Thoughts from The Bible

Thoughts from the Bible

Tuesday, 11 February 2025 09:55

Spiritual Matters
by Joey Carroll Corinth Missionary Church

We are physical beings. That is certainly an obvious statement, but ponder it with me for a moment. Our five senses help us comprehend the world around us. We observe the difference between sandpaper and silk by touching it. We see with our eyes all the beauty and variety in the flowers and trees around us. We understand the difference between the sound of a train and the song of a bird by hearing. And everyday as my wife makes her way to the kitchen, our home fills with the most wonderful of smells, which is soon followed by a smile spreading across my face as I taste her wonderful culinary creations. I am so thankful my wife’s favorite pastime is cooking!
Human beings are more than just physical. We are emotional. Emotions help us respond to the world around us. If you caught it, I have already described one emotion, happiness from my wife’s cooking. I do not have enough room in this article to describe all the emotions we experience. But we are different in this way. One experience can elicit a range of emotions among different individuals, such as happiness or sadness, fear or anger. Being emotional is human, and it helps us comprehend the world around us.

But as human beings, we are more than physical and emotional beings. We possess a quality that no other thing in all of creation possesses. Because we are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), we are spiritual. God is spirit (John 4:24), and we were created as spiritual beings in order to commune with God. But all that changed radically in Genesis 3 when man rejected God. There is debate as to what effect our rebellion against God had on the image of God in which we were created. Some argue the image was lost, others say it was destroyed, and others suggest it was merely tarnished. Wherever you land on that issue, you should not argue with the clear statement of the Apostle Paul, “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised,” (1 Corinthians 2:14, NASB). The term “natural man” is used by the Bible to describe a man who does not have faith in Christ. And according to the Bible, the individual who does not have faith in Christ, cannot comprehend God nor the things of God.

Every single solitary human being knows within himself that there is a God (Romans 1:18-22). But because they cannot comprehend spiritual things any longer, they cannot comprehend the God who created the heavens and the earth. And so, they create a god after their own image (Romans 1:23). They obviously imagine a god who agrees with them on most every issue of life. And since they view themselves as either “not a bad person” or a relatively “good person,” they conclude that in the end, they will arrive at their preferred destination. That is not the testimony of the Bible.
Those of us who believe in and proclaim the good news of God need to remember that we speak of things a “natural person” cannot comprehend. It is not simply a matter of telling the story of Jesus Christ and hoping a person understands it and receives it. If a person turns to Christ, it is all-together an amazing work of the Triune God and His grace.

 work that raises a person from being spiritually dead toward God and brought into a close relationship with God through the person and work of His Son, Jesus Christ. A new life in which the “image of God” is being restored (2 Corinthians 3:18) and the understanding of the things of God continues to grow (1 Corinthians 2:12-13).