3 Types of People
1 Corinthians 2:14-3:4
Connected with the teaching in Psalm 119 is Paul’s teaching lesson to the Corinthians on distinguishing between 3 types of individuals: the natural man, the carnal man, and the Spiritual man. I personally saw a comparison between the texts for the Psalmist sought a blameless life and Paul described the difference between blamelessness living and worldly living.
Thankfully, I have both studied and taught this concept several times. I am immensely thankful to Dr. Ham and the Discipleship office at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary for walking me through this passage.
Paul begins by describing the natural man in 1 Corinthians 2:14. In describing the natural man, Paul says, “But the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually” (CSB). Clearly, such people are not indwelled by the Spirit. Though Scripture is profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness(2 Tim 3:16-17), the natural man cannot receive such things because it is foolish to him.
Next, Paul references the carnal man in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3. The carnal man refers to those living in the flesh instead of the Spirit. A carnal Christian lives in the flesh, not in the freedom and power of the Spirit. Sadly, the Corinthian church lost sight of the Spirit and lived in their flesh. 1 Corinthians 3:1-3a reveals the sad state of the Corinthians, “I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as babies in Christ. 2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, since you were not yet ready for it. In fact, you are still not ready, 3 because you are still worldly…”
What stunted the Corinthians’ faith? Paul provides the fruit of carnality in the final part of verse 3: envy and strife. Because envy and strife is evident, the Corinthians are “worldly” (v3).
Finally, Paul provided the best type of person, the Spiritual man, in 1 Corinthians 2:15. Paul directly contrasts the Spiritual man from the Natural man in 2:14. Whereas the natural man does not receive the spirit of discernment and understanding, the spiritual man can evaluate everything because he has the mind of Christ, the Spirit of God living within him (1 Cor 2:15-16). Reconsidering 2 Timothy 3:16-17, verse 17 says Scripture is profitable so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Wow, this is where Ps 119 and our text today complement each other. In order to live a blameless life, one cannot be natural or carnal. Spiritual men have the mind of Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit. The unnatural man cannot receive instruction from God because it is foolish to him whereas the spiritual man can. Notice the connections in Ps. 119: the blameless walk in the way of the Lord, learn from the Lord, seek understanding from the Lord, meditate on the Lord, and live according to the Lord’s commands. The spiritual man is blameless because he has the mind of Christ in him. Christ because sin for us so that in Him we would be counted as the righteousness of God.
Application
The picture above is a humbling diagram of the Natural, Spiritual, and Carnal man. The circle represents your life, the chair is the throne L of your life, the cross is well… Christ (obviously), and the S represents self.
The first circle, the one far left, represents the Natural man. Notice how Self is on the throne and Christ is outside of his life. The middle circle represents the carnal man. Thankfully the Gospel is in his life but something is off. For the carnal man, self sits on the throne, and the Gospel of Christ bows to the flesh. Finally, the third circle represents the Spiritual man. Notice how Christ is on the throne of his life and self bows to the Gospel.
I like to believe I always fall under the Spiritual man circle, the reality is I have to fight the flesh daily. The Corinthians had a problem with envy and strife stemming from who baptized them. Paul baptized some and Apollos baptized others. Though the Corinthians boasted in their baptism, Paul taught them that both he and Apollos were mere servants and that God and God alone gives the growth. Paul concludes chapter 3 by saying, “21 So let no one boast in human leaders, for everything is yours— 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come—everything is yours, 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.”
We each have fleshly struggles, weights, and sins that so easily ensnare. Christians are called to crucify the flesh and live in the freedom of Christ. I am reminded of Luke 9:23 “If anyone desires to follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.” Living Spiritually and blamelessly is a daily commitment to surrender and yield to Christ and His liberating Gospel.