1 Cor. 2:14 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. 15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.
The Calvinist claims that the "natural person" is the unregenerate, and the "things of the Spirit of God" is the gospel (see quote above). However, the context does not support such a reading. Paul has transitioned to speaking about this wisdom spoken "among the mature." This may or may not refer to the unregenerate, but is clearly not about the gospel.
1 Cor 3:1-3 But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh.
When Paul first came, they could not be addressed as spiritual, even though they were "infants in Christ." Being in Christ, would that not indicate that they are already saved? But even this argument is unnecessary, as Paul states that they are "not yet ready." These same Corinthians who are repeatedly called brothers, who are being rebuked as Christians, are not yet ready to receive the "things of the Spirit of God" Paul spoke of in 1 Cor 2:6-16.
So, either we must conclude that the Corinthians were unsaved, and that Paul was in error for rebuking them for failing the body of Christ, or that 1 Corinthians 2:14 isn't speaking about the gospel. It is painfully obvious that the latter is the case, which means we have to conclude that the use of this verse by the article above is improper, because it is not properly exegeted.
You are misunderstanding what is happening in the passages in question.
Paul rebukes the Corinthians for their behavior and speaks to them
as though they were unsaved persons in order to rebuke and shame them for their behavior. The verse 2 Cor 2:14 makes it clear that the natural man cannot understand spiritual things, for the natural man is lost and
- is
deceitful and
desperately sick (Jer. 17:9);
- is
full of evil (Mark 7:21-23);
- is
not able to come to Jesus unless given to by God (Eph. 2:2);
-
must be quickened by God (Eph. 2:4-5);
-
cannot choose righteousness until regenerated (Titus 3:5);
-
loves darkness rather than light (John 3:19);
- is unrighteous, does not understand,
does not seek for God (Rom. 3:10-12);
- is
helpless and
ungodly (Rom. 5:6);
- is
dead in his trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1);
- is by nature a
child of wrath (Eph. 2:3);
-
cannot understand spiritual things (1 Cor. 2:14); and
- is a
slave of sin (Rom. 6:16-20).
Accordingly, what follows in 1 Cor 3 from the clear teaching that the lost are unable to receive spiritual things in 1 Cor. 2:14 is an argument of
reductio ad absurdum for the benefit of the Corinthians. The argument is used to demonstrate that their behavior was so egregious that Paul is treating them
as though they are unregenerate (unregenerate is the assumption of 1 Cor. 2:14) and that they need to recognize that they,
being regenerate, were
failing to comprehend and take upon themselves (receive it) the wisdom of the cross as evidenced by their strife and jealousy. Just as the parent tells the wayward teenager, "
if you are going to act like a child, I am going to treat you as one" to
shame and provoke them to mature behavior, Paul scolds the Corinthians,
using "infants in Christ" pejoratively to highlight the synthetic substitutes which the Corinthians have preferred.
It is not that Paul does not or cannot give them wisdom in the form of solid food, nor is it that the
regenerate Corinthians are incapable of receiving the wisdom Paul is offering them; rather the Corinthians do not recognize what he gives them to be wisdom
because the Corinthians were refusing to abandon their present behavior, impeding their appreciation
the milk for what it really is, “
solid food.” Just as one's bad behavior stunts one's growth in their walk of faith, it is only until one moves beyond their childishness, that they can enjoy the greater blessings of that which they hold dear.
You have taken issue with the summary of the state of the unregenerate in the article that cites 1 Cor 2:14:
Due to the effects of the fall (of Adam) on the mind and will, man's spiritual condition by nature is such that he is dead in trespasses and sins, enslaved to sin, wholly incapable and unwilling to come to God (1 Cor 2:14, Rom 8:7, John 3:19), and under the wrath of God. (Eph.2:1-3; Titus 3:3; 2 Tim.2:26). As such, man is utterly incapable of saving himself, or even to cooperate with God in his salvation.
The full context is worth examining:
1 Corinthians 2:12-16 (NKJV)
1 Corinthians 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
1 Corinthians 2:13 These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1 Corinthians 2:15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is
rightly judged by no one.
1 Corinthians 2:16 For
"who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ.
The natural man possesses no Spirit who is from God, to know that which has been given by God. Paul lays claim to speaking as he has been taught by the Spirit, for Paul has received the Spirit from God, been regenerated. Natural man—all others not indwelled by the Spirit—cannot receive things of the Spirit of God—
spiritual things—for the natural man thinks of them as but nonsense. The natural man cannot even
know spiritual things—spiritual knowledge—true knowledge. The natural man possesses no ability when it comes to spiritual matters.
From my now two responses, and a closer look at 1 Cor 2:14, I see nothing in what you have argued from 2 Cor. 2 that overcomes
this accurate summary within the article in question concerning the teachings of the whole counsel of Scripture.
AMR
