You Have The Mind Of Christ

As I was eating my Raisin Bran Crunch today a little thought popped into my head, "you have the mind of Christ." So what does that mean, having the mind of Christ? A good source might be the scripture passage that states it.

1 Corinthians 2

1When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.[a] 2For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, 5so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.

How did this "demonstration of the Spirit's power" present itself? Was it healing, miracles, stigmata ... If it was not men's wisdom and there is no mention in this context of miracles, then what did this power look like? The subject of the message was "Jesus Christ and him crucified" but where and what was this power?

6We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

No worldly wisdom was taught but "God's secret wisdom" and it was taught to the "mature". Does that mean that the mature saw this power more clearly than the immature? And what about "the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing"? Does that apply to all rulers of every age, even ours?

9However, as it is written:
"No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him"[b]— 10but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.

If the mature can see by revelation what God has prepared for them, that would be powerful. If it is impossible to see the things of God except by the Spirit of God, then seeing the secrets of God would be powerful, no?

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.[c] 14The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment:

It is becoming inescapable that those "without the Spirit" can not understand these things. Apart from the power of the Spirit of God revealing the things of God, we can not understand the secrets of God. So is this the power?

For who has known the mind of the Lord
that he may instruct him?"[d] But we have the mind of Christ.

If we have the Spirit of God, we have the mind of Christ to understand the things about "Jesus Christ and Him crucified".

Many take this out of context and wish to add power to it. Understanding the secrets of Christ's crucifixion is just not powerful enough these people. They blow right by the empowering truth in search of the spectacular. For them the mind of Christ must understand what stock to buy and power must be raising people from the dead. If Christians could become wildly successful by world's standards or perform eye popping miracles, then the world would come to Christ, is the thinking I assume.

I recall the rich man asking Abraham to send Lazarus back:
Luke 16:19-31
27"He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, 28for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'

29"Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.'

30" 'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'

31"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' "

If they do not listen to the Prophets, they will not be convinced (period). The greatest power was in hearing what the Spirit of God has to say. No worldly wisdom compares to God's wisdom, in fact it is contrary to God's wisdom. That should be a mind bender.

The power (all power) lies in hearing the Spirit of God and having the Spirit of God within us. Who knows, the Spirit of God may even perform a few miracles along the way.

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