2:12 Now we have received, not the {m} spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; {11} that we might {n} know the things that are freely given to us of God.
(m) The Spirit which we have received does not teach us things of this world, but lifts us up to God, and this verse teaches us the opposite of what the papists teach: what faith is, from where it comes, and from what power it originates.
(11) That which he spoke generally, he confines now to those things which God has opened to us of our salvation in Christ: so that no man should separate the Spirit from the preaching of the word and Christ: or should think that those fanciful men are governed by the Spirit of God, who wandering besides the word, thrust upon us their vain imaginations for the secrets of God.
(n) This word know is taken here in its proper sense for true knowledge, which the Spirit of God works in us.
2:12 Now we have received... the spirit which is of God. We apostles. The Spirit received by all the apostles was not the spirit of the world, but the Holy Spirit which Christ promised them as a guide into all truth (Joh 16:13). Hence they were enabled to know what God imparted freely to them.
2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world - This spirit is not properly received; for the men of the world always had it. But Christians receive the Spirit of God, which before they had not.
2:10-16 God has revealed true wisdom to us by his Spirit. Here is a proof of the Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures, 2Pe 1:21. In proof of the Divinity of the Holy Ghost, observe, that he knows all things, and he searches all things, even the deep things of God. No one can know the things of God, but his Holy Spirit, who is one with the Father and the Son, and who makes known Divine mysteries to his church. This is most clear testimony, both to the real Godhead and the distinct person of the Holy Spirit. The apostles were not guided by worldly principles. They had the revelation of these things from the Spirit of God, and the saving impression of them from the same Spirit. These things they declared in plain, simple language, taught by the Holy Spirit, totally different from the affected oratory or enticing words of man's wisdom. The natural man, the wise man of the world, receives not the things of the Spirit of God. The pride of carnal reasoning is really as much opposed to spirituality, as the basest sensuality. The sanctified mind discerns the real beauties of holiness, but the power of discerning and judging about common and natural things is not lost. But the carnal man is a stranger to the principles, and pleasures, and actings of the Divine life. The spiritual man only, is the person to whom God gives the knowledge of his will. How little have any known of the mind of God by natural power! And the apostles were enabled by his Spirit to make known his mind. In the Holy Scriptures, the mind of Christ, and the mind of God in Christ, are fully made known to us. It is the great privilege of Christians, that they have the mind of Christ revealed to them by his Spirit. They experience his sanctifying power in their hearts, and bring forth good fruits in their lives.
