The Wisdom Wednesday: The Mind of Wisdom – Part 7
Having the Mind of Christ
Submitted by Debbie’s Dad
“But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Cor. 2: 14-66 NASB 95)
The first two chapters of Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth focused on the importance of unity in the church and remembrance of the believers who were in Christ. The outline of this introduction follows this line:
- Introduction and salutation (1:1-3), and,
- Thankfulness for God’s grace to the church (1:4-9)
- Exhortation to unity in the church (1:10-17)
- The superior wisdom of God (1:18-25)
- You are “in Christ”; He was the wisdom for God to us (1:25-31)
- Paul’s example- Speaking in the power of the Spirit, not human wisdom (2:1-5)
- God’s wisdom is not understood by an unbeliever (2:6-9), because,
- God’s Spirit reveals His wisdom to those who believe (2:10-13)
And in verses 14-16 (above), Paul concluded by emphasizing that believers in Christ (…he who is spiritual) can uniquely understand spiritual truths because they have “the mind of Christ”.
Isaiah recognized that we cannot naturally know the mind (and thoughts) of God:
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts. (Isa 55:8–9)
God’s thoughts and his way (His goals, intentions, plans, and actions) comprise His wisdom. And this is unknowable unless He reveals it to us by His Spirit. And He does!
John recorded how Jesus explained to the disciples that He was providing access to God’s thoughts and ways, by sharing with them:
No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. (John 15:15)
So, how do we apprehend God’s high thoughts and ways (not all of them, but the ones he shares)? We can now by the Word of God, revealed by His Spirit through the prophets and the apostles in the Scripture.
This is the “Mind of Christ” that we have – as we learn and think God’s thoughts revealed in Scripture. We gain this by asking for wisdom (James 1:5) to apply His wisdom, listening to His Spirit and walking in God’s ways.
