory notes deepen the reader’s understanding of the language of Paul; the textual parallels add more precision to the understanding of particular words and phrases. But we have here are notes; it is up to the reader to summarize his findings by retelling — using his own words — Paul’s testimony of faith.

Sentence Flow

¹When I came to you, brothers and sisters¹,

²For I resolved

³I came to you

⁴and my message
and my proclamation

⁵so that your faith might rest

Observations and Outline

1. There are contrasts in “When I came (1)… I did not come (2)”;”persuasive words of wisdom … demonstration of spirit and power” (4); “human wisdom”… “power of God” (5)
2. the condition of Paul when he came is that of weakness, similar to the Christ he proclaimed, “him crucified” (vv. 2-3)

An outline of this brief section can be presented thus…

• Paul remembers the way he came to the Corinthians
  1. not with sublime words (1)
  2. resolving to know nothing else but Christ crucified (2)
  3. he came in fear and trembling (3)
  4. his message was a demonstration of power and spirit (4)
  5. his intention was so that the faith of the Corinthians may rest on the power of God, not on human wisdom (5)

Explanatory Notes of the NAB

The NAB gives comments on the words “mystery of God” (1), “him crucified” (2), and the reading for verse 4, “persuasion of wisdom” or “persuasive words of wisdom”.

“Mystery of God” is God’s secret, “known only to himself, and is his intention for salvation. This “secret” involves Jesus, see 1 Corinthians 1:18-25; 2:2.8-10.

The weakness of Christ crucified is similar to the condition of Paul when he first came to the Corinthians. Paul’s “fear and trembling” before the transcendence of God is compared to the “fear and trembling” that should characterize the Philippians’ response to their own call to salvation (Philippians 2:12).

Whatever the reading is preferred — “persuasion of wisdom” or “persuasive words of wisdom” — this is contrasted with the power of the cross.

Textual Parallels

v. 1 “words of wisdom” …

1 Corinthians 1:17
For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with the wisdom of human eloquence, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning.

The parallel recalls the preceding section, 1 Corinthians 1:17.18-25 (see also following note on v. 2), where Paul stresses that “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved, the power of God” (v. 18)

v. 2 “and him crucified” …

1 Corinthians 1:23
but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,

Galatians 6:14
But may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

v.4 “demonstration of spirit and power” …

1 Corinthians 4:20
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

Romans 15:19
by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit (of God), so that from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum I have finished preaching the gospel of Christ.

1 Thessalonians 1:5
For our gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the holy Spirit and (with) much conviction. You know what sort of people we were (among) you for your sake.

The passages recalled here show that “power” refers to the power of the Holy Spirit who accompanied the apostles wherever the gospel was preached.

v. 5 “power of God” …

2 Corinthians 4:7
But we hold this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us.

The reference to 2 Corinthians 4:7 should be read within the context of 2 Corinthians 4:1-18 where Paul talks about his integrity as an apostle, bearing witness to the truth of the gospel with the signs of the “death of Christ” in his body, cf. vv. 8-11.

1. The Greek only has “adelphoi”, and — like its equivalent in Latin, “fratres” — it was sufficient to express the idea “brothers and sisters” when the addressees are mixed. In English, this is explicitated for reasons required by “inclusive language”. [↩]
2. Some manuscripts have “witness”, martyrion. The reading here follows the witness of earlier manuscripts. The choice is dictated by the fact that “martyrion” coming as it does from later mss., may have been due to a scribal mistake. Martyrion and mysterion look almost alike in Greek. [↩]

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