“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)
The Basket Case Chronicles #21
“But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:15-16).
This is obviously not a blank check, where anyone who claims to be “spiritual” can therefore claim immunity from the judgment of any man. Nevertheless, even though a claim of this kind of spirituality is not sufficient to make the point, the apostle does say that a man who is spiritual sits in judgment on all things, and is himself judged by no one. That Paul considers himself in this category is plain by his claim in the next verse to have “the mind of Christ.” We should note also that this includes some other friends of Paul’s because he says that we have the mind of Christ.
Not having this mind is exhibited by someone pretending to know the mind of the Lord in such a way as to instruct the Lord. In the run-up to this, Paul has been telling us how the Spirit of the Lord is teaching us about the future of the world (vv. 8-10), and so someone who receives this teaching can tell what is going on in the world now. He sits in judgment over all things. To use Jonathan Edwards’ illustration, he is in possession of God’s blueprints for history, and therefore understands all things from that vantage point. Someone who doesn’t have the blueprints is in the position of one who watches the apparent pandemonium of history, and who tries to explain it to God.
To have the mind of Christ is therefore to understand the salvific intent that God has for the whole human race.