What did Paul actually teach the Corinthian believers?
Paul taught the Corinthian believers the preaching of the cross—Christ crucified and risen from the dead—not advanced human education. He taught them that the Spirit of God enables believers to know the things freely given by God. That was the core of his message to them.
Les explains that Paul did not put the Corinthian believers through grade school, high school, and college. Instead, he took these people and began to teach them, as he says later in Corinthians, the preaching of the cross. That is all Paul knew: Christ crucified and risen from the dead. The Spirit which is of God was given so that believers might know the things freely given to us, not by Paul, but by God. Les also notes that the unsaved person cannot comprehend these things; they are a closed book, but once a person enters into a salvation experience and is born again by the Spirit of God, the book opens up.
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
More Questions
What did Paul teach the Corinthians—was it formal education or the preaching of the cross?
Paul did not educate the Corinthians through formal schooling (grade school, high school, college); he taught them the preaching of the cross, knowing only Christ crucified and risen from the dead.