Paul
the apostle spoke “not in the words
which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches”.
This allowed he and his companions to “compare
spiritual things with spiritual”,
and in chapter two and verse fourteen of
First Corinthians, Paul continued his letter by sharing how
“the natural man receives not the
things of the Spirit of God”
where we read:
But
the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for
they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned.
The
verse begins, “But
the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God:”
Paul began
with the word, “But” which
is a disassociation conjunction that means what is about to be
written takes precedence over what was just stated “the
natural”
or “having the nature and characteristics of the breath” “man”
which means “human being whether male or female” “receives
not” or
“does not take hold of, take up, receive, bear, endure or learn”
“the things”
or “that which is” “of the
Spirit” which
means “the third person of the triune God who is coequal and
coeternal with the Father and the Son” “of
God” which
refers to “the Godhead bodily and trinity which is comprised of God
the Father, Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit”. Paul employs the
idea of a person who is simply breathing physically not being able to
“receive”
the “ideas, concepts and communication” of the “Holy
Spirit of God”.
The
verse goes on to say, “for
they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned.”.
Paul
continued with the word, “for”
which means
“even as, indeed, no doubt, seeing then, verily and therefore “they
are foolishness”
which means “the things of the Spirit of God are silly and absurd”
“unto him”
or “to the natural man”: “neither
can he know them”
or “and the natural man has no capacity to understand, perceive or
become acquainted with them” “because”
or “since and on account of” “they
are” which
refers to the “spiritual things” “are
spiritually”
which means “divinely and by the aid of the Holy Spirit”
“discerned”
or “investigated, examined, inquired into, scrutinized, sifted and
questioned”. Because “spiritual things” are “known by the
“spiritual”,
they seem “silly and absurd” to the “natural”
person and they have no capacity to “know”
them.
When
we consider these words from Paul, we understand the importance of
the “spiritual” means of understanding “spiritual”
concepts. People who have not had their “eyes, ears and hearts”
opened by the Holy Spirit of God to things which are “spiritual”
will never understand what is being said. In fact, they believe these
“spiritual things” to be “silly” and “foolish”.
Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners from their sins, and
He did so by dying on the cross for the penalty for sin - (“the
wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord” - Romans 6:23). Jesus rose from the
death three days later which provides the access for all who believe
in Him to have “eternal life”, and those who are
“spiritually minded” shall know clearly what this means.
Those who are “naturally” minded shall think this
“foolish”.
Next
time Paul shares how “he
that is spiritual judges all things”,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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