If we want to get into 'Christ consciousness' language, 1 Corinthians 2 is a meatier text.
14: But the natural man (
psychikos anthropos) does not receive the things of God's Spirit; for to him it is folly, and he is unable to know them, since they are discerned spiritually.
15: The spiritual man (
pneumatikos), moreover, discerns all things, yet is discerned by no one.
16: "For who has known the mind of the Lord, who will give him instruction?" And we have the mind of Christ (
nous christos)"
In 14-15 Paul introduces the distinction between the
psychical (from
psyché, Latin,
anima: hence also 'animate' or 'animal') life, and the '
pneumatic' or 'spiritual' life of a radically different nature. The term
pnevmatikos infers not the 'spiritual' in the vague sense in which we use that term today, but referring to a special condition – perhaps even a special status within the early church, probably that of someone filled with and transformed by God's Spirit, and so living according to
pnevma rather than
psyché.
Paul picks up this theme again in Chapter 15, which opens with his brief summation of the Gospel as he had received it (v3) and reaches the crux his own when he counters those who do not believe in the resurrection "But if the Anointed is proclaimed – that he has been raised from the dead – how is it some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?" (v12) and then goes on to speak again of the first psychical man Adam, and the and spiritual man Christ, ending with the famous: "Look, I tell you a mystery:" (v51).
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as well as
phroneo, there is more than one word for mind in the New Testament. We have
nous, as above, but we also have
dianoia, as in the Shema Israel:
"with all thy mind (
dianoia)" (Mark 12:30, Matthew 22:37, Luke 10:27).
A quick AI glance offers:
- Nous (νοῦς):
Often translated as mind, intellect, or reason. It's considered the faculty that grasps first principles and fundamental truths. In some philosophical systems, it's even associated with a divine spark or connection to a higher reality. It can be understood as a kind of direct apprehension of truth, sometimes compared to intuition.
- Dianoia (διάνοια):
Typically translated as understanding, thought, or discursive reasoning. It represents the process of thinking through arguments, analyzing information, and drawing conclusions through logical steps. It's distinct from the immediate grasp of nous.
- Phroneo (φρονέω):
Means to think, to have a mind, or to direct one's mind. It implies a deliberate and focused way of thinking, often with a moral or practical dimension. The related noun, phronema (φρόνημα), refers to a mindset or disposition. Paul in the New Testament uses phroneo to describe the Christian mind being set on spiritual things.
Contextually then, the spiritual mind –
nous – is one informed of the mysteries hidden from all the ages of the cosmos, brought to mind by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The psychical mind –
dianoia – is the human discursive intellect operating under its own powers of reasoning.
Phroneo then simply means the disposition of the mind according to what it knows.
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None of this implies "Christ consciousness" as implied with all its New Age baggage.
Christ said:
"Because I go to the Father" (John 14:13) "And I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you for ever... but you shall know him; because he shall abide with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you." (v16-18).
The consciousness of the Risen Christ is God. To say 'Christ consciousness' in the NA sense is to say 'God consciousness' ... and who can fathom the things of God? as St Paul asked more than once, referring to Isaiah 40:13. He himself said "In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God." (1 Corinthians 2:11)
