Ordination, Knowledge, and Human Contingency in the Crucifixion

The passage you are raising is actually 1 Corinthians 2:7--8, not 2 Corinthians:

"But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." 1 Corinthians 2:7-8

Your question exposes a tension for deterministic or strongly Calvinistic readings of "ordained before the world." Paul says two things:

1. God ordained this hidden wisdom before the world unto our glory.
2. The princes of this world did not know it; indeed, had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

Knowledge affects outcome

Paul explicitly grounds the historical outcome (the crucifixion) in a lack of knowledge: "none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."

He does not say: "They crucified him because they were irresistibly decreed to do so regardless of what they knew." He says the opposite: a different knowledge state would have produced a different action. That assertion pushes against hard determinism. It affirms that information and understanding can genuinely alter behavior.

Ordained purpose without exhaustive determinism

The phrase "ordained before the world" describes God's purpose concerning this hidden wisdom, not a micro-determination of every human decision such that knowledge becomes irrelevant. God purposed a plan in which:

• The Messiah would be rejected and crucified.
• Human agents would act in real ignorance (Acts 3:17; Luke 23:34).
• That very ignorance would be morally significant: "they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34).

If the rulers had truly recognized "the Lord of glory" and the implications of his person and mission, Paul says they would have chosen otherwise. Their actions were not the mechanical outworking of a decree that rendered knowledge irrelevant; their ignorance was a genuine factor.

Ignorance, conviction, and the difficulty of persuasion

This text also highlights how hard it is to change the mind of someone already convinced otherwise. The rulers had a settled view of Jesus as a blasphemer and political threat. Within that framework of ignorance, their decision to crucify him seemed right. Paul and the Gospels repeatedly emphasize:

• The need to know: that Jesus is the Christ.
• The tragic reality that they "knew not what they did."

In other words, Scripture attributes their action to a knowledge problem, not to a secret decree overriding their minds. That is why the apostolic preaching labors to inform, persuade, and appeal.

Thus 1 Corinthians 2:7--8 supports the view that God ordained a plan in which real human ignorance and real human decisions play into the crucifixion. It does not teach a fatalistic determinism in which what people know or do not know is irrelevant to what they will do.

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