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We have here —

I. A SPIRITUAL CHARACTER. The "natural man" is man in his unregenerate state, under the power and influence of those principles and affections which are natural; the spiritual man is man renewed by the Spirit of God.

1. Spiritual men have —

(1) Spiritual appetites: they hunger and thirst after righteousness.

(2) Spiritual senses, which are exercised to discern good and evil; spiritual eyes — they can see Him on His throne; spiritual ears — they can hear His voice.

(3) Spiritual lips — they show forth His praise.

(4) A spiritual taste — and therefore they can savour the things of God.

2. Let us particularise, and lay down a few tests by which the spiritual may be known. As regards —

(1) The thoughts. They cluster around the Cross. Evil thoughts may enter, but they enter either by fraud or force. But they enter the mind of the natural man as friends and acquaintances.

(2) The desires. "There be many that say, Who will show us any good?" They seek their happiness in the things of time and sense only. But "the spiritual" pray, "Lord, hit Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon me." These desires in the Christian may not arise so high as he could wish; but this is the current in which they flow, the end to which they move.

(3) Gratitude. If ever a natural man feels anything like gratitude it is for some temporal favour. Now a spiritual man overlooks none of God's mercies. He blesses Him for his daily bread, but much more for heavenly bread. He blesses God for his civil freedom, but above all for the freedom with which the Son hath made him free.

(4) The use of creature possessions. A natural man only uses them as bodily gratification; or, if mentally, as objects of curiosity and science. But a spiritual man sees God in everything.

(5) Association. While here, we must have to do with the world; otherwise we must needs go out of it. But a spiritual man, when he is entirely free, will say with David, "I am a companion of all them that fear Thee, and of them that love Thy name."(6) Conversation. Spiritual discourse to a natural man is always uninviting, and even irksome. But the spiritual man encourages it and is at home in it.

(7) Devotional exercises. The spiritual man does not draw nigh to God with his lips while his heart is far from Him.

II. AN ATTRIBUTE ATTACHED TO THIS CHARACTER. "The spiritual judgeth" (i.e., discerns) "all things." This must be qualified by being taken with four limitations. "All things" mean religious things, and apply —

1. To religious things only. True religion tends to make men wiser in other things — by arousing their faculties, by exciting their energies, by inducing them to redeem their time; but Paul does not refer here to the knowledge of nature, arts, science, &c., but to "the things of the Spirit," the things which are of God."

2. Only to religious things that are revealed. "Secret things belong to God," &c.

3. To religious things only of importance. Everything in religion is not equally momentous, though it is equally true. What you are required to know is not the decrees of God, but His commands; His promises, rather than His prophecies. A man may be spiritual and yet not able to judge what kind of creature the leviathan was; or know where is the locality of Ophir, or the length of a Jewish cubit. A man may be able to open the seals and blow the trumpets — that is, in his own imagination-and be no nearer to the kingdom of God than before.

4. Only to the knowledge of these comparatively; not absolutely and completely. For who by searching can find out God — who can find out the Almighty to perfection? Paul, after knowing so much of Christ for so many years, says, "That I may know Him.(See also Ephesians 3:18, 19.)

III. A DISTINCTION. "Yet he himself is judged of no man."

1. This distinction must be exemplified.

(1) You have, perhaps, acquired a certain art, and a person, ignorant of the art, calls in question your proficiency in it, and you say, "I am not to be judged of by such as you." How could Handel be judged of properly by a novice in the principles of music? How could a statesman, in executing the complex concerns of a whole nation, be judged of by a man not able to manage his own family, or even himself?

(2) It is always difficult to judge a man religiously. For we are ignorant of the heart and of a thousand things which may tend either to extenuate or condemn. For a man may be conscientious in certain things in which he is condemned. Therefore our Saviour says, "Judge not," and afterwards applauds judgment. "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment."(3) But the spiritual is absolutely inexplicable to the natural man. "He is a new creature," and not, therefore, to be judged of by the old rules and principles of natural men. He knows them, but they know not Him! He has been in their condition, but they have not been in His!

2. The spiritual are, therefore, said to be "men wondered at."(1) Others may think it strange that we "run not with them to the same excess of riot"; but they know not what it is that has weaned us from it all, viz., the discovery of something infinitely superior.

(2) They wonder, that you, should find. such delight in the exercises of the Lord s day. While they say, "What a weariness it is! — when will it be over?" you are "made joyful in the house of prayer."(3) Their experience under affliction often perplexes the people of the world. They see their afflictions, but they do not see their consolations.

(4) Their conduct is often equally puzzling to them. They wonder to see them following a course which exposes them to endure reproach and self-denial. They know not the lever that moves them, and are unacquainted with the machine — the love of Christ — that sets all in motion.

(5) Neither can they judge of the system of doctrine which they hold. It may seem to them as though they may "continue in sin that grace may abound." But no, they hate the very "appearance of evil." How can we who are dead to sin live any longer therein?"Conclusion:

1. Our subject accounts for Christians not being very ready to communicate to men of the world of their religion and experience. They would not understand it. David said, "Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will tell you what He hath done for my soul." They could relish it, but others could not.

2. Christ accounts for the divers misrepresentations of Christians by men of the world. "The world knoweth them not," although they are very free in speaking of them. Let us learn, then, to be indifferent as to the judgment of the world.

3. But is there nothing by which the people of the world may judge you who are spiritual? Yes. They can judge of —

(1) Your talents. They may, perhaps, be able to say to you, "You think more highly of yourself than you ought to think."(2) Your outward condition, and know that you live above your income, and that you had better lower some of your sails.

(3) Your consistency as professors of religion. "What do ye more than others?" You profess more than others, and you are to be judged of by your own pretensions.

(4) The moral and practical effects of your feelings and experience. You should, therefore, seek to abound in all the fruits of righteousness, and to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.

(W. Jay.)

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KJV: But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

WEB: But he who is spiritual discerns all things, and he himself is judged by no one.