The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: the First Epistle to the Corinthians
3. As drinking in the heavenly teaching of the Spirit. Such a one is called spiritual by S. Chrysostom, S. Thomas, and others.
S. Bernard, in the place just quoted, writes : “ The state of beginners may be called natural; of those who are advancing, rational; of those who are perfect, spiritual. For they are natural who by themselves are neither led by reason nor drawn by affection , and yet are influenced by authority , or touched by doctrine , or provoked by example to approve , and strive to imitate the good. They are rational who through the judgment of reason have some knowledge and desire of good, but have not yet any love of it. They are perfect who are led by the Spirit , who are illuminated by the Holy Spirit more fully , and derive their name of * the spiritual * from this. And since they know the taste of the good, and are led by their love for it, they are called the wise, or those who know. Then in comparing these three, and forming of them steps, and a ladder of virtues, he goes on to say : “ The first state has to do with the body, the second with the soul , the third finds no rest but in God. The beginning of good in conversion is perfect obedience , its advancement is the subjection of the body , its perfection is to have turned through continued good actions custom into love. The beginning of the rational is to understand those things which are put before it in the teaching of faith, its advancement is marked by the providing of those things which are enjoined, its perfection is seen in the judgment of the reason becoming the love of the heart. The perfection of the rational is the beginning of the spiritual ; its advancement consists in seeing the glory of God with unveiled face ; its perfection is to be changed into the same image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
Because they are spiritually discerned, i.e., according to the rules given by the Holy Spirit and the canons of faith. Some read, he is spiritually discerned, which would mean that he is invited, by being examined, to spiritual and heavenly wisdom. When he is being instructed in spiritual matters, or when spiritual things are put before the natural man, and when the natural man is questioned about spiritual things, he cannot understand them.
Ver. 15 . — But he that is spiritual judgeth all things. He is called spiritual, as we have seen, who follows faith and wisdom and the teaching of the Holy Spirit, who has the Holy Spirit as the ruler of his soul. So Chrysostom, Anselm, S. Thomas.
Judgeth all things. 1. Hence Calvin and the Anabaptists make
the private and fanatical spirit of each spiritual man, i.e., each one of the faithful, the arbiter of controversies of faith, and the interpreter of Scripture ; but wrongly, for all Christians are not spiritual, but only the perfect, as was said at ver. 14.
2. Others cannot know whether a man has this spirit, whether he is spiritual, nay, whether he is even faithful. Therefore this private and secret spirit cannot be the public judge of all things ; but this is the province of Councils and the Pope. For it is known that these are spiritual, that they are governed by the Holy Spirit, who appointed them teachers, and by them governs and teaches the Church.
3. The Fathers were spiritual to a high degree, and yet they sometimes erred.
4. It is evident that the simple need the pastors and teachers whom God has placed in the Church to teach others (Eph. iv. 11).
I answer, then, that this passage means that the spiritual man judges things in general, spiritual things, Divine and heavenly things, natural, earthly, and easy things; while the natural man judges natural things only. This is that there may be a distribution proportioned to classes of individuals, and not to individuals of different classes. So we say, “I live on every kind of food,” on any kind.
In the second place, to “judge all things” is to examine, confute, and sift questions, according to the rules of the faith, and of the Divine wisdom which the spiritual man has. Of course this is in questions in which he has been sufficiently instructed from above, as, e.g., in clear and ascertained matters of faith he judges everything according to the articles of the faith, and condemns heresies and errors contrary to that faith. But if any new question in faith or morals should arise, and it is obscure or doubtful, wisdom itself dictates to the spiritual man, who in this question is not yet spiritual, or sufficiently taught by the Spirit, to have recourse to his superiors, as the same Spirit teaches him, to the doctors, to his mother, the Roman Church, that she may decide and define this question for him. For she, according to the teaching of the Apostle, is plainly spiritual, and judges all things by the direction and assistance of the Spirit. For Christ promised this to Peter, and in him to his successors (S. Matt. xviii. 18; S. Luke xxii. 32). They, then, are highly spiritual, and they judge all things. It is different with those beneath them, who, though they be spiritual, yet should often seek the judgment of their superiors. Otherwise he who is spiritual would never have to obey the decision of his father, or his teacher or his bishop. In so far, then, as the spiritual man follows the leading of the Spirit, either teaching him directly, or sending him to the doctors of the Church, he cannot err. In the same way S. John says that he that is born of God cannot sin (1 S. John iii. 9); i.e., so far as he that is born of God abides in Him. So S. Thomas, Ambrose, Anselm, Theophylact, Chrysostom. S. Paul's meaning, then, is that the spiritual man judges well about the hidden mysteries of the faith, and about things in general, and if he doubts, he knows what to do, whom he ought to consult, so as to receive instruction. So Aristotle (Ethics iii. 4) says, “A good man rightly judges in all cases , and the virtuous man is the rule and measure of all human things,” i.e., says S. Thomas, because he has a well ordered judgment and good desires, obedient to law and reason. Still, in difficult cases he ought to consult those who are wiser and more skilled in the law.
Yet he himself is judged of no man, i.e., is confuted or condemned by no one, in so far as he judges spiritually, as S. Chrysostom says. For if otherwise, he is reproved as S. Peter was by S. Paul (Gal. ii. 11). On the other hand the natural man is spiritually examined and judged by the spiritual, even though he does not know it or understand it. For in this passage the whole endeavour of the Apostle is to exclude human and worldly wisdom by spiritual, and to contrast the spiritual with the natural, and to put it first, since the Corinthians did the opposite and therefore put Apollos before Paul. He implies, therefore, that the Corinthians are natural, because they sought after “enticing words of man’s wisdom,” such as they admired in the eloquence of Apollos ; and he says that they cannot judge about spiritual things, and the spiritual wisdom of Paul, but that he and men like him ought to judge both spiritual and natural wisdom. This and nothing else is what the Apostle is aiming at.
Ver. 16. — Who hath known the mind of the Lord? Since the spiritual man has been taught by God and follows His rules, so far as he is such, he can be judged by no one ; for one who should judge him ought to be wiser or greater than the Spirit of God, so as to be able to penetrate and measure that Spirit. But who can do this? So Chrysostom. Nevertheless, the spiritual man often can be and ought to be judged, because he is not known to be spiritual in a given matter. Hence, in ch. xiv. 29, he says, “Let the others speak two or three, and let the others judge.” Moreover, many boast themselves to be spiritual who are merely natural, as, e.g., the Anabaptists. But S. Paul was confessedly spiritual, hence he adds, We have the mind of Christ — the wisdom of Christ which is spiritual and Divine, not natural and human. Our wisdom is not that of Plato or Pythagoras, but of Christ, who has infused His truths into our minds. So Chrysostom.