Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth ; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
The apostle Paul is writing to the church in Corinth — a city that prized education, rhetoric, and clever debate above almost everything. In this passage, Paul makes a claim that would have been provocative to his audience: the things he teaches don't come from human intelligence or polished argumentation. They come from the Holy Spirit. Paul isn't saying that thinking is bad or that scholarship is worthless. He's making a deeper point: certain spiritual truths can only be received and communicated through the Spirit's teaching, not through intellectual effort alone. The Spirit, he argues, is the one who bridges the gap between divine truth and human understanding.
Holy Spirit, I confess how much I depend on my own understanding and how rarely I pause to ask for yours. Teach me what I cannot learn on my own. Open my eyes to truths that only you can show me, and make me humble enough — and quiet enough — to actually receive them. Amen.
There's a specific kind of exhaustion that comes from trying to think your way to God. You read the arguments. You follow the logic. You line up the evidence. And at some point you notice: the God you're chasing keeps slipping through your systems. Paul wrote to people who lived inside that frustration — a city famous for its philosophers and debaters — and he said something almost offensive to them: the deepest truths aren't won by smarter arguments. They're received. That doesn't mean you stop thinking. It means you stop believing you can get all the way there alone. The Spirit's role, Paul says, is to teach — which means your role includes being teachable. And teachable isn't passive. It looks like sitting with a passage long enough to let it ask you something back. It looks like praying before you read, not just after. It looks like admitting that the parts of Scripture that confuse or unsettle you might be exactly the places where the Spirit has something to say that your own cleverness has been blocking out. What would change if you asked God to be your teacher today, not just your subject?
What is the difference Paul is drawing between human wisdom and spiritual understanding? Do these two things ever overlap, or are they completely separate categories?
Have you ever had a moment when something in Scripture suddenly made sense in a way you couldn't fully explain or arrive at through thinking alone? What was that experience like?
Does Paul's argument here create tension with valuing theological education, biblical scholarship, or careful study? How do you hold both intellectual effort and spiritual receptivity together?
If you believe truth ultimately comes from the Spirit, how does that change the way you approach spiritual conversations with people who push back or disagree — especially skeptics?
What is one practice you could try this week to deliberately invite the Spirit's teaching into how you read Scripture, rather than relying entirely on your own analysis?
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
John 14:26
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
John 16:13
But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
1 John 2:27
But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.
Micah 3:8
For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
1 Corinthians 1:17
But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.
Mark 13:11
And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
Jeremiah 3:15
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1 Corinthians 2:14
We also speak of these things, not in words taught or supplied by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining and interpreting spiritual thoughts with spiritual words [for those being guided by the Holy Spirit].
AMP
And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
ESV
which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual [thoughts] with spiritual [words].
NASB
This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.
NIV
These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
NKJV
When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths.
NLT
We don't have to rely on the world's guesses and opinions. We didn't learn this by reading books or going to school; we learned it from God, who taught us person-to-person through Jesus, and we're passing it on to you in the same firsthand, personal way.
MSG