" And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto
spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ " (I Corinthians
3:1 R.V.).
Let us repeat again at this point, that the " soul " is
the seat of the self-consciousness (the personality, the will, the intellect),
and stands between the spirit-the seat of the God-consciousness; and the body
(the seat of the sense), or world-consciousness. Gall says that the " soul
" derives its life, or animating power, from either the spirit (the higher
part), or the animal (or lower part). In Latin the word for " soul "
is anima-the animating principle of the body.
In the converted man i.e. one who has had his spirit regenerated
or quickened into life by the Spirit of God communicating life to the fallen
spirit-the soul is dominated either from beneath, by the animal-life; or from
above by the spirit life. It may be said, therefore, that there are three
classes of Christians and these three classes of believers are clearly referred
to in the Scriptures as(I) The spiritual man-dominated by the Spirit of God,
indwelling and energizing his renewed human spirit. (2) The soulish
man-dominated by the soul, i.e., by the intellect or emotions.(3) The carnal
man-dominated by the flesh, in fleshly habits or desires, i.e., " the
power of the flesh ".
The word used in I Corinthians 3:1 is not psuche--soul; but
sarkikos-fleshly, the adjective of the word in Romans 8: 7, where it is
written, that the " carnal (sarx) mind is enmity against God ". It is
not said that the " psuche ", or soulish life, is enmity to God, but
the fleshly mind. It is true that the natural, or "soulish " man,
cannot receive, or understand, the things of the Spirit (I Cor.2:14), but he is
not said to be in enmity, simply because he is soulish ! " And I (i.e., as
the natural man-' man of soul', Gk.-cannot receive, so I, also) could not speak
unto you, the deep things of God, as I would to the spiritual; but I was
compelled to speak to you as I would to men of flesh," wrote Paul, in effect, to the
Corinthians, for although truly regenerate and " in Christ " yet they
were so dominated by the flesh that he could only describe them as still "
carnal " or fleshly. This was proved by the manifestation of the works of
the flesh in jealousy and strife, for he writes to the Galatians, " the
works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, fornication, uncleanness,
lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, wraths,
factions, divisions, heresies, envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and such like
"(Gal. 5: 19-21). Any of these manifestations seen in a believer mark the
workings, in some degree, of the "sarkikos " or fleshly life, passing
out through the avenues of the soul, or personality, in jealousy or strife,
etc. Such a one is not even a "soulish " man i.e., merely "
natural " but a man walking " after the flesh ", even though his spirit may be revivified, and quickened into
life; and those who are thus walking " in the flesh " cannot please
God.
The Apostle's description of these Corinthian believers as being
" carnal " or fleshly, and yet " babes in Christ ", shows
clearly that " babes in Christ " are generally under the domination
of the flesh or " in the flesh " at the initial stage of the
spiritual life. In their regeneration they are truly " in Christ
"i.e., vitally quickened with His life, and planted into Him by His
Spirit, as it is written in John 3:16, " that whosoever believeth into Him
may have everlasting life " (Greek) ; but these " babes in Christ
", vitally in Him by a living faith, have not yet apprehended all that the
Cross severs them from by their being baptized into His death on the Cross, and
quickened by His life.
It appears from the Apostle's language that he blames these
Corinthians for being still " babes ", for the babe stage ought not
to be of very long duration. (Compare Hebrews 5:11-14) The regeneration of the
spirit, which comes through the in-breathing of the Spirit of life from God, on
the man's simple faith in the atoning sacrifice of the Son of God upon the
Cross in his behalf, should be quickly followed by the apprehension of the
death of the sinner with the Saviour (Romans 6: 1-13), which brings about the
deliverance from the life after the " flesh " which the Corinthian Christians
had manifestly not yet known.
The marks of the carnal Christian, babes in Christ, the Apostle
sketches very clearly, and by these marks every believer of the present time
can judge for himself whether he, too, is "yet carnal". This leads us
to consider at this point:
The Deliverance of the
Cross
" They that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh
" (Galatians 5:24, R.V.). These are the words with which the Apostle ends
his description of the " works of the flesh " in his letter to the
Galatians, as he contrasts the " fruit of the Spirit " which the
" spiritual " man-the man in whom the spirit, indwelt by the Holy
Spirit, rules -should bring forth in his life.
The " babes in Christ " who are " yet carnal
" need a fuller apprehension of the meaning of the Cross; for in the
purpose of God the death of Christ meant that the " old man " was
crucified with Him, so that " they that are of Christ have crucified the
flesh " with all its affections and desires. The same Cross that was
revealed to the unregenerate man as the place where sin was atoned for, and his
burden of sin removed by the blood of the Lamb, is the place where the "
carnal " Christian, who may be a " babe " in Christ, even though
regenerate for many years, must obtain deliverance from the domination of the
flesh, so that he may walk after the spirit, and not "after the
flesh", and thus in due season become " spiritual ", and a
full-grown man in Christ.
ROMANS 6 IS THE MAGNA CHARTA OF LIBERTY THROUGH THE CROSS OF
CHRIST, which the babe in Christ needs to know, for
it most clearly sets forth the basis of deliverance, to which only a brief
reference is made in Galatians 5:24 and other passages.
Only by an appropriation of death with Christ, with the putting
to death of the " doings " of the body (Romans 8:13, R. V. m.;
Colossians 3:5) can the believer live, and walk, and act in and by the Spirit,
and thus become a spiritual man. " When we were ` in the flesh' the
passions of sin ... wrought in our members to bring forth fruit unto
death," wrote Paul to the Romans, " but now we have been discharged
from the law, having died. .. " (Romans 7:5,6).
" In the likeness of sinful flesh " (Romans 8:3), the
pure and holy Son of God hung upon the tree, an " offering for sin ",
and because He died for sin, and to sin in the place of the sinner, God thus
has condemned for ever a life of " sin in the flesh " in all who are
truly united to His Son. The believer lives " in the flesh " (2
Corinthians 10:3) it is true, in that he is still in his physical body, but
once he sees God's own Son in the " likeness of sinful flesh "
hanging upon the tree, and knows that in Him he died to sin, from that hour he
lives " in the flesh " (Galatians 2:20) as far as the physical body
is concerned, but he does not WALK any longer " after the flesh "that
is, according to the demands and desires of his body -but " after the
spirit "-that is, according to his renewed spirit indwelt by the Spirit of
God. (Cf. Romans 8:5,6)
Based upon the work of the Son of God on the Cross of Calvary, in
which the sinner for whom He died was identified with the Substitute who died
for him, the redeemed and regenerate believer is called to " reckon
", or account himself " dead to sin ", because " our old
man was crucified with Him ". The Holy Spirit of God dwelling in his
spirit can then carry out to its ultimate issue the Divine purpose that the
" body of sin "-i.e., the whole continent of sin in the whole of
fallen man may be " destroyed " or abolished as the man on his part steadily and
faithfully refuses to " let sin reign " (Romans 6:6,11,13). It is as
the " babe in Christ " knows this that the " flesh " ceases
to dominate, and have control, and he rises in spirit into real union with the
Ascended Lord-alive unto God in Christ Jesus.
The "babe in Christ" who apprehends this now knows the
fuller meaning of being " Alive unto God "; and walking after the
spirit, and by the Spirit, he ceases to fulfil the desires of the flesh, and
henceforth gives his spirit, indwelt by the Spirit of God, the domination of
his entire being. It does not mean that he may not again lapse into the walk
" after the flesh ", but as long as he gives his mind to the "
things of the Spirit ", and reckons himself continually " dead indeed
unto sin ", he, " by the Spirit ", steadfastly " makes to
die " the " doings of the body" (Romans 8:13 R. V. m.), and
walks in newness of life.
" The word destroyed
in the A.V. is rendered ‘done away’
by Alford, and 'annulled' by
Darby. In Romans 3:3, it is translated ` make without effect'; in Romans 3:31,
`make void'; in Romans 4:14, `made of none effect’; in Romans 7:2, ‘ loosed’; in Romans 7:6, 'delivered'.
Whatever its best translation in Romans 6:6, it is plain that it signifies that
`the body of sin ' is to CEASE TO HAVE ANY POWER TO BRING THE BELIEVER INTO
BONDAGE TO SIN .. . "-W.R.N.
The root word means to " leave unemployed, to make barren,
void, useless ". Therefore
the actual " abolishing " of the " body of sin "which
includes practically all that we receive by nature in the first Adam can only
reach its ultimate experimentally when the " body of our humiliation
" is " conformed to the body of His glory " at the coming of the
Lord from heaven (Philippians 3:21).