1 Corinthians 2:16

To summarize his thought, Paul again cited Isaiah (Isaiah 40:13; cf. Romans 11:34). That prophet marveled at the mind of God. Who can fully understand what God understands? Certainly no one can. On the other hand, mature believers can understand to a much greater degree than unbelievers because they have the Spirit of God in them and He controls them. Consequently the mature Christian has the mind of Christ. That is, he or she views life to some extent as Jesus did because that person understands things from God’s perspective, at least partially.

In his epistle to the Philippians, Paul urged his readers to adopt the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5). Even though we have the mind of Christ we need to adopt it, that is, to use it to view life as He did. One evidence of Christian maturity is the believer’s consistent employment of Christ’s attitude and viewpoint in all of life.

In this section (1 Corinthians 2:6-16) Paul elaborated on the subject of the Holy Spirit’s ministry of illuminating the believer about what God has revealed. He had previously reminded his readers that he had conducted himself in their midst with this supernatural viewpoint (1 Corinthians 2:1-5).

The basic theological point of tension between Paul and the Corinthians in this epistle was over what it means to be pneumatikos, a Spirit person. Because of their experience of glossolalia (speaking in tongues) they considered themselves to be "as the angels" and in need only of shedding their bodies. The sources of this distorted view were popular philosophy tainted with Hellenistic dualism. Hellenistic dualism viewed anything material as evil and anything non-material or "spiritual" as good. The result was a "spirituality" and "higher wisdom" that had little connection with ethical behavior. [Note: Fee, "Toward a . . .," pp. 37-38.]

"The concern from here on will be to force them to acknowledge the folly of their ’wisdom,’ which is expressing itself in quarrels and thereby destroying the very church for which Christ died.

"Paul’s concern needs to be resurrected throughout the church. The gift of the Spirit does not lead to special status among believers; rather, it leads to special status vis-à-vis the world. But it should do so always in terms of the centrality of the message of our crucified/risen Savior. The Spirit should identify God’s people in such a way that their values and worldview are radically different from the wisdom of this age." [Note: Idem, The First . . ., p. 120.]