1 Corinthians 2:9
“But as it is written, “Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear, which didn’t enter into the heart of man, these God has prepared for those who love him.””
Where this sits
Paul is quoting Isaiah while explaining why the rulers of this age did not recognise what was happening. The verse immediately after says that God has revealed these things by his Spirit.
Reflection
This is nearly always read at funerals as a description of heaven, and that is not quite what Paul is using it for.
Read the next verse. But God has revealed them to us through the Spirit. The quotation is not a shrug about the unknowable. It is the setup for a claim that the unknowable has been disclosed. Paul's argument in this chapter is about why the wise of his age missed the crucifixion's meaning entirely — not because the information was hidden, but because it was not the kind of thing their instruments could detect.
The three faculties named are exactly that: instruments. Eye, ear, and the heart of man — sight, report, and imagination. Between them they cover everything a person can acquire. You can see it, be told it, or invent it. The verse rules out all three, which leaves only one route, and Paul names it in the following sentence.
And the last clause is the one that quietly does the sorting. These God has prepared for those who love him. Not for those who worked it out. The people who receive this are not identified by intelligence or access. They are identified by affection — which is a strange qualification for knowledge, and is precisely Paul's point about a wisdom the rulers of this age could not reach.
- Theme:
- Future
- Book:
- 1 Corinthians