1 Corinthians 2:11

“For amongst men, who knows (οἶδεν) the things of the man, except the spirit of the man that is within him? So also the things of God none has perceived (ἔγνωκεν), except the Spirit of God.” Far from being otiose, ἀνθρώπων is emphatic: P. argues from human to Divine personality; each heart of man has its secrets (τὰ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου); “nor even the dearest soul, and next our own, knows half the reasons why we smile or sigh”; there is a corresponding region of inner personal consciousness with God (τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ). As the man's own spirit lifts the veil and lights the recesses penetrable by no reasoning from without, so God's Spirit must communicate His thoughts, or we shall never know them. This reserve belongs to the rights of self-hood. Paul's axiomatic saying assumes the personality of God, and man's affinity to God grounded therein. P. does not in this analogy limit the Ἅγιον Πνεῦμα by human conditions, nor reduce Him to a mere Divine self-consciousness (τὸ ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ, 1 Corinthians 2:12, guards us against this); the argument is a minori ad majus (as in Galatians 3:15; Romans 5:7; Luke 11:13), and valid for the point in question. The Ap. ascribes to a man a natural πνεῦμα (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:5; 1 Thessalonians 5:23), which manifests itself in νοῦς and συνείδησις (Romans 2:15; Romans 7:25, etc.; see Cr [382] on these terms), akin to and receptive of the Πνεῦμα Θεοῦ; but not till quickened by the latter is the πνεῦμα ἀνθρώπου regnant in him, so that the man can be called πνευματικός (see note on 1 Corinthians 2:15). On οἶδεν, as diff [383] from ἔγνωκεν, see note to 1 Corinthians 2:8 : “while οἶδα is simple and absolute, γινώσκω is relative, involving more or less the idea of a process of examination” (Lt [384]): “no one has got to know τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ ” has by searching (1 Corinthians 2:10) found Him out (Job 11:7; Job 23:9, etc.; John 17:25) only His own Spirit knows, and therefore reveals Him.

[382] Cremer's Biblico-Theological Lexicon of N.T. Greek (Eng. Trans.).

[383] difference, different, differently.

[384] J. B. Lightfoot's (posthumous) Notes on Epp. of St. Paul (1895).