Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 1 Corinthians 2:9

"but as it is written, Things which eye saw not, and ear heard not, And [which] entered not into the heart of man, Whatsoever things God prepared for them that love him." — 1 Corinthians 2:9 (ASV)

However, Paul goes on to say, the “hidden” (GK 648) wisdom he has been preaching is the wisdom referred to in the OT. It was set forth in the promises God had prepared and laid up for his people—for those who love him. It is these promises that people like the rulers of this world still do not see and have not even thought of obeying. That God has prepared these things for us Christians implies that we will sometime know and share in these promised blessings (Romans 8:18–25), which, Paul hastens to say, have been revealed to God’s people by the Spirit (v.10).

The expression “it is written” (v.9), often used to cite OT Scripture (cf. Matthew 4:4; Mark 11:17; Romans 1:17, et al.), may mean here “to use the language of Scripture” or “to speak generally from Scripture” (cf. Jn 1:45), without meaning that the passage is formally cited. The first two lines of the quotation and the last line loosely refer to Isa 64:4, whereas the third line may merely be a thought from the OT generally as summarized by Paul (but cf. Isaiah 65:17). Verse 9 does not make a complete sentence in Greek (see the dash at the end of the verse), but Paul, in giving more than one OT thought, is not attempting strictly to weave them into his sentence structure.