<p>2:12 <i>But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, so that we might know the things that were freely given to us by God</i>- The &quot;we&quot; refers to the same &quot;we&quot; who were speaking / teaching the Corinthians (:13) and refers I suggest specifically to Paul and his preaching team. The spirit of the world is the mindset of &quot;the wisdom of this world&quot;. Although Paul had that in his rabbinic days, he disregarded it. The Spirit he had received was in response to his faith in the crucified Christ whom he had encountered. This was God's Spirit, and revealed the things of God; and it was those things which he taught to the Corinthians in his preaching of the Gospel. The &quot;things&quot; were &quot;freely given&quot; in that the Spirit of God as it were searches all of God's things. The connection between Christ crucified and the free gift of God's &quot;things&quot; is developed in Rom. 8:32, where the same words are used: &quot;He that spared not His own Son but delivered him up for us all, how shall He not also with him freely give us all things?&quot;. Once we accept the gift of God's Son, then all else, quite literally, is surely going to be given. And those things include faith and understanding. The Greek word for &quot;freely given&quot; is also that translated 'forgive'. Our experience of forgiveness on account of the cross opens the way to receive so much more too- all the things of God's free giving. For the cross not only is the basis for the 'free giving' of forgiveness, but of God's Spirit which knows all things.</p>