The Natural Man

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 (1 Cor. 2:14 KJV)

The natural man is the ordinary human being that has not received the Spirit of God(the unsaved). It takes the Spirit of God to know Him or relate to Him. A man without the Spirit of God is cut off from the life of God. The things of God will make no sense to him. In fact, the scripture says the things of God will be foolishness to him.

Please note that the word “natural” in this context does not carry a sinful connotation. It simply means a man that cannot relate with the spiritual. The best English word the KJV translations could find was “natural.” The Greek word is “psuchikos” which literal can be translated the “man of the mind”. The mystery about this is that the natural human mind can not know God. This is the dilemma of the world and the atheist. It takes the Spirit to know God. The natural man lives a natural life, purely physical.

The sad reality is that even those who have received the Holy Spirit, who by default are spiritual, can also function as the natural man. This is the state called “carnality” or a “carnal Christian.” It is the believer with the Spirit that is living a natural life based on their mind and trying to relate to God from the natural. I call this “natural Christianity”. You will be amazed how big of a problem it is amongst us.

You are in the Spirit, and you have to learn how to leave in the Spirit otherwise you will end up living like the natural man that is unsaved without even realizing it.

MEDITATE

What is one characteristic of the natural man given in our verse above? What other attributes of the “natural man” is also provided to us in 1 Cor. 3:1-3)?

APPLY THE WORD

One of the most significant pitfalls of Christianity today is this “natural man syndrome.” The reason it goes unnoticed is that it is often not sinful. Many make the mistake of thinking the flesh is exclusively what is sinful. No! This devotional above describes a major manifestation of the flesh. Be careful, otherwise, you might be living a “good Christian life” not knowing you are living a natural life driving by your own mind thinking it is God.

PRAY

It will take the Spirit for us to understand what has been shared above. Please ask the Spirit to open your understanding especially if the devotional above does not make sense to you.