Are There Both Spiritual and Carnal Christians (Pt. 2)

Yesterday in Part 1, we looked at Paul's description of the "natural man" from 1 Corinthians 2:14 - 3:4. Today we continue our blog series answering the question of spiritual and carnal Christians by looking at an entirely different man that Paul speaks of in this passage.

The Spiritual Man (vs. 15-16)

Let’s break down our understanding of the Spiritual man so we can see how he compares with the natural man.

First notice his Designation. The first word “but” puts this statement in sharp contrast to the former statement. “But he who is spiritual …” Now, who is that spiritual person? Who does Paul mean? The spiritual person “pneumatikos” is the one with the Spirit of God living in him. Being spiritual does not just mean being nonphysical. It means pertaining to the Spirit of God. So, the Spiritual Man is not some special class of Christian. This does not refer to one who is more advanced spiritually than another Christian. This is a description of every saved person. He is made alive by the Spirit of God and has the Spirit of God dwelling in him. That is why he is spiritual. Romans 8:8-9 also teaches this, “… those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.” He who is spiritual is one who has the Spirit of God.

Second, notice his Activity. What does he do? He appraises all things. “anakrinō” to appraise also means to discern, and thus to be able to appreciate things and pass judgment on things. In Luke’s writings this term is used for judicial examinations such as in Luke 23:14; Acts 4:9 Acts 28:18. So the word has to do with examination or investigation. When appraising someone back then, they would question someone and prove their quality or innocence. Making a judgment on them is the end result of appraisal. Paul states that a spiritual man appraises “all things!” That’s phenomenal! He is now, with his new spiritual life and new eyes, able to see everything differently. He is able to reassess everything and then evaluate it and see it for what it is. For him the fog, as a natural man, has lifted!

Lest someone misunderstand, this is not an invitation for believers to go around judging each other or pointing out the faults of others. Paul is not advocating proud spiritual policing! It just points to our God-given understanding as Christians. We have an ability to see our world as we ought to see it. The spiritual man understands God’s character and discerns things that are excellent because the point of reference is within himself. He has the Spirit and he has the thoughts of the Spirit given in spiritual words in scripture. He uses all that spiritual equipment to look at his world, life, and situation correctly. This is true for all believers. Some are more gifted in discernment, but all have it.

Third, notice his Distinction. He himself is appraised by no one. In other words, the spiritual man appraises all things, but the natural man cannot appraise even the spiritual man. The unbeliever cannot know or evaluate the spiritual man. We can understand natural men, but they cannot understand us. 1 John 3:1 … “For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.” They cannot appreciate who we are and what we know. We have a Spirit directed life, and they don’t perceive what it is. They misunderstand us and even at times hate us. Again, this is not a statement meant to boost our pride. People in the church with pride could easily misuse this to say: “I am spiritual! So, I have no accountability to anyone else even in the body of Christ. No one can appraise me!” But all believers have the Spirit. So, we are accountable to each other – even leaders are accountable to the spiritual people in the congregation, and congregations to leaders. In fact, Paul, as a spiritual man, was correcting the entire Corinthian church in this letter.

Fourth notice the Spiritual man’s Capabilities in v. 16. “For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.” Do you see what Paul does here? (The quote is from Isaiah 40:13) He again reminds us that God’s understanding is so much higher and greater than any teaching from worldly people. Who has known the mind of the Lord? Who can instruct the Lord of Heaven? No one! God is just too far advanced in His understanding to be instructed by worldly, natural men.

Then Paul writes the most incredible truth; “we have the mind of Christ.” This is our present possession as the word “have” indicates. We have His mind in us. We follow His thoughts. That means we are way ahead of unbelievers in our understanding.

Let’s set all this truth up, step-by-step, to understand the connections in the passage. Here is how it works:

1. (Step 1) verse 11- The Holy Spirit alone knows God’s thoughts.
2. (Step 2) verse 12 - The Spirit of God then reveals it to his apostles and prophets – like Paul. That is God’s act of Revelation.
3. (Step 3) verse 13 - The Spirit then combines God’s spiritual thoughts with spiritual words so the words now taught to us in Scripture reveal God’s thoughts. That’s called Inspiration. We now have the Spirit of God in us to open our minds to that truth. That's called illumination; the light of truth turns on in our heads.
4. (Step 4) verse 16 - This is the finished product. We have now the very thoughts of God in our heads! We have the mind of Christ!

Again, our understanding is not a mystical subjective feeling or intuition, but it is directly related to the Spirit’s revelation through Scripture. We use Scriptural thoughts with the aid of the Spirit of God to evaluation and understand and appraise all things. To have the mind of Christ (the term mind “nous” means “understanding or thoughts”) means to think God’s thoughts after Him. Since no one can instruct the Lord, and since we have the mind of the Lord, no unbeliever out there can properly instruct us either.

Dr. John MacArthur comments, “What natural man thinks God’s thoughts? None. Unbelievers frequently want to correct believers, to argue about the truths we believe and follow. But when they contradict scriptural teaching, they are not arguing with us but with God, whose thoughts they do not understand. They are trying to instruct Him. What folly.”

Now, how does all this truth related to our question about carnal Christians? The Corinthians were not unified around the one mind of Christ. Why not? The shocking truth comes next!