1 Corinthians 2:11 Commentary and Bible Study

Who knows what is going on in the mind of another person? Nobody. We cannot read each other’s thoughts. That is the way God has constructed us in his wisdom. We can only discern what others are thinking by what they say and do, but we have no direct access to another human mind. We each have this private area which is known only to us, and of course, to the Lord for he sees directly into each heart and our thoughts are naked and open to him. This is a self-evident truth from which the apostle wishes to draw something remarkable about our fellowship with the Lord. ‘Even so, the things of God, knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.’ God is a spirit, and the things of God are spiritual things, things which are found within a mind. God also has a mind which is known to his Spirit alone. His mind is infinite, encompassing all truth, and understanding all things, so that for him there is no mystery. What has real value? The thoughts of God have real value. His thoughts are all true, and his mind is the truth. For us living on earth, what has value, the things that are substantial, are things we can touch and see. But spiritual realities –kindness, love, trust, humility, self-sacrifice, gentleness, honesty, wisdom – these things are also real, and their worth is even greater. These are things that live in other minds, and as those minds conceive ideas, make choices and decisions, demonstrate understanding, we admire the depths of what takes place in those minds. On earth we strive for unity of mind with those we love in order to share their thoughts, but it is hard to overcome the barriers between us. But the remarkable thing is that our fellowship with God is not limited in this way. We have access to the mind of God in a way that we do not have access to each other’s minds, because God has given us his Spirit. Just as a man’s spirit is able to intuitively read his own thoughts, because his spirit, which is a thinking entity, is processing those thoughts; so the Spirit of God is able to read God’s own thoughts. By giving us his Spirit, God shares his own thoughts with us. And yet he never does this except by first giving us his word.God communicates with us by his word, and without it we can understand nothing. We depend upon him to speak. We depend upon his word. Everything must be revealed in the word of God. All spiritual knowledge must come from there. But having spoken his word, he does not leave us to clothe that word with our own thoughts, in our own minds alone. Certainly understanding is located in the mind of the individual, but, in addition to his own spirit thinking his own thoughts, the believer also has the Spirit of God clothing the word of God with thoughts that come from the mind of God. We need both the word of God and the Spirit of God to give us understanding.