1 Corinthians 2:14

With the App. all is spiritual words and thoughts; for this very reason men of the world reject their teaching: “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God” (cf. Romans 8:5; John 15:18-21; 1 John 4:5). Of the vbs. for receiving, λαμβάνω (1 Corinthians 2:12) regards the object, δέχομαι the manner and spirit of the act to welcome (see parls.); there is no receptivity “non vult admittere” (Bg [426]). ψυχικός, in all N.T. instances, has a disparaging sense, being opposed to πνευματικός (as ψυχὴ is not to πνεῦμα), and almost syn [427] with σάρκινος or σαρκικός (1 Corinthians 3:1 f.). The term is in effect privative ὁ μόνην τ. ἔμφυτον καὶ ἀνθρωπίνην σύνεσιν ἔχων (Cm [428]), “quemlibet hominem solis naturæ facultatibus præditum” (Cv [429]), positive evil being implied by consequence. Adam's body was ψυχικόν, as not yet charged, like that of Christ, with the Divine πνεῦμα (1 Corinthians 15:44-49. syn [430] with χοϊκός, and contrasted with ἐπουράνιος). “The word was coined by Aristotle (Eth. Nic., III., x., 2) to distinguish the pleasures of the soul, such as ambition and desire for knowledge, from those of the body (ἡδοναὶ σωματικαί).” “Similarly Polybius, and Plutarch (de Plac. Phil., i. 9 ψυχικαὶ χαραί, σωματικαὶ ἡδοναί). “Contrasted with the ἀκρατής, the ψυχικὸς is the noblest of men. But to the πνευματικὸς he is related as the natural to the supernatural” (Ed [431] : see Cr [432], s. v.). This epithet, therefore, describes to the Cor [433] the unregenerate nature at its best, the man commended in philosophy, actuated by the higher thoughts and aims of the natural life not the sensual man (the animalis of the Vg [434]), who is ruled by bodily impulse. Yet the ψυχικός, μὴ ἔχων πνεῦμα (Jude 1:19), may be lower than the σαρκικός, where the latter, as in 1 Corinthians 3:3 and Galatians 5:17; Galatians 5:25, is already touched but not fully assimilated by the life-giving Πνεῦμα. μωρία γὰρ αὐτῷ κ. τ. λ., rendered by Krenkel (Beiträge, pp. 379 ff.), “For folly belongs (cleaves) to him, and he cannot perceive that he is spiritually searched” (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:24 ff., ἀνακρίνεται) an ingenious and grammatically possible translation, but not consistent with the emphatic ref [435] of μωρία in ch. 1 to the world's judgment on the Gospel, nor with the fact that “the things of God” (σοφία Θεοῦ, πνευματικά) are the all-commanding topic of this paragraph. We adhere therefore to the common rendering: “For to him they are folly; and he cannot perceive (them), for (it is) spiritually (that) they are tried” and he is unspiritual. For γνῶναι, see note on ἔγνωκεν (1 Corinthians 2:8). Ἀνακρίνω must be distinguished from κρίνω, to judge, deliver a verdict; and from διακρίνω, to discern, distinguish diff [436] things; it signifies to examine, inquire into, being syn [437] on the one side with ἐραυνάω of 1 Corinthians 2:10, and on the other with δοκιμάζω of 1 Thessalonians 5:21 (see parls.; also Lt [438] ad loc [439], and in his Fresh Revision 3, pp. 69 ff.): “ ἀνάκρισις was an Athenian law-term for a preliminary investigation corresponding mutatis mutandis to the part taken in English law-proceedings by the Grand Jury” (cf. Acts 25:26). The Gospel appears on its trial before the ψυχικοί; like the Athenian philosophers, they give it a first hearing, but they have no organon to test it by. The inquiry is stultified, ab initio, by the incompetence of the jury. The unspiritual are out of court as religious critics; they are deaf men judging music.

[426] Bengel's Gnomon Novi Testamenti.

[427] synonym, synonymous.

[428] John Chrysostom's Homiliœ († 407).

[429] Calvin's In Nov. Testamentum Commentarii.

[430] synonym, synonymous.

[431] T. C. Edwards' Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians. 2

[432] Cremer's Biblico-Theological Lexicon of N.T. Greek (Eng. Trans.).

[433] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[434] Latin Vulgate Translation.

[435] reference.

[436] difference, different, differently.

[437] synonym, synonymous.

[438] J. B. Lightfoot's (posthumous) Notes on Epp. of St. Paul (1895).

[439] ad locum, on this passage.