But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
The one who is spiritual is able to discern all things, yet he himself cannot be rightly judged by the natural, carnal or worldly person, because spiritual realities are spiritually discerned and closed to those without the Spirit. This understanding does not come through human wisdom, oratory, philosophy or education, but through the Spirit of God teaching spiritual truths in spiritual words, giving those who have received Him to know what God has freely given and to share the mind of Christ. No one is therefore to set himself up as judge over another's experience, conscience or duty, but each is to be left free to receive light from the highest authority and be taught by God. To become this spiritual person is to be transformed by God's power through Christ and the cross from the natural state into a child of God, growing up in the truth so as to recognize Christ, understand His will, and fear to offend Him. In the church this means laying aside envy, strife and party loyalty that prove carnality, seeing ministers as only planting and watering while God gives the increase, and refusing to condemn a fellow worker who presents truth in a different way.
Spiritual Discernment Explained
The spiritual person discerns all things, yet is rightly judged by no one, because spiritual things are spiritually discerned and the natural, carnal, or worldly person without the Spirit cannot receive them, know them, or rightly assess the one who has them, to whom they appear as foolishness. This discernment belongs to the one made spiritual by the Spirit of God and guided by the Spirit, who has the mind of Christ, while the person lacking that spiritual understanding cannot properly judge such a one. It stands in direct contrast to the natural person who does not receive the things of the Spirit of God and cannot know them because they must be spiritually discerned.
This ability comes not by human wisdom, oratory, philosophy, or advanced education, but by the Spirit of God teaching spiritual things in spiritual words. God reveals what eye has not seen nor ear heard nor heart known by His Spirit who searches the deep things of God, giving to those who have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit which is of God to know the things freely given them of God. They speak these things not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual, and thus have the mind of Christ. Boasted human wisdom, however advanced, is weighed and found wanting and cannot take the place of sound knowledge of God learned in the school of Christ, the only perfect Educator. Even learning gained in providence, like Moses' learning in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, must largely be unlearned and blotted out by humble experience, as by forty years caring for sheep until the heart becomes tender, before one can faithfully shepherd God's heritage.
The verse belongs to Paul's teaching that human wisdom cannot make one wise, that faith rests on God's power rather than persuasive human speech, and that God's hidden wisdom revealed through the Spirit is not grasped by worldly judgment. Christ Jesus is made unto believers wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, while the preaching of the cross is foolishness to the worldly-wise who have given life to worldly pursuits, but to those saved it is the power of God. Not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, for God has chosen the foolish and weak and base and despised things of the world to confound the wise and mighty and bring to nothing things that are, so that no flesh should glory in His presence. Sacred and eternal things, the unseen glories God has prepared, cannot be taken in or adequately portrayed by finite human understanding or imagination.
In the chapter Paul's use of I, we, and us is to be carefully noticed, with we and us meaning laborers together with God, united in mind, heart, soul, and strength with heavenly agencies, and saying less of I gives a correct understanding of the great I AM. To be judged of no man means no one dare place himself as judge of another's experience and conscience or define another's duties by human judgment. Every person is to receive light and knowledge from the highest authority and be left free to be taught by God, and others must move guardedly lest they interrupt the Lord's plans.
The things of God are known by no one but by the Spirit of God, just as the things of a man are known only by the spirit of man which is in him. Momentous truth is conveyed through reading the Scriptures, and every word is a valuable pearl whose virtue and force must be kept, for one word changed injures the thought and destroys the lesson, and incorrect punctuation can greatly alter the meaning. This precision holds because the Holy Spirit directed and impressed the writers, who wrote not words of human wisdom but words given them by God, which those who have the mind of Christ discern.
The chapter gives a test of present spiritual condition that can be seen when discernment is not wholly perverted, and one who rightly receives it will cease leading other souls in false paths. Chapters 2 and 3 must be read, thought over at home, and personally applied, with God's help to understand them. They test readiness for the Lord's coming, exposing that many who think they are prepared are not, and applying them separates from all hindrances, gives knowledge of God's will and walking in that pathway, makes free and all light in the Lord, and brings confessing Christ and coming out of darkness into His marvelous light.
A mind occupied with worldly things cannot receive or understand spiritual things. A person without a vital connection to God is under another leader's control and is kept in darkness from seeing the evidence of truth.
Living by Spiritual Discernment
The spiritually discerning person is grown up in the truth and no longer a babe in Christ, having labored to stand in right relation to truth with a right experience and close connection with God. To judge all things is to discern what is needed and lay hold on it, to recognize Christ, to understand His will, and to fear to offend Him. It is to trim the lamp with the oil of grace in the heart and not sleep like the foolish virgins, to be fed with heavenly manna by searching the Word and eating the bread of life here, which gives right to the tree of life. Christ reveals Himself day by day to those who seek Him while they prepare to be translated.
Becoming spiritual is passing from death unto life, as the child of wrath becomes the child of God through the infinite sacrifice of the Son as propitiation for the transgressions of the repenting sinner. The humble in heart made spiritual by faith in the Son discern spiritual things, and the wisdom of God enlightens the mind to behold wondrous things out of His law. Those wondrous things are pardon for the transgressor, righteousness that will bear the scrutiny of the Omniscient One, victory over the powerful enemy of God and man, and eternal life and joy for its receiver. This change comes through God's power and grace in Christ, by which the natural person is transformed and may overcome, for Bible religion is not merely theology, creeds, theories, or traditions but has saving power that transforms the whole person through a spiritual experience from God and not by natural abilities.
Every worker in the vineyard must have these words imprinted on the soul, learning at the foot of the cross to bring sheaves to Christ by preaching Christ crucified plainly instead of preaching to please ears. Eternal truths are to be presented plainly with the peril of neglecting eternal interests kept in view, with self kept out of sight while Jesus is ever lifted up and exalted, and with labor in weakness and fear so the work stands in the power of God and produces a harvest. The person made spiritual by the Holy Spirit rightly evaluates all things while remaining beyond mere human judgment because he has the mind of Christ, receiving not the spirit of the world but the Spirit of God so he knows the things freely given him of God and speaks them not in words taught by human wisdom but taught by the Holy Ghost, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. God alone transforms character through Jesus Christ and the power of the cross of Calvary, and He often passes by the wise, the scribe, and the disputer of this world and uses a poor, foolish, humble instrument with the simple message of Christ crucified and His soon coming to bring the proud and learned to repentance on their knees.
The weakness of the church comes from envy and strife cherished by members, for to walk as men and be carnal is to say I am of Paul and I am of Apollos, withdrawing from some for reasons existing only in the imagination and binding up with others. Allowing prejudice, envy, jealousy, and evil surmisings separates from brethren and thus from God, while the spiritual mind discerns that Paul and Apollos are only ministers by whom men believed, even as the Lord gave to every man, one planting and one watering with the same object while God gives the increase, and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. Therefore a minister who does not dwell on the same things as his brother ministers but emphasizes another phase of truth or presents the Word in a different way is not to be condemned, and he need not fear that his brethren think they do not regard him and his exposition of truth as of consequence. Cherishing discord and jealousy against brethren repeats the Corinthian fault and greatly hinders the manifestation of the Spirit of God, who is sent as Comforter and Strengthener only when His people obey to be all of one mind, loving as brethren, pitiful and courteous.
The one who has received the Spirit of God and not the spirit of the world knows the things freely given by God and judges all things, yet no natural man can judge him, for the things of God are spoken not in words of man's wisdom but as the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual, and they are spiritually discerned so the natural man counts them foolishness and cannot know them. This judgment gives knowledge of the things freely given by God and the mind of Christ, and it does not come by oratory, philosophy, or the wisdom of men. Boasted human wisdom, however advanced, is weighed in the balances and found wanting and cannot take the place of a sound knowledge of God learned in the school of Christ, the only perfect Educator and Divine Teacher. Even learning gained in God's providence, like Moses' learning in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, must largely be unlearned and blotted out by forty years of humble experience in caring for sheep until the heart becomes tender before one can faithfully shepherd God's heritage.
The Holy Spirit enables the meek and lowly student of Scripture to judge all things by the standard of righteousness, truth, and justice, and through Christ's instruction such a person receives the wisdom and knowledge needed to discern truth and understand the causes and results of actions. The spiritual-minded person readily discerns spiritual things by constantly partaking of Christ and making daily progress in goodness in the school of Christ, which fits a worker to labor for the Master and makes his influence a savor of life unto life. Such a spiritual-minded teacher who loves Christ's service has spiritual discernment and spiritual life. He makes the Bible his study above magazines, newspapers, and books that treat of nothing heavenly or divine, finds the Word constantly more precious, and has God draw near and speak to him in language which cannot be misunderstood.
Those closely connected with God recognize His voice and are grateful when He points out their errors, while self-exaltation and trust in self make a person less able to recognize God in the testimonies of His Spirit. Spiritual discernment enables receiving reproof as a means of repentance and reform.
The verse calls for letting God hold and lead while considering where one's steps are tending. It warns against seeking the world's favor or relying on human influence, for it belongs to a chapter contrasting spiritual discernment and God's wisdom with the world's wisdom, which is foolishness to God. Where business ability is lacking among believers, the first, second, and third chapters of 1 Corinthians are to be read with much prayer, since men given to worldly pursuits and sharp business traits are worldly-wise and count the preaching of the cross as foolishness, while to those saved it is the power of God, and God has chosen the foolish and weak and base and despised things to confound the wise and mighty and bring to nothing things that are, so that no flesh glories in His presence but Christ Jesus is made unto believers wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. The chapter is to be studied and practiced together with scriptures on presenting the body a living sacrifice, self-distrust, and control of appetite, for curing addiction to alcohol and stimulating drinks by total abstinence, aroused moral powers, looking to Jesus for grace to overcome unnatural craving, keeping the body in healthful condition for God's service, and keeping the intellect clear and active to think candidly and critically and to control all the powers.
The one who is spiritual is able to discern all things, yet he himself cannot be rightly judged by the natural, carnal or worldly person, because spiritual realities are spiritually discerned and closed to those without the Spirit. This understanding does not come through human wisdom, oratory, philosophy or education, but through the Spirit of God teaching spiritual truths in spiritual words, giving those who have received Him to know what God has freely given and to share the mind of Christ. No one is therefore to set himself up as judge over another's experience, conscience or duty, but each is to be left free to receive light from the highest authority and be taught by God. To become this spiritual person is to be transformed by God's power through Christ and the cross from the natural state into a child of God, growing up in the truth so as to recognize Christ, understand His will, and fear to offend Him. In the church this means laying aside envy, strife and party loyalty that prove carnality, seeing ministers as only planting and watering while God gives the increase, and refusing to condemn a fellow worker who presents truth in a different way.
Spiritual Discernment Explained
The spiritual person discerns all things, yet is rightly judged by no one, because spiritual things are spiritually discerned and the natural, carnal, or worldly person without the Spirit cannot receive them, know them, or rightly assess the one who has them, to whom they appear as foolishness. This discernment belongs to the one made spiritual by the Spirit of God and guided by the Spirit, who has the mind of Christ, while the person lacking that spiritual understanding cannot properly judge such a one. It stands in direct contrast to the natural person who does not receive the things of the Spirit of God and cannot know them because they must be spiritually discerned.
This ability comes not by human wisdom, oratory, philosophy, or advanced education, but by the Spirit of God teaching spiritual things in spiritual words. God reveals what eye has not seen nor ear heard nor heart known by His Spirit who searches the deep things of God, giving to those who have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit which is of God to know the things freely given them of God. They speak these things not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual, and thus have the mind of Christ. Boasted human wisdom, however advanced, is weighed and found wanting and cannot take the place of sound knowledge of God learned in the school of Christ, the only perfect Educator. Even learning gained in providence, like Moses' learning in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, must largely be unlearned and blotted out by humble experience, as by forty years caring for sheep until the heart becomes tender, before one can faithfully shepherd God's heritage.
The verse belongs to Paul's teaching that human wisdom cannot make one wise, that faith rests on God's power rather than persuasive human speech, and that God's hidden wisdom revealed through the Spirit is not grasped by worldly judgment. Christ Jesus is made unto believers wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, while the preaching of the cross is foolishness to the worldly-wise who have given life to worldly pursuits, but to those saved it is the power of God. Not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, for God has chosen the foolish and weak and base and despised things of the world to confound the wise and mighty and bring to nothing things that are, so that no flesh should glory in His presence. Sacred and eternal things, the unseen glories God has prepared, cannot be taken in or adequately portrayed by finite human understanding or imagination.
In the chapter Paul's use of I, we, and us is to be carefully noticed, with we and us meaning laborers together with God, united in mind, heart, soul, and strength with heavenly agencies, and saying less of I gives a correct understanding of the great I AM. To be judged of no man means no one dare place himself as judge of another's experience and conscience or define another's duties by human judgment. Every person is to receive light and knowledge from the highest authority and be left free to be taught by God, and others must move guardedly lest they interrupt the Lord's plans.
The things of God are known by no one but by the Spirit of God, just as the things of a man are known only by the spirit of man which is in him. Momentous truth is conveyed through reading the Scriptures, and every word is a valuable pearl whose virtue and force must be kept, for one word changed injures the thought and destroys the lesson, and incorrect punctuation can greatly alter the meaning. This precision holds because the Holy Spirit directed and impressed the writers, who wrote not words of human wisdom but words given them by God, which those who have the mind of Christ discern.
The chapter gives a test of present spiritual condition that can be seen when discernment is not wholly perverted, and one who rightly receives it will cease leading other souls in false paths. Chapters 2 and 3 must be read, thought over at home, and personally applied, with God's help to understand them. They test readiness for the Lord's coming, exposing that many who think they are prepared are not, and applying them separates from all hindrances, gives knowledge of God's will and walking in that pathway, makes free and all light in the Lord, and brings confessing Christ and coming out of darkness into His marvelous light.
A mind occupied with worldly things cannot receive or understand spiritual things. A person without a vital connection to God is under another leader's control and is kept in darkness from seeing the evidence of truth.
Living by Spiritual Discernment
The spiritually discerning person is grown up in the truth and no longer a babe in Christ, having labored to stand in right relation to truth with a right experience and close connection with God. To judge all things is to discern what is needed and lay hold on it, to recognize Christ, to understand His will, and to fear to offend Him. It is to trim the lamp with the oil of grace in the heart and not sleep like the foolish virgins, to be fed with heavenly manna by searching the Word and eating the bread of life here, which gives right to the tree of life. Christ reveals Himself day by day to those who seek Him while they prepare to be translated.
Becoming spiritual is passing from death unto life, as the child of wrath becomes the child of God through the infinite sacrifice of the Son as propitiation for the transgressions of the repenting sinner. The humble in heart made spiritual by faith in the Son discern spiritual things, and the wisdom of God enlightens the mind to behold wondrous things out of His law. Those wondrous things are pardon for the transgressor, righteousness that will bear the scrutiny of the Omniscient One, victory over the powerful enemy of God and man, and eternal life and joy for its receiver. This change comes through God's power and grace in Christ, by which the natural person is transformed and may overcome, for Bible religion is not merely theology, creeds, theories, or traditions but has saving power that transforms the whole person through a spiritual experience from God and not by natural abilities.
Every worker in the vineyard must have these words imprinted on the soul, learning at the foot of the cross to bring sheaves to Christ by preaching Christ crucified plainly instead of preaching to please ears. Eternal truths are to be presented plainly with the peril of neglecting eternal interests kept in view, with self kept out of sight while Jesus is ever lifted up and exalted, and with labor in weakness and fear so the work stands in the power of God and produces a harvest. The person made spiritual by the Holy Spirit rightly evaluates all things while remaining beyond mere human judgment because he has the mind of Christ, receiving not the spirit of the world but the Spirit of God so he knows the things freely given him of God and speaks them not in words taught by human wisdom but taught by the Holy Ghost, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. God alone transforms character through Jesus Christ and the power of the cross of Calvary, and He often passes by the wise, the scribe, and the disputer of this world and uses a poor, foolish, humble instrument with the simple message of Christ crucified and His soon coming to bring the proud and learned to repentance on their knees.
The weakness of the church comes from envy and strife cherished by members, for to walk as men and be carnal is to say I am of Paul and I am of Apollos, withdrawing from some for reasons existing only in the imagination and binding up with others. Allowing prejudice, envy, jealousy, and evil surmisings separates from brethren and thus from God, while the spiritual mind discerns that Paul and Apollos are only ministers by whom men believed, even as the Lord gave to every man, one planting and one watering with the same object while God gives the increase, and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. Therefore a minister who does not dwell on the same things as his brother ministers but emphasizes another phase of truth or presents the Word in a different way is not to be condemned, and he need not fear that his brethren think they do not regard him and his exposition of truth as of consequence. Cherishing discord and jealousy against brethren repeats the Corinthian fault and greatly hinders the manifestation of the Spirit of God, who is sent as Comforter and Strengthener only when His people obey to be all of one mind, loving as brethren, pitiful and courteous.
The one who has received the Spirit of God and not the spirit of the world knows the things freely given by God and judges all things, yet no natural man can judge him, for the things of God are spoken not in words of man's wisdom but as the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual, and they are spiritually discerned so the natural man counts them foolishness and cannot know them. This judgment gives knowledge of the things freely given by God and the mind of Christ, and it does not come by oratory, philosophy, or the wisdom of men. Boasted human wisdom, however advanced, is weighed in the balances and found wanting and cannot take the place of a sound knowledge of God learned in the school of Christ, the only perfect Educator and Divine Teacher. Even learning gained in God's providence, like Moses' learning in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, must largely be unlearned and blotted out by forty years of humble experience in caring for sheep until the heart becomes tender before one can faithfully shepherd God's heritage.
The Holy Spirit enables the meek and lowly student of Scripture to judge all things by the standard of righteousness, truth, and justice, and through Christ's instruction such a person receives the wisdom and knowledge needed to discern truth and understand the causes and results of actions. The spiritual-minded person readily discerns spiritual things by constantly partaking of Christ and making daily progress in goodness in the school of Christ, which fits a worker to labor for the Master and makes his influence a savor of life unto life. Such a spiritual-minded teacher who loves Christ's service has spiritual discernment and spiritual life. He makes the Bible his study above magazines, newspapers, and books that treat of nothing heavenly or divine, finds the Word constantly more precious, and has God draw near and speak to him in language which cannot be misunderstood.
Those closely connected with God recognize His voice and are grateful when He points out their errors, while self-exaltation and trust in self make a person less able to recognize God in the testimonies of His Spirit. Spiritual discernment enables receiving reproof as a means of repentance and reform.
The verse calls for letting God hold and lead while considering where one's steps are tending. It warns against seeking the world's favor or relying on human influence, for it belongs to a chapter contrasting spiritual discernment and God's wisdom with the world's wisdom, which is foolishness to God. Where business ability is lacking among believers, the first, second, and third chapters of 1 Corinthians are to be read with much prayer, since men given to worldly pursuits and sharp business traits are worldly-wise and count the preaching of the cross as foolishness, while to those saved it is the power of God, and God has chosen the foolish and weak and base and despised things to confound the wise and mighty and bring to nothing things that are, so that no flesh glories in His presence but Christ Jesus is made unto believers wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. The chapter is to be studied and practiced together with scriptures on presenting the body a living sacrifice, self-distrust, and control of appetite, for curing addiction to alcohol and stimulating drinks by total abstinence, aroused moral powers, looking to Jesus for grace to overcome unnatural craving, keeping the body in healthful condition for God's service, and keeping the intellect clear and active to think candidly and critically and to control all the powers.