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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - 1 Corinthians 2:14 - 2:14
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14. ψυχικὸς δέ. Why, then, an objector may say, are these truths thus divinely given not universally accepted? Because, the Apostle explains, the natural man (animalis, Vulg.) is not in a position (this is the force of the present here) to receive them. The word ψυχικός only occurs in this Epistle, and in those of James and Jude. In the latter (Jud 1:19) it is opposed, as in this Epistle, to πνευματικός. In Jam 3:15, it is equivalent to ἐπίγειος. ψυχή denotes the animal life of man (animal being derived, let it not be forgotten, from anima). In man it includes higher qualities than in the rest of the animal creation, but it differs from πνεῦμα, a term which the Christian revelation was the first to bring into prominence, by being confined to the sphere of this present life, in which it is manifested, while πνεῦμα has reference to the relations of man to the invisible world. Thus ‘natural’ is a fairly satisfactory rendering—that which belongs to the realm of visible nature, and does not pass beyond it. But the term worldly, as used by divines, seems most nearly to approach to the precise meaning of the Apostle. See notes on ch. 1Co 15:44-46. πνευματικός relates to those parts of our nature which are connected with the unseen world, σαρκικός refers to a still lower condition than ψυχικός, that which is produced by a slavery to fleshly appetites.
ὅτι πνευματικῶς ἀνακρίνεται. There is but little analogy between mental and spiritual discernment, or rather processes (see next note), which the Apostle has been contrasting throughout the whole of this chapter. The one is the result of knowledge, investigation, argument: the faculties which produce the other are sharpened by self-discipline, humility, communion with God, love of Him and the brethren. To those who are thus exercised many things are clear which are mysteries to the most learned and the most acute.