Can an atheist understand spiritual truth? - I Corinthians 2:14

Sometimes I hear Christians say in passing that someone who does not know Christ as Savior cannot understand the Bible. This is both true and false.

It is true in the sense that there are certain spiritual truths that must be taught by the Holy Spirit. This is indicated in I Corinthians 2:12-13 which says,

"Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual with spiritual."

So, there are certain spiritual truths that require the Spirit to help us understand. This happens when the Holy Spirit enables us to comprehend a difficult spiritual concept by comparing two spiritual truths. The word "combining" here in I Corinthians 2:13 means to "compare".

This occurs in my life when I am studying Scripture and the Spirit brings other Scripture passages to my mind that I have also studied, and He helps me through this process to understand what I am reading and comprehend a new (to me) spiritual truth.

Clearly, the "natural man" (v 14) cannot understand these spiritual truths because he or she does not have the Spirit living within. But that does not mean that unregenerate people cannot comprehend many spiritual truths. I am regularly amazed at atheists, agnostics and other professed unbelievers who can clearly articulate the gospel, the doctrine of election, the deity and humanity of Christ and a host of other biblical doctrines. Sometimes their understanding of these things exceeds that of many Christians I know. The point of I Corinthians 2:14 is not that unregenerate people cannot comprehend and clearly explain many spiritual truths. The point is that they cannot "accept" them. Without the help of the Holy Spirit even though they can intellectually comprehend the truth they cannot accept those things as being true. They cannot embrace the truth and make it their own.

I know many unbelievers who can tell you exactly what the "plan of salvation" is, but they have not by their own admission put their trust in Christ. Do they know the Gospel? Yes, but they cannot accept it as truth because this requires the help of the Holy Spirit. Until the Holy Spirit removes the "veil...over their heart" (II Corinthians 3:15-16), they cannot and will not personally accept the gospel of Jesus Christ as truth.

I have heard so many people say through tears that they wish they could believe the Bible. They wish they could believe the Gospel. They wish they could believe in God. There is a sense that they long to be at peace, spiritually-speaking. They long to have certainty about the big questions of life. I believe they really, truly, want to accept what God has said. But without the work of the Spirit, they cannot. That is why prayer is so important in communicating spiritual truth. It is not enough for us to clearly explain the truth, though that is very important (see Colossians 4:3-4). We have to pray for those who hear the truth to respond to it through the help of God's Spirit. We have to ask God to do what only He can do. Conversion is not just a matter of persuasion or understanding, it requires a supernatural act of God. Let us pray like we never have before!