By itself, the word that is translated understood (Good News Bible‘s “knew”) could mean “has known” or even “know,” but the context is clear that the past tense understood or “knew” is correct. This Greek word refers to personal knowledge and sharing rather than just knowing facts. The rulers of this age (see comments on 1 Cor. 2.6) had no share in this kind of wisdom. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “None of the rulers of this world experienced anything of this.”

The Lord of glory is of course Christ. Such expressions may be best rendered by a phrase such as “our glorious Lord,” or better yet, “the Lord who shares God’s glory” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). But translators need to be careful not to give the impression that Christ shares only a part of God’s glory.

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .