Sermon

1 Corinthians 2:6–16 — The Mind of Christ

January 12, 2003

In this passage Paul says that the man or woman who is in Christ, experiences a mind transplant. We gain the mind of Christ that leads us to understanding the mind of the Lord.

Previously, Paul has spoken to the Corinthians about the humility with which he has come to them (2:1-5). In v. 5 he says that the message of the cross (see v. 2) that he has preached does not rest on men’s wisdom.

But in v. 6 he does say that he does speak a message of wisdom among the mature. It is not a wisdom of this age, or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

For Paul there are two ages. There is the age we live in and there is the age to come. It will be the age when Christ will rule completely. And Paul says that we should be mindful that this age is wasting away. This age is the sandcastle we build on the beach. It is here for a short while but soon it will waste away as it is swept up in the wave of Christ’s coming.

Paul says that he did not come to them with wisdom from this age. That is he did not come with “Five easy ways to raise improve your marriage” or “Four easy ways to succeed in life” or “Ten tips for moral and healthy living.”

Now, as we saw last week, Paul comes with the message of the cross, which is absolute foolishness to the world. But in v. 7 Paul says that this foolishness is, in fact, God’s “secret wisdom.” It is hidden from many. Its meaning is veiled. But it has been revealed to those of us who believe. Paul says we are part of a plan that “God destined for our glory before time began.” Think about that. This says that those of us who are being saved have been included in God’s plan not just before we were born, or before our parents were born, but before time began.

You see from the Bible’s perspective there is no such thing as luck or chance or happenstance. Things don’t just happen. There is only providence, God’s guiding and shaping and his decree of all that is. And Paul says that God planned and purposed the cross. Now the first Christians must have suffered a lot of ridicule. The very idea that God would suffer in Jesus on the cross was blasphemy to both Jew and Greek.

Paul notes that those who crucified Jesus, “the Lord of glory,” would not have done so had they recognized who he was (v. 8). But God used this incredible evil to fulfill his own purposes. Cf. Acts 2:22-24:

22 “Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.
23 This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.
24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.

And Acts 4:27-28:

27 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed.
28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.

The cross becomes the paramount example of how God’s providential purposes are worked out in things that, from our perspective, might be only conceived as evil and cruel.

Cf. Anthony DeMello’s Chinese parable: “Good luck, bad luck, who’s to say?”

Cf. Joseph’s words to his brothers in Genesis 50:20: “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.”

Paul tops of this teaching on the mystery of God’s wisdom in v. 9 by quoting from Isaiah (Isa 64:4). The message is that no human mind can understand or fathom the purposes of God.

In v. 10, however, we find the place where faith in Christ departs from mere determinism. You see the ancient peoples believed in “fate” much as many pagan people today do. They would say things like, “It’s meant to be,” or “He’s like that because he’s an Aquarius,” or “We were meant for each other,” or “His number came up.”

But you see Biblical faith departs from mere determinism, the idea that an impersonal force or god determines everything that happens. The Bible teaches that God reveals his will and purposes to us. That’s why v. 10 begins: “But God has revealed it (God’s purposes which no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has conceived) to us (believers) by his Spirit.” God let’s us in on his purposes.

Here we get insight into that part of the Trinitarian God whom we call the Holy Spirit. “The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God” (v. 10).

In v. 11 Paul uses an analogy that is useful to understand the role of the Holy Spirit within the Godhead by comparison to the way in which the human spirit works within a man or woman. Paul sees human beings as a trichotomy. We have three parts: body, mind, and spirit. We have a physical life, a mental life, and a spiritual life. That spirit part of us is the part that distinguishes us from other creatures. Our spirits are the part of us that examines our thoughts. Our spirit gives us our conscience. Paul says in the same way the Spirit of God searches the deep things of God (v. 11).

Then in v. 12 Paul says that as we become believers we begin to share not in the spirit of this world but in the Spirit who is from God, that we may freely understand what God has given us.

You see this is the turning point. God shares with us his Spirit and then we begin to see how he is working his purposes out in ways that we would never have guessed or imagined. This is how Paul could look at the death of Jesus on the cross, that cruel injustice, and see in it the redemptive purposes of God being worked out.

In v. 13 Paul says that believers speak “not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.” Here I think Paul is making direct reference to the role of scripture. The one who has received the spirit of God no longer sees scripture as merely human words but as vox dei, the very voice of God.

In contrast to the spiritual man, in v. 14, Paul describes the man who does not have the Spirit of God. This is the unsaved or unregenerate man: “The man without the Spirit (psychikos anthropos; KJV: natural man) 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” (v. 14).

Apologetics has its place. Defending a reasonable faith is important. God uses apologetics and people like Josh McDowell and Ravi Zacharias to do that ministry. But Paul seems to be saying that in the end you cannot argue someone into the kingdom. It requires God giving his Spirit.

Year before last a group of us went Christmas caroling in the JPBC neighborhood, and we got to the ARC (Association for Retarded Citizens) house. We sang, and some of the staff came to the door and held their hands up to their ears and so we took it as a clue to sing louder. We sang at the top of our lungs. Come to find out they were telling us that the residents were deaf and could not hear our singing. No matter how loudly we sang, they could not hear. So, Paul says man without the Spirit cannot accept spiritual things.

In v. 15 Paul contrasts the spiritual man. He “makes judgements about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgement.” What does Paul mean by this? I think he is saying that the Christian is really the only person who has the ability to make meaningful evaluations about how to live and why to live. Here’s an example. Why do we believe that it is wrong to take another person’s life? Because the Bible says “Thou shalt not kill.” And God’s Spirit convicts us that this is God’s command. And Jesus takes it a step further in Matt 5:21 ff. and says we are not just to avoid murder but even getting angry. And God’s Spirit convicts us that this too is true. How does one who does not know the God of the Bible ever make a judgement as to whether it is wrong or right to kill? Well, we see in our society that they often don’t. So, a kid shoots another in a fight, or a woman has an “elective” abortion, or a society allows euthanasia. But you see for the spiritual man truth is not up for grabs. It is not just a matter of what you think or choose. The spiritual man makes judgements about all things. But they are not his judgements. Instead, God reveals to him his will. That’s why the second part of that verse says: “but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgement.” This does not mean that the believer is not to be held accountable to men but only to God. We shall see in 1 Cor 5-6 that Paul has a high view of judgement in the body. We are accountable to each other. What Paul is saying is that we do not base our decision-making on any human reasoning but on the Word of God alone as discerned by the Spirit of God.

In v. 16 Paul quotes scripture. This is not by accident. Where do we have a set deposit from which to make judgements? Scripture. Paul quotes just Isaiah 40:13 but look back at the whole context of Isaiah 40:12-17. The whole passage reminds us of the sovereignty of God. In v. 16 Paul quotes that rhetorical question: “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” What man in his hubris thinks that he can teach God a thing or two about how to run the universe? Don’t we, in fact, do that very thing? Oh God, why did you let thus and such happen? As if we could teach God a thing or two. This is the same point Paul was driving at earlier in this passage. We in our limited human minds cannot grasp the mind of God.

Then Paul adds that one line that makes all the difference: “But we have the mind of Christ.”

This is what Paul has been driving at all along. Last week we saw how Paul divided all humanity into two categories: the saved and the unsaved. And now he tells us that those who are saved have the mind of Christ. By this Paul does not mean something so simplistic as “If we are Christians we should act and think like Jesus.” It’s not WWJD? But Paul says when we are saved, we receive the mind of Christ that enables us to understand the mind of the Lord of the universe. We begin to see how God could work out his purposes in Jesus in the cruel suffering of Jesus on the cross. And we begin to discern how to make judgement as to how we are to walk and talk in this life.

Jeffrey T. Riddle
Pastor, Jefferson Park Baptist Church

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Sermon

1 Corinthians 2:6–16 — The Mind of Christ

January 12, 2003

Jeffrey T. Riddle Pastor, Jefferson Park Baptist Church

Jeffrey T. Riddle
Pastor, Jefferson Park Baptist Church