In a recent discussion, 1 Cor 2.14 was thrown up to me as a proof-text of the doctrine of inability such that:
The natural man can’t benefit from the preached Word apart from the intervening ministry of the Spirit. So we’re back to the inability of the lost to respond to God apart from divine initiative.
The challenge led me to consider what it is that the lost person may know. In thinking about this, I found a sermon by Jonathan Edwards on the passage in question. His comments are quite interesting. [Note: the document is in bad need of editing, the Yale Edwards center has scanned it, put it up for use in its present form, but it has many deficiencies. Enough can be read to get the sense.]
He begins by saying that the lost may know doctrine better than Christians do, and may be able to “out argue” them on theology, and may know the Scriptural teachings concerning sin well enough that their conscience is informed and they are ‘moral’ men (my term).
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