2:16

who has come to know the mind of Jehovah . . . ?: The answer to this rhetorical question is: “No one, of course.” (Compare Ro 11:33, 34, where Paul quotes from the same scripture, Isa 40:13.) Paul then says: “But we do have the mind of Christ.” Humans can never fully understand all of Jehovah’s thoughts. Christians can, however, come to know God better by studying “the mind of Christ” and cultivating his way of thinking because Christ is “the image of the invisible God.” (Col 1:15; see study note on we do have the mind of Christ in this verse.) In fact, the better a Christian understands Christ’s mind, the better he will understand God’s mind.

the mind of Jehovah: Paul is here quoting from Isa 40:13, where the Hebrew text reads “the spirit of Jehovah.” However, Paul was apparently quoting from the Septuagint, which uses “mind” (Greek, nous) instead of “spirit.” Although available manuscripts of both the Septuagint and the Christian Greek Scriptures read “mind of Lord,” there are solid reasons for believing that the divine name was used in corresponding manuscripts that existed in the first century C.E.​—See App. A5, C1, and C2.

Jehovah: In this quote from Isa 40:13, the divine name, represented by four Hebrew consonants (transliterated YHWH), occurs in the original Hebrew text of Isaiah.​—See App. C1 and C2.

we do have the mind of Christ: A Christian can have “the mind of Christ” by coming to know the pattern of Jesus’ thinking. Such a person meditates on all aspects of Christ’s personality and then adopts Christ’s way of thinking and imitates his example of humility and obedience. (1Pe 2:21) A Christian’s “dominant mental attitude” will then reflect the thinking of Christ, whose “mind” reflects the thinking of Jehovah.​—Eph 4:23; Joh 14:9.