1 Corinthians 2:13

‘Which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.'

‘We speak.' Thus all who truly teach in Christ's name do so through the Spirit. For all who are truly His operate through the Spirit of God. This includes Paul and Apollos and Peter, but it should also include the Corinthians. As men of God empowered and enlightened by the Spirit they are to teach in a wisdom which is not of man, and which is not their own, and ensure that it is with words provided by God through the Spirit (compare Matthew 10:20, although there the words are given before judges). That is why later he is so concerned that they speak in words understandable to all, that all may benefit (1 Corinthians 14:1). Thus it is folly to give the credit to such men.

‘Not in words which man's wisdom teaches.' None of them look to man's wisdom. They do not pour over books of wisdom, or attend schools of wisdom eager to learn the latest thing. They look to God and His word as the source of their wisdom. Thus they have one message and are united as one. But they know that this is not just ‘given', it requires thought. They compare spiritual things with spiritual.

‘Comparing spiritual things with spiritual.' ‘Sunkrino' means ‘to bring together, to judge by comparison, to combine, compare, explain, interpret.' It therefore stresses the application of thought. They are not just carried along by the Spirit without the effort needed to understand the message. The whole of a man's being should be caught up in his teaching.

There are a number of possible translations and interpretations for this phrase (pneumatikois pneumatika sunkrinontes). This possibility partly ariese from the use of pneumatikois which can be masculine plutral (spiritual men) or neuter plural (spiritual things), and partly because ‘spiritual' has no noun and therefore a noun could be assumed. Possible translations include;

1) Comparing (bringing together, interpreting) spiritual things with spiritual things.

2) Giving spiritual truths a spiritual form, expressing them in spiritual words.

3) Interpreting spiritual truths to those who possess or are guided by the Spirit (spiritual men) (see 1 Corinthians 3:1).

4) Comparing the spiritual things we have received (e.g. in the Old Testament Scriptures) with the spiritual things we will yet receive (e.g. in the words of Christ and the Apostles, and in the New Testament), and thus judging them by comparison (compare 1 Corinthians 14:29).

The basic idea is the same in all interpretations, that the overriding need is to see all things in the light of the Spirit and as illuminated by the Spirit. It is important that what is spiritual is received and compared with, and interpreted in the light of, what is spiritual, rather than in comparison and contrast with worldly wisdom. It needs to be received, and considered, and applied, and expressed with the Spirit's aid, with the purpose of being received by those enlightened by the Spirit. But again we must stress that the context is that of proclaiming the Gospel and revealing the significance of the cross and of the crucified One (see 1 Corinthians 2:1). Thus 1) and 2) (which merge into each other) would seem to be more in mind with the thought that spiritual things are thought on, compared, and interpreted spiritually and received by those who have been made ‘spiritual' by receiving the Spirit.

However, while ‘interpreting spiritual things in spiritual words' would fit well the context, the fact that Paul could have made this plain by adding another word seems to suggest that he was not being so specific. We are therefore probably to see him as intending us to equate the two ‘spirituals', ‘spiritual things with spiritual things', the point being that there is not to be a mixture of spiritual truth and worldly wisdom, a watering down of what is spiritual, but a wholehearted concentration on what is spiritual, that is, on the essence of all that has been revealed through Christ crucified and in the Scriptures.