Rightly Judging All Things Only Happens By The Power Of The Holy Spirit
Judging All Things
(Audio is available at the bottom of the page)
Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 2:15 that he who is spiritual judges all things. Two chapters later in 1 Corinthians 4:5 he told his reader to judge nothing before it’s time. That shifting back and forth happened throughout 1 Corinthians. In my blog post last week, we looked at Jesus’ words when He said, not to judge others in Matthew 7:1 and Luke 6:37 and to “judge with righteous judgment” in John 7:24.
This is what we call biblical tension. Looking at the biblical tensions of judging is a difficult Bible study topic. I have a list before me of sixteen times that the Bible speaks of us making judgments. Out of those sixteen times, eight of those passages come from 1 Corinthians. So, let’s look at the context of Paul’s teaching.
Judging In 1 Corinthians
First, we must remember that the Corinthian church was filled with problems and sin. Paul wrote to them to address these issues. The very first time Paul spoke of judging in 1 Corinthians is in 1 Corinthians 2:14-15. But before we even go there, let’s see where Paul had been with his teaching.
In 1 Corinthians 2:4-5. Paul wrote,
And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
1 Corinthians 2:4-5
From that point in 1 Corinthians 2:4 all the way to verse 16, Paul basically built his case for the Holy Spirit as God’s manifested wisdom and power who knows all things.
Natural Man Vs. Spiritual Man
These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned 15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.
1 Corinthians 2-13-15
Paul contrasts the natural and the spiritual man. The natural man doesn’t have the Holy Spirit who is God’s manifested wisdom and power who knows all things. Therefore, the natural man cannot receive spiritual things and sees them as foolish.
Paul set up his case for judging and making right judgments by teaching them that the Holy Spirit is the one who rightly judges. Without the Holy Spirit or submitted to the Holy Spirit, no one makes right judgments.
Let’s look at our opening statement from Paul.
But he who is spiritual judges all things
yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.
1 Corinthians 2:15
When I looked at the original Greek language, I learned that the term for “all” as used in 1 Corinthians 2:15 means truly, certainly, surely, indeed. According to the Greek definition and how the term is normally used, “all” actually connects to the previous word, “judges”, yet still pointing forward making an affirmation or concession.
The Greek term for “things” means:
individually – each, every, any, all, the whole, everyone, all things, everything
collectively – some of all types
Therefore, we recognize that “judges all things” might be interpreted as:
He who is spiritual truly, certainly, surely, and in deed judges all things.
The Concession
Let’s take a moment to recognize the following portion of that sentence is the concession. While Paul stated that a spiritual man judges all things, he also made the concession that the same person is rightly judged by no one.
One of my commentaries said that the spiritual man is free from human scrutiny (rightly judged by no one). Isn’t it strange that God says we are free from human scrutiny, but human scrutiny can cause us to react so strongly that we are often offended and so much to the degree that human scrutiny can cause us to make different decisions or change course. It is rare, and probably only when we are fully submitted to the Holy Spirit and fully identifying with our “in Christ” position that we are able to let human scrutiny roll off us like water off a duck’s back.
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In 1 Corinthians 3:1, Paul speaks to the believers of this church as carnal Christians saying,
And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people
but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:1
Then in 1 Corinthians 3:16, he reminds them:
Do you not know that you are the temple of God
and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
1 Corinthians 3:16
The Corinthians were carnal Christians, living sinful lives and unaware of their true identity. The church was filled with problems and sin because they were not walking in the wisdom, knowledge, and power of the Holy Spirit but instead, in their own weak, carnal flesh
In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul built the case that because they didn’t know their true identity, they also didn’t access the power of the Holy Spirit in them who is God’s manifested wisdom and power who knows all things.
1 Corinthians 4
But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I know nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes...
1 Corinthians 4:3-5a
Paul was still speaking about judging based on human judgments which were no big deal to Paul. He puts so little confidence in human judgments that he didn’t judge himself. This makes perfectly good sense when we think about how unbalanced our judgments of ourselves can be. Especially when we consider our judgements from our human intellect or perceptions.
In many ways if we judged ourselves we might say we are good. And on the other hand, our other human tendency is to judge ourselves too harshly. We sometimes judge ourselves as a good for nothing, dirty, rotten scoundrel. Either one of these human judgments of ourselves are probably at the very least off base.
BUT GOD Is Our Just Judge
God is the only one who judges us rightly which I believe is Paul’s purpose in saying,
“Therefore judge nothing before the time.” Here he spoke of judging in an absolute sense. Judging in an absolute sense is God’s job and only happens in the specified time of Christ’s second coming and judgment day.
Here is our conclusion from today’s study. In Christ, we are called to live rightly judging all things and our power and ability to do that comes from the Holy Spirit in us. But we can’t live submitted to the desires of our flesh and in the power of the Holy Spirit at the same time. We must decide who we will submit to. Will it be ourselves? Or the Holy Spirit in us? If we choose the Holy Spirit, we can make right judgments.
Much Love and Blessings!
