The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him; and he cannot know them because they are spiritually discerned. (Darby, 1996).
My Musings – Hogan’s Heroes was comedy set in a German prisoner-of-war (POW) camp during World War II, that ran from September 1965 to April 1971 on American television. Apparently, the passage of 20 years was a sufficient period of time to make light of one of the darkest periods of world history.
The premise of the show was the covert operations of the allied POW’s, who repeatedly outwitted the inept and bungling German officers and soldiers who ran the camp. One such soldier was Seargent Schultz, who witnessed many of the POW’s activities, but feigned ignorance stating, “I know nothing, nothing…” He knew, but pretended he did not.
The text above states the “the natural man…cannot know…the things of the Spirit of God. They are folly to him.” They do not “feign ignorance.” On the contrary, they are ignorant (having no knowledge or understanding) of these things. They feign understanding (it’s “folly“), when in reality has none (“he cannot know“). They pretend they know, but they do not.
My Advice – Our responsibility as Christians is to take the Gospel to them so that they “receive [the entry level] things” (justification). Only then will they be capable of spiritual discernment beyond the entry level (sanctification).
The Brew Is A Musing 