If you have faith in Jesus, you can be saved.
Or, wait a minute—is it the other way around? Maybe you need to be saved before you can have faith.
Which is it?
That’s the conundrum we have because of different interpretations of I Corinthians 2:14. One interpretation, which happens to be the Calvinistic interpretation, is that no one can understand the truth of the gospel until he has been regenerated and made “spiritual.” The logical conclusion: we cannot exhibit faith in Jesus until we have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit. This, of course, is one of the foundational principles of Calvinism.
But is it true? Let’s take a look at this verse and see if that’s what Paul was actually saying.
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 2:14)
At first glance, it seems like a natural man cannot understand anything about God, which means he must be regenerated, allowing him to understand, allowing for faith.
However, as always, context is crucial, so we have to back up in Paul’s letter to get a running start.
Paul starts out this letter to Corinth by scolding the Christians for their interpersonal schisms (1:10-17). Sensing their sectarian tendencies, he had even avoided personally baptizing people there.
For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. (1 Corinthians 1:17)
Paul’s purpose was not to gain followers for himself, but to simply preach the gospel. He did not even think it necessary to employ eloquent rhetoric to convince his listeners of the truth. He just let the gospel speak for itself.
Then, in verses 18-31, he went on to describe how God did not bring salvation through those deemed by the world to be wise.
With that in mind, we move into chapter 2, where Paul reiterated his lack of interest in human wisdom.
And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
(1 Corinthians 2:1-5)
The Corinthians may have been impressed by the promises of human wisdom and philosophy, but Paul recognized their insufficiency to lead a person to truth.
It was not that Paul thought wisdom was altogether useless, as he made use of it on occasion when conversing with mature people. However, the wisdom he favored had its foundation in something more reliable than man’s intellect.
However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory… (1 Corinthians 2:6-7)
Paul had no use for the wisdom of man, but the wisdom of God—now that was another matter. He wanted to understand what was in God’s heart and share it with others. After all, it was ‘for our glory.” God has something fantastic in store for men, but whatever it was, it was “hidden” and unavailable to human logic.
Hint: it’s the gospel, but we’re not supposed to know that quite yet.
…which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
(1 Corinthians 2:8)
If the so-called “wise” of the world were able to inform us about what we really need to know (hint: that salvation comes through Jesus), they would not have ganged up on Jesus. However, all the wisdom, logic, and intellectual prowess they could muster fell dismally short of providing hope for mankind. Only God’s secret plan could provide hope, but man couldn’t figure it out on his own.
But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)
Paul, likely loosely quoting from Isaiah 64:4, asserts that no man, even the most intellectual among us, could dig into God’s heart to discover and reveal His plans for the salvation of humanity. No amount of logic, philosophy, or science could lead the smartest of us to the full truth of God.
If we’re going to find out what God has up His sleeve to provide hope for humanity, He’s going to have to tell us Himself.
It just so happens that He did.
But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
(1 Corinthians 2:10)
If we want to know what plans God has devised in His heart, He has to tell us. When Paul wrote to the Ephesians, he recounted how God had informed him of the mystery of the gospel.
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles— if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power. To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;
(Ephesians 3:1-9)
Then Paul went on to stress that the only way to know God’s truth is through revelation. After all, how can we know anything that someone is thinking unless they tell us?
For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 2:11)
As a man’s spirit is the only one with the capability to fully understand the man, God’s Spirit is the only One who can fully understand Him and His plans. Remember, the gospel was a mystery before God revealed it. We would never guess that our hope would come through something that simple, yet so complicated. God’s Spirit had to reveal it.
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 2:12)
Because we (most likely Paul and the other Apostles) have the Spirit of God, He can tell us what is on God’s heart. God has given us great things (the gospel), but we would not know it unless He revealed it.
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 2:13)
After we (Paul and the other Apostles) receive these things from God, we (Paul and the other Apostles) share these things with you, using God’s words, not our own attempt at intelligent speech. We just let the gospel stand on its own.
Now we come to our verse in question, which should make much more sense now that we understand the context:
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 2:14)
Remember—we can only know what is in God’s heart (the gospel) if God’s Spirit reveals it. We cannot discover it by natural means (logic, philosophy, science, etc.). It takes the Spirit of God revealing it to someone (i.e., Paul and the other biblical writers).
The “natural man” in this verse refers simply to a man who is alive. It is not necessarily a statement of whether this person is regenerate or not. The word translated as “natural” is psuchikos, which means “animate,” and in I Corinthians 15:44-46, it is contrasted with “spiritual.” Paul’s point is simply this: a regular guy cannot discover the gospel. It has to be revealed by the Spirit of God.
It also might be worth noting here that if Paul wanted to designate this “natural” man as an unregenerate sinner, or even an obstinate believer, he had the perfect word at his disposal: sarkikos, which means “carnal,” describing someone who is living for the desires of the flesh. Paul does not use this word, however, likely because the salvation of this “natural” man is not necessarily part of his current discussion.
Again, we, as ordinary everyday humans, cannot discover God’s truths on our own. After all, something like the gospel would be deemed “foolish” by our advanced intellect and presumption that we can somehow provide hope for ourselves. Therefore, we need revelation. So, God gives us revelation. Some comes in the form of nature (general revelation), but something else is needed—direct, or “special” revelation. This He gave to us through Paul and the other Scripture writers.
Why cannot the natural man “know” the things of God? Because they are spiritually (non-physically) discerned.
The word translated as “discerned” carries the idea of scrutinizing, investigating, or examining. In other words, our self-described supreme intellect is incapable of knowing anything about the gospel on its own. Thank God for revelation.
So, in summary, Paul’s point in I Corinthians 2 is this: An everyday human, without some spiritual connection to God’s Spirit, cannot discover the things in God’s heart, specifically the gospel, with his own logic. It had to be revealed by God’s Spirit.
