But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him? 1 Corinthians 2:14-16

In my last blog (see here), we considered what a carnal believer is. The discussion was based on 1 Cor 3:1-4.

But just before those four verses, Paul discussed the other type of believer––the spiritual Christian. In Greek, the spiritual ones are called the pneumatikoi.

The pneumatikoi are not sinless. They do not all manifest Christlikeness equally. Some are more mature than others.

But all spiritual believers have the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16). They all view life from a godly, rather than a carnal, perspective.

Here are some examples of how spiritual believers think:

• They know they are eternally secure by faith in Christ.

• They are watching for Jesus’ soon return and living accordingly.

• They focus on the fact that they will be judged by Christ at the Bema.

• They long to hear Him say, “Well done, good servant.”

• Their focus is on Christ and their love for Him, not on the commandments, per se.

• They reject legalistic methods of sanctification such as asceticism, contemplative spirituality, philosophy, Gnosticism, etc.

• They insist on a solid Bible-teaching church.

• They regularly partake of the Lord’s Supper.

• They long for the pure milk of God’s Word.

• They are honest with God concerning their sins.

• They are troubled by the wickedness in our world.

Spiritual Christians are not super Christians. You often cannot recognize spiritual believers just by looking at them. It is true that carnal believers live “like mere men” in many ways. But that does not mean that spiritual believers always live exemplary lives. Spiritual believers do sin. They do deal with issues such as perfectionism, anger, discouragement, depression, grief, and anger.

You need to learn more about what a believer thinks in order to determine whether he or she is spiritual. Does the believer think spiritually, or carnally?ⁱ

For example, say that for the last decade you have known a believing couple that now has three children between ages five and ten. They recently left your Bible-teaching church for a church that has a terrific children’s ministry. Unfortunately, their new church preaches Lordship Salvation. While it is a mild form of Lordship Salvation, they and their children are, nevertheless, being taught Lordship Salvation. Either they were carnally minded when they were in your church and have just continued in that way of thinking, or they have fallen prey to the thinking of the world.

Say that you recently met a believer at a Bible conference. You rejoice that she is sure of her salvation and agrees that the promise of everlasting life is the bullseye in evangelism. But upon further discussion, you find out that your friend has a gay son and that she has encouraged him in that identity. She has told him that God made him to be a practicing homosexual. God wants him to be happy, and to do that he must follow his desires. You would conclude that your new friend has been conformed to this world in this matter. You would be right to conclude that your friend is carnally minded, still a babe in Christ. You should not question her salvation. But you should question her mindset.

Spiritual believers can restore believers who have fallen (Gal 6:1). But carnal believers should not even attempt such a rescue, because they are extremely likely to experience the same fall.

The issue is how we think. Spiritual believers think spiritually. How we think determines how we live. Not the other way around. To be transformed, our minds must be renewed (Rom 12:2). May that be true of all of us. Keeping grace in focus is a vital part of continuing to think spiritually.

ⁱ Of course, if the behavior of a believer shows that he is enslaved to various sins, then you know he is not a spiritual believer (cf. 1 Cor 6:9-11; Gal 5:19-21; Eph 5:5-7). If a believer remains on that course, he will not inherit the kingdom, meaning that he will not rule with Christ in the life to come; however, he remains eternally secure since he has believed in Jesus for everlasting life. But if false prophets often look like sheep (Matt 7:15-20), then carnal believers often might look like spiritual Christians.