What does 1 Corinthians 2:6 mean?

Paul has rejected human wisdom as a means of teaching the simple message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Human wisdom involves the observation and analysis of life from a limited human perspective. Being limited and fallible, human wisdom rejects anything which can't be comprehended or worked out by human intelligence. While reason, evidence, and knowledge are important, they don't infallibly lead a person to accept truth (James 2:19; Romans 1:18–23).

Paul describes this human wisdom as the "wisdom of this age." Like all human knowledge, and human opinions, the "wisdom" of any particular era, or culture, is temporary and changing. Paul also calls this limited human wisdom the wisdom of the "rulers of this age." Those rulers, too, are temporary, doomed to pass away. Some Bible scholars suggest that the reference to "rulers" here means human governments and authorities. Others believe them to be supernatural powers: angels and demons involved in human affairs. In either sense, their authority is limited and will be gone when this age comes to an end.

Paul now adds, though, that there is a place for teaching a different kind of wisdom to those who are mature in Christ. By this, he seems to mean the gospel should be presented in the simplest form possible without flourish or unnecessary complication. This not only prevents a person from being distracted by showmanship (1 Corinthians 2:1–2), it also keeps the message accessible to people of all intellectual ability.

However, once someone has come to faith in Christ and is occupied by the Spirit of God with a mind to follow Christ, that person is considered mature and ready to learn the more complicated truths of God's wisdom.