What Does 1 Corinthians 2:14 Mean in the King James?
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.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
God’s breath and the perception that recognizes it share one Greek word-family: the source and the way of knowing are joined.
THE MEANING
What comes from God’s breath can seem foolish when measured only by ordinary soul-life, which cannot receive or know it on its own terms. The verse links the source of these things with the breath-shaped perception that discerns them.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the assumption that what seems foolish by ordinary human judgment must therefore be empty or false; the verse locates that judgment within one mode of perception.
THE ROOT
πνεῦμα
pneuma
GROWS FROM
πνεῦμα (pneuma; stem πνευμ-)
Breath or wind; by extension, spirit.
“Spirit / spiritually” in this verse is pneuma. English uses “Spirit” for the source and “spiritually” for the mode of discernment, while Greek repeats the same breath-root in both. What comes from God’s breath is examined through that same breath.
ALSO GROWS
pneuma: Breath, wind, spirit.
πνεῦμα
In John 3:8, this same Greek noun is rendered “wind” and “Spirit,” showing how English can separate meanings held by one word.
pneumatikōs: In a breath-related way; spiritually.
πνευματικῶς
This is the adverb used for how the things of God are discerned, linking the perception directly to the source.
ψυχικὸς ἄνθρωπος
psychikos anthrōpos
GROWS FROM
ψυχ- (psych-, the stem of ψυχή, psychē)
Life, living soul; ψυχικός describes what belongs to the living soul or ordinary creaturely life.
“natural man” in this verse is psychikos anthrōpos. “Natural” here is formed from ψυχή (psychē, living soul), so the phrase names a person in terms of soul-life. The contrast concerns what can receive and assess God’s things, not the worth of the person.
ALSO GROWS
psychē: Living soul; life.
ψυχή
The same word appears in 1 Corinthians 15:45 in the phrase “a living soul,” showing the life-language beneath “natural.”
psychikos: Belonging to the living soul; natural or soul-related.
ψυχικός
The same adjective is paired with the word rendered “spiritual” in 1 Corinthians 15:44, making the contrast visible across both verses.
ἀνακρίνεται
anakrinetai
GROWS FROM
κριν- (krin-, from κρίνω, krinō)
To examine, investigate, or question; the underlying κρίνω means to distinguish or judge.
“Discerned” can sound like an inward hunch, but ἀνακρίνεται (anakrinetai, is examined) carries the sense of close assessment. God’s things are evaluated through a mode aligned with God’s breath.
ALSO GROWS
krinō: Judge, decide, distinguish.
κρίνω
This root shows that discernment is an act of assessment, not merely a feeling.
anakrisis: Examination, inquiry.
ἀνάκρισις
Acts 25:26 uses this related noun for an examination, sharpening the investigative sense behind “discerned.”
THE PATTERN
What belongs to God’s breath is apprehended through perception shaped by that same breath.
But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.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.THE THREAD
It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.The same word-family contrasts ψυχικόν (psychikon, belonging to the living soul) with πνευματικόν (pneumatikon, belonging to breath or Spirit). This opens 2:14 as a distinction in the life from which perception proceeds, without making embodied life a mistake.
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