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.
13. Which things also we speak, not in the words which mans wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
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.
After the fall of man to sin, earth came under the influence of the evil one. 2 Corinthians 4:4 declares “the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not”, the god of this world being Satan. In John 8:44, in no uncertain terms, Jesus tells the pharisees that their spiritual father is Satan. These may be reasons that Paul felt it necessary to enlighten the believers in Corinth, that once they accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, they inherited the Spirit of God — the Holy Spirit dwelling within them.
The unbelieving world is completely spiritually blinded to the ways of God. Unfortunately, even some who claim to believe in God have taken to a watered-down Gospel — one that depicts Jesus as a great teacher, orator, or philosopher, rather than the Son of God. This completely diminishes the work of the Cross and plays right into the hands of the evil one. In the same way, prosperity preachers have turned worship services into motivational speaking events, cherry-picking the scriptures and portraying God as one who exists to serve His people.
These wisdoms of man blind the spiritual understanding of many even further, preventing the transforming work of the Holy Spirit from taking place. Prior to His ascension, Jesus explained to the disciples the role the Holy Spirit would play. In John 16:13, He taught that when the Spirit comes to those who believe, He will guide them to all truth. The guidance of the Spirit leads to the ability to “compare spiritual things with spiritual” — the ability to discern righteous from worldly, what is of God’s truth, from what is of man.
The natural person cannot receive the truths taught by the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit convicts, the natural person calls it “feeling guilty” and soon talks themself into the next sin. Divine intervention is called intuition or wisdom, never giving thought that the outcome may not have been for their benefit at all — but for one of God’s chosen who may be affected by their worldly decisions. Without being able to discern spiritually, divine moments are misinterpreted, and spiritual truths are dismissed as foolishness.
To the contrary, the spiritual mind judges all things spiritually, according to its walk with Christ. Jesus teaches in John 16:13-14 that the Spirit “will not speak of himself” and that he will glorify Jesus, “He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and show it unto you.” The Holy Spirit dwells inside the believer enabling them to discern all things with the mind of Christ. For this reason, the spiritual mind is a highly coveted target of the evil one — because once a believer learns to think with the mind of Christ, the enemy loses his influence.
The Holy Spirit and the mind of Christ are gifts given freely from God to all who believe. Satan thought he had won once he was able to lead Adam and Eve into sin by doubting God’s instruction. This is the same temptation he uses on God’s children today, to draw them away from His truth. Yet even though Jesus has defeated Satan, the Holy Spirit restrains his evil influence by giving divine guidance and instruction to the believer — until the end, when Satan is meets his final judgment and is cast into the lake of fire with the unbelievers. Because of this, it is our responsibility to guard our minds against worldly temptation by staying spiritually inclined through prayer and reading the Word, daily. Ensuring our place in eternity is the new Heaven and new earth, as God has promised (Isaiah 65:17, Isaiah 66:22, 2 Peter 3:13, Revelation 21:1).
Father God in Heaven, you have freely given me Your Spirit and the mind of Christ to guide and strengthen me. You knew the evil one would tempt my weak flesh, so You made my spirit strong through Yours. You knew my natural mind would cause me to stumble, yet through Christ I will not fall. While I may be judged by others according to my foolish past, you only see the new creation you’ve made. I am forever grateful that Your ways are higher than worldly ways, and Your understanding is not that of man. I give You thanks in the name of Jesus. Amen.