The Hidden and Eternal Mind of Christ

By Robb Brunansky

Published October 21, 2025

The final words in 1 Corinthians 2 – “We have the mind of Christ” – are some of the most soul-stirring words in the New Testament.

Scripture has much to say about the mind. God’s Word describes the sinner in his natural condition as having a depraved mind in Romans 1:28, as having a futile mind in Ephesians 4:17, as having a defiled mind in Titus 1:15, and as having a fleshly mind in Colossians 2:18.

That’s why believers are exhorted in Scripture to renew our minds. Ephesians 4:23 tells us to be renewed in the spirit of our minds. As believers, we must not – and indeed cannot – go on thinking like we used to think before we were converted.

Because much of the spiritual battle happens in the mind, Paul’s statement that Christians have the mind of Christ forms the foundation for our encouragement. We are not sent on a fool’s errand when the Bible tells us to renew our minds. God has provided the mind of Christ to us!

Paul had called the Corinthians to renew their minds when he started this larger section in 1 Corinthians 1:10, exhorting them to become unified. Since then, Paul showed the Corinthians how their divisions resulted from adopting a worldly mind, which was contrary to the gospel of Christ.

Now, Paul is concerned he might be misunderstood as opposing all wisdom. Paul is not opposed to wisdom, though; in fact, Paul loves and preaches true wisdom whenever he proclaims the gospel.

Yet, the Corinthians did not recognize true wisdom from God, which is why Paul now exalts true wisdom and exposes pseudo-wisdom. True wisdom is found only in the mind of Christ. Unbelievers have knowledge of various subjects and issues as part of God’s common grace, but they cannot get to the core of life’s meaning, the true nature of God, the way to salvation, the remedy for sin, or the nature of man.

Christians often think the culture can fix our problems of living in a sinful world as sinful people. The Corinthians were no different, clamoring after what the world had to offer. So, Paul calls them back from chasing a worldly mindset, telling them to renew their minds after the mind of Christ, which God has given them as believers.

To this end, Paul describes the mind of Christ in verses 6-9. If we want to know God’s wisdom, we must go to the mind of Christ. However, this action demands we recognize what is from the mind of Christ and what is from the world. So, Paul gives us multiple characteristics of the mind of Christ.

First, Paul tells us the mind of Christ is eternal.

If we would discern true wisdom from the pseudo wisdom of this world, we must first understand the mind of Christ – God’s wisdom – eternally stands outside of time. The mind of Christ did not begin at a certain time.

This wisdom defined as the mind of Christ in verse 16 is not of this age, which is marked by temporary things. God’s wisdom does not come from time and space, and it did not begin one day during this fallen creation.

Furthermore, Paul notes the wisdom of God, the mind of Christ, is not from the rulers of this age. God’s wisdom did not start in the minds of men, not even the greatest men. No finite being could be the source of true wisdom because there would be no real wisdom before that person existed.

Paul adds that the rulers of this age are passing away to show the mind of Christ is not temporal. True wisdom, then, cannot come from this temporary creation that will be destroyed by God, nor can it originate from rulers who are being brought to nothing by God’s righteous judgment.

On the other hand, true wisdom comes from God and is eternal. This divine wisdom is eternal because God predestined it before the ages. God is not working within time and space by reacting to His creatures’ decisions and then responding. Rather, God predetermined that sinners would be saved through the crucified Christ, and that they would hear this message through the gospel.

If we want to know the mind of Christ, we must first recognize God’s wisdom is eternal.

Second, Paul tells us this wisdom of the mind of Christ is hidden.

Since wisdom comes from God’s mind and is eternal, it is beyond our ability to naturally discern. God’s wisdom is inaccessible to us because of the infinite distance between sinners and the Holy One.

Paul shows the hidden nature of the mind of Christ when he calls God’s wisdom a “hidden mystery.” A hidden mystery in this context does not mean something God hoped one of His more intelligent creatures would find, but rather an inaccessible truth to the mind of fallen man left to himself. We certainly can understand some truths about God from creation, such as His eternity, omnipotence, and holiness so we recognize our guilt before Him. However, to understand Christ’s person and work and the truth of the gospel is impossible to the natural mind of fallen man.

Earthly powers do not understand God’s wisdom displayed in Christ, and the clearest proof of this reality is the crucifixion itself. Jesus stood before Herod and Pilate as the wisdom of God in human flesh, but they could not see God’s wisdom as they encountered Him. No one who truly understood the glorious nature of Christ’s person would have condemned Him to die on a cross like a vile criminal. Jesus’ death was the clearest and most indisputable proof in history that the mind of fallen man cannot understand or perceive God’s wisdom.

Notice Paul says they crucified the Lord of glory, which is one of the most exalted titles for Jesus in the New Testament. We cannot comprehend that the glorious Lord should bleed and die for sinners on a Roman cross, but it was the world’s wisdom that murdered Him. They did not – and indeed could not – understand the greatness of God’s wisdom revealed in Christ because of their sinful hearts.

When Paul says this, he is highlighting the immense tragedy and folly of believers resorting to the world’s wisdom to solve their problems or give them status. Do we not understand the wisdom derived from the minds of men rather than the mind of Christ led to people rejecting the Lord of glory and nailing Him to a cross? Why would we ever conform our minds to the minds of sinful men rather than to the mind of the Lord of glory?

Paul drives home the point by saying that human senses and thinking are useless by themselves to arrive at God’s wisdom. Because the senses cannot perceive or fathom the wisdom of God, there is no hope for the fallen sinner to understand the mind of Christ on his own.

The mind of Christ is both eternal and hidden, which might make things hopeless for us. How can we ever know the mind of Christ if it is beyond space and time in eternity and so far above and beyond us that we cannot use any of our natural abilities to grasp it?  This feeling of helplessness is right where God wants us, though.

We cannot save ourselves. Nothing we do will allow us to see and understand God’s wisdom in the mind of Christ. Each of us must recognize our dependance on divine grace to understand and know God. The goal of God’s wisdom is to bring us to the end of ourselves so we will trust in Him rather than ourselves. Only when we abandon all hope of saving ourselves and turn to Christ in faith will we begin to fathom the hidden and eternal mind of Christ.