1 Corinthians 2:15Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Therefore he says further: "But the spiritual man judges all things, yet he himself is judged by no one" (1 Cor 2:15).

The one who sees sees everything, even what pertains to the blind. But no one among the blind sees what pertains to him. So it is here: we know both our own things and everything that pertains to unbelievers, but they do not know ours.

We know the nature of present things and the worth of future things. We know what will happen to the world afterward, what punishment sinners will endure, and what the righteous will enjoy. We know that present goods have no worth, and we expose their nothingness. To judge also means to expose. Future goods, however, are eternal and unchangeable.

The spiritual man knows all this. He knows what punishment the natural man will endure in the life to come, and what the believer will enjoy after departing from here. But the natural man knows nothing of this.

The spiritual man, he says, knows all things. He knows that everything here is temporary, while the future things are permanent. He knows that he will receive salvation, and that unbelievers will be punished. Therefore he also reproves them, while he himself "is examined" by none of them, that is, no one can judge him. For the one who sees sees both what belongs to himself and what belongs to those who do not see. They, on the contrary, being blind, see neither what is theirs nor what is his.

But the spiritual man, that is, the one enlightened by the divine Spirit, grasps the very mysteries of God with great clarity. He reasons about them and enters into the most detailed examination of them. But the teaching of the divine faith, revealed to man by the divine Spirit, cannot be grasped or examined by the fleshly man.

But the spiritual man, in whom the works of the Spirit are accomplished, examines all things, while he himself is examined by no one.

Since true wisdom is spiritual, that is, the wisdom of believers, each one declares what he believes, and thus they themselves judge concerning all things. Unbelief will be distinguished according to their pattern, but no one can judge the believer. Who can condemn one who speaks the truth? Since all the enemies of the faith take what is false as true, they are already condemned in their error. For, as the Lord says, "He who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed" (Jn 3:18).

For whoever has been counted worthy of the grace of the Spirit is himself able to teach others and has no need to be taught by others.

A spiritual man at once understands another spiritual man, as well as a natural man and a carnal man. It is like a highly educated person who understands another educated person, and also one who is poorly educated or ignorant. However much the latter may contrive to hide the insufficiency of their education and their ignorance, sometimes they reveal themselves before him in a single word, and he smiles at them.

Another person has read very much, but without a guide and without a definite system, such as is found in educational institutions. Because of this much reading, he has suffered greater harm in mind and heart. A properly educated person will also assess such a know-it-all at first encounter.

So too the spiritual man understands and gives a proper assessment to the person who has studied Christianity theoretically, but without spiritual comprehension of its truths.

The higher, spiritual, passionless man is the one whom the Holy Spirit has overshadowed. Being filled with Him, he acts and speaks under His influence, and is raised above the passions and above his own nature. Such people are truly the light of the world and the salt of the earth. They see themselves and they see their neighbors, but only one spiritual like them can see them. "But the spiritual man judges all things, yet he himself is judged by no one" (1 Cor 2:15), says Scripture.

"The spiritual man is examined by no one." The spiritual man and the spiritual world are too high and inaccessible for the reasoning and understanding of natural men. While he understands everything physical and natural, no one can understand him, except, of course, a spiritual being like himself, or the Holy Spirit, according to Chrysostom. He himself is able to teach others and has no need to be taught by others, for he has been counted worthy of the grace of the Spirit, according to Theodoret.

"But the spiritual man judges all things," that is, in the religious and moral sphere, "yet he himself is judged by no one," meaning by none of the psychic people.

On these apostolic words St. Chrysostom says: "The one who sees sees everything, even what pertains to the blind man. But none of the blind sees what pertains to him.

So it is here also," that is, in the religious and moral sphere. "We know both our own things and all that pertains to unbelievers, but they do not know ours."

In other words, both the general worldview and practical strivings, as well as the guiding aim of life, are entirely different among psychic people than among spiritual people.

Having indicated the highest spiritual source of Christian preaching in the Spirit of God, the Apostle explains why the certainly true mysteries of Christian teaching are not easily received by worldly people.

Such people are guided by lower impulses. These do not arise from the higher needs of the spirit, but from the instincts and needs of outward psychic feelings and the strivings of our lower psychic life.

The higher interests of the spirit are comprehensible and weighty only for those who have not stifled the higher aspirations of the spirit within themselves.

By its distinctive properties, the spirit was regarded as a special part of man's being. It differed sharply not only from the body, but also from the life-principle that animates it, which is called the soul.

The Apostle compares the horizon of the spiritual man with that of the natural man. Although he does not name the latter, it is evident that he means him as the one unable to judge the spiritual.

The spiritual man, he says, discusses, surveys, and determines all things. He judges his own spiritual realm because he abides in it, and therefore knows it, as one usually knows the house in which he lives. He also judges, surveys, and understands the natural realm. Though he is no longer in it, he knows it well, because he once suffered so long under its yoke.