“Who has known the Mind of the Lord?”
But as it is written:
“What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard,
and what has not entered the human heart,
what God has prepared for those who love him,”this God has revealed to us through the Spirit.
For the Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God. Among human beings, who knows what pertains to a person except the spirit of the person that is within? Similarly, no one knows what pertains to God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the things freely given us by God. And we speak about them not with words taught by human wisdom, but with words taught by the Spirit, describing spiritual realities in spiritual terms.
Now the natural person does not accept what pertains to the Spirit of God, for to him it is foolishness, and he cannot understand it, because it is judged spiritually. The spiritual person, however, can judge everything but is not subject to judgment by anyone.
For “who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to counsel him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
Compare with Lecture 5:2
The Father and the Son possessing the same mind, the same wisdom, glory, power and fulness: Filling all in all—the Son being filled with the fulness of the Mind, glory and power, or, in other words, the Spirit, glory and power of the Father—possessing all knowledge and glory, and the same kingdom: sitting at the right hand of power, in the express image and likeness of the Father—a Mediator for man—being filled with the fulness of the Mind of the Father, or, in other words, the Spirit of the Father: which Spirit is shed forth upon all who believe on his name and keep his commandments: and all those who keep his commandments shall grow up from grace to grace, and become heirs of the heavenly kingdom, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ; possessing the same mind, being transformed into the same image or likeness, even the express image of him who fills all in all: being filled with the fulness of his glory, and become one in him, even as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one.
and a few of the Webster’s 1828 Dictionary definitions for the word “mind:”
1. Intention; purpose; design.
2. Inclination; will; desire;
4. Memory; remembrance;
5. The intellectual or intelligent power in man; the understanding; the power that conceives, judges or reasons.
6. The heart or seat of affection.
Acquiring the Mind of God is how we become transformed into his same image and likeness, even the express image, and see things the way he sees them. Most, if not all, sin is the misapplication of good; we do not see things as they truly are. We may see enough to know they are wrong, but we do not see much further than that–but we can.
Now they, after being sanctified by the Holy Ghost, having their garments made white, being pure and spotless before God, could not look upon sin save it were with abhorrence… (Alma 13:10)
We can be shown things that only God can see…
“open your… minds that the mysteries of God may be unfolded to your view.” (Mosiah 2:9)
if we seek.
“For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round.” (1 Nephi 10:19)
We have the capacity for more than we can imagine, yet most of us barely scratch the surface.
I have so much more to write on this subject, but I’m still searching and can only post little snippets here. Maybe I’ll write something more substantial when I’ve wrapped my mind a little more around it all.
Steve, Thank you for posting about this topic. Years ago I sat through a devotional about this subject and it has always stayed on my mind. I should say the general concept has stayed with me. I took no notes so any scriptural references or prophetic references are lost. I am excited to learn what you have found in your study as my casual perusal of the scriptures on this subject has not yielded any meaningful results.
This is the depth of concept that I wish more members of the Church understood when it comes to living by the Spirit or knowing the will of God. I don’t think a three-hour block goes by without some comment or discussion on ‘living by the Spirit’ of ‘following the promptings of the Spirit’. Your post is the direction those discussions should go.
I think for most members of the Church, to live by the Spirit means constantly having the Spirit tell us what to do or say. It is like the Spirit is telling us what God wants us to do. In reality it is so much more than that. For me living by the Spirit means to follow It’s promptings so our thought processes and our mind align with the mind and will of God.
For me this makes the Gospel and the Gift of the Holy Ghost so much more meaningful. It is so much more rich a concept of doctrine and understanding of this subject than thinking of the Holy Ghost as our heavenly seeing-eye dog. I feel the same way when I hear discussions in church on how we are baptized to wash away our sins, or we take the sacrament to renew our baptismal covenants. The Gospel has so much more depth and richness to it if we are willing to study and learn.
I look forward to your additional posts on this subject.
I’m sorry that you l lost out on some of the information from that devotional. It’s brutal to forget and not be able to recover information that you once found meaningful.
There are certainly misunderstandings about this at church, but all of us misunderstand so many things. When we advance in one area, there is a tendency on our part that everyone else would be better off if they knew what we did, and maybe that’s true, but I have found that God is good at bridging those gaps.
If we have greater insights in certain areas, bringing those up in discussions at church often yields good fruit if done in a respectful and appropriate manner. The TRUE meanings of so many things are beyond our ability to convey anyway. If we really want to help people, we will guide them to the source rather than exasperate ourselves in detailed explanations.
There is a difference between watching someone describe the scenes from a movie with zealous enthusiasm and actually watching the movie and seeing for yourself.
Didn’t find my reference to the Oxford Dictionary helpful? No worries. I understand it wasn’t the thrust of your thoughts.
All I can say is that what I know on the subject of seeking and finding, asking and receiving, knocking and it opening, living up to our privileges, living by revelation, and reaching our capacity, I am not at liberty to share. Some things are too sacred, even for me to tell my wife. Elder Scott has shared similarly.
I also wouldn’t mind if this post were also deleted. But if you wish to post my real response, above, and can through deleting the first and third lines, you may.
Sorry, your comment came in only 2 hours ago and I’m at work and haven’t been able to respond. I’m not sure why your post got flagged for me to moderate, it might have been because you shared a link. I appreciate every comment people leave, I think you have brought a wonderful tool to the attention of everyone who visits this post.
I don’t only use the 1828 Dictionary or think that it is superior to every other dictionary, they all have their place. I just happen to enjoy the good things that dictionary has to offer. We should use all things that are at our disposal.
Thanks for sharing, I love the stuff Mormon Interpreter puts out, it’s good to have something that resembles the old F.A.R.M.S. back.