1 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 2
The Preaching of the Cross. 1 Cor. 2, 1–16.
The revelation of the Spirit: V. 12. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
The apostle makes the application of this fact: But we have not received the spirit of the world. That is the spirit whose wisdom God has shown to be foolishness, the spirit which is always ready to crucify the Lord anew, the spirit which is darkened and blinded against the understanding of God. Ours is rather the Spirit which has been bestowed upon us by God, the Spirit of spiritual enlightenment.
And the result is that we know, we have a definite, unshakable knowledge of, the gifts which God in His wonderful grace and mercy has bestowed upon us. All these gifts are included in Christ and made possible through the redemption of Christ. These gifts, wonderful as they are, would have been useless to us if the Spirit had not opened the eyes of our understanding to see and accept the unmerited favor of God in Christ through faith. Note that the apostle does not make our possession of these gifts dependent upon our feeling, but upon the knowledge transmitted to us by the Spirit, through the Word.
The Word and spiritual discernment: V. 13. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. V. 14. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. V. 15. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. V. 16. For who hath known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.
The apostle now refers more particularly to his office, including the other apostles in a category with himself. They know the great things of God, and therefore they tell them, proclaim them. And this speaking is done not in words taught by human wisdom, not according to the rules of worldly oratory and logic, but in words taught by the Spirit. Paul thus plainly states that not only his thoughts, but his very words were taught him by the Spirit; he affirms for himself and his fellow-apostles verbal inspiration. In the correct words of Holy Writ we find the clear and correct meaning of God.
And the words agree exactly with' the divine content, for Paul says that they place spiritual things side by side with spiritual things, matching the spiritual truth with spiritual phrase. In the teaching of the apostle there is a perfect harmony of subject-matter with the expression in words, with the form of speech as presented to his readers. The language of Scripture correctly represents the thoughts of God as He wanted to make them known to us for our salvation. The Bible thus sets before us the mind and doctrine of God in a clear way, and there is no need of adding human wisdom in any of its parts.
By way of contrast, Paul refers to the un-spiritual: But natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; the unregenerate person, even at his best, rejects the gifts and benefits which the Holy Ghost wants to bestow upon him; his is not merely a neutral, an apathetic feeling, but one of outspoken hostility: he wants nothing to do with them. For folly they are to him, and he cannot perceive them, for a person's estimate of them must proceed from the spiritual side. Where, therefore, there is not a spark of spirituality, where the Spirit of God has not been able to work regeneration, there every human being's judgment will insist upon the utter senselessness of the Gospel-message.
"The Gospel appears on trial before the natural men; like the Athenian philosophers, they give it a first hearing, but they have no organon (rule of guidance) to test it by. The inquiry is stultified, at the very beginning, by the incompetence of the jury. The unspiritual are out of court as religious critics; they are deaf men judging music.
"The natural man receiveth not (or, as the Greek word properly signifies, grasps not, comprehends not, accepts not) the things of the Spirit, that is, he is not capable of spiritual things; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them. Much less will he truly believe the Gospel, or assent thereto and regard it as truth" (Conc. Trigl., 885).
It is different with the believer: But the spiritual person makes an estimate, a test, of everything. Because the believer is imbued with, and governed by, the Spirit, therefore his judgment, as governed by the Spirit, will extend to everything. He can form a correct estimate and judgment of his thoughts, words, and deeds, as to their sinfulness or agreement with the Word and will of God; he may form a correct opinion as to the various conditions and circumstances in life, as to whether certain things belong to the category of things indifferent or whether they must be labeled sinful; he can govern his conscience in such a way as to guard against erring in either direction, lax-ness or severity.
And in performing this function of his spiritual life, the spiritual man himself is under no person's judgment. He can well bear the criticism of the world, because such criticism does not strike him in truth. With the Word of God and a good conscience on his side, the Christian can afford to look the whole world in the face, since he is above both criticism and contempt.
So firmly may he stand on the basis which alone is true that he may calmly say with Paul: For who has found out the mind of the Lord, Is. 40, 13; who has investigated and examined what the Lord thinks, with the intention of giving Him instructions?
No man has ever penetrated that inscrutable wisdom which is evidenced in God's plan of salvation. Everyone that attempts to pass judgment upon spiritual persons presumes to be a counselor of the Lord; everyone that endeavors to correct the words of the Spirit's teaching presumes to be a teacher of God. To all carnal-minded critics, therefore, we Christians can throw down the challenge: As for us, we have the mind of Christ.
Christ lives in us, and His mind rules our mind, enabling us to make the proper estimate of all conditions and circumstances, but that we also look upon the cross of Calvary and upon the whole Gospel not with natural, but with spiritual eyes, that we find the fulness of all wisdom in the mystery of Christ the Crucified.
"We have the mind of Christ. That is to be understood, as said above, that we may know and find out that which serves for our salvation. This mind and understanding is faith, that the spiritual man is saved without all works, through the Word only; thereafter he can also judge all things, what is right or wrong; thus he also knows all thoughts and plots of the devil and against what they are directed, namely, that he wants to suppress and extirpate faith and the Word of God and all that is necessary for salvation: all this he knows. So the understanding consists chiefly in this, that I know the will of God, what pleases Him; that I may say whether a thing is right or not” (Luther, 11, 2085).