1 Corinthians 2:14
|
14 The man
without the Spirit does not accept the
things that come from the Spirit of God, for
they are foolishness to him, and he cannot
understand them, because they are
spiritually discerned. |
Let us look at the context:
1
Cor 2: 6 We do, however, speak a message of
wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of
this age or of the rulers of this age, who are
coming to nothing.
7
No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that
has been hidden and that God destined for our glory
before time began.
8
None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if
they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of
glory.
9
However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear
has heard, no mind has conceived what God has
prepared for those who love him"--
10
but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things
of God.
11
For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except
the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one
knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
12
We have not received the spirit of the world but the
Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what
God has freely given us.
13
This is what we speak, not in words taught us by
human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit,
expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.
14
The man without the Spirit does not accept the
things that come from the Spirit of God, for
they are foolishness to him, and he cannot
understand them, because they are spiritually
discerned.
15
The spiritual man makes judgments about all things,
but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment:
16
"For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may
instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.
3:1
Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual
but as worldly--mere infants in Christ.
2 I
gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet
ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.
-
You are still
worldly.
Calvinists use this verse to show
that "natural man" is incapable of understanding
spiritual matters. They interpret "natural man," as
man as he is born. The word used here is
psuchikos
which translated should mean
soulish man or carnal man with the meaning one
who is carnally minded, one who thinks in terms of
the worldy values. This is clear from the context.
Paul is talking to the Corinthian Christians and
says that he cannot talk about these mature matters
because, they are still worldly. This is brought out
clearly by Barclay
"So
in verse 14 Paul speaks of the man who is
psuchikos. He is the man who lives as if there
was nothing beyond physical life and there were no
needs other than material needs, whose values are
all physical and material. A man like that cannot
understand spiritual things. A man who thinks that
nothing is more important than the satisfaction of
the sex urge cannot understand the meaning of
chastity; a man who ranks the amassing of material
things as the supreme end of life cannot understand
generosity; and a man who has never a thought beyond
this world cannot understand the things of God. To
him they look mere foolishness."
One
slight modification of the word taken out of context
lead to a profound theology in Calvinism..
Paul’s intent is that the secret wisdom of God is
given only to the discerning mature Christians. He
cannot talk about it even to Corinthian Christians
because even though they are in Christ, they are
still babes. This whole subject matter is not
related therefore to the saving knowledge at all. It
is concerning the deeper things of God to which
Christians are to grow into. If it says anything
about ability it talks about the total inability of
the Christians – not concerning the matters of
salvation - concerning the matters of deeper things
of God. Of course these are not given to the
non-believers. How can it be if even those who have
the spirit of God cannot understand it. They will be
foolishness to them because they do not accept a
spiritual realm of existence. It is like talking
about the Kingdom of God to those who do not believe
in a life beyond death.
