The Mind of the Crucified, Resurrected, and Ascended Christ

(an upcoming post for StumblingBlogs):

1 Corinthians 2:16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

This chapter of 1 Corinthians presents a seamless thread of thought, beginning and ending with the same thesis. Placing this chapter within the realm of the “big picture,” 1 Corinthians 2 occupies a unique place in this epistle. It follows Paul’s assessment of the calling of the Corinthians that not many “were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord’” (1:26-31). When the subject of the Gospel crosses the lips of Paul, he is always ready to remind the recipients of grace of their previous unregenerate state. Paul accurately assesses that fallen humanity is altogether bankrupt of righteousness, and he correctly notes that God’s law inflexibly requires righteousness. Realization of these concepts excludes boasting. 1 Corinthians 2 also precedes the beginnings of Paul’s rebukes of the church in Corinth for their spiritual immaturity:

“But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?” (3:1-3).

The section of chapter 2 presents an irony in light of the following chapter. If the Corinthians have been given the mind of Christ, why are they acting this way? This is why Paul first makes sure that they are theologically informed before he begins to make them aware of their sin. In passing, we should note that Paul’s confrontation of the Corinthians is done with a heart that loves them and humbly recognizes the evidences of grace in their lives: “I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus” (1:4). Realizing this, we can now take a closer look at this section:

1 Cor 2:12-16 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

Paul begins and ends this section with identical concepts: we have received the Spirit of God, the mind of Christ. Because the regenerate are “spiritual,” they are made able to understand spiritual truths. But he contrasts this with the unregenerate mind: it does not accept the things of the Spirit, and it is not able to understand them. The ability to know and understand Christ comes through the Spirit’s monergistic work of regeneration alone (Eph 2:4-5). Knowledge of God, which is the most precious thing in the universe (John 17:3; 1 Cor 2:2), can only be received through the working of grace in the lives of the elect. We don’t deserve to know God. We don’t deserve know of a subject that Charles Spurgeon at the age of 22 described as “so vast that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep that our pride is drowned in its infinity.” Because the Holy Spirit worked greatly among the Corinthians, they had acquired a spiritual arrogance. Paul first begins to hint at this when asks the Corinthians to “consider [their] calling” (1:26), telling them that boasting is excluded except for boasting in who God is (1:31). So Paul takes the time to remind the Corinthians that, apart from regeneration, they would not even be able to understand spiritual truths (2:14).

The Apostle then quotes Isaiah 40:13, but interjects with a “But.” This citation from the prophet Isaiah comes from a section that seeks to explore the self-sufficiency of God through a series of rhetorical questions (“Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows him his counsel?”). No one has ever known the mind of the Lord except through Christ. It is through Christ that knowledge of God is illuminated:

John 1:14, 18 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. …No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

As the Resurrection Day approaches, it would be highly appropriate for us to bring this to the focus of the ministry of Christ. The Word has dwelt among us! He has made the Father known! His Spirit has regenerated us and given to us the mind of Christ! We can know God! Oh, how easily we take this for granted. How easy it is for us to affirm the principle of the truth of 1 Cor 2:14 that prior to regeneration we were unable to know who God is, and yet at the same time how easy it is for us to forget the reality of this truth. Let’s not take for granted the fact that it is through the grace that is received because of the person and work of Christ alone that we can intimately know the King of the Universe. The invisible can be seen. The self-sufficient has shared himself with his desperate creation. It is God’s joy to impart knowledge of who he is to his elect. Therefore, having been given the mind of Christ, we should make it our goal to have our minds daily renewed in the knowledge of the Holy One.

Hopefully, internet blogs aid this work rather than prevent it. Hopefully, the StumblingBlogs will beckon fellow believers toward the longing to know God. Hopefully, it is our desire “to know nothing… except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2). I know that is my goal.

Evan May.