1 Corinthians 2:3 · World English Bible
1 Corinthians 2:3 Meaning I Was with You in Weakness
I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.
What does 1 Corinthians 2:3 mean?
Shaking is a strange thing to admit to, and admitting it does real work: whatever took root among them cannot be credited to nerve, charm, or a good speaking voice. A visibly small messenger keeps people from confusing the messenger with the message.
From the Orthodox reading below.
1 Corinthians 2:3 through 1 lens
The same verse, read by one tradition.
Orthodox
ORTHODOX
Orthodox
Shaking is a strange thing to admit to, and admitting it does real work: whatever took root among them cannot be credited to nerve, charm, or a good speaking voice. A visibly small messenger keeps people from confusing the messenger with the message.
Trembling is also reverence, not only nerves. Speaking about God in front of others is heavy work, and anyone who feels no weight in it has probably misunderstood what he is holding. Grace settles most easily on people who know they are out of their depth, which is why humility is treated as the door the rest of the spiritual life comes through.
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Orthodox lens
Live 1 Corinthians 2:3 today
- Today, when you feel out of your depth, say so to yourself without rushing to fix the feeling. Being nervous about something that matters is the right response to it.
- Tell one person honestly that you are not sure, that you are scared about the appointment, the move, the conversation. Letting someone see you shaking is a gift, not a leak.
- In the meeting or the hard call, drop the performance. Say the plain true thing even if your voice is uneven, and let the thing you are saying carry its own weight instead of your delivery.
Where are you spending energy looking steady when the truth would do more?
The same truth in other traditions
Tao Te Ching 8
Water takes the lowest place and that is exactly where its power comes from. Going low is not losing.
Stoicism · Epictetus
He warned students against the confidence of the one who has only read the book, and said the beginning of real learning is admitting you do not yet know.
Sufism · Rumi
The reed can only make music because it is hollow and has been cut. What it lacks is what the sound comes through.
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