1 Corinthians 2:14, 15 But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him: neither can he know them… This is not a common division of men, or one that can be recognized from a worldly point of view. The world knows learned men and ignorant men, rich men and poor men, but not natural men and spiritual men. This distinction is wholly made from the Christian standpoint, but it becomes the all important one, in the presence of which all merely worldly classifications of men become insignificant. Modern theories of man's nature may be reviewed. Some regard man as composed of body and soul; others distinguish the rational soul from the spiritual and immortal nature, and. divide into body, mind, and soul. This mode of regarding man may give clearness to the distinction in our text between the natural and the spiritual man; but the apostle would seem rather to have in mind the principles and spirit ruling the several men, and making the difference between them, and it does not seem likely that he held any particular theory of man's nature. It is sufficient that the two kinds of men - the natural and the spiritual - have been recognized in every Christian age, and are plain to our view now. I. COMPARE THE SPHERES OF THE TWO. Most of the spheres are common to both. (1) The physical sphere; (2) the relational sphere; (3) the social, sphere; (4) the intellectual sphere. But to the natural man the intellectual is the highest department. He may have genius for literature, poetry, painting, sculpture; but he can never transcend the sphere of mind. "The natural man is he whose perceptions do not extend beyond the region of the intellect, the part of his being which he has in common with the animal creation." "The natural man is he in whom pure intellectual reason and the merely natural affections predominate." But though the natural man's sphere is thus limited, there is glorious fulness within the limits; the perfection of art is yet unattained; the possibilities of knowledge are far from exhausted, though the noble minds of the long ages have been occupied in study and research. We need not undervalue the natural man's sphere, so far as it goes. But the spiritual man enters a region altogether unknown to, and hopelessly closed to, the natural man. It is the sphere of the unseen, the eternal, the spiritual; in a word, of God and the things of God. Regeneration in the power of the Holy Ghost involves and includes an awakening of new sensibilities to Divine and eternal things. It is as if a man were endowed with some new senses, and found revealed to him what his fellow men might not know. In this higher and further sphere man can alone find satisfaction for his full powers. It is an encircling sphere that hallows all the lesser ones in which he shares with his fellows. II. COMPARE THE CONDUCT OF THE TWO. As a rule, the conduct of the natural man will be ruled and toned by considerations of self pleasing. This may be tempered by goodness of the natural disposition, or by culture and self mastery; but the tendency always lies towards bodily indulgence and power of sensual passion. The sky over such a man is low, and he fails to get the elevating of the high, vast, pure heavens. Another sentiment tones the conduct of the spiritual man. For him life is God's, the world is God's, he is God's; arid there is no question with him as to what he would like; all his desire is to know what God would wish. His whole conduct must be in harmony with and must tend to work out God's purposes. For him there is no danger of deterioration. His sphere is exhilarating, his thought is inspiring, his progress is assured. III. COMPARE THE FUTURE OF THE TWO. The natural man can have no future that is more than sentiment. His sphere is temporary. He must make what he can of the life that now is. His career has its limits here and its good things now. To the spiritual man life here is but a stage of the true life, a preparation time for a nobler life, upon which he is soon to enter. That future ceases to be strange to him, as he fully realizes life in the Divine spheres now. Impress the disabilities of the "natural man," and show how, by God's gracious provision, the "natural" may become "spiritual." - R.T. Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
    |