WHO IS THE NATURAL MAN?

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"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" (I Corinthians 2:14).

So many designations, such as 'natural man' and make the assumption that this is just any old, run-of-the-mill lost person when the Bible seems to indicate that he is much more than just a simple unbeliever that has not heard, or does not understand the Gospel.

Who, or what, is a natural man?

The natural man is shown to us in Romans 1 . . .

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen" (Romans 1:18-25).

I know that many Bible commentators insist that this passage is written of the philosophers of Greece and Rome, but I note that it is directed to ALL, not to some. The Greek philosophers certainly have no corner on a reprobate mind. What is known of these Christ-rejectors?

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Verse 18: The wrath of God is clearly understood by all because nature reveals His judgment and not mercy. It may well be true that “to hold the truth in unrighteousness” may speak of one that takes what truth he knows and rather than to embrace it—he suppresses it, or “holds it down.”

Verse 19: The perfect order of creation reveals the perfect Creator. To replace the truth of creation with the lie of evolution takes a mind that rejects God, but not so much in the way of an atheist (I do not believe there are any “true” atheists), but rather in the person of a coward. To prefer to deny God is to pretend that there can be no coming judgment, in the same way that our first parents thought that a bush could hide them from a searching God.

Verse 20: How can a man excuse dishonesty? “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handywork” (Psalm 19:1). “For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old” (II Peter 3:5). Ever since Creation, enough evidence has been present to prevent anyone from worshiping lifeless images. There is no excuse, then, since no one can claim ignorance.

Verse 21: These rejectors decided that it was easier to invent, or imagine, a palatable approach to morality rather than to accept their own immorality, and to create a false immortality rather then to admit to their morality. In order to do this, the truth of the Scriptures are not merely misunderstood—but twisted to fit what they agree with: “And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction” (II Peter 3:15-16 KJV).

Verse 22: When a person tells us that they are wise, it is wise to see a fool. These people are unwilling to see themselves as God sees them, else they would not pretend to be the greater of the two. People are not born fools, it takes a lot of work to get there, but the process doesn’t really begin until the fool sees himself as the final authority over the Final Authority of God’s Word.

Verse 23: When a person will not see light, they have no other choice but to embrace the dark—it is all they know, or as John tells us, it is what they prefer. The man that chooses to worship nature and reject the spiritual truths of the Gospel is proud of his accomplishment. God will not go out of His way to convince the inconvincible, for “a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.”

The natural man is herein described as the man that chooses Nature over the truth of God. The natural man is one that has suppressed the truth to the degree that he has already rejected the supernatural and has preferred the natural elements over the spiritual.

The natural man is he that professes himself to be wise, but in his foolishness has traded the uncorruptible God into corruptible images. He worships man, birds, beasts and things.

The natural man is he whom God has rejected . . . given up on him . . . and allowed to go his own way on his self-made path to destruction.

The natural mind sees the things of God as foolishness, or an absurdity. To him, the Word of God is not simply something that he does not understand—it is pure silliness. He sees those that embrace God’s narrow way as dull, stupid, and even blockheads! This is not a simply lost man that is ignorant of the plan of salvation, this is a man that has become familiar enough with it to prefer the plan of slavation. And as Dickens wrote, they will “bear in death the chains they forged in life.”