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The Grace Of God
Intro: I Corinthians 2:9-14 ; 3:1-3.
Last week we were introduced to the natural man (“psuchikos” - psoo-khee-kos, taken from the word
“psuche” - psoo-khay, or in English, “Psyche”, the personification of the soul). In our context, The natural man
is anyone who only has soul-life. It identifies the spiritual status of the individual. He has no inner God given
life that comes only with the gift of the indwelling Spirit of God (“pneuma” - pnyoo-mah). They are not saved
by God’s grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9), even though they maybe religious.
We are told three things about the indifference of the natural man to the things of the Spirit of God
that we need to know: I Corinthians 2:14.
1. The natural man, is a non-spiritual man, and he does not receive (does not accept, welcome, or admit into
his soul) the things, ie., the truthful revelations, of the Spirit of God.
2. The things of the Spirit, the truth, the Word of God, are foolishness (moronic and stupid) to him.
3. The natural man is not able (he lacks the ability and power, he is incapable) of knowing (of recognizing and
understanding) the things of the Spirit, i.e., the Word of God.
Note: This is all true because the things of the Spirit, the Word of God, are spiritually “discerned” (examined,
scrutinized, appraised, and appreciated).
I Corinthians 3:1-3:
“carnal” -- sarkikos (sar-kee-kos). It’s taken from “sarx”, with the basic meaning of
“flesh”, ie., the body. But it must be understood in context.
Galatians 2:20.
In I Corinthians 3:1-3, carnal is that which is external as opposed to the
internal Spirit life. “Sarkikos”, or being carnal is the life like that of the natural
man, “and walk as men”. They are behaving themselves according to the
same standard as the natural unsaved man. (I Corinthians 3:3b).
Commentary:
1. The natural man and the carnal man’s focus of his life is wrong because it is centered in the self-life. And in
order to justify their attitude and behavior, they both measure and commend themselves with their own selfimage, and the image of others. -- II Corinthians 10:12.
2. The natural man and the carnal man who are self-centered people, though religious, they are religious
because the law of God has been written in his soul. Romans 2:11-15.
3. The way the natural unsaved man and the carnal saved man salve their conscience is through a
combination of good works and rationalization, which results in self-righteousness.
John 8:31-42; Romans 1:18-23.
February 12, 2017
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The Grace Of God
4. God has given us an example of a very religious natural man who became a spiritual man.
-- Philippians 3:1-9 ; 10-14.
Warning: It is not unusual for people that fall under the “natural” category of life to claim that anyone
can get any idea they want out of the Bible. Even professing Christians are caught in this deception.
It began with Satan, and Adam and Eve.
To justify themselves, the natural man says that because anyone can prove whatever they want to
believe from the Bible, that is the reason there are so many different religious practices among
people that refer to the Bible. This gives them a deceptive excuse for not accepting the Scriptures as
the authoritative Word of God. The carnal man can get caught in this confusion and deception. It was
true during the time of the Apostle Paul, as there was confusion and division in the Corinthian
Church. So God gives us the answer to this deception. And that answer is: I Corinthians 1:17-29;
I Corinthians 2:1-14.
Note: People are deceived, and are deceiving themselves, into believing that because they are
religious, usually by their own definition, or based on some religions definition, that they are a
righteous spiritual person. We need to beware! -- II Timothy 3:1, 5, 13.
Beware:
1. If someone claims to be a believer, and if they cause strife and divisions among the brethren, they
are at best a CARNAL Christian (I Corinthians 3:3).
2. They will not have a teachable spirit so that they can learn the deep things of God
(I Corinthians 2:9-10).
3. They will not search the Scriptures to see what the truth is (Acts 17:11-12). They have their “daily
devotions”, and that is usually a legalistic practice ( ie., I’ve been told I must do this), rather than it
being the inner desire of the Holy Spirit, like having a desire for your favorite food.
4. They will oppose, or ignore the necessity of, “rightly dividing the word of truth”
(II Timothy 2:14-15). Remember that wrongly dividing the word of truth began with Satan, and Adam
and Eve (Genesis 3:1-6). And it was a common practice among the religious leadership of the Jews.
Thus the rejection of Isaiah 53, among a multitude of other passages that spoke about God’s coming
salvation, and then the promised kingdom of God. Because they did not rightly divide the word of
truth that God gave to them, for the most part they knew not the time of their visitation, the time of
their promised Messiah and salvation (Luke 19:41-44).
5. Also, it is only when the Holy Spirit convicts people concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment
that the sinner, the natural man, can see his need of trusting in Christ crucified for him.
-- (John 16:7-11; I Corinthians 1:18).