DEVOTION
THE 1ST
LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS
LIVING WITH THE
MIND OF CHRIST
1 Cor 2:10-16
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.
NIV
Well, there is it, the wisdom
of this world, the education of this world, has no bearing on the things of
God. There is a spirit of this world, and that spirit is that which instructs
man to rely on himself, his own abilities, his own education, and his knowledge received
from the mind of men. It seems odd that man instructs man, and they think they
are passing on wisdom. But we do not rely on the spirit of this world, and its
form of wisdom for that is but foolishness to God. Instead, we rely on the Spirit
of God who knows the mind of God and is from God and therefore he leads us
into all the truth of God, which is pure wisdom. So we do not speak from the mind
of men, that is the words, the knowledge, the education of man, but we speak from the words taught to us
by the Spirit, and we express spiritual truths in spiritual words. There are two
types of people, those without the Spirit, and those with the Spirit. If a
person lacks the Spirit, they cannot understand any of the truth of God. This
can even be pervasive within the church. It is possible that members of the church
have been deceived and have been influenced
by the wisdom of this world, and approach their Christianity, from purely this
intellectual viewpoint the world seems to prefer. It is true that we can
receive knowledge from the world’s system, using various institutions of
learning. It would be ridiculous to think we could survive in our culture at
all without some degree of education, and learning the skills needed to earn a
living. But that is different than taking on the philosophy, and the ideology
of men who do not know God, for they do not understand the things that come
from the Spirit for, as Paul said, they are spiritually discerned, which means,
they investigate, or looking through a series of particulars to distinguish,
meaning they have their own filters they see through, and thus are truly blind
and unable to distinguish the words of the Spirit. However, we do not look
through the lens of the mind of men, the wisdom of this world. Instead, we look
to Christ who knows the mind of God and of the Spirit. As we listen through the
power of Christ, through the power of God, we hear the voice of the Spirit
leading us into all the truth we need for this life and for life eternal. We
live with the mind of Christ.
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