I. The natural man in Paul’s eyes is like an undeveloped organism.

A man as he grows, in the true sense of growth, when he attains his full stature or perfection, becomes spiritual. The natural man is stunted; growth has been arrested in an abnormal manner. The natural man exists only to become the spiritual man, just as a chrysalis exists only to become a butterfly. Who are the natural men these days?

(1) Those who tell us that matter can explain mind to people we call materialists. They cannot comprehend the wisdom of the gospel.

(2) Those who speak as if from understanding could answer all questions and satisfy all needs of the human mind.

II. The wisdom that Paul speaks of among the perfect is nothing less than the indwelling of the Spirit of God in the spirit of Christian man.

Just as consciousness alone can be aware of our own inner life, so God consciousness alone can understand the depths of God; and only by becoming partakers of the consciousness of God can we plumb these depths. But we, as believers in Christ, participate in this consciousness. A Spirit of God given to a man through faith in the incarnate Son of God takes all things of the revelatory Christ, his person, his word, his work and slowly reveals them to the wondering and delighted heart. He who is the Savior is also the key to creation.

III. Paul found wisdom in the good news of the gospel far surpassing the wisdom of this world.

Many Christians do not exercise reason and have no particular desire for its satisfaction. But those who do not dare in all honesty to suppress or violate this master faculty are allowed to have their thirst quenched, their reason satisfied. In Christ, the manifestation of God, they find certain things revealed, they find a hint of God, a hint of life, a hint of the world. The mystery is an open mystery, although it loses none of its charm.

This text is an extract from the book “The Enemies of Man” written by Jérémie TCHINDEBE.

We invite you to read the following article “What is a carnal Christian?“.