BUT GOD!

I don't know how many times I've seen 1Cor 2.9 misused to mean something it doesn't signify.* The text says,

'But as it is written: 
"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him" ' (NKJV).

This seems to be a composite quote or allusion to Isaiah 64.4; 65.17; 52.15 (as we have no direct OT quote according to Robertson. It may also be that Paul alludes to the rendering of the Septuagint, a translation of the Hebrew scriptures into Greek.) 

Verse 9 is often quoted with the speaker finishing at the end of verse 9. The problem with this 'ending' is that it gives us a reading that distorts verse 9 because both the larger and immediate contexts are ignored.

Immediate Context

In 1Cor 2.8 Paul promotes the point that 'the rulers of this age' did not know the hidden wisdom ordained by God (because if they had they would not have crucified Jesus). The first observation to make is that Paul is using verse 9 to support this position. That is, the hearts of man implied in verse 9 are unbelieving hearts who know nothing about what God is preparing for the elect and who crucify His Christ!

And now we hear the contrast:

'BUT GOD . . . . . (these are the beginnings words of usually ignored next verse) . . . . has revealed them to us [his believing children] through His Spirit' (1 Cor 2.10, NKJV).

Now Paul is saying something of vital importance to all Christians. No doubt 2.9 refers to things that God has prepared for us in the New Heavens and New Earth but 'God has revealed them to us through His Spirit''. That's important isn't it? Wonderfully important!

We are not to claim verse 9 as if it is our mainstay but go on to verse 10.

Larger Context

Firstly, if one goes back to 1 Corinthians chs 1 and 2, one of the major themes (if not the major theme) is wisdom which initially is raised because of the Corinthian predilection for factionalism--'I am of Paul', 'I am of Apollos', 'I am of Cephas', and 'I am of Christ' (1 Cor 1.12). Paul attacks this sectarianism by pointing to the unity all believers have in Christ as opposed to the divisiveness of 'wisdom' (1Cor 1.19f; Is 29.14).

Secondly, later in chapter 1 Christ is set forth as both the power of God and the wisdom of God (see 1Cor 1.24) which addresses the desires of both the Jews who wants a sign and the Greeks who want wisdom. 

Then in chapter 2, Paul turns his attention to 'the wisdom of God' as a mystery. Mystery in the Christian scriptures does not mean 'something hidden' but, 'something once hidden but now revealed'! 

In 1Cor 2.12, we read, 'Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God' (also see Rom 8.15-17).

*Note: At least one of the older commentators, Barnes, is firmly of the same opinion as I am of this passage.