Alternative View - August 4, 2017
The Natural Man
In His Presence: 2 Timothy 3:16-17
“A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised”(1 Corinthians 2:14).
It’s important to understand that when the apostle Paul talks about the natural man he is referring to an unbeliever. The non-Christian does not accept the things of the Spirit of God. They seem like foolishness to him. He cannot understand it. A Christian is supposed to be supernatural man, because the Spirit of God is living within him. Non-Christians can pretend to be Christians, but can only carry spiritual things so far. They do not want spiritual things controlling their lives.
The natural man can be moral, kind-hearted, filled with good intentions and good works. Yet the non-believer does not accept spiritual things as part of his everyday life. He doesn’t know what to do with them. Spiritual truth is not very important to this person. He wants to talk about everything but spiritual things. The mindset of the unbeliever is that everyone else is doing it so it must be all right. The Bible uses the word sensual to describe him.
If we could draw an analogy of the natural man and the Christian, we could compare the natural man to a surround-sound entertainment center that is not hooked up to cable or satellite. While the entertainment center is expensive and of good quality, without a signal it won’t do very much. In the same way, the natural man will not get the same signals as the Christian.
One Minute Please
The natural man is not a carnal Christian even though they may appear to be similar.
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