1 Corinthians 2:14-16 -- New Lenses Today

 

1 Corinthians 2:14-16

 

NKJV

But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.  But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.  For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

 

NLT

But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.  Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others.  For,

“Who can know the LORD’s thoughts?

Who knows enough to teach him?”

But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.

 

The ancient Greek word for natural man is “psuchikos”, which can be described as “materialist”.  This man lives as if there is nothing beyond this life. (Enduring Word Commentary)

 

Isn’t this the very picture of how we are today? To often our whole focus is on the material things of this world and this can certainly block (or distract) us from what God would have for us.  This is true for sure of non-believers, but I think that believers can fall into this same trap.  When the world is LOUD, it can distract us from what truly matters.

 

The folks who haven’t accepted the free gift of the blood and grace of Jesus Christ (for forgiveness of sin), cannot understand what the believer understands about the Word of God.  Intellectual knowledge and human reason cannot produce faith.  At best, they produce facts; facts can be twisted and taken out of context.  Non-believers do not have the basis to judge spiritual things because these things are not revealed to them.

 

But, for the believer…we can judge (investigate, examine, appraise) all things.  This means we can see both the physical and the spiritual things.  We should be able to examine them and make decisions based on the revelation that God has given us (John 7:24 tells us to “look beneath the surface so we can judge correctly).  We have the mind of Christ and should be able to view all things through that lens (Isaiah 40:13).

 

The problem is that we don’t often do that.  Often, our lens is of the “what I want” variety.  So let’s make a change today.  Lets take off our “I” glasses and start looking at the world through the eyes of Jesus.  Examine everything as if Jesus Christ was right there beside you helping you make decisions (if you didn’t know, He has always been there).

 

New lenses today,

cej