YOU ARE SPIRITUAL

You are spiritual, not carnal

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Jn3:5-8

One of the most fundamental differences between Adam and Jesus or between the Old man and the New man is that the New man is spiritually alive. He is able to transact spiritually because he is a spiritual man first before anything else. Jesus emphasized this point to His disciples because He knew that this was a starting point in understanding His ministry.

God is Spirit and the Kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom, therefore to come to God and experience His kingdom one has to be spiritual. Flesh and blood cannot possess or experience God and His kingdom. It can only be accessed by those who have been born of spirit and have thus become spiritual people after the nature of God.

“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” Jn4:24

Today it is commonly taught that people are spirits who have a soul and live in a body. The idea is that the real part of us is the spirit man inside us. This position is not entirely accurate and indeed the bible does not teach that. To the contrary the bible teaches that Adam (in whom all natural people exist) was a living soul who had the spirit of God living in him and giving him life (breath).

“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Gen2:7

“And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.” 1Cor15:45-46

The scripture is clear that in the day God made Adam (man) he breathed into him the breath (spirit) of life and he started living. The breath (spirit) is not who he was, it was what made him alive. He was a soul in a body but without the spirit he couldn’t live. God breathed into him the spirit of life and he was animated and thus begun to live. This is what the apostle James describes when talking about faith and works. “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” Jam2:26. The spirit is what gives life to the body.

The New Man is spiritual

The bible teaches however that the Christian who has believed in Jesus is not like Adam. The Christian is like Christ and is after the nature of Christ. The Christian is a brand new spirit just as Jesus is. He is a spiritual person. To deny this is to deny that there is a difference between Adam and Christ. Yet we can clearly see that there is, one is a living soul, the other is a life-giving spirit, one is carnal and natural while the other is spiritual. In the same way the natural, carnal person is a living soul while the Christian is a spiritual being. Look at what Paul says here;-

“….The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.” 1Cor15:45-46

This is what Jesus meant when He said “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Jn3:6. He was saying that those who are born naturally after the flesh are flesh people while those who are born again spiritually are spiritual people. They are spiritual in the same way as the others are flesh!

Because the believer is a spiritual person, they can understand spiritual truth, they can offer true worship and they can hear spiritual language which is the language of the Holy Spirit.

“However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written: " Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him." But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For "who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ.” 1Cor2:6-16

“But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things…….. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.” 1Jn2:20,27

“For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:” Rom8:5-16

“And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Gal5:24-25

Indeed the apostle Paul admonishes us to forsake who we were in the past (flesh) and begin walking in who we are now (spirit). However, how shall we walk in the spirit if we do not even know that it is possible or that it is where we live? We need to be made aware of our new nature and of our new dwelling place.

This is the starting place for us, to acknowledge that we are a spiritual people, the spiritual garden of God, where He has planted His spiritual seed which brings forth a bountiful spiritual harvest.