Et ego, cum venissem ad vos, fratres, veni non in sublimitate sermonis, aut sapientiæ, annuntians vobis testimonium Christi.

And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not in loftiness of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of Christ.

So it was, brethren, that when I came to you and preached Christ’s message to you, I did so without any high pretensions to eloquence, or to philosophy.

Non enim judicavi me scire aliquid inter vos, nisi Jesum Christum, et hunc crucifixum.

For I judged not myself to know any thing among you, but Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

I had no thought of bringing you any other knowledge than that of Jesus Christ, and of him as crucified.

Et ego in infirmitate, et timore, et tremore multo fui apud vos:

And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.

It was with distrust of myself, full of anxious fear, that I approached you;

et sermo meus, et prædicatio mea non in persuasibilibus humanæ sapientiæ verbis, sed in ostensione spiritus et virtutis:

And my speech and my preaching was not in the persuasive words of human wisdom, but in shewing of the Spirit and power;

my preaching, my message depended on no persuasive language, devised by human wisdom, but rather on the proof I gave you of spiritual power;

ut fides vestra non sit in sapientia hominum, sed in virtute Dei.

That your faith might not stand on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

God’s power, not man’s wisdom, was to be the foundation of your faith.

Sapientiam autem loquimur inter perfectos: sapientiam vero non hujus sæculi, neque principum hujus sæculi, qui destruuntur:

Howbeit we speak wisdom among the perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, neither of the princes of this world that come to nought;

There is, to be sure, a wisdom which we make known among those who are fully grounded; but it is not the wisdom of this world, or of this world’s rulers, whose power is to be abrogated.

sed loquimur Dei sapientiam in mysterio, quæ abscondita est, quam prædestinavit Deus ante sæcula in gloriam nostram,

But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, a wisdom which is hidden, which God ordained before the world, unto our glory:

What we make known is the wisdom of God, his secret, kept hidden till now; so, before the ages, God had decreed, reserving glory for us.

quam nemo principum hujus sæculi cognovit: si enim cognovissent, numquam Dominum gloriæ crucifixissent.

Which none of the princes of this world knew; for if they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.

(None of the rulers of this world could read his secret, or they would not have crucified him to whom all glory belongs.)

Sed sicut scriptum est: Quod oculus non vidit, nec auris audivit, nec in cor hominis ascendit, quæ præparavit Deus iis qui diligunt illum:

But, as it is written: That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him.

So we read of, Things no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no human heart conceived, the welcome God has prepared for those who love him.

nobis autem revelavit Deus per Spiritum suum: Spiritus enim omnia scrutatur, etiam profunda Dei.

But to us God hath revealed them, by his Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

To us, then, God has made a revelation of it through his Spirit; there is no depth in God’s nature so deep that the Spirit cannot find it out.

Quis enim hominum scit quæ sunt hominis, nisi spiritus hominis, qui in ipso est? ita et quæ Dei sunt, nemo cognovit, nisi Spiritus Dei.

For what man knoweth the things of a man, but the spirit of a man that is in him? So the things also that are of God no man knoweth, but the Spirit of God.

Who else can know a man’s thoughts, except the man’s own spirit that is within him? So no one else can know God’s thoughts, but the Spirit of God.

Nos autem non spiritum hujus mundi accepimus, sed Spiritum qui ex Deo est, ut sciamus quæ a Deo donata sunt nobis:

Now we have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God.

And what we have received is no spirit of worldly wisdom; it is the Spirit that comes from God, to make us understand God’s gifts to us;

quæ et loquimur non in doctis humanæ sapientiæ verbis, sed in doctrina Spiritus, spiritualibus spiritualia comparantes.

Which things also we speak, not in the learned words of human wisdom; but in the doctrine of the Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

gifts which we make known, not in such words as human wisdom teaches, but in words taught us by the Spirit, matching what is spiritual with what is spiritual.

Animalis autem homo non percipit ea quæ sunt Spiritus Dei: stultitia enim est illi, et non potest intelligere: quia spiritualiter examinatur.

But the sensual man perceiveth not these things that are of the Spirit of God; for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand, because it is spiritually examined.

Mere man with his natural gifts cannot take in the thoughts of God’s Spirit; they seem mere folly to him, and he cannot grasp them, because they demand a scrutiny which is spiritual.

Spiritualis autem judicat omnia: et ipse a nemine judicatur.

But the spiritual man judgeth all things; and he himself is judged of no man.

Whereas the man who has spiritual gifts can scrutinize everything, without being subject, himself, to any other man’s scrutiny.

Quis enim cognovit sensum Domini, qui instruat eum? nos autem sensum Christi habemus.

For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

Who has entered into the mind of the Lord, so as to be able to instruct him? And Christ’s mind is ours.