What happens when you are led by the Holy Spirit?
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| The Holy Spirit depicted as a dove, surrounded by angels, by Giaquinto, 1750s. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
He that is spiritual--literally, "the spiritual (man)." In 1 Corinthians 2:14 , it is "A [not 'the,' asEnglish Version] natural man." The spiritual is the man distinguished above his fellow men, as he in whom the Spirit rules. In the unregenerate, the spirit which ought to be the organ of the Holy Spirit (and which is so in the regenerate), is overridden by the animal soul, and is in abeyance, so that such a one is never called "spiritual."
You are able to ....judgeth all things--and persons, by their true standard (compare 1 Corinthians 6:2-4 , 1 John 4:1), in so far as he is spiritual. "Discerneth . . . is discerned," would better accord with the translation of the same Greek ( 1 Corinthians 2:14 ). Otherwise for "discerned," in 1 Corinthians 2:14 , translate, "judged of," to accord with the translation, "judgeth . . . is judged" in this fifteenth verse.
You have a practical insight into the verities of the Gospel, though you are not infallible on all theoretical points. If an individual may have the Spirit without being infallible, why may not the Church have the Spirit, and yet not be infallible (a refutation of the plea of Rome for the Church's infallibility, from Matthew 28:20 , John 16:13 )? As the believer and the Church have the Spirit, and are yet not therefore impeccable, so he and the Church have the Spirit, and yet are not infallible or impeccable.
You and the Church are both infallible and impeccable, only in proportion to the degree in which they are led by the Spirit. The Spirit leads into all truth and holiness; but His influence on believers and on the Church is as yet partial. Jesus alone, who had the Spirit without measure ( John 3:34 ), is both infallible and impeccable. Scripture, because it was written by men, who while writing were infallibly inspired, is unmixed truth ( Proverbs 28:5 , 1 John 2:27 ).
For--proof of 1 Corinthians 2:15 , that the spiritual man "is judged of no man." In order to judge the spiritual man, the ordinary man must "know the mind of the Lord." But "who of ordinary men knows" that?
that he may instruct him--that is, so as to be able to set Him right as His counsellor (quoted fromIsaiah 40:13 Isaiah 40:14 ). So the Septuagint translates the Greek verb, which means to "prove," in Acts 9:22 .
Natural men who judge spiritual men, living according to the mind of God ("We have the mind of Christ"), are virtually wishing to instruct God, and bring Him to another mind, as counsellors setting to right their king.
