1 Corinthians 2:6 - Meaning and Application

In this part of the chapter, the apostle shows that he did not come to them with the polish of human wisdom, or with the proud learning of Jews or Greeks. Yet he had given them a far greater treasure, the truest and highest wisdom. “We speak wisdom among those who are mature” (1 Corinthians 2:6), among those who are well taught in Christianity and have grown to spiritual maturity.

Those who receive the gospel as God’s own message, and who are enlightened by the Holy Spirit, begin to see true wisdom in it. They not only understand the plain story of Christ and him crucified, but also the deep and wonderful purpose of God in it. What seems like foolishness to the world is wisdom to them, because they are made wise by it. Those who are truly wise are the proper judges of what wisdom is, not worldly wisdom, but the wisdom of God hidden in a mystery (1 Corinthians 2:6, 1 Corinthians 2:7).

This wisdom is not the kind taught by politicians, philosophers, or Jewish teachers. It is divine wisdom, the hidden wisdom of God, which he kept to himself for a long time and then revealed. It is the mystery that had been hidden through past ages and generations, though now made known to God’s people (Colossians 1:26). It had been hidden from the Gentile world, and made hard to understand among the Jews by types, shadows, and distant prophecies, but now the Spirit of God has made it plain.

This is a great privilege for those who enjoy the gospel. Types are opened up, mysteries are explained, prophecies are interpreted, and God’s secret plan is made public. The wisdom of God in a mystery is now revealed to the saints.

Paul then points to the origin of this wisdom. It was ordained by God before the world, for our glory (1 Corinthians 2:7). God planned long ago, even from eternity, to reveal it. That was a great honor for the apostles, since they were trusted with revealing it to others. It is also a great privilege for Christians, because this glorious wisdom is shown to them. The gospel wisdom prepares believers for everlasting glory and happiness in the world to come.

The counsels of God about our redemption were set from eternity, and they were meant for the glory and happiness of the saints. How deep was the wisdom in those counsels. God’s wisdom is both used and displayed for the honor of his people, used from eternity and shown in time, so that they may be glorious now and forever.

Paul also shows the ignorance of the great men of the world. “None of the rulers of this age understood it” (1 Corinthians 2:8). This likely refers to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, and the Jewish leaders who ruled the nation and church. If they had known this true heavenly wisdom, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. That is what Pilate and the Jewish rulers actually did, when Christ was condemned by one and demanded by the other.

Jesus Christ is the Lord of glory, a title far too great for any creature. He was hated because he was not known. If his enemies had known who he was, they would never have laid violent hands on him. This is why he could pray, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Many people would not do what they do if they understood God’s wisdom in the great work of redemption. They act in blindness or carelessness. They do not know the truth, or they refuse to pay attention to it.

Paul next says that this wisdom could not have been found out without revelation, as Isaiah said: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man the things God has prepared for those who love him” (Isaiah 64:4). It was a mark of love to God in the Jewish believers that they lived in hope of God’s promised work. Waiting on God is a sign of love for him. “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him” (Isaiah 25:9). God has prepared wonderful things for those who love and wait for him.

There are such things in the life to come, things that no sense can discover and no human report can fully tell. Life and immortality are brought to light through the gospel (2 Timothy 1:10). Yet Paul is speaking here especially about the truths revealed in the gospel itself. These are things no eye has seen and no ear has heard. If they were matters that sense or reason could discover on their own, there would be no need for revelation. But because they are beyond nature, we know them only by the light of God’s revealing word.

So we must receive them as they are written in Scripture, just as God has chosen to reveal them. God has revealed these things to us by his Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:10). Scripture itself comes by God’s breath, his inspiration. Holy men of old spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21). In the same way, the apostles spoke by that same Spirit, as he taught them and gave them words. This is one proof of the divine authority of Scripture.

Paul wrote what he taught, and what he taught was revealed by God through his Spirit. That Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God, and knows God’s things as a person’s own spirit knows his own thoughts (1 Corinthians 2:11). From these words, a strong argument can be drawn for the divine nature of the Holy Spirit.

God knows all things. He searches even the deep things of God, that is, his most secret plans and purposes. No one can know God that fully except God himself. This also shows that the Holy Spirit is as close to God as a person’s own mind is to the person. A man knows his own thoughts because his mind is one with him. In the same way, the Spirit knows the things of God because he is one with God.

As no one can know another person’s mind unless it is revealed, so we cannot know God’s secret counsel unless the Holy Spirit makes it known to us. We cannot know these things at all until God sets them before us in outward revelation. Even then, we cannot understand or believe them in a saving way until the Spirit opens our minds and gives us light. This is how the apostles received the wisdom of God in a mystery, and how they spoke it. They did not receive the spirit of the world, nor the wisdom of worldly rulers, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that they might know the things freely given to us by God (1 Corinthians 2:12). They spoke by inspiration from God, and the Spirit also gave them the inward understanding of the gifts of grace and salvation.

We also see how this wisdom was passed on. They spoke these truths not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:13). They did not dress up the gospel with human style or cleverness. They stated the doctrine of Christ plainly, in words the Spirit gave them. God’s truth does not need decoration from human skill or fine speech. It is best heard in the words the Holy Spirit teaches. The Spirit of God knows far better than the best critics, speakers, or philosophers how to speak about the things of God.

When Paul says they compare spiritual things with spiritual, he means one part of revelation is matched with another. The gospel is compared with the Jewish Scriptures, and the New Testament is shown by the types and prophecies of the Old. If we try to measure revelation by human learning, or supernatural truth by ordinary science, we will judge wrongly. Spiritual truths explain one another when they are brought together. The Spirit also teaches believers to speak about spiritual matters in clear and fitting words.

We now come to how this wisdom is received. The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, because they seem foolish to him, and he cannot know them, since they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14). The natural man is the person under the power of corruption, still unsanctified, and without the Spirit of God. The fall has damaged human understanding, and sin has strengthened that damage. Such a person is not fitted to receive divine light and is often set against it. God’s truth seems foolish and unimportant to him. This does not mean he has lost the ability to think, but his wrong desires keep him from welcoming God’s truth. Only the life-giving work of the Spirit of truth and holiness can help him see its beauty and believe it fully.

The natural man can also mean the worldly wise person, the one who trusts human wisdom and thinks he can reach all truth by his own reasoning. This was much like the philosophers of Paul’s day. Such a person does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. He does not treat revelation as a source of truth. Instead, he may think it is foolish or even madness. Since he refuses the Spirit’s teaching, he has no way to know what God has revealed.

But the spiritual person judges all things, yet he is himself judged by no one (1 Corinthians 2:15). This means the person made spiritually minded can discern all things. He can judge matters of human wisdom, and he also has a taste for divine truth. He sees God’s wisdom and power in the gospel, even when the carnal mind calls them weak and foolish. A sanctified mind is the one that can truly see the beauty of holiness. At the same time, this does not take away its ability to judge ordinary things. The spiritual person can understand both human and divine matters, both what reason finds and what revelation teaches. Yet others do not truly understand him. God’s saints are hidden ones, known fully to God, though not rightly judged by the world (Psalm 83:3).

Their life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3). A person who lives only by the flesh knows no more of a spiritual person than he knows of spiritual things in general. He is a stranger to the principles, joys, and actions of the divine life. The spiritual person is not open to his understanding.

But the spiritual person, the one to whom God has made known his truth and who receives it as God’s truth, can judge both ordinary matters and spiritual matters. He can tell what is and is not the gospel and the way of salvation, and whether a preacher is speaking God’s truth. He does not lose the use of reason, or give up reason, by building his faith on revelation, that is, on what God has made known.

Yet he himself is judged by no one, meaning no one can prove him wrong if they are not spiritual themselves, or if they do not stand on God’s revelation either. A person who bases all his knowledge on human learning and natural reason can never judge what is true or false in revelation. For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to teach him (1 Corinthians 2:16)? No one can enter so deeply into God’s mind as to teach the person who has the Spirit of God and is under that Spirit’s guidance.

Very few have ever known anything of God’s mind by natural power alone. But, says the apostle, we have the mind of Christ, and the mind of Christ is the mind of God. Christ is God, and he is God’s chief messenger and prophet. The apostles were enabled by his Spirit to make his mind known to us. In the Holy Scriptures, the mind of Christ, and the mind of God in Christ, are fully revealed.

Notice the great privilege of Christians: God reveals the mind of Christ to them by his Spirit.