11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. 1 Corinthians 2:11,12 (NKJV)

Man has a spirit in him – a part of him – that he knows and is guided by. It is an experiential knowledge that manifests as our conscience, our intuition, and our emotion. It is a spirit that a man may discern as the leading and calling of things larger than himself. However, it is only of himself and may guide him through a feeling or an understanding of self-awareness, but it is still only himself. The vessel that is man envelops this spirit and regardless of how or what he perceives he is knowing, it is within himself.

There is a big mistake in the world that uses the spirit of man and confuses it with a universal spiritual energy. This new way of thinking in this age is deception. Man is not guided by the spirit of other man but is governed by his own spirit of experiential knowledge that  is separated unto each man. The mistake is believing this spirit is interchangeable and transferable between all man.

So this means? The spirit of man is for a man to know that which is within him: experience as a basis for his emotion and feeling. It is individual and I believe the verse means that the depth of knowledge is as deep a the individual man’s experience and wisdom.  Every man has this and it is a relative wisdom. We think therefore we are, we experience therefore we feel. This has an end for all man and he will reach his end and need to turn to an outside source. Man’s spirit and wisdom is finite.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,  But fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 1:7

If we believe the Bible then, we know we have lived in a finite spirit of wisdom prior to our relationship with God. We have never begun to know. Wisdom is the wisdom of the things of the Spirit. The wisdom of the Spirit and the wisdom of man’s spirit are separate. That is why when we submit our lives to Jesus, we receive the Spirit, the reverence for the Father, and it is then when our wisdom begins. The wisdom God  imparts. We are sanctified – set apart:

And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. John 17:19

Set apart is separation. Therefore the things of man are not the things of God. Man will run a futile race without God but with God, will run to a glorified finish in a majestic race. We have received the Spirit, our key to the things of God. His knowledge, His gifts, His love. All are separated from man of the world. We are freely set apart in God and now freely receive the things given to us by God.

Man has spirit to know himself as deep as his experience allows. The Spirit of God brings wisdom that eternal knowledge will confound the worldly spirit of man. The more we understand this, the more we can begin to have compassion – not tolerance – for a lost world. We have known the spirit and we know the Spirit now. Therefore we can feel with those still in the world and find love for them. We are set apart but we love not in arrogance of achievement, but in the growth into the Spirit who brings us the love and gifts of our Father.

Rick Stassi

November 30. 2011