1 Corinthians 2:14
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

"The natural man" ... is rendered from the Greek "physical man," and has the meaning of an ordinary man in this context.

In the context  the "natural man" is the man who fails to rely on revelation.  Today we would call this revelation the scriptures.  The "spiritual man" is the man who has access to and accepts God's revelation of His will.  Paul's whole point up to this sentence has been how that apart from revelation it is impossible to know the mind of God. It would make sense that the "natural man" is simply the guy who is trying to know the mind of God apart from revelation; it can't be done.  Nevertheless, "revelation" is foolishness to him because he believes that he can know God's mind through the philosophies of men, not through a spiritual avenue, namely, revelation. So, he rejects the things of the Spirit of God (revelation) and as a result cannot know them. They can only be known when one opens one's mind up to the idea of God's revelation.  This is spiritual discernment. 

It is an abuse of this teaching to make it mean that unregenerated people cannot understand spiritual things until God, in some miraculous independent action, imparts to them the ability to understand His will.  The word "receiveth" comes from the Greek word dechomai (dekh'-om-ahee) whose primary meaning is to "accept."   This word in this usage does not mean to have (something) bestowed, conferred to them in some way, rather it means to take into one's possession (something offered or delivered). 

The word "for" here is from the Greek word "gar" which is a primary particle assigning a reason.  Therefore the word "for" introduces an explanation of the former thought. 

"they are foolishness unto him"

The inspired writers of scripture were quite clear on explaining that those who are outside Christ consider the gospel to be foolishness.  "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness ; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God" (1 Corinthians 1:18). See also 1 Corinthians 1:21-25, Acts 17:18, Acts 17:32, Acts 25:19, Acts 26:24.  It is quite obvious from scripture the outsiders think Christianity is nothing more than a foolish superstition.  2000 years later, we see this hasn't changed one bit. 

"neither can he know them"
There's no way ordinary man can know what he refuses to accept.

"because they are spiritually discerned"
The "they" in view here are the unregenerated.  The word "because" is from the Greek word "hoti" (hot'-ee), which simply means "because", which introduces the coming thought to be in conjunction with the former.  The word discern in the English language means to recognize or comprehend mentally.  We know this cannot be the case in this usage because the unregenerated are in view here and not the saved.  Paul just got done saying they wouldn't accept the things of God.  How is someone who refuses to accept the things of God going to recognize or comprehend mentally the things of God.  They can't.   The word "discerned" here is from the Greek word "anakrino (an-ak-ree'-no); which means properly, to scrutinize, i.e. (by implication) investigate, interrogate, determine, judge.  Therefore the thought here is that the unregenerated are scrutinized, investigated and judged by the things of the Spirit. 

The American Standard Version therefore more accurately portrays the meaning of this phrase, "because they are spiritually judged." (ASV)

The application for us today is that we have the things of God in written form though the scriptures.  Those outside Christ are therefore discerned by or determined, investigated scrutinized and judged by the things written.  Jesus explained this in John 12:48, "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day."  Those who reject Christ are "spiritually discerned" as it was used in 1 Corinthians 2:14. 
 

1 Corinthians 2:14 Paraphrase:

The ordinary man accepts not the revelation of God: for it is foolishness unto him: neither will they be able to know it, because they are spiritually judged.

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