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OET (OET-LV) in_order_that the faith of_you_all, not may_be in wisdom of_humans, but in the_power of_god.
In this section Paul wrote about a serious problem in the Corinthian church. The Corinthian believers were dividing up into competing groups. They were following whichever human leader they admired the most. Paul tried to solve this problem by reminding the Corinthians of the message of the cross. He wanted them to stop following human wisdom and to follow God’s wisdom.
In this paragraph Paul used himself as an example of someone who did not depend on false, human wisdom. When he preached to the Corinthians, he talked only about what the Lord Jesus Christ did to save them. He trusted in God’s power to enable them to believe. He did not try to persuade them with clever speech.
so that your faith would not rest on men’s wisdom,
so that you would believe not just because I told a wise message.
I did not want you to believe God’s message because someone convinced you to believe it with clever thoughts/ideas.
I did not want your faith in God’s message to be based on a clever way of speaking.
so that your faith would not rest on men’s wisdom: This clause probably gives the purpose for Paul’s decision about his preaching in verses 1–4. Paul did not want the Corinthians to believe the gospel because of his own clever words. That is why he preached plainly about Christ. Other ways to translate this clause are:
so that your faith would not be based on human wisdom (NET)
so that your faith should depend not on human wisdom (NJB)
so that your faith would not be built on human wisdom
In some languages it may be more natural to translate this clause as a complete sentence. For example:
I preached plainly so that your faith would not be based on human wisdom.
I preached Christ plainly so that you would not trust him because of human wisdom.
but on God’s power.
Rather, I wanted you to believe because of God’s power.
Instead, I wanted you to believe in God’s message because God had worked powerfully among you.
but on God’s power: Some words from the previous clause are implied but not repeated here. It may be more natural in your language to include some or all of the implied words. For example:
but instead your faith would be based on God’s power
Paul wanted the Corinthians to believe the gospel because of God’s power in their lives/hearts. In some languages it may be more natural to translate this clause as a complete sentence. For example:
I wanted you to trust in Christ only through the power of God.
In some languages it may be more natural to reorder these clauses. You may need to first say what Paul did want and then what he did not want. For example:
This was so that your faith in Christ would be through God’s power and not through human wisdom.
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom
ἡ πίστις ὑμῶν, μὴ ᾖ ἐν σοφίᾳ ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλ’ ἐν δυνάμει Θεοῦ
the faith ˱of˲_you_all (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἵνα ἡ πίστις ὑμῶν μή ᾖ ἐν σοφίᾳ ἀνθρώπων ἀλλʼ ἐν δυνάμει Θεοῦ)
Here, when someone has faith that is in something, the word in signals what the faith is based on. Unlike in many other cases, in does not introduce what it is that people trust. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the meaning of this phrase by translating in with a word or phrase that indicates the basis of the faith. Alternate translation: [your faith might not be based on the wisdom of men but be based on the power of God]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns
ἡ πίστις ὑμῶν, μὴ ᾖ
the faith ˱of˲_you_all (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἵνα ἡ πίστις ὑμῶν μή ᾖ ἐν σοφίᾳ ἀνθρώπων ἀλλʼ ἐν δυνάμει Θεοῦ)
If you cannot use this form in your language, you could express the idea in active form by translating faith with a verb such as “trust” or “believe.” Alternate translation: [you might believe not]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / possession
σοφίᾳ ἀνθρώπων
wisdom ˱of˲_humans
Here Paul uses the possessive form to describe what men think is wisdom. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the idea behind this form by translating men with an adjective such as “human.” Alternate translation: [in human wisdom]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / gendernotations
ἀνθρώπων
˱of˲_humans
Although men is masculine, Paul is using it to refer to anyone, whether man or woman. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express men with a non gendered word or refer to both genders. Alternate translation: [of people]
Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / possession
δυνάμει Θεοῦ
˓the˒_power ˱of˲_God
Here Paul uses the possessive form to speak of power that God has and shows. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the idea behind the meaning of this phrase by translating power as a verb or adverb with God as the subject. Alternate translation: [God working powerfully]
OET (OET-LV) in_order_that the faith of_you_all, not may_be in wisdom of_humans, but in the_power of_god.
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.