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].


“He that is spiritual” is the one who has the Holy Spirit within him; he is a child of God.
He “judgeth all things” means that he understands these things. “Yet he himself is judged of no man” means that he is not understood. The spiritual man is in contrast to the natural man. He understands divine truth, but he is misunderstood by the natural man.
“Who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him?” Who can instruct God? Who understands the mind of the Lord? We cannot tell God anything, but God can reveal a great deal to us. However, the Spirit of God cannot reveal spiritual things to us until we have the mind of Christ. If you are not a saved person, don’t you really think that the preaching of the Cross is foolishness? Don’t you think that a man dying on a cross is totally defeated? Doesn’t that impress you more as a bit of foolishness rather than the actual way of salvation? Yet God says that His method and His wisdom was to give His Son to die on the Cross for us in order that we might be saved and that we must put our trust in Him. If you are being honest, I believe you must admit that it does sound foolish.
The other day I read a letter from a man who is a comedian. He says he is a comedian in a nightclub. He listens to me teach the Bible by radio, and he thinks I am an oddball. In fact, he thinks I am funnier than he is! Well, that is the way he should feel. Why? Because he is a natural man and cannot discern spiritual things.
You will remember that we labeled this chapter The clarity of the Holy Spirit corrects human wisdom. Paul has presented two classes of mankind: the natural man and the spiritual man.
The natural man is the man who is the son of Adam, born into the world with a sinful nature, a propensity to do evil. In fact, that is all the natural man can do. Even when we “do good,” we act from mixed motives. (After we become believers, we ought always to search our hearts to see if we are acting from mixed motives, even when we are trying to do the Lord’s work.) Paul says that the natural man will not receive the things of the Spirit of God; they are foolishness to him.
Yesterday in the mail I received a letter from a politician, a representative from this area to Washington, D.C. Reading this letter would lead one to think he is going to bring in Utopia and the Millennium altogether. My, he has happy solutions for all the problems of the world! Of course, the opposite party doesn’t have the benefit of his vast wisdom and knowledge. When I read his letter through, I had the feeling of keen disappointment. First of all, I know he cannot do what he is saying he will do. Secondly, I realize that he is a natural man. He has no understanding of that which is spiritual. He is not interested in any spiritual solutions to the problems. He thinks he knows how to solve the drug problem, but not in a spiritual way. He promises to solve lawlessness, but not in a spiritual way. He knows no more about spiritual matters than a goat grazing upon grass on the hillside. Years ago it was Gladstone who said that the mark of a great statesman is that he knows the direction God is going to take for the next fifty years. This politician would certainly not qualify by that definition. Actually, we cannot expect too much of the natural man. He will tell you, “I do the very best I can,” which is probably an accurate statement.
Then there is the other man, the spiritual man. Paul says that the spiritual man “judgeth all things,” meaning he understands, he has a spiritual discernment. His spiritual discernment causes him to be misunderstood by the world because the natural man simply cannot understand why he does the things he does. That is the difference between the spiritual man and the natural man.
You will note that they are the kind of men they are because of their relationship to the Book, the Word of God. To the natural man it is foolishness. The spiritual man discerns the Word of God and recognizes its importance.


McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Epistles (1 Corinthians) (electronic ed., Vol. 44, pp. 39–40). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.