12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2)
My recent posts have discussed the mantic and sophic worldviews and how they are at odds with each other inside each and every human mind. Here is a quick summary to review:
The fundamental ambivalence of western civilization consists of a permanent conflict of spiritualities derived from the human condition itself. The assumptions underlying this conflict have created the mantic world view of vertical supernaturalism, a dualistic metaphysic that includes not only the natural order but also another world order which transcends it, and the sophic world view of horizontal naturalism, a monistic metaphysic that confines all realities to the natural order. (source)
The Book of Mormon offers a strong endorsement of the mantic worldview. In this post, I'd like to focus on the scripture passage above and attempt to break down what it means to "receive the spirit which is of God."
Curtis Wright, in this paper, puts it this way:
The saints of God are the holy ones (hoi hagioi), people who are sanctified by a revealed spirituality because they live by the supernatural gift of faith, whereas the natural man, who lives solely by reason and the senses, is any person whose spirituality is naturalistic.
The phrase "sanctified by a revealed spirituality" really resonates with me. This is the new birth we read about in various contexts in the scriptures. For example, when Alma-2 experiences his miraculous conversion, he tells the people what the Lord spoke to him:
25 And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters;
26 And thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.
27 I say unto you, unless this be the case, they must be cast off; and this I know, because I was like to be cast off. (Mosiah 27)
Saints are those who are sanctified by receiving Christ's atoning sacrifice through covenant. Here is how British New Testament scholar James D. G. Dunn describes the "hoi hagioi":
One of [Paul's] favourite ways of referring to the members of his churches was as "saints" (hagioi), those who had been set apart and dedicated to the service of God. Here we may note that while the noun hagiasmos ("sanctification") was used for the process of salvation, the verb in Paul usually denotes the beginning action, whereby individuals were set apart to discipleship. On one occasion he uses the related image of anointing (2 Corinthians 1:21). We have already noted how important the metaphor of sacrifice is for Paul's understanding of the death of Jesus (2 Corinthians 9:2-3). Paul also uses the imagery of priestly service for his own ministry, as indeed for all Christian commitment and other acts of service in the gospel. All the justified have "access" to the inner sanctum of the cult (Romans 5:2). Their bodies are themselves temples enshrining God's presence. (The Theology of Paul, 1998, p. 330).
We receive the gift by recognizing Christ's atonement
The key principle at work here is that our worldview makes all the difference. When viewed through the sophic lens, which holds that the material world is all there is, it really makes no sense for Christ to suffer for our sins. It is "not reasonable that such a being as a Christ [should] come" (Helaman 16:18). The rational materialist mindset caused apostate Nephites to believe the doctrine of Christ was:
20 ...a wicked , which has been handed down unto us by our fathers, to cause us that we should believe in some great and marvelous thing which should come to pass, but not among us, but in a land which is far distant, a land which we know not; therefore they can keep us in ignorance, for we cannot with our own eyes that they are true.
21 And they will, by the cunning and the mysterious arts of the evil one, work some great mystery which we cannot understand, which will keep us down to be servants to their words, and also servants unto them, for we depend upon them to teach us the word; and thus will they keep us in ignorance if we will yield ourselves unto them, all the days of our lives. (Helaman 16)
Natural eyes can never witness the reality of Christ, nor the purposes of His mortal ministry, suffering, death, and resurrection.
Conclusion
Let's finish this post with the same passage we began with (1 Corinthians 2:12-14), only this time I'll use Curtis Wright's alternative translation which explains more context in Paul's writing:
We are not animated by the natural spirit of the cosmos, but by the spirit that comes from God, so that we may distinguish God's free gifts to us [from the provisions of nature]. We speak openly of God's gifts, but not in words that generate instruction from humanly originated wisdom: we use instead the words that communicate information derived from the Holy Spirit; and we also utilize the Holy Spirit as a criterion for determining what is and is not revealed. But the man whose spirituality is naturalistic rejects as absurd everything derived from the Spirit of God: he is incapable of experiencing such things himself, and has no means of evaluating them in others in the absence of revelation.
