1 Corinthians 2:14 :
DHK, be honest in handling the Word of Truth.
I am. These men are "just men." They are not infallible. I take what I can from them, and leave the rest. In some things we agree and others we don't. Unlike some Calvinists I don't blindly follow some man's teaching.
CONTEXT:
Let's try once again. Put away your Calvinism and look at the Word.
1Co 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
1Co 2:10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
No man has seen heaven. No man can even comprehend what eternity has in store for--no matter how deeply we study and understand the Bible, we will never come to that understanding of what God has in store for us.
However, God, by His Spirit, does reveal some things to those who spend time with HIM, and with His WORD. Both go together. Prayer and the study of God's Word. It is the Holy Spirit the guides one into the "deep things of God," as one searches (the Word).
The deep things of God is the subject here which is being ignored.
1Co 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
Look at the contrast here:
Even in human affairs no one knows what a man is thinking but he himself--the spirit of man, or his mind.
So in the spiritual realm the one who understands spiritual things is the Spirit of God.
--What is at stake here is the doctrine of illumination. How we understand the Word of God is through the Spirit of God who illuminates the believer's mind.
1Co 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
--The great emphasis here is the emphasis on the Holy Spirit that is given to us for the purpose of freely receiving
the deep truths of God which are in His Word. His revelation is of utmost importance to us.
1Co 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
Now what has just been described? It was a process of how God gave revelation to the apostles. It was through His Spirit. It was inspired. And now, as we read, the Spirit gives us illumination--understanding.
He teaches us, helping us in comparing spiritual things with spiritual things.
No unsaved man and no carnal Christian would do this.
God illuminates the minds of those that are considered "spiritual," not "carnal." There are man "carnal" Christians. They are "of the world."
1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
--The letter is written to Christians. It is about illumination. Not one word has been said about the unsaved. The context is not about the unsaved. The entire context is speaking about "the spiritual" Christian vs. "the carnal" Christian, and their ability to understand the word of God--the deep things of the Word of God. A baby Christian, an immature Christian, a carnal Christian, does not and cannot search out the deep things of the Word of God. This kind of Christian is defined as "the natural man."
(ISV) A person
who isn't spiritual doesn't accept the things of God's Spirit, for they are nonsense to him. He can't understand them because they are spiritually evaluated.
He isn't spiritual because he is carnal, not because he isn't saved.
1Co 2:15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
OTOH, a spiritual man can rightly judge or discern the wonderful truths, the deep truths of the Word of God. He is not a mere babe in Christ.
1Co 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
--God cannot be known by mere intellect.
The only way to know God is by a close relationship with Christ, i.e., through the Spirit of Christ.
1Co 3:1-3
(1) And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
(2) I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
(3) For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
--But now Paul addresses them as:
Brethren, believers in Christ,
Carnal--four times in four verses.
Babes in Christ,
Able only to drink the milk of Word and not be fed with the meat.
They are carnal immature believers.
Verse fourteen refers to their state of spiritual maturity, their inability to comprehend the Bible. It is the doctrine of illumination. Their hearts are not illuminated because they are taken up with the base things of this world instead. They have not grown in Christ.
There is nothing in this context that refers to unbelievers.