Paul is addressing two audiences that he serves:
- the natural [only] man
- the complete man (man with God's imparted breath/spirit)
He puts the Corinthians in category 1 when he first made his entrance:
1Co 2:1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency
of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. 1Co
2:2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus
Christ, and him crucified. 1Co 2:3 And I was with you in weakness,
and in fear, and in much trembling. 1Co 2:4 And my speech and my
preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in
demonstration of the Spirit and of power: 1Co 2:5 That your faith
should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
The apostle do not "speak wisdom" to natural men and if they do it is impenetrable to the natural men:
1Co 2:6 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not
the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come
to nought: 1Co 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even
the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
1Co 2:8 Which none of the princes of this world knew [grasped]: for
had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
The exclusivity of God's revelation of his wisdom to the apostles is said to have been written about here (which seems dubious):
Brenton Isa 64:4 From of old we have not heard, neither have our eyes
seen a God beside thee, and thy works which thou wilt perform to them
that wait for mercy. Isa 64:5 For these blessings shall happen to
them that work righteousness, and they shall remember thy ways:
behold, thou wast angry and we have sinned; therefore we have erred,
LXX Isa 64:4 (64:3) ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος οὐκ ἠκούσαμεν οὐδὲ οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ
ἡμῶν εἶδον θεὸν πλὴν σοῦ καὶ τὰ ἔργα σου, ἃ ποιήσεις τοῖς ὑπομένουσιν
ἔλεον.
ISV Isa 64:4 Since ancient times no one has heard, and no ear has
perceived, and no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf
of those who wait for him. Isa 64:5 You come to the aid of those who
gladly do what's right, To those who remember you in your ways. See,
you were angry, and we sinned against them for a long time, but we
will be saved.
1Co 2:9 But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who
love him"—
Paul explains how the apostles received the revelation which he attributes to sharing a common breath/spirit with God:
1Co 2:10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For
the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 1Co 2:11 For
who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which
is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the
Spirit of God. 1Co 2:12 Now we have received not the spirit of the
world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the
things freely given us by God.
The breath is described as an intelligent organ of God which knows and communicates what God is thinking to the apostles.
And this gets to your question:
Paul says that the apostles impart wisdom to those who likewise have the breath/spirit (these are synonyms) "interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual" while limiting their preaching to the message that God designed to elicit faith in the lost.
In summary Paul says the apostles have been given God's wisdom but there is no point preaching the deep things of God to a natural man. The gospel is effectual among natural men, though.
1Co 2:14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit
of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand
them because they are spiritually discerned. 1Co 2:15 The spiritual
person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 1Co
2:16 "For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct
him?" But we have the mind of Christ.
