1 Cor. 2:10. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.
Someone might ask: if it has not entered the heart of man, then how did you learn of this? He answers: God revealed it to us by the Spirit, and not by human wisdom. For it was neither worthy nor able to see the mysteries of God.
1 Cor. 2:10-11. For the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the things of a man, except the spirit of man that dwells in him? So also the things of God no one knows, except the Spirit of God.
Such, he says, was this mystery and so hidden that we could not have learned of it from anyone, had the Spirit not taught us, who knows even the depths of God. The word "searches" indicates not ignorance, but perfect knowledge, just as it is also said of the Father: "You search the hearts" (Ps. 7:10), meaning: You know the depth of hearts. It can also be understood this way: the Spirit is said to search the mysteries of God in the sense that He delights in contemplating them. He shows the perfect knowledge of the Spirit in the subsequent words as well. For just as the human spirit knows what is in man, so, he says, the Spirit of God knows what belongs to God. From this we learn, among other things, that the Spirit is not of a different essence compared to the Father, just as the spirit of man is not different compared to the man.
1 Cor. 2:12. But we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God.
He called the spirit of this world human wisdom. It is not this wisdom that we received, lest it render our preaching vain and useless; no, our teacher was the Spirit "from God," that is, a being consubstantial with God, proceeding from His essence.
1 Cor. 2:12. That we might know the things freely given to us by God.
The Spirit, he says, is light, and this very light we have received, so that, being enlightened by it, we might know what was hidden until now. What is this? "That which is given to us by God," that is, everything that pertains to the dispensation of Christ, namely: how He died for us, how He made us children of God, how in Himself He also seated us at the right hand of the Father. Consequently, those who do not have the Spirit do not know those mysteries.
1 Cor. 2:13. Which things also we speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Holy Spirit.
We, he says, have all the more wisdom in comparison with the Greek sages, in that they were instructed by men, whereas we speak by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
1 Cor. 2:13. Comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
That is, if any spiritual questions arise, we judge them, that is, we resolve them by means of other spiritual teachings or narratives. So, for example, the spiritual question: did Christ rise from the dead? We discuss and resolve on the basis of another spiritual teaching, namely the narrative of Jonah. In a similar manner, another question: how could a Virgin give birth? is resolved by the barrenness of Sarah, Rebekah, and Elizabeth, who conceived not according to the laws of nature, since conception depends on the power of the womb, and likewise by the fact that Eve came from Adam without seed, as well as by other cases considered in relation to the coming of man into the world. However, the words "comparing spiritual things with spiritual" you may also understand thus: discussing and resolving spiritual questions together with spiritual people, for they alone can understand them. Therefore he adds what follows.
1 Cor. 2:14. The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, because he considers them foolishness.
The natural man is one who relies in everything on his own reasoning and does not think that he needs higher help, and one who does not wish to accept anything by faith, and considers everything that cannot be proved to be foolishness. So then, the one who thinks that everything occurs by the natural order, and admits nothing supernatural, he calls natural, that is, governed by nature: for his soul occupies itself only with the economy of nature. And just as the bodily eyes, beautiful in themselves and exceedingly useful, cannot see anything without light, so too the soul, having been made capable of receiving the Holy Spirit, cannot without Him contemplate divine things.
1 Cor. 2:14. And he cannot understand, because these things must be judged spiritually.
That is, he does not understand that such matters require faith and cannot be grasped by reason; for this means "these things must be judged spiritually," that is, they have their proofs in faith and in the Spirit.
1 Cor. 2:15. But the spiritual man judges all things, yet he himself is judged by no one.
The spiritual man, he says, knows all things; he knows that everything here is temporary, while the future is permanent; he knows that he will receive salvation, and that the unfaithful will be punished. Therefore he also exposes them, "yet he himself is judged by no one," that is, they cannot expose him, for the one who sees perceives both his own things and those belonging to the unseeing; on the contrary, they, like blind men, see neither their own things nor those that belong to him.
1 Cor. 2:16. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may judge Him?
He calls the spiritual mind the mind of the Lord. The word "judge" (συμβιβάσει) stands in place of: correct (διορθώσεται). Having said above: "no one can judge about the spiritual," he now proves that he said this rightly. "For who has known the mind of the Lord" so as to venture to "judge" it, that is, to correct it? For if no one can even know the mind of the Lord, and such is the mind of the spiritual man, then all the more can no one teach him or correct him.
1 Cor. 2:16. But we have the mind of Christ.
Do not be surprised, he says, that I called the spiritual man and his mind the mind of the Lord. All of "we have the mind of Christ," that is, everything that we know has been revealed to us by Christ, and our understanding (τον νουν) concerning divine things we have from Christ; in other words: the knowledge that we have about spiritual matters of faith, we have from Christ, so that truly no one can judge us. Some, however, called the Father the mind of Christ, while others called it the Spirit.