Theme: Wisdom received versus wisdom achieved

Exegetical note
Among the most popular and revered individuals in Paul's day were the professional, itinerant orators, skilled and educated in rhetoric, who could extemporize on virtually any topic, and mesmerize less with substance than with style. With these Paul contrasts himself, who has only a haltingly-delivered, simple message for the many - "Christ and him crucified" - and wisdom for "the mature." Yet even that is not the achieved wisdom of the learned, but the received wisdom revealed by the Spirit…