“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Corinthians 2:14
It often happens that someone wants to apply some spiritual truth to unbelievers, and they seem surprised that the unbeliever does not care or even seem to understand. There are marvelous truths in God’s Word, but they are not accessible to the unbeliever. The only truth we need to share with unbelievers is the gospel of good news that Jesus saves.
There is a tendency among Christians to want to apply Biblical standards to everyone. They seem surprised that unbelievers don't seem to want to live by Biblical guidelines and don't want to be ruled by Biblical standards. Again, we need to recognize that our message to the unbeliever is the need for a Savior, not the need for a standard or a moral guideline.
Things that make perfect sense to the believer, will seem like foolishness to the unbeliever. If they cannot yet accept the message of the cross, how will they understand the deeper truths of God's Word.
We certainly have to recognize that we would not have any true level of understanding of God's Word except by revelation of the Holy Spirit. How often the Holy Spirit opens up to us some truth from a passage we have read many times before. It's not that we became more intelligent, but the Holy Spirit builds truth upon truth, constantly revealing deeper truth as we go deeper in our relationship with our Lord.
While we cannot expect unbelievers to understand or appreciate God's Word, it is a real tragedy when believers seem to have little or no interest in understanding God's Word. There are some churches that would like their people to think that only the clergy can understand the Word and then only they can convey that understanding to the people. God intended for all His children to be able to understand. For this purpose, He gave us His Holy Spirit.
When we come across something in our study of God's Word that just doesn't seem to make sense, we need to look to the Holy Spirit to give us understanding.
Unfortunately, we find those that wish to only hear and understand what they like. They prefer to understand and interpret God's Word to fit what they want it to say. "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears" 2 Timothy 4:3. God's Word is not supposed to conform to our ideas or expectations.
We would be wise to ask and allow God to reveal His Word to us in truth. It just makes sense.
Gordon Crook
