What does it mean to be a spiritually mature person?

6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 1 Corinthians 2:6–8 (NIV)

9 However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him— 10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 (NIV)

11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. 1 Corinthians 2:11–13 (NIV)

14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 1 Corinthians 2:14–15 (NIV)

“Who has known the mind of the Lord 16 for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:16 (NIV)

A spiritually mature person… is a Christian (v. 14).

14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:14 (NIV)

A spiritually mature person… is a Christian (v. 14). no longer thinks according to the world’s wisdom (vv. 6-8).

6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 1 Corinthians 2:6–8 (NIV)

World’s Wisdom vs. God’s Wisdom based on the deep things of God (v. 10) accessible only to the educated, wealthy, powerful, elite (v. 6) revealed to ALL who have the Spirit of God, regardless of background, wealth, or status (v. 10) temporary & fleeting (v. 6) planned from eternity to eternity (v. 7)

World’s Wisdom vs. God’s Wisdom comes from the spirit of the world (v. 12) comes from the Holy Spirit of God (v. 12) leads to spiritual blindness (vv. 8, 14) leads us to have the mind of Christ (v. 16) self-centered, narcissistic sacrificial, self-giving

A spiritually mature person… is a Christian (v. 14). no longer thinks according to the world’s wisdom (vv. 6-8). receives, accepts, and applies the wisdom of God through the Spirit of God (vv. 9-16).

10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit 10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God… 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God… 1 Corinthians 2:10, 12 (NIV)

12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us… 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness… 1 Corinthians 2:12–14a (NIV)

William Paul Young “Who originated the Cross? . . . If God did, then we worship a cosmic abuser, who in Divine Wisdom created a means to torture human beings in the most painful and abhorrent manner. Frankly, it is often this

William Paul Young very cruel and monstrous god that the atheist refuses to acknowledge or grant credibility in any sense. And rightly so. Better no god at all, than this one.”

C. S. Lewis “Reality is usually something you could not have guessed. That is one of the reasons I believe Christianity. It is a religion you could not have guessed.”

“Who has known the mind of the Lord, 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:15–16 (NIV)

The Pillar New Testament Commentary “Thus… to be ‘spiritual’ is not to have some extra light from within or even somehow to be extraordinarily sensitive to the divine, as in much popular use of the term, but to appropriate and live in accordance with God’s saving work through Christ by God’s Spirit.” The Pillar New Testament Commentary

A spiritual person is a Christian who no longer thinks according to the world’s wisdom, but who receives, accepts, and applies the wisdom of God through the Spirit of God.

But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:16b (NIV)