But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually judged.
But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, and he himself is judged of no man.
And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ.
I fed you with milk, not with meat; for ye were not yet able to bear it: nay, not even now are ye able;
for ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you jealousy and strife, are ye not carnal, and do ye not walk after the manner of men?
Our Father, because of Your mercy and Your grace, once again we gather in Your presence.
In Your presence, indeed, we are standing on holy ground. We want to take off our shoes. We want to fall at Your feet.
So, if there is any word, any instruction, Lord, do speak to our hearts. You should enlighten our hearts and give us an obedient heart, that we may walk in the light as You are in the light.
As we fellowship, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.
We desire to receive from You this day.
We thank You, Lord, that again we can assemble together in Your presence.
Every morning, we are here considering together this matter of spiritual maturity.
I am sure we are all very much aware that spiritual maturity is God’s will for His people. God’s will is not for us to remain as children. God’s will is for us to grow up to be mature.
Only those who are grown up can indeed inherit the sonship that is in Christ Jesus. Only those who are grown up can share responsibility with the Lord Jesus. Only those who are mature are able to serve the Lord.
Only those who are truly mature can enter spiritual warfare, so that God’s will can be done on earth.
So we know that to be mature is God’s will. To grow into maturity is also for God’s will.
I hope no one seeks to be mature for himself. I wish that all of us would rise up and seek to be mature because this is what the Lord delights in.
If we seek it in this right way, then we have the protection and safety. Otherwise, we will end up in deception.
We are chosen in Christ Jesus even before the foundation of the world. Because He loves us, in Christ He has already given us this place of sonship.
When we receive the Lord Jesus, God gives us the Spirit of sonship. We are led by the Spirit.
Then there is a demand in us that we should grow. The spiritual life in us desires to grow.
As we grow, then we can be placed in the position of sons.
In the New Testament, we have this term, sonship. But in the Old Testament, it is the right of the firstborn. The right of the firstborn is the Old Testament counterpart of New Testament sonship.
We know that in the Old Testament this was a very important matter. The firstborn was to inherit a double portion of the inheritance and also to inherit all God’s promises to Abraham.
We saw how Esau despised his birthright. He sold his birthright for a bowl of lentil soup.
But Jacob longed for the birthright of the firstborn, and he received the blessing of the firstborn.
So we should not overlook this matter of sonship. We should not be like Esau, who for a little temporal and earthly gain forfeited the glorious inheritance that belongs to the firstborn.
The Lord Jesus finished the work of redemption. In Scripture, we know that it was God’s purpose that He should be the firstborn among many brethren.
He is the Firstborn. This does not mean that He was the first one born. It speaks of priority and sovereignty.
Because He is the Firstborn, He desires to impart His nature and character among those whom He has redeemed as His brethren, so that we also may have the character of the Firstborn and be formed into the image of God’s beloved Son.
Hebrews tells us that we do not come to Mount Sinai in fear and trembling. We have come to Mount Zion.
We have come to the general assembly and church of the firstborn. That means the church. In that general assembly, everyone is a firstborn, because the character of the Firstborn is being formed in all.
Today we thank God that He loves us so much. It is His purpose that each one of us should be conformed to the image of His beloved Son and be part of the assembly of the firstborn.
Today we need to consider the characteristics of a carnal person as they relate to the measure of our spiritual growth.
There are children and there are sons. These are stages of our life in Christ. As far as the nature of life is concerned, there are three classifications in 1 Corinthians 2 and 3.
As far as the nature of life is concerned, the people in this world can be classified into three categories. The first is the natural man.
The natural man exists by his natural life, his soul-life. There is no spiritual life and no spiritual power. This kind of person we call the natural man.
So also it is written, The first man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
Howbeit that is not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; then that which is spiritual.
Here we are told that Adam was natural. When God created him, he became a living soul.
There was a spirit within him, by which he could communicate with God, Who is Spirit. He also had a soul—his mind, will, and emotions—and he had a body by which to contact his surroundings.
Adam was in the garden of Eden, and the Lord warned our first parents not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because in the day they ate of it, they would surely die.
After he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we know that Adam lived for a long time. Outwardly, he was alive and lived many years. But God had said, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
So we believe that on the day he ate that fruit, he indeed died. This death was not first in his soul or body. This death began in his spirit.
Because he sinned, his spirit was cut off from God. When his spirit was cut off from God, his spirit became dead.
Now he lived by his soul-life and his body. He became a soulish person, a natural man. Though the faculty of the spirit was still within him, the communication between God and him was cut off.
This natural man refers to fallen Adam and all his descendants. He lives by his soul.
This kind of person can never know or understand spiritual matters. He cannot receive spiritual things. He not only cannot accept them; he can never understand them.
When we look at the people of the world, they all belong to the natural man. Some are very bright. They may enter into philosophy, and when you talk to them, it seems as though they know everything. But when it comes to spiritual things, they are totally ignorant.
All the people in this world are natural men, men of flesh. They are fallen and earthly.
But praise God, the grace of the Lord came upon a group of people. Because of our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit comes in and renews our spirit.
He has given us a new spirit, and now our spirit is revived.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Because of our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit regenerates us. Being born again has to do with our spirit. Our spirit is now revived, and the Holy Spirit dwells in our spirit, bearing witness that we are children of God.
The second Man is a life-giving Spirit. This refers to our Lord Jesus. He gives us the Holy Spirit, gives us a new spirit, and puts that Spirit in our hearts so that we become a heavenly people.
According to God’s will, there is an order in our being. We have spirit, soul, and body. God’s will is that the spirit should be the master.
The Holy Spirit dwells in our spirit. We allow the Holy Spirit in our spirit to be Lord there. Then the soul becomes the manager, and the body becomes the servant.
In our spirit we commune with God. From the spirit we receive God’s direction. Then we instruct the soul, and through the renewed mind of the soul, we accept God’s will and even delight in God’s will.
Then the soul instructs the body to carry out the will of God.
As far as God’s salvation is concerned, all those who are born of God are separated from the state of being natural. We are now spiritual men and women.
Every regenerated person should be spiritual, because the Holy Spirit is already indwelling his spirit. Therefore, he can understand spiritual matters.
We can see God’s will, and this will is carried from the spirit through the soul and through the body. We live by the Spirit.
We should not mind the things of the flesh. We should mind the things of the Spirit. To mind the Spirit is life and peace.
We live by the Spirit. We walk in the Spirit. We are spiritual people. This is God’s will.
Unfortunately, we have another, third group of people. Strictly speaking, there should be only two classes of people in this world: natural and spiritual.
If you are not natural, then you are spiritual. If you are spiritual, then you are not natural. There is a distinction between black and white.
But unfortunately, there is now a gray area. This gray area is not in accordance with God’s will.
This third group is properly called carnal people.
Carnal people are not really natural men, because within them they have the spirit and the life of the Lord. They are real Christians, saved and born-again believers.
They should be spiritual persons. But because they are not growing, they become carnal persons.
And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ.
Paul preached the gospel to a group of people, and they received the Lord into their hearts. Paul stayed among them for a year and six months.
Yet he said, “I cannot treat you as spiritual. You are men of flesh. You are babes in Christ.”
A newly born person has a spirit. He ought to live by the Spirit. But because he is newborn in the Lord, the old flesh that is within him may still be too strong.
In his concepts and his behavior, he may not be led by the Spirit; he may still be led by the flesh.
There is a distinction in the original language. In 1 Corinthians 3:1, “men of flesh” carries the thought of material composition. It has no moral sense or moral content in itself.
When we first believe in the Lord, even though we have a spirit, we are still babes in Christ. If we remain in that state for a short period, it is understandable, because the spiritual life in us has not yet grown strong enough to overcome the flesh.
This is the condition of a newborn believer in Christ. Once in a while he may be led by the Spirit, but oftentimes he is still living in the old flesh.
We mentioned yesterday that babies are very lovable. But babies are self-centered. They only have themselves in view. The whole world revolves around them.
Actually, there is not much outward distinction between a babe in Christ and a natural man. Yet there is a distinction, because the natural man has no spirit, while the carnal man has a spirit.
If a believer remains in that condition too long, then carnality becomes a moral question. Paul says, “Even now ye are yet carnal.”
The word used there has a negative moral sense. It means that a believer refuses to grow. He wants to remain a babe.
Paul says, “Ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you jealousy and strife, are ye not carnal, and do ye not walk after the manner of men?”
Unfortunately, this third kind of people is numerous. But we know that this third group is not in accordance with God’s will.
Today we want to look through God’s Word and see some of the characteristics of a carnal person.
We will not speak further about the natural man, because the Lord has saved us from the natural man. We want to consider what the carnal person is like.
Paul wrote two letters to the Corinthians. We know he wrote more than two letters, but we have these two epistles.
First Corinthians describes the true spiritual condition in Corinth. Second Corinthians shows, through the work of the Holy Spirit, how Paul became a man in Christ.
The saints in Corinth were enriched in Christ in all speech and all knowledge. They were not lacking in any spiritual gift.
They were gifted in knowledge and speech, and there was no lack of spiritual gift. We might think that such a church would be a glorious church.
But God’s light shines upon the true condition of the church. Scripture says, “In thy light shall we see light.”
If we examine ourselves by ourselves, we will never see our true condition. But in His light, we can see the true light concerning our spiritual condition before God.
So in 1 Corinthians, God gives light to enlighten us, that we may truly see our spiritual condition before God. Are we spiritual, or are we still carnal?
Now I beseech you, brethren, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
In one sense, First Corinthians was a reply to a letter written to Paul by the Corinthians. They had written to him asking many questions.
But Paul sensed that there was one matter in their midst that was most important. So immediately, when he wrote this letter, he dealt with this matter.
He said that we should all be of the same mind and the same judgment. We are all God’s children. We all share the life of Christ. We all have one Father, one Spirit, and one Lord.
We are the body of Christ, members one of another. Therefore, we should be in agreement. We should have the same judgment. We should be one and united. We should keep the unity of the Spirit and love one another.
But there was division and party spirit among the Corinthians. Externally, they might still gather together, but inwardly there was already division.
Some said, “I am of Paul.” Others said, “I am of Apollos.” Others said, “I am of Cephas.” Some even said, “I am of Christ.”
There was pride among them. Some said Paul was the greatest. Some said Apollos was the great teacher. Some said Peter was the most authentic. Others claimed that Christ was above all.
There was strife, jealousy, quarrelling, division, and party spirit among them. This is the way of the world.
In the world, we see nothing but division and party spirit. “I belong to you; I will not belong to somebody else.” Strictly speaking, no flesh can be truly one, because each person has his own thought and insists on his own position.
And this same spirit can come into the church. Paul grieved in his heart and said, “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were ye baptized into the name of Paul?”
Paul, Apollos, and Cephas are only servants of God. Christ is the One Who makes us grow. Paul is yours. Apollos is yours. Cephas is yours. You belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
Division and party spirit are carnal. Galatians 5 speaks of party spirit, heresies, jealousy, and quarrels. These are manifestations of the carnal man.
Today we are in the family of God, and we are to be one. Fleshly people cannot love each other. They strive and quarrel.
This is the first manifestation of the flesh. May the Lord shine His light upon us.
Paul said, “I fed you with milk, not with meat.”
A carnal believer can only take milk. Milk is predigested food. It is food that has already been digested for someone else.
For a carnal person, he knows only the elementary things of God: that we need to be saved, that we need to believe, that we need to repent, and that there will be judgment. These are elementary truths.
Regarding the mystery of God and God’s eternal purpose, such a person is not able to understand.
In the beginning, in the first stage of our spiritual life, we need milk because at that stage we cannot take solid food. But after a period of time, we should have spiritual exercise.
We should read God’s Word for ourselves. We need to be enlightened by the Holy Spirit. We need to be dealt with, and our spirit needs to be exercised.
As we exercise, we can discern what is of God and what is not of God, what is right in God’s sight and what is not right.
Then we are able to approach God’s Word and digest spiritual food for ourselves. We do not always rely on other people to understand the Scriptures for us.
We can nourish ourselves through the reading of God’s Word, and then we grow spiritually.
But the carnal believer is not able to take solid food. Among God’s people today, if no one comes to minister to them, they suffer hunger because they cannot approach the Word of God and receive nourishment for themselves.
This is also a manifestation of a carnal believer: he can only partake of milk and not solid food.
But strangely enough, such believers may be very proud of themselves and very boastful, as though they know everything.
This is a very strange phenomenon. We might assume that a person who can only take milk should be humble. But often he is boastful and quick to judge.
If the flesh is not dealt with, and if we only deal with the bad side of the flesh while preserving the good side of the flesh, we are in danger.
What is flesh is flesh. When you believe in the Lord Jesus, your flesh does not somehow become spiritual. Flesh remains flesh.
The flesh in the people of the world and the flesh in the believer are still the same flesh. Often we deal only with the sinful things in the flesh, but we want to preserve and use the good flesh.
We may say, “Before I used my bad flesh to sin; now I will use my good flesh to serve God.” That is a dangerous thing.
The flesh itself must be dealt with. Eventually, the things in the old flesh will catch up with us.
In Corinth, immorality came into their midst.
It was not only that one person had sinned. Unfortunately, the conscience of the whole fellowship had been affected.
This thing existed in the church, but the church did not see its awfulness. In fact, they were proud of their tolerance. They even embraced and tolerated sin.
Paul said, “Though absent in body, I am present in spirit.” He had already judged the man who had committed such sin, that his flesh might be destroyed and his spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord.
The fleshly person easily falls into evil. Scripture tells us that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
There were many evil things in Corinth, but the most grievous thing was that their conscience was not aware of the sin that existed in their midst. It had become numb.
This is a church that was indeed fleshly, or carnal.
When we come to 1 Corinthians 6, we see their lawlessness: brother taking brother to court.
If you have a problem in your midst, is there not one person among you who has wisdom to deal with the matter? Do you not know that we shall judge the world? How then can we go to earthly courts to settle matters?
Why not rather be defrauded? Why not rather suffer wrong?
Today we see this sort of thing existing in the church. This also is a manifestation of the carnal person.
In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul replies to the Corinthians’ questions concerning the relationship between a man and a woman.
The Corinthians were very loose in such matters. They had questions concerning the proper relationship between men and women. They lacked self-control, and this created many problems.
Paul said that, in order to avoid such problems, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. But if one has no self-control, then he should marry, because marriage is a covenant.
Marriage helps us to live in a normal way. Yet some who were already married asked whether they could divorce. Some had been unbelievers before marriage, and now one had become a believer while the spouse had not.
They wanted to use Scripture to justify their own action and liberty. But Paul asked, “How knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? Or how knowest thou, O husband, whether thou shalt save thy wife?”
Here we see that the carnal person has no self-control. But the fruit of the Spirit is self-control. This is another manifestation of a carnal person.
In 1 Corinthians 8 and 9, Paul deals with things sacrificed to idols.
In those days, meat offered to idols was sold in the market. Often it was good quality meat and reasonably priced. The believers asked, “Can we eat it or not?”
They also asked whether, as believers, they could attend feasts held in idol temples. They said, “I know the truth. I know there is only one God, and the idols are not really gods.”
But Paul taught them to live a life of love. If eating meat would offend a weak brother, he would rather not eat meat. He was sensitive to others and did not think only of himself.
A believer is one who has self-control. It is the Holy Spirit Who controls us, and we cooperate with the Holy Spirit. Then we can become spiritual persons.
The Corinthians were very critical and sentimental. They criticized Paul.
They said that other servants traveled with their wives, but Paul traveled alone. They questioned why he did not live by the gospel. Whatever Paul did, they found something in his life to criticize.
They did not know how Paul disciplined himself in order not to give offense to others or disqualify himself from ministry.
The one who is carnal is very capable of seeing the faults of others. No matter what a person does, he always finds a way to criticize.
Paul said that he would not be judged by man. God is the One Who judges.
This is another manifestation of carnality.
In 1 Corinthians 11, we see another manifestation of the flesh: refusing to live under spiritual order.
In dealing with the matter of head covering, Paul is speaking about spiritual order. God has an order.
God is the head of Christ. Christ is the head of every man. Man is the head of the woman.
The matter of head covering is a matter of order.
Between the Father and the Son, They are equal in life. The Father and the Son share the same life. There is no higher life or lower life, no more and no less.
But in the matter of work, when the Son came into this world to become a man, He submitted Himself under the authority of the Father.
God the Father became His head, and Christ became the body to carry out the will of the Father.
For three years on earth, He lived for one thing: to do the will of His Father. He said, “Apart from me ye can do nothing.” He also said, “I can of myself do nothing.”
His body was to obey and carry out the will of the Head. His whole life, God was His head.
Christ was under covering before God. He never lifted up His own head. Satan came to Him and wanted Him to exercise His self-will to live for Himself, but He refused.
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
He stood in the place of being under covering. He became the body of God. God prepared Him a body, and that body was to carry out the will of God so that God’s work could be accomplished.
Christ is the head of all men. All those who belong to the Lord ought to take Him as their head.
In Romans, we are told to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God.
When we offer our body as a living sacrifice, we say, “From this moment, my body is to submit under the headship of Jesus Christ. You are my Head. This body belongs to You. This body lives for You. I am here to do Your will.”
“I am not the head of myself. I have no will of my own. I take Your will. It is my heart to do Your will.”
This is spiritual order.
But many of God’s people do not take this order. In the flesh, they become the head. They do not allow Christ to be the head.
All flesh loves to be the head. No flesh desires to be subject. The fleshly person wants to be the head even in his own life, and sometimes he wants to be the head of the church.
He does not want to submit or come under the covering of the headship of Christ.
A carnal person refuses to fit into the ordering of God, and he will quarrel.
He may say, “We are all equal.” Yes, in life we are all equal. But in God’s work, there is a proper order.
First Corinthians 12 deals with the body. Many people think chapter 12 is about spiritual gifts. Strictly speaking, it is about the body.
Though we are many, there is one body with many members. So also is Christ.
Christ is our Head. We need to come under His covering. Whether brother or sister, we all need to submit to His headship.
At the same time, we are the body of Christ. We are members one of another. We are joined together as members of one body. We can never live individually.
A carnal person is a divisive and individualistic person. Our individualism needs to be dealt with.
Individuality is different from individualism. God created us as individuals. We do not all look alike, and we do not have the same temperament.
This individuality is what God has given to each of us, because God loves variety. There is variety, and there is unity. That is the glorious work of God.
God does not want us to be uniform or copies of one another. God wants you to be you.
This individuality lasts forever. In the New Jerusalem, the foundations have different precious stones. We can still recognize Peter, but it is Christ-Peter whom we see.
But individualism needs to be dealt with. We can never be independent. We need to be fitted together with one another.
I need you, and you need me. The eye cannot say to the feet, “I have no need of thee.” We need each other.
The fleshly person is often individualistic. He cannot fit in with the others. He wants to bring others to himself. This is a manifestation of a fleshly person.
First Corinthians 13 is the chapter on love. This love refers to the love that is in the body.
If a person is fleshly, he does not possess this kind of love.
Even if there are gifts, knowledge, and the tongues of angels, if there is no love, all the works are zero.
This also is a manifestation of the flesh.
In 1 Corinthians 14, we find that a fleshly person likes to display himself. This is why the Corinthians loved to exercise the gift of tongues: they could display themselves.
But this was not for the edification of others.
In 1 Corinthians 15, we see another characteristic: unbelief. Some of the Corinthians did not believe in the resurrection.
There are many truths we cannot believe because of our own condition.
Paul mentions that we need to learn to be submissive.
One of the hardest things for a carnal person to do is submission. He wants others to submit to him, but he does not want to submit to others.
But in the house of God, when you enter, the first lesson you learn is submission.
You are not there to seek someone who will submit to you. You are there to seek to whom you must submit.
In First Corinthians, we see the characteristics of the carnal person.
How can they remain in this condition? Because they refuse to embrace the cross of Jesus.
Paul said, “I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.”
The one who is a babe in Christ needs to learn to be led by the Spirit and to accept the work of the cross in his life.
Then we can be delivered from our flesh, become spiritual, and grow unto maturity.
May the Lord grant us grace to receive His light, submit to His order, embrace the cross, and grow into the maturity that fulfills His will.