<p>2:14 <i>Now the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him and he cannot know them- </i>Secular wisdom will not believe in a crucified Saviour. Instead of allowing the crucified Christ to convert them, they rush to Josephus and other early historians to enquire whether Jesus of Nazareth really died on a cross outside Jerusalem. But the point is that there is a power within Him there which of itself converts- if we let it, and humble ourselves to shed our human wisdom. Any references in Josephus etc. are at best confirmations of our faith, but play no part in essential faith in Christ. We must take seriously the repeated reports of the early missionaries, that they could not elicit belief in the message of Christianity or the Christian God amongst the illiterate folk they encountered in Africa or the Pacific islands- until they explained or drew pictures of the crucifixion. Then, all seemed to make sense- to those who felt their own sin and thirsted for forgiveness and connection with the one God. &quot;The natural man&quot; is the wise of this world who would consider the cross and all we have written about it to be foolish. Because human pride has stopped him believing. He will not &quot;know&quot; these things because he cannot- until he quits his human wisdom.</p><p>Paul saw the cross of Christ as parallel with &ldquo;the things of the Spirit of God&quot;, the wisdom of God, what eye has not seen nor ear heard, but what is revealed unto the believer and not to the world (1 Cor. 1:18,23,24; 2:7-13). The cross of Christ was the supreme expression of the Spirit of God, and it&rsquo;s true meaning is incomprehensible to the world. In the cross, according to Paul&rsquo;s allusion back to Isaiah, God bowed the Heavens and came down. He did wonderful things which we looked not for. The thick darkness there is to be associated with a theophany presence of God Himself. See on Jn. 19:19.</p><p><i>Because they are spiritually discerned- </i>Only the Spirit within a person who has believed in the crucified Christ will be able to 'combine with' or connect with Spiritual things (:13). The Greek word means literally to question; asking questions as we read God&rsquo;s word is therefore an appropriate thing for us to be doing. Paul is not advocating a simplistic approach, nor a shutting down of any critical, analytical approach.</p>