The Natural Man, the Carnal Man, and the Spiritual Man

1 Cor 2:10-3:3
But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

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.

15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

The Natural Man

The apostle here identifies three types of people in the world, the first of which is “the natural man,” which he says  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 any human who is not of the Spirit of God, that is, the Spirit of God does not dwell in him, because he is unsaved. This clearly says that no matter how intelligent or clever someone may be, they will, through their human intelligence, never be able to “come unto the knowledge of the truth” ((1 Tim. 2:4)) of “spiriitual things,” because they millitate against his natural inclinations, causing him to reject them as “foolishness.”

One might ask:  How, then, can anyone be saved?

Calvin claimed that before one can be saved, they must be spiritually regenerated, or “born again.”  as in John 3:3-8; 1 Peter 1:23; 1 John 3:9.  In his doctrine of “total depravity” (the “T” in the TULIP acrostic), he said this:

“When the will is enchained as the slave of sin, it cannot make a movement towards
goodness, far less steadily pursue it. Every such movement is the first step in that
conversion to God, which in Scripture is entirely ascribed to divine grace”

The Westminster Confession of faith, which is predicated on Calvin’s theology, elaborates on this proposition of man being unable to receive any truth from God without first being spiritually regenerated:

“…Man, by his fall, having made himself incapable of life by that covenant, the
Lord was pleased to make a second, commonly called the covenant of grace;
wherein He freely offereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ; requiring
of them faith in Him, that they may be saved, and promising to give unto all
those that are ordained unto eternal life His Holy Spirit, to make them willing,
and able to believe.”

Of course this throws in Calvin’s doctrine of divine election as part of the mix, i.e., that only those “ordained unto eternal life,” the “elect,” will be given the spiritual power to believe.

But then, along came Calvinist theologeon Jacob Armenius, who rejected Calvin’s doctrines of total depravity and divine election, with the claim that “unregenerate” man is born with a free will, and therefore has the ability to receive or reject God’s offer of salvation, ((Some “Armenians” later claimed that once a man is saved, he can become unsaved by entering into a “season of sin.” It’s not clear that Armenius himself ever taught this.)) and cannot become “regenerate” before that.

So who has it right?  I say Armenius is correct about the free will issue.  If, as it says, “God our Savior.. will have all men to be saved,” and  “gave himself a ransom all,”  ((1 Tim. 2:3,4,6)) then does it not stand to reason that he would, at the very least, endue in man the ability to believe and receive the gospel?  ((Calvinist insists on saying that this passage of Scripture is not referring to all humans, without distinction; it is referring only to all “elect” humans. Moreover, the contention by Calvinists that man lost his free will in the Genesis 3 “fall from grace,” is debunked by passages, e.g. Lev. 1:3; 7:16; 19:5; 22:19, 29))

In conclusion, until the natural man gets saved, and with it gets the Holy Spirit, ((1 Cor 6:19)) he will never be able to fulfil the second part of 1 Timothy 2:4, viz. “to come unto the knowleged of the truth,” or ” be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.” ((Col 1:9))

The Carnal Man

Does this mean the saved man will automatically “come unto the knowledge of the truth” and cease from his carnal ways?  Calvin says he will:

“….from the words of John, (6: 44,) he infers it to be an incontrovertible
fact, that the hearts of believers are so effectually governed from above, that they
follow with undeviating affection. ‘Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin;
for his seed remaineth in him’ (I John 3: 9.) That intermediate movement which
the sophists imagine, a movement which every one is free to obey or to reject, is
obviously excluded by the doctrine of effectual perseverance.”

Okay, but Paul appears to inject a fly into this ointment with his designating these Corinthians as being “carnal.” In other words, given over to their fleshly, sinful desires.  In chapter five, he levels this accusation against them:

1 Cor 5:1-3
“It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.”

Any good Calvinist would quickly assert that this guy cannot possibly be saved because, according to Calvin’s doctrine of effectual perseverance,  one who is truly “regenerate” would never do such a thing.

An Armenian would counter this by claiming that the Spirit has departed from this man, and he has lost his salvation through this henous sin, but that he could get it back by confessing and repenting of it, according to the formula in 1 John 1:9.

As for the Calvinist contention, Paul debunks it with his decree in Galatians 6 that those who have fallen into a so-called season of sin can be restored to fellowship. ((Gal 6:1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. KJV))  And concerning the Arminian proposition that one can be cast out of the body of Christ for indulging themselves in a “season of sin,”  Romans 8:38,39 gives the lie to this baloney.

Rom 8:38-39

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
KJV

The Spiritual Man

In Romans 7, Paul says of himself:

Rom 7:14-17

14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.

16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.

17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
KJV

If there is anyone in the body of Christ who would qualify as a “Spiritual man,” it would be the Apostle Paul. Would it not?  Yet, in this passage, he says: ” I am carnal, sold under sin.”

Is this a contradiction?  How can Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthian church, accuse them of being “carnal,” and thus unable to receive anything but “milk,” when he says that he himself is carnal?

The only way this can be understood is by taking into consideration the different contexts in which each of the passages rests, as well as the use of the word “carnal,” which simply means “meaty” or “fleshly.”  In the Romans passage, Paul’s purpose  is driving home the point that he (and any other member of the body of Christ) still exists in a human body, which is naturally given over to sin. We see in Galatians chapter five, he makes a similar claim when he says:

Gal 5:17
For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. KJV

This explains why Paul speaks of himself in the way he does in Romans 7.  What he is doing is confirming the fact that those saved into the body of Christ are still, very much, in their flesh, and thus prone to sin. But in Romans 6 he says this:

Rom 6:7-14
7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.

8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.  KJV

Conclusion

The natural man is an unsaved man, who views excess indulgence in the desires of the flesh to be a good thing.  He doesn’t see them as sin, in fact, he will often deny the very existence of sin. As the Apostle says, he sees all the business about sin, grace and salvation to be just so much foolishness that only “weak” people get involved with.  The only reason he will cease from his froward ways (e.g., drunkeness, glutony, promiscuity, pursuit of filthy lucre, etc.), is if he perceives them to be affecting him in a negative, non-beneficial way (to himself).  He is often found participating in “programs” designed to “reform” his flesh; like “ten step” programs, e.g. “AA,” etc.  Certainly, much of what passes as “religion” is in this flesh reformation business.

The carnal man is a saved man, who is not established in the faith, ((Romans 16:25))  is spiritually immature, and thus behaves just like a natural man most of the time, the difference being that he is indwelled by the Spirit of God, and thus lives in a state of condemnation.  Living in this state, he feels unworthy to participate in the service of God, and exists in what Armenians call a “backslidden” state, outside of any kind of fellowship.  He also, like the Corinthians, often gets drawn into “ministries” that pray on his type, making false promises that he can be “delivered” from his sinful ways through some sort of “second work of grace,” e.g., “the baptism of the Holy Ghost.”

Finally, the spiritual man is the man who has “come unto the knowledge of the truth of God’s word,  is established in the faith, and thus mature (“perfect”) in the faith. He acknowledges  his carnal condition in the fleshly body he inhabits,  and puts it under submission to the Spirit that dwelleth in him by not allowing it to dominate him, i.e., to shut him down and take him out of the race/game.  His focus is on the reward of the inheritance, ((Col. 3:23,24)) which he looks forward to obtaining at the judgment seat of Christ. ((Romans 14:10-12))

Related articles: Sin: Where The Rubber Meets The Road; The “Other” Directed Life; License; Keeping a Short Account with God; God’s Will For His Children

All Scripture is taken from the King James Bible. Feel free to freely publish this article abroad, as you see fit.