For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
No one has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct Him, but those who belong to Christ possess the mind of Christ as their own. The natural person cannot receive or know spiritual things because they seem foolish without spiritual discernment, and wisdom comes only through God's Spirit and not through worldly wisdom or unaided human senses. This mind is received through the new birth by faith-union with Christ, in which the carnal mind is taken away and replaced by a spiritual mind that discerns spiritual things and is in harmony with God's will. To have it means sharing His purpose to uphold and obey the Father's law and living as He lived in self-denying love, humility, purity, patience and meekness. It brings believers into unity of doctrine, purpose and love, makes His saving work their first concern, and keeps them from Satan's last-day deceptions.
Verse Wording and Setting
The letter containing this verse was written in A.D. 57 to the Corinthians to meet false philosophy creeping in, to correct dividing into factions, to point out sins common in heathendom that were entering the church, and to emphasize the death and resurrection of Jesus, setting the contrast between the wisdom of the world and the power of the Gospel, and it belongs to Paul's letter to the church at Corinth written to correct divisions among its members. The natural man is the psychical or soul man, meaning human animal personality, temperament, mentality, distinctive ways and biological inheritance, while the spiritual man is the religious man, meaning religious life and desires reaching after God. A person with no desire for spiritual things is purely animal and not spiritual however great humanly.
No one has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct Him, and believers need wisdom from above to know what the Lord would have them do. No one knows God's mind well enough to judge Scripture's Spirit-given wording or to make one's own mind the rule of inspiration and right and wrong, so that different words cannot be judged a clearer or better expression of His truth and human understanding cannot be set up as judge of His mind on God's level. No one can claim authority to instruct the Lord about what He should have revealed, such as assuming He ought to have declared the first day holy when He did not, or speaking in His name where He has not spoken or contrary to what He has revealed.
One who reproaches and dishonors the seventh-day Sabbath cannot have the mind of the Lord, for God honored that day by making manna fall for six days but not on the Sabbath and by preserving the sixth-day manna overnight so it remained good for food on the seventh day through forty years in the wilderness. Those placed by God at the head of the work have an advantage in knowing the Lord's mind, which calls for humility rather than unconsidered questioning of their plans. Christ Himself had the mind of God, being one with the Father and cheerfully accepting all the Father's requirements. People may seek and discern the Lord's mind through shared counsel without taking God's place, and this does not prevent any individual seeking God for personal light and direction, for seeking His will brings blessing.
Spirit Gives Spiritual Discernment
Wisdom from God comes through His Spirit, not through worldly wisdom or unaided human senses. Worldly wisdom cannot guide the soul to truth, for human beings depend on God and the path of truth requires rejecting worldly ambition and relying on Christ. This wisdom given by the Spirit is the mind of Christ, given so believers may know what God freely gives and live by His wisdom.
The natural person cannot receive or know spiritual things, because without spiritual discernment they seem foolish. The sinner recognizes sin's true character only through the convicting power of God's Spirit, and apart from this spiritual work sin remains the sinner's natural element. A person with a carnal mind cannot discern spiritual truth or identify sinners, and therefore a corrupt heart cannot possess spiritual authority to remit sin merely through ordination or succession, since knowing spiritual things requires the mind of Christ.
The Holy Spirit takes away the carnal mind and makes people spiritually minded, enabling them to discern the things of God. He takes what belongs to God and shows it to them, so they see their duty in God's truth and can obey it, and this obedience through the Spirit is sanctification. Through the Spirit believers know the things God freely gives, sharing in the privileges made possible by God's promises, a union of divinity with humanity shown by Enoch's walk with God and Moses' endurance through faith.
The Spirit enables a person to see what natural eyes cannot, including the saints' inheritance, as a prophet sees. The outward results of the Spirit's work may be visible in repentance and in fruits such as love, joy and goodness, but carnal people mistake them for counterfeits and they are truly discerned only by those who have God's Spirit. Unaided human reason cannot grasp the meaning of Scripture, but a sanctified judgment directed by God's Spirit can understand it. Learning and independent thought are helpful, yet safe understanding of Scripture requires an intimate connection with its divine Author, who by the Holy Spirit reveals the deep things of God and enables a person to understand His will.
Scripture is understood by seeking the mind of the inspiring Spirit, entering into the author's mind and attending to the spiritual meaning rather than relying only on human authority or intellectual criticism. The mind of the Lord is known through the mind of Christ, and the Bible guides the mind so people can think the thoughts of the Almighty and have its principles shape conduct and habits of thought. One who holds communion with God has the mind of Christ and may think God's thoughts after Him through channels of communication far surpassing anything in human science.
Human beings cannot think God's infinite thoughts by themselves, and without His presence their thoughts are wrong and their lives lack true substance. God's dwelling in people makes Him the source of their thoughts and actions, making the mind an instrument of His thought and His life active in human flesh, a privilege offered to all. Knowing God in this communion is open to everyone and gives a higher, broader knowledge than this world can give, even without education in the schools, while the greatest scientific thoughts are only guesses at what angels know.
How Believers Receive It
Those who belong to Christ possess his mind as something they actually have. The mind is received when the Spirit works through gospel truth in the human mind, for printed words alone do not give life but the Spirit makes the word a channel through which Christ's life and mind reach the heart, direct the affections, and bring the person into connection with heaven. The truly regenerate child of God has it by renewal of the mind, having received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit of God in order to know the things freely given by God.
Having this renewed mind, the person ceases conformity to the world, does not reason about vital matters but affirms them, trusts God's eternal Word to bear him up, proves what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, and renders reasonable service by copying the divine Master in presenting the body a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. Through faith in Christ the new birth imparts the mind of the Lord Jesus, with Christ dwelling within and taking control of surrendered faculties, bringing divine life into human life and renewing character. Having the mind of Christ is individual conversion and change of character, requiring personal relation to Christ in which hereditary and cultivated tendencies are no longer followed and the person comes under the moulding influence of the Holy Spirit, which both blesses him and makes him a blessing to others.
Through faith in the Son of God the person is transformed from a child of wrath into a child of God, passes from death to life, becomes spiritual and able to discern spiritual things, and grows in understanding as divine wisdom enlightens the mind, so that as conversion and obedience shape character the will comes into harmony with God's will. It is the spiritual, heavenly mind received through the new birth, in which the indwelling Spirit destroys the carnal mind so the person is no longer ruled by the flesh and becomes able to receive spiritual things, to please God, and to be subject to God's law. Through Christ's creative power and the Spirit of God the carnal mind is replaced by a new spiritual mind with power for new life, breaking the rule of sin rather than merely pardoning it.
By natural earthly birth as children of the first Adam all are earthy, natural, of the flesh, unable to receive the things of the Spirit because they are spiritually discerned and unable to please God; by spiritual heavenly birth from above as children of the last Adam, who is a life-giving Spirit, they become heavenly and spiritual, with the Spirit of God dwelling in them, no longer in the flesh but in the Spirit, with the carnal mind destroyed. With the mind of Christ the heavenly man receives the things of the Spirit, pleases God, is able to be subject to the law of God, and receives all the privileges, blessings and joys of that birthright, without which no one can see the kingdom of God. Being born from above gives new life, new spirit and the mind of Christ, making new creatures, a new creation, who walk in newness of life and choose the Father's will and see something of the kingdom even now in His works and ways of working.
That beginning of life reaches into the complete kingdom and into eternal, everlasting life, and if Christ with His life and Spirit abides within and is not lost out of the life, the person will finally receive immortality at His coming. Receiving the mind comes through spiritual union with Him by faith in Him as personal Saviour, in which weakness is joined to His strength, emptiness to His fullness and frailty to His enduring might, as a branch receives life from the vine, and the soul dead in trespasses and sins receives life. In that living union His humanity has touched humanity and humanity has touched divinity, so that through the Holy Spirit man partakes of the divine nature and is accepted in the Beloved. One who becomes one with Christ in this way is no longer opposed to God's law but obeys all His commandments and walks in the Saviour's footsteps.
Receiving the mind comes through the Spirit of Christ by acknowledging Jesus as Lord, while the carnal mind, identified with the mind of Satan, does not acknowledge Him as Lord. It is impressed on converted affections as the Spirit writes the law in the heart and makes its principles part of the new nature, and through prayer the Holy Spirit helps understand God's word and apply its truth rightly in life so as to reproduce Christ's character. It is received by saturating with His recorded words spread before us, breathing them in, drinking deep and steady drafts of them, learning to think in their terms, talking with Him on entering the day and making withdrawal rooms in every task to talk with Him, effacing self, assuming Him, becoming nothing and making Him the all.
Continual devotion and piety bring into close relation and oneness with Christ, so that under the Spirit's guidance weakness of will and character is overcome, principles become sound and steady, perception clears, and wisdom from God results that is pure, peaceable, gentle, merciful, impartial, sincere and fruitful in good works. Christ endured all His humiliation for the fallen race so that man might have His mind by co-operating with Him in redemption and in suffering, by being united to Him through believing and receiving Him so as to become part of Himself and complete in Him. Having His mind means revealing in humanity the same love of God for fallen man and the same perfect love for the Father that He revealed, with the cold heart quickened to glow with divine love and beat in unison with the Redeemer's heart, until His honor stands complete in the perfection of His people's character, His character represented to the world and His glory revealed in human character, leading to standing approved in His presence with the benediction of the faithful servant and entrance into the joy of the Lord.
Scripture Law and Doctrine
Scripture explains itself and is not to be made subject to a teacher's guess, creed, or desire for appearing wise, for to depend on such human guesses makes human judgment the rule instead of the Bible. The mind of the Spirit called for in the verse is the mind of Christ, and that mind rather than human creeds is the standard to be followed even if it overturns every creed in Christendom. Diligent study of Scripture by reading, meditating, and comparing passage with passage and spiritual things with spiritual, with God's blessing, can lead people to obtain the mind of Christ. That seeking increases knowledge of prophecy and spiritual truth, which becomes clearer and plainer as prophetic events near fulfillment.
Toward the end of the appointed time those stirred to inquire into what is delivered in Daniel obtain this enlarged knowledge of all spiritual things, evangelical truths and doctrines, and of Daniel's prophecies made plainer as fulfillment draws near and prophecy can be compared with facts. It comes by sparing no pains or cost, by reading and studying the Scriptures, meditating on them, comparing one passage with another and spiritual things with spiritual, carefully reading the writings of those before who attempted this work, going far and near to converse with persons who have understanding of these things, and receiving God's blessing upon those means. As Christ's disciples prayerfully study God's Word with obedient hearts, the Spirit of truth who dwells with them and within them helps them apply it correctly. Believers are to bring that mind of Christ to apparent disagreements in Scripture, trusting its varied voices ultimately form a harmony.
Having the mind of Christ means being truly sanctified, reverencing and obeying the word of God as fast as it is opened and expressing a strong desire to know what is truth on every point of doctrine. Those who lack it prove it by becoming greatly excited and manifesting a wrong spirit when the great standard of righteousness is presented, by resting on exultant feeling and the assertion that they are saved and sanctified, by stopping their ears from hearing the truth, by refusing to search the Scriptures, and by remaining fearfully self-deceived. The mind of Christ is the standard of wisdom for God's people, and in education teaching it rather than the mind of man helps children resist worldly aspirations and prepares them for service in Christ's cause. The apostles had this mind with understanding shaped by Christ's Spirit and truth, and this shared mind stands against confused and contradictory teachings, for those who have the Spirit of Christ are Christ's and His Spirit does not teach opposing views of truth.
In relation to the commandments, having the mind of Christ means sharing Christ's expressed purpose to uphold and teach obedience to His Father's law. Those who are not carnal become subject to the law through Christ fulfilling its righteousness in them, delighting in its commandments and doing and teaching them, having turned from the carnal mind which is not subject to God's law to follow Christ's example of keeping the Father's commandments. As many as are led by the Spirit of God as sons of God have the mind of the Spirit, the mind of Christ, and with that mind serve the law of God, so that whoever is led by the Spirit fulfills the law and is not under the law, because by that Spirit the love of God is shed abroad in the heart, which in itself is the fulfilling of the law in whoever has it.
The carnal man has not the mind to serve God and cannot in his own power be subject to God's law and must have the mind of Christ, and if he opens his heart and lets God's thought in as expressed in His law, the law becomes an enabling act bringing power to do its requirement and transforming his mind into the mind of Christ. Then the law is no longer seen as cruel and arbitrary demands but as the expression of God's character of love. Having the mind of Christ means having Christ enthroned in the heart, working out in and for believers the righteousness required by God's law which human effort cannot attain and which meets heaven's standard. In the new-covenant relation God gives a new heart and spirit and writes His law within through complete surrender, so the changed person therefore does God's will, speaks wisdom, teaches transgressors, and walks without slipping. Those who have the mind of Christ can answer who is guilty under the law, applied to the question of obedience to the whole law.
Christlike Character in Life
Having the mind of Christ means living the life Christ lived on earth, setting aside self for helpful work done gladly and faithfully as long as strength lasts, even without earthly fame, and not merely holding church membership, giving money, or keeping respectable conduct. Union with Christ gives that mind, seen in a life governed by love, purity, meekness and truth, in a changed character reflecting His peace and joy, and in love for God and neighbor evident in outward conduct, as branches drawing nourishment from the vine bear living fruit and as channels receiving light reflect His light to the world to God's glory. It means becoming pure and holy so His image is reflected in the soul, a transformation that must take place before He comes, since the change of the body at His coming will not make a vile character holy. Enoch, Joseph and Daniel show that through close dependence on God and faith reaching for the Holy Spirit, people can remain loyal and pure amid corrupting influences and develop that Christlike character.
Believers are to have their minds transformed into Christ's mind by growing in grace and knowledge of the truth, bringing the whole being into subjection to God and reflecting His character through active faith and obedience, for God's grace is sufficient for this work which prepares them for Christ's coming and for holiness. That mind reflects His meekness, humility, patience and forbearance toward others, in patience with opposers, gentleness with seekers of truth, long-suffering toward erring brethren, and readiness to put others before self rather than insist on one's own opinions. It means humble views of self, seeking true goodness rather than greatness, repressing envy and emulation, rejoicing in the superior reputation or prosperity of brethren even when one's own character or achievements seem cast in the shade, laboring for the purity and prosperity of the church, and sacrificing personal interests and desires rather than causing dissension. It means keeping judgment and standard aligned with Jesus rather than with a world whose attitudes and way of life oppose Him, so that giving money alone does not meet the Lord's claim but continued dedication and use of all one's powers in His service guards against judgment sinking to the world's low level.
Having the mind of Christ is incompatible with worldly-mindedness, for a heart filled with His mind will not be governed by worldly concerns. It means subjugating the fleshly mind and accepting His mind in its place, being continually dead to the ambitions and lusts of this world and truly alive unto God in Christ Jesus, so that life stays in harmony with the message of life borne, walks in love and newness of life even as Christ walked, carries forward His work of salvation as a savor of life unto life, lets the light of God's truth shine out in sheaves gathered for God, and has self vanquished so God and Christ are all in all. It means having thoughts and sense of pleasure in harmony with His, as the Spirit changes and purifies the heart enabling God to work in people to will and do what pleases Him, which is necessary for the universe to be wholly in harmony with God and acceptable to Him, and it means not dwelling on evil thoughts or forming character in harmony with them, since pure thoughts and motives belong with His mind. It means being established in the faith by believing God, accepting and submitting to what He says, and walking in His commandments, as Jehoshaphat's prepared heart and righteous life illustrate settled faith. It means seeking how the Lord would have His people act, with trust from knowing they do God's will.
Keeping that mind means continuing to obey as the Spirit bends will and feelings toward God's mind and will, turning from loving and serving self to loving and serving God without making everyone alike in disposition, ability or spiritual gifts. This requires willing consent and ongoing effort, for refusing or ceasing to obey returns a person to the carnal mind, and as believers follow Christ and receive greater light they bear the cross by bringing selfish desires under Spirit-begotten principles, gaining strength and victory through lifelong struggle with self and the world. Through God's Spirit that mind enables discernment of the sinfulness of the flesh, so seeing more sinfulness is a sign of having more of the Spirit and not a reason for discouragement, for when sin abounds grace abounds still more, reigning through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ. The true Christian mind so given stays calm and composed in devotion despite noise, crowds or secular activity, as Christ remained composed before His accusers, so prayers cannot be injured by such disturbances. Every Christian has this mind and it cannot come under Satanic control, so even the weakest need not fear being hypnotized apparently against the will, because such domination only hands over a mind already ruled by the spirit working in disobedience from one Satan-directed domination to another, while the Lord's strength is made perfect in weakness and God works in the believer both to will and to do His good pleasure.
Having the mind of Christ means receiving divine illumination to discern and detect deception, including false teachings about health and healing by which people otherwise can be swept away by plausible errors. It means having love and patience with children, for those without love or patience for them do not have it and are to be pitied, while gathering children to teach them of Christ and lead them to love Him is the very work He would be pleased to have done. It enables mercy and justice to meet in teaching children, making it possible to act with carefulness and necessary firmness, require obedience, and still preserve the confidence of those who err so they can recognize the fairness of the requirements. Those who receive heavenly truth reveal that mind in daily life as God's love deepens affection and sympathy, making affectionate parents, loving children, faithful friends and considerate companions rather than coarse, hard-hearted or unforgiving people, and bringing harmony, peace and happiness into the home.
It is revealed by living out God's law as a principle in heart and life, reflecting Christ's love for God and others through loving words, mercy, and work that helps people know the Gospel, thus representing Christ and showing the influence of God's Word on character. Disciples so make His mind known to the world as living letters sent by Christ, through truth, love, gentleness, fairness and generosity by which people learn what He is like, even in ordinary work and daily relationships. It means being closely connected with God so His servants are led and taught by Him. It means exchanging the mind of self for His, which is the kind of mind cure that brings real benefit. It is shown in Christlike conduct such as guarding fellow ministers' reputations and being examples to believers in speech, conduct, love, spirit, faith and purity.
Possessing the mind of Christ belongs to true wisdom as unselfishness and desire to do good as He did, belonging to fearing the Lord, turning from evil, and beginning and attaining true knowledge, whereas learning pursued for worldly honor, advancement or self-gratification is not true wisdom. To be lights in the world believers must open the mind to receive Christ who is the Light of the world and must have His mind as the precious privilege of knowing Him by personal experience and walking humbly before God. It means yielding up carnal nature and pursuing holiness and meekness with humility before God, which enables wholehearted work to save people with the truth. Belonging to Christ requires His mind, which does not lead followers to seek help from earthly political powers, for His example is to rely on God rather than the arm of flesh. God's plan to cleanse the heart and give that mind makes new creatures in Christ Jesus, and with the heart submitted to God people become good citizens obeying God's law and human laws that do not conflict with it.
Having the mind of Christ enabled the apostle to know what was in human beings and truthfully and faithfully describe their natural state as sinners under sin, applying to the heathen as well as others. It means the old man and inordinate desire must be crucified, or lust will overcome this new mind in believers. Seeking it anoints the eyes to see as Jesus saw when in passing He saw the blind man, so day by day believers discern the opportunities heaven has designed for them to grasp, take them at their dawn instead of at their eventime, and use them to accomplish the greatest good for associates and for development of mind, body and soul, finishing life able to say the course is finished and receive the word that they have done what they could instead of crying because the harvest is past and opportunities are lost. It equips a person to seek the salvation of all and to find the few in every land who are reaching out after God. It is consistent with preaching Christ and glorying in the cross rather than making self or one's own glory the theme.
Believers should seek that mind joined with humility, responding to prosperity and displays of divine power by becoming more humble and coming together praying for more of His mind, for humility and His mind prepare the church for the Master's presence and power. Knowing God means having thoughts in harmony with God's mind and sharing Christ's love for fallen humanity, a heavenly knowledge that is eternal life because it joins a person to the life and power that create and uphold the universe, growing through daily close acquaintance with God for which clear healthy brain function is necessary to receive heavenly thoughts and be constantly guided by them.
Unity Mission and Protection
The mind of Christ is known by unity around God's word and the faith and work of Christ, for the natural person cannot know or judge the things of God since they are understood only through the Spirit, and no one can know the Lord's mind so as to instruct Him, but those led by the Spirit share that mind. Christians have that mind when Christ dwells in them by His Spirit, shaping them in holiness and truth and appearing in words and deeds like His own. That indwelling produces a shared mind in the church in doctrine, purpose, love and organization, which shows that Christ unifies His body and dwells in it and gives the world evidence of the reality of Christianity, while sustaining fellowship among those who walk in God's light with the Father and the Son. Believers share the mind of Christ when it dwells in their hearts, so that through this one mind the Lord is known and His will is carried out as faith becomes action through the faculties of His children. That Christ-centered life brings unity moved by the love that led Jesus to undertake salvation.
Believers are united by yielding their minds to Christ and hearing His voice, receiving His mind and Spirit and thereby a shared life and purpose. This is an inward, living unity not produced by debate, majority decisions or outward uniformity. Having the mind of Christ makes differences impossible and brings union and harmony among believers. That harmony becomes visible in unity, love and Christlike spirit among workers and believers, shown in shared conduct in business and worship. Believers become of one mind by having the mind of Christ through being dead to sin and buried with Him, so they no longer live by the desires of their former life. The change appears in conduct in turning from fashion and outward adornment to the meek and quiet spirit precious to God.
The mind of Christ stands opposite to the world and self, and Sabbath-keepers were taught that they still had weak faith and only a little of that mind, with too much of the world and self in them. More of His mind is needed for the remnant to be more united, to come into the unity of the faith and to trust in God as the time draws near. Christ's subjects possess His mind because conversion brings His kingdom into hearts and lives, bringing thoughts into obedience to Him and words, actions and the whole life into harmony with God's will. Having the mind of Christ means being filled with the Spirit and perfected in sympathy with Him. It therefore makes Christ's work the first concern and puts abilities in cooperation with heaven to save souls for whom Christ died, giving those abilities to help save others.
Having the mind of Christ means viewing His work as He does and sharing His deep, earnest interest in His cause. That mind leads believers to make its advancement a chief purpose through willing giving, planning, working and self-denial. That mind with His might and motive is multiplied through missionary endeavor, so the more closely believers accord with His mind and motive the more of His might they possess. Having His motive makes believers active in multiplying the message, while lack of activity in telling it shows having only a little of that motive. Faithful work carried out through prayer and communion with Christ assimilates the worker's mind to His. Laypeople too can have the mind of Christ and love His work, and genuine zeal and usefulness do not mean they should be urged to obtain a license to preach.
Conceiving Christ's saving approach to sinners requires the mind of Christ, and only those who share it can understand it. Without that mind neither accusers nor the accused can know the mind behind the law, grasp the fatherly love expressed through its commands and penalties, or see that love revealed in Christ who fulfilled the law and showed its spirit. The mind of Christ is the interior life inspired with noble and unselfish purpose that wakes the springs of justice. Introducing it is the only true remedy for political and industrial wrongs, disorder, irreverence, outlawry and destruction where mere outward reform fails, driving out moral virus, turning vice to virtue and bitterness to blessing, as the Gospel carried with compassion that feels the sorrows and hardships of the multitude and takes the cross to men of shop and mill and factory by new and unconventional means to compel them to hear the story of the Crucified.
The mind of Christ operating through lives would have prevented the denial of others' rights, but when sin brought people under Satan's rule a contrary spirit produced enmity and oppression. Civil government was then ordained in God's providence to protect rights, yet as a remedy made necessary by sin rather than God's ideal. Without the mind of Christ people remain under Satan's power and vulnerable to his deceptions, while having it means God's power can govern and protect the life from those delusions. His power over minds without Christ's mind continues to the end and increases as it continues, growing keener in sophistry through spreading heathen teachings and philosophy that permeate even Christian pulpits and exalt self. Only those in whom God's power dominates the life escape being numbered among the victims of the overspreading delusions of the last days when the harvest of weeds as well as wheat is almost ready, through true worship of God rather than exaltation and worship of self and through rejecting the subtle falsehood that God is inherently in man and man is part divine and immortal, which would overthrow the divine plan and make Christ's life and sacrifice superfluous, so that without that mind people are blinded and ensnared unless they seek God and watch unto prayer. Possessing the mind of Christ, which is the divine mind mankind needs to study, means forsaking wicked ways and unrighteous thoughts instead of studying the human mind, being transformed by renewing of the mind, bringing every thought into captivity to obedience to Christ and fixing thought on right things, since the human mind is enmity against God and cannot be subject to His law, so that to study its mightiest passions is to study sin and to study its mightiest thoughts is to study impotence.
No one has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct Him, but those who belong to Christ possess the mind of Christ as their own. The natural person cannot receive or know spiritual things because they seem foolish without spiritual discernment, and wisdom comes only through God's Spirit and not through worldly wisdom or unaided human senses. This mind is received through the new birth by faith-union with Christ, in which the carnal mind is taken away and replaced by a spiritual mind that discerns spiritual things and is in harmony with God's will. To have it means sharing His purpose to uphold and obey the Father's law and living as He lived in self-denying love, humility, purity, patience and meekness. It brings believers into unity of doctrine, purpose and love, makes His saving work their first concern, and keeps them from Satan's last-day deceptions.
Verse Wording and Setting
The letter containing this verse was written in A.D. 57 to the Corinthians to meet false philosophy creeping in, to correct dividing into factions, to point out sins common in heathendom that were entering the church, and to emphasize the death and resurrection of Jesus, setting the contrast between the wisdom of the world and the power of the Gospel, and it belongs to Paul's letter to the church at Corinth written to correct divisions among its members. The natural man is the psychical or soul man, meaning human animal personality, temperament, mentality, distinctive ways and biological inheritance, while the spiritual man is the religious man, meaning religious life and desires reaching after God. A person with no desire for spiritual things is purely animal and not spiritual however great humanly.
No one has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct Him, and believers need wisdom from above to know what the Lord would have them do. No one knows God's mind well enough to judge Scripture's Spirit-given wording or to make one's own mind the rule of inspiration and right and wrong, so that different words cannot be judged a clearer or better expression of His truth and human understanding cannot be set up as judge of His mind on God's level. No one can claim authority to instruct the Lord about what He should have revealed, such as assuming He ought to have declared the first day holy when He did not, or speaking in His name where He has not spoken or contrary to what He has revealed.
One who reproaches and dishonors the seventh-day Sabbath cannot have the mind of the Lord, for God honored that day by making manna fall for six days but not on the Sabbath and by preserving the sixth-day manna overnight so it remained good for food on the seventh day through forty years in the wilderness. Those placed by God at the head of the work have an advantage in knowing the Lord's mind, which calls for humility rather than unconsidered questioning of their plans. Christ Himself had the mind of God, being one with the Father and cheerfully accepting all the Father's requirements. People may seek and discern the Lord's mind through shared counsel without taking God's place, and this does not prevent any individual seeking God for personal light and direction, for seeking His will brings blessing.
Spirit Gives Spiritual Discernment
Wisdom from God comes through His Spirit, not through worldly wisdom or unaided human senses. Worldly wisdom cannot guide the soul to truth, for human beings depend on God and the path of truth requires rejecting worldly ambition and relying on Christ. This wisdom given by the Spirit is the mind of Christ, given so believers may know what God freely gives and live by His wisdom.
The natural person cannot receive or know spiritual things, because without spiritual discernment they seem foolish. The sinner recognizes sin's true character only through the convicting power of God's Spirit, and apart from this spiritual work sin remains the sinner's natural element. A person with a carnal mind cannot discern spiritual truth or identify sinners, and therefore a corrupt heart cannot possess spiritual authority to remit sin merely through ordination or succession, since knowing spiritual things requires the mind of Christ.
The Holy Spirit takes away the carnal mind and makes people spiritually minded, enabling them to discern the things of God. He takes what belongs to God and shows it to them, so they see their duty in God's truth and can obey it, and this obedience through the Spirit is sanctification. Through the Spirit believers know the things God freely gives, sharing in the privileges made possible by God's promises, a union of divinity with humanity shown by Enoch's walk with God and Moses' endurance through faith.
The Spirit enables a person to see what natural eyes cannot, including the saints' inheritance, as a prophet sees. The outward results of the Spirit's work may be visible in repentance and in fruits such as love, joy and goodness, but carnal people mistake them for counterfeits and they are truly discerned only by those who have God's Spirit. Unaided human reason cannot grasp the meaning of Scripture, but a sanctified judgment directed by God's Spirit can understand it. Learning and independent thought are helpful, yet safe understanding of Scripture requires an intimate connection with its divine Author, who by the Holy Spirit reveals the deep things of God and enables a person to understand His will.
Scripture is understood by seeking the mind of the inspiring Spirit, entering into the author's mind and attending to the spiritual meaning rather than relying only on human authority or intellectual criticism. The mind of the Lord is known through the mind of Christ, and the Bible guides the mind so people can think the thoughts of the Almighty and have its principles shape conduct and habits of thought. One who holds communion with God has the mind of Christ and may think God's thoughts after Him through channels of communication far surpassing anything in human science.
Human beings cannot think God's infinite thoughts by themselves, and without His presence their thoughts are wrong and their lives lack true substance. God's dwelling in people makes Him the source of their thoughts and actions, making the mind an instrument of His thought and His life active in human flesh, a privilege offered to all. Knowing God in this communion is open to everyone and gives a higher, broader knowledge than this world can give, even without education in the schools, while the greatest scientific thoughts are only guesses at what angels know.
How Believers Receive It
Those who belong to Christ possess his mind as something they actually have. The mind is received when the Spirit works through gospel truth in the human mind, for printed words alone do not give life but the Spirit makes the word a channel through which Christ's life and mind reach the heart, direct the affections, and bring the person into connection with heaven. The truly regenerate child of God has it by renewal of the mind, having received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit of God in order to know the things freely given by God.
Having this renewed mind, the person ceases conformity to the world, does not reason about vital matters but affirms them, trusts God's eternal Word to bear him up, proves what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, and renders reasonable service by copying the divine Master in presenting the body a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. Through faith in Christ the new birth imparts the mind of the Lord Jesus, with Christ dwelling within and taking control of surrendered faculties, bringing divine life into human life and renewing character. Having the mind of Christ is individual conversion and change of character, requiring personal relation to Christ in which hereditary and cultivated tendencies are no longer followed and the person comes under the moulding influence of the Holy Spirit, which both blesses him and makes him a blessing to others.
Through faith in the Son of God the person is transformed from a child of wrath into a child of God, passes from death to life, becomes spiritual and able to discern spiritual things, and grows in understanding as divine wisdom enlightens the mind, so that as conversion and obedience shape character the will comes into harmony with God's will. It is the spiritual, heavenly mind received through the new birth, in which the indwelling Spirit destroys the carnal mind so the person is no longer ruled by the flesh and becomes able to receive spiritual things, to please God, and to be subject to God's law. Through Christ's creative power and the Spirit of God the carnal mind is replaced by a new spiritual mind with power for new life, breaking the rule of sin rather than merely pardoning it.
By natural earthly birth as children of the first Adam all are earthy, natural, of the flesh, unable to receive the things of the Spirit because they are spiritually discerned and unable to please God; by spiritual heavenly birth from above as children of the last Adam, who is a life-giving Spirit, they become heavenly and spiritual, with the Spirit of God dwelling in them, no longer in the flesh but in the Spirit, with the carnal mind destroyed. With the mind of Christ the heavenly man receives the things of the Spirit, pleases God, is able to be subject to the law of God, and receives all the privileges, blessings and joys of that birthright, without which no one can see the kingdom of God. Being born from above gives new life, new spirit and the mind of Christ, making new creatures, a new creation, who walk in newness of life and choose the Father's will and see something of the kingdom even now in His works and ways of working.
That beginning of life reaches into the complete kingdom and into eternal, everlasting life, and if Christ with His life and Spirit abides within and is not lost out of the life, the person will finally receive immortality at His coming. Receiving the mind comes through spiritual union with Him by faith in Him as personal Saviour, in which weakness is joined to His strength, emptiness to His fullness and frailty to His enduring might, as a branch receives life from the vine, and the soul dead in trespasses and sins receives life. In that living union His humanity has touched humanity and humanity has touched divinity, so that through the Holy Spirit man partakes of the divine nature and is accepted in the Beloved. One who becomes one with Christ in this way is no longer opposed to God's law but obeys all His commandments and walks in the Saviour's footsteps.
Receiving the mind comes through the Spirit of Christ by acknowledging Jesus as Lord, while the carnal mind, identified with the mind of Satan, does not acknowledge Him as Lord. It is impressed on converted affections as the Spirit writes the law in the heart and makes its principles part of the new nature, and through prayer the Holy Spirit helps understand God's word and apply its truth rightly in life so as to reproduce Christ's character. It is received by saturating with His recorded words spread before us, breathing them in, drinking deep and steady drafts of them, learning to think in their terms, talking with Him on entering the day and making withdrawal rooms in every task to talk with Him, effacing self, assuming Him, becoming nothing and making Him the all.
Continual devotion and piety bring into close relation and oneness with Christ, so that under the Spirit's guidance weakness of will and character is overcome, principles become sound and steady, perception clears, and wisdom from God results that is pure, peaceable, gentle, merciful, impartial, sincere and fruitful in good works. Christ endured all His humiliation for the fallen race so that man might have His mind by co-operating with Him in redemption and in suffering, by being united to Him through believing and receiving Him so as to become part of Himself and complete in Him. Having His mind means revealing in humanity the same love of God for fallen man and the same perfect love for the Father that He revealed, with the cold heart quickened to glow with divine love and beat in unison with the Redeemer's heart, until His honor stands complete in the perfection of His people's character, His character represented to the world and His glory revealed in human character, leading to standing approved in His presence with the benediction of the faithful servant and entrance into the joy of the Lord.
Scripture Law and Doctrine
Scripture explains itself and is not to be made subject to a teacher's guess, creed, or desire for appearing wise, for to depend on such human guesses makes human judgment the rule instead of the Bible. The mind of the Spirit called for in the verse is the mind of Christ, and that mind rather than human creeds is the standard to be followed even if it overturns every creed in Christendom. Diligent study of Scripture by reading, meditating, and comparing passage with passage and spiritual things with spiritual, with God's blessing, can lead people to obtain the mind of Christ. That seeking increases knowledge of prophecy and spiritual truth, which becomes clearer and plainer as prophetic events near fulfillment.
Toward the end of the appointed time those stirred to inquire into what is delivered in Daniel obtain this enlarged knowledge of all spiritual things, evangelical truths and doctrines, and of Daniel's prophecies made plainer as fulfillment draws near and prophecy can be compared with facts. It comes by sparing no pains or cost, by reading and studying the Scriptures, meditating on them, comparing one passage with another and spiritual things with spiritual, carefully reading the writings of those before who attempted this work, going far and near to converse with persons who have understanding of these things, and receiving God's blessing upon those means. As Christ's disciples prayerfully study God's Word with obedient hearts, the Spirit of truth who dwells with them and within them helps them apply it correctly. Believers are to bring that mind of Christ to apparent disagreements in Scripture, trusting its varied voices ultimately form a harmony.
Having the mind of Christ means being truly sanctified, reverencing and obeying the word of God as fast as it is opened and expressing a strong desire to know what is truth on every point of doctrine. Those who lack it prove it by becoming greatly excited and manifesting a wrong spirit when the great standard of righteousness is presented, by resting on exultant feeling and the assertion that they are saved and sanctified, by stopping their ears from hearing the truth, by refusing to search the Scriptures, and by remaining fearfully self-deceived. The mind of Christ is the standard of wisdom for God's people, and in education teaching it rather than the mind of man helps children resist worldly aspirations and prepares them for service in Christ's cause. The apostles had this mind with understanding shaped by Christ's Spirit and truth, and this shared mind stands against confused and contradictory teachings, for those who have the Spirit of Christ are Christ's and His Spirit does not teach opposing views of truth.
In relation to the commandments, having the mind of Christ means sharing Christ's expressed purpose to uphold and teach obedience to His Father's law. Those who are not carnal become subject to the law through Christ fulfilling its righteousness in them, delighting in its commandments and doing and teaching them, having turned from the carnal mind which is not subject to God's law to follow Christ's example of keeping the Father's commandments. As many as are led by the Spirit of God as sons of God have the mind of the Spirit, the mind of Christ, and with that mind serve the law of God, so that whoever is led by the Spirit fulfills the law and is not under the law, because by that Spirit the love of God is shed abroad in the heart, which in itself is the fulfilling of the law in whoever has it.
The carnal man has not the mind to serve God and cannot in his own power be subject to God's law and must have the mind of Christ, and if he opens his heart and lets God's thought in as expressed in His law, the law becomes an enabling act bringing power to do its requirement and transforming his mind into the mind of Christ. Then the law is no longer seen as cruel and arbitrary demands but as the expression of God's character of love. Having the mind of Christ means having Christ enthroned in the heart, working out in and for believers the righteousness required by God's law which human effort cannot attain and which meets heaven's standard. In the new-covenant relation God gives a new heart and spirit and writes His law within through complete surrender, so the changed person therefore does God's will, speaks wisdom, teaches transgressors, and walks without slipping. Those who have the mind of Christ can answer who is guilty under the law, applied to the question of obedience to the whole law.
Christlike Character in Life
Having the mind of Christ means living the life Christ lived on earth, setting aside self for helpful work done gladly and faithfully as long as strength lasts, even without earthly fame, and not merely holding church membership, giving money, or keeping respectable conduct. Union with Christ gives that mind, seen in a life governed by love, purity, meekness and truth, in a changed character reflecting His peace and joy, and in love for God and neighbor evident in outward conduct, as branches drawing nourishment from the vine bear living fruit and as channels receiving light reflect His light to the world to God's glory. It means becoming pure and holy so His image is reflected in the soul, a transformation that must take place before He comes, since the change of the body at His coming will not make a vile character holy. Enoch, Joseph and Daniel show that through close dependence on God and faith reaching for the Holy Spirit, people can remain loyal and pure amid corrupting influences and develop that Christlike character.
Believers are to have their minds transformed into Christ's mind by growing in grace and knowledge of the truth, bringing the whole being into subjection to God and reflecting His character through active faith and obedience, for God's grace is sufficient for this work which prepares them for Christ's coming and for holiness. That mind reflects His meekness, humility, patience and forbearance toward others, in patience with opposers, gentleness with seekers of truth, long-suffering toward erring brethren, and readiness to put others before self rather than insist on one's own opinions. It means humble views of self, seeking true goodness rather than greatness, repressing envy and emulation, rejoicing in the superior reputation or prosperity of brethren even when one's own character or achievements seem cast in the shade, laboring for the purity and prosperity of the church, and sacrificing personal interests and desires rather than causing dissension. It means keeping judgment and standard aligned with Jesus rather than with a world whose attitudes and way of life oppose Him, so that giving money alone does not meet the Lord's claim but continued dedication and use of all one's powers in His service guards against judgment sinking to the world's low level.
Having the mind of Christ is incompatible with worldly-mindedness, for a heart filled with His mind will not be governed by worldly concerns. It means subjugating the fleshly mind and accepting His mind in its place, being continually dead to the ambitions and lusts of this world and truly alive unto God in Christ Jesus, so that life stays in harmony with the message of life borne, walks in love and newness of life even as Christ walked, carries forward His work of salvation as a savor of life unto life, lets the light of God's truth shine out in sheaves gathered for God, and has self vanquished so God and Christ are all in all. It means having thoughts and sense of pleasure in harmony with His, as the Spirit changes and purifies the heart enabling God to work in people to will and do what pleases Him, which is necessary for the universe to be wholly in harmony with God and acceptable to Him, and it means not dwelling on evil thoughts or forming character in harmony with them, since pure thoughts and motives belong with His mind. It means being established in the faith by believing God, accepting and submitting to what He says, and walking in His commandments, as Jehoshaphat's prepared heart and righteous life illustrate settled faith. It means seeking how the Lord would have His people act, with trust from knowing they do God's will.
Keeping that mind means continuing to obey as the Spirit bends will and feelings toward God's mind and will, turning from loving and serving self to loving and serving God without making everyone alike in disposition, ability or spiritual gifts. This requires willing consent and ongoing effort, for refusing or ceasing to obey returns a person to the carnal mind, and as believers follow Christ and receive greater light they bear the cross by bringing selfish desires under Spirit-begotten principles, gaining strength and victory through lifelong struggle with self and the world. Through God's Spirit that mind enables discernment of the sinfulness of the flesh, so seeing more sinfulness is a sign of having more of the Spirit and not a reason for discouragement, for when sin abounds grace abounds still more, reigning through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ. The true Christian mind so given stays calm and composed in devotion despite noise, crowds or secular activity, as Christ remained composed before His accusers, so prayers cannot be injured by such disturbances. Every Christian has this mind and it cannot come under Satanic control, so even the weakest need not fear being hypnotized apparently against the will, because such domination only hands over a mind already ruled by the spirit working in disobedience from one Satan-directed domination to another, while the Lord's strength is made perfect in weakness and God works in the believer both to will and to do His good pleasure.
Having the mind of Christ means receiving divine illumination to discern and detect deception, including false teachings about health and healing by which people otherwise can be swept away by plausible errors. It means having love and patience with children, for those without love or patience for them do not have it and are to be pitied, while gathering children to teach them of Christ and lead them to love Him is the very work He would be pleased to have done. It enables mercy and justice to meet in teaching children, making it possible to act with carefulness and necessary firmness, require obedience, and still preserve the confidence of those who err so they can recognize the fairness of the requirements. Those who receive heavenly truth reveal that mind in daily life as God's love deepens affection and sympathy, making affectionate parents, loving children, faithful friends and considerate companions rather than coarse, hard-hearted or unforgiving people, and bringing harmony, peace and happiness into the home.
It is revealed by living out God's law as a principle in heart and life, reflecting Christ's love for God and others through loving words, mercy, and work that helps people know the Gospel, thus representing Christ and showing the influence of God's Word on character. Disciples so make His mind known to the world as living letters sent by Christ, through truth, love, gentleness, fairness and generosity by which people learn what He is like, even in ordinary work and daily relationships. It means being closely connected with God so His servants are led and taught by Him. It means exchanging the mind of self for His, which is the kind of mind cure that brings real benefit. It is shown in Christlike conduct such as guarding fellow ministers' reputations and being examples to believers in speech, conduct, love, spirit, faith and purity.
Possessing the mind of Christ belongs to true wisdom as unselfishness and desire to do good as He did, belonging to fearing the Lord, turning from evil, and beginning and attaining true knowledge, whereas learning pursued for worldly honor, advancement or self-gratification is not true wisdom. To be lights in the world believers must open the mind to receive Christ who is the Light of the world and must have His mind as the precious privilege of knowing Him by personal experience and walking humbly before God. It means yielding up carnal nature and pursuing holiness and meekness with humility before God, which enables wholehearted work to save people with the truth. Belonging to Christ requires His mind, which does not lead followers to seek help from earthly political powers, for His example is to rely on God rather than the arm of flesh. God's plan to cleanse the heart and give that mind makes new creatures in Christ Jesus, and with the heart submitted to God people become good citizens obeying God's law and human laws that do not conflict with it.
Having the mind of Christ enabled the apostle to know what was in human beings and truthfully and faithfully describe their natural state as sinners under sin, applying to the heathen as well as others. It means the old man and inordinate desire must be crucified, or lust will overcome this new mind in believers. Seeking it anoints the eyes to see as Jesus saw when in passing He saw the blind man, so day by day believers discern the opportunities heaven has designed for them to grasp, take them at their dawn instead of at their eventime, and use them to accomplish the greatest good for associates and for development of mind, body and soul, finishing life able to say the course is finished and receive the word that they have done what they could instead of crying because the harvest is past and opportunities are lost. It equips a person to seek the salvation of all and to find the few in every land who are reaching out after God. It is consistent with preaching Christ and glorying in the cross rather than making self or one's own glory the theme.
Believers should seek that mind joined with humility, responding to prosperity and displays of divine power by becoming more humble and coming together praying for more of His mind, for humility and His mind prepare the church for the Master's presence and power. Knowing God means having thoughts in harmony with God's mind and sharing Christ's love for fallen humanity, a heavenly knowledge that is eternal life because it joins a person to the life and power that create and uphold the universe, growing through daily close acquaintance with God for which clear healthy brain function is necessary to receive heavenly thoughts and be constantly guided by them.
Unity Mission and Protection
The mind of Christ is known by unity around God's word and the faith and work of Christ, for the natural person cannot know or judge the things of God since they are understood only through the Spirit, and no one can know the Lord's mind so as to instruct Him, but those led by the Spirit share that mind. Christians have that mind when Christ dwells in them by His Spirit, shaping them in holiness and truth and appearing in words and deeds like His own. That indwelling produces a shared mind in the church in doctrine, purpose, love and organization, which shows that Christ unifies His body and dwells in it and gives the world evidence of the reality of Christianity, while sustaining fellowship among those who walk in God's light with the Father and the Son. Believers share the mind of Christ when it dwells in their hearts, so that through this one mind the Lord is known and His will is carried out as faith becomes action through the faculties of His children. That Christ-centered life brings unity moved by the love that led Jesus to undertake salvation.
Believers are united by yielding their minds to Christ and hearing His voice, receiving His mind and Spirit and thereby a shared life and purpose. This is an inward, living unity not produced by debate, majority decisions or outward uniformity. Having the mind of Christ makes differences impossible and brings union and harmony among believers. That harmony becomes visible in unity, love and Christlike spirit among workers and believers, shown in shared conduct in business and worship. Believers become of one mind by having the mind of Christ through being dead to sin and buried with Him, so they no longer live by the desires of their former life. The change appears in conduct in turning from fashion and outward adornment to the meek and quiet spirit precious to God.
The mind of Christ stands opposite to the world and self, and Sabbath-keepers were taught that they still had weak faith and only a little of that mind, with too much of the world and self in them. More of His mind is needed for the remnant to be more united, to come into the unity of the faith and to trust in God as the time draws near. Christ's subjects possess His mind because conversion brings His kingdom into hearts and lives, bringing thoughts into obedience to Him and words, actions and the whole life into harmony with God's will. Having the mind of Christ means being filled with the Spirit and perfected in sympathy with Him. It therefore makes Christ's work the first concern and puts abilities in cooperation with heaven to save souls for whom Christ died, giving those abilities to help save others.
Having the mind of Christ means viewing His work as He does and sharing His deep, earnest interest in His cause. That mind leads believers to make its advancement a chief purpose through willing giving, planning, working and self-denial. That mind with His might and motive is multiplied through missionary endeavor, so the more closely believers accord with His mind and motive the more of His might they possess. Having His motive makes believers active in multiplying the message, while lack of activity in telling it shows having only a little of that motive. Faithful work carried out through prayer and communion with Christ assimilates the worker's mind to His. Laypeople too can have the mind of Christ and love His work, and genuine zeal and usefulness do not mean they should be urged to obtain a license to preach.
Conceiving Christ's saving approach to sinners requires the mind of Christ, and only those who share it can understand it. Without that mind neither accusers nor the accused can know the mind behind the law, grasp the fatherly love expressed through its commands and penalties, or see that love revealed in Christ who fulfilled the law and showed its spirit. The mind of Christ is the interior life inspired with noble and unselfish purpose that wakes the springs of justice. Introducing it is the only true remedy for political and industrial wrongs, disorder, irreverence, outlawry and destruction where mere outward reform fails, driving out moral virus, turning vice to virtue and bitterness to blessing, as the Gospel carried with compassion that feels the sorrows and hardships of the multitude and takes the cross to men of shop and mill and factory by new and unconventional means to compel them to hear the story of the Crucified.
The mind of Christ operating through lives would have prevented the denial of others' rights, but when sin brought people under Satan's rule a contrary spirit produced enmity and oppression. Civil government was then ordained in God's providence to protect rights, yet as a remedy made necessary by sin rather than God's ideal. Without the mind of Christ people remain under Satan's power and vulnerable to his deceptions, while having it means God's power can govern and protect the life from those delusions. His power over minds without Christ's mind continues to the end and increases as it continues, growing keener in sophistry through spreading heathen teachings and philosophy that permeate even Christian pulpits and exalt self. Only those in whom God's power dominates the life escape being numbered among the victims of the overspreading delusions of the last days when the harvest of weeds as well as wheat is almost ready, through true worship of God rather than exaltation and worship of self and through rejecting the subtle falsehood that God is inherently in man and man is part divine and immortal, which would overthrow the divine plan and make Christ's life and sacrifice superfluous, so that without that mind people are blinded and ensnared unless they seek God and watch unto prayer. Possessing the mind of Christ, which is the divine mind mankind needs to study, means forsaking wicked ways and unrighteous thoughts instead of studying the human mind, being transformed by renewing of the mind, bringing every thought into captivity to obedience to Christ and fixing thought on right things, since the human mind is enmity against God and cannot be subject to His law, so that to study its mightiest passions is to study sin and to study its mightiest thoughts is to study impotence.