What Does 1 Corinthians 2:5 Mean?
That your leaning should not stand on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.THE KEY
Your trust takes its footing from God’s active capacity, where human wisdom cannot provide its ground.
THE MEANING
Your trust rests in God’s power. Human insight may be impressive, but the ground beneath your trust is what God is able to do.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this undoes is that trust is secure only when human reasoning can support it; the verse locates its ground in God’s power.
THE ROOT
πίστις
pistis
GROWS FROM
πειθ-
peith-
to persuade or be persuaded, giving rise to trust
“leaning” in this verse is pistis. This Greek word family links believing with being persuaded and with being trustworthy: faith carries the weight of trust, not bare agreement. Here that trust rests in God’s capacity to act.
ALSO GROWS
peithō: persuade, convince
πείθω
Faith carries the sense of being persuaded toward trust, not merely accepting an idea.
pepoitha: be persuaded, be confident, trust
πέποιθα
This branch makes the posture of faith explicit: confidence placed in what is trusted.
pistos: trustworthy, reliable
πιστός
The same family connects trust with reliability, illuminating the weight faith places on its ground.
δύναμις
dynamis
GROWS FROM
δυναμ-
dynam-
to be able; capacity to act
“power” in this verse is dynamis. Dynamis names ability or effective capacity, not just impressive force. The verse places faith in what God is able to do, so its ground is active capacity rather than human cleverness.
ALSO GROWS
dynamai: be able, have the capacity
δύναμαι
This verb makes the root’s central idea plain: power is the ability to act.
dynatos: able, powerful
δυνατός
This related word describes one who has the capacity the verse names as faith’s ground.
dynamoō: strengthen, make strong
δυναμόω
This branch shows the root’s movement from capacity into strengthening action.
THE PATTERN
Trust finds its ground in God’s capacity rather than in human strength or understanding.
Lean your full weight upon the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.Some lean their full weight on chariots, and some on horses; but we remember in the nature of the LORD our God.And he said to me, "My favor is enough for you, for strength is carried to its end in weakness." Most gladly, then, I will boast all the more in my weaknesses, so that the strength of the Anointed One may pitch its tent over me.THE THREAD
And he said to me, "My favor is enough for you, for strength is carried to its end in weakness." Most gladly, then, I will boast all the more in my weaknesses, so that the strength of the Anointed One may pitch its tent over me.“The power of Christ” uses the same Greek word, δύναμις (dynamis), as “the power of God” here. It shows that divine capacity remains active even in weakness, clarifying what faith rests upon.
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