Being Spiritual

Being Spiritual

The Scriptures can give us the right understanding of what it means to be spiritual. We can learn this from the first epistle to the Corinthians. In Chapter 3, verses 1 and 2, we see that the Corinthians were not spiritual but carnal. And in Chapter 1:4-7 we can plainly see the great grace that had befallen them. It was so great that Paul always thanked God for them. They were enriched in everything in Christ, in all doctrine and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in them, so that they came short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of Jesus Christ. This was no small thing! The majority of God’s people have not received that much. You cannot give them such a commendation; however, in spite of all this, the Corinthians were not spiritual! A person may have received so much from God and still not be spiritual! As we can see, he does not become spiritual by receiving God’s Spirit or because he has received the gifts of the Spirit! Nor is a person spiritual because he has been enriched in all true doctrine and all true knowledge! In spite of all this, he is still carnal or a babe in Christ Jesus. From Chapter 3 verse 3 we can also learn something about being carnal or spiritual. One evidence of their carnality is the envy and strife that was among them. In Galatians 5:19-21 we see that this belongs to the works of the flesh. However, fulfilling the desires of the flesh is the same as sinning; it is the same as not living an overcoming life. In other words, being spiritual is the same as living an overcoming life, overcoming in the sense of the word that one does not fulfill the desires of the flesh. In 1 Corinthians 6:5 we see that there was not a single wise brother among them.

Being wise also coincides with being spiritual. How do we become wise and spiritual, or how do we grow up to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ? This is easy to understand: by faithfully, and in devotion to God, following all the true and sound doctrines by which we have become so enriched, by unceasingly judging ourselves and cleansing ourselves in great and small things in all respects in obedience to the truth. After having lived like this uninterruptedly for a longer period of time, we will eventually become a spiritual person with a good and full understanding of God and man. Then we can consciously work together with God as a fellow worker. See 2 Corinthians 6:1-10 and 1 Corinthians 3:9. Being spiritual also coincides with being a fellow worker. The Corinthians were not spiritual; they were not mature, not wise; they were not fellow workers. They were carnal babes; they were foolish; they were a field.

In Chapter 14, verses 37 and 38, Paul writes: “If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord. But if anyone does not realize this, let him be.”

Had they been spiritual (had they had sufficient knowledge of God), they would have realized it; but now they were carnal, so if they did not understand it, they should just let it be. They could manage without understanding it if only they were sufficiently humble to accept the fact that they did not understand it. However, that was presumably very difficult for them.

Paul says in Chapter 4, verse 3: “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you . . . .” He was spiritual, so his actions in word and deed could not be properly judged by them, who were carnal. He possessed wisdom and life and the knowledge of God and His work with souls, which they did not possess.

How could they be in a position to discern what was right (causes and motives, etc.) in matters of which they had no knowledge? The difference between Paul and the Corinthians was so enormous that he writes in Chapter 2:15: “But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.” None of the Corinthians could judge Paul.

However, it was not the same for them both, for they could not say that it was of little significance to be judged by him. On the contrary, for the spiritual person judges all things! Everything they saw and did was within his boundaries. He knew if what they did was right; but if it was wrong, he also knew it. For them to be judged by Paul was equivalent to being saved, as long as they acted on it. Therefore he was also God’s fellow worker on their salvation; he was God’s steward who cared sincerely for them and had good oversight of them, and according to his true understanding, he determined what they needed and gave it to them. Ch. 4:1.

But what were they? They were a field—they were foolish and more or less naughty children. Nevertheless, they were still his beloved children. He loved them with a father’s love, even with the Father’s love.

Moreover, according to Chapter 4 these carnal infants, this foolish piece of field, were puffed up. They thought they were rich in the midst of their poverty; they had become “lords without us,” as Paul says; they thought they had become wise and strong in Christ. They had become instructors (these babes) who would even dispute with Paul!!! With all their wisdom (i.e., their lack of God’s wisdom), they thought that in all respects the old, who was faithful in all areas, had now again begun to walk according to the flesh.!!!!!! 2 Cor. 10:2. This is what they discovered—these poor creatures who did not even know what it meant to be spiritual and whose lives were like an open book before Paul. They really needed the rod! 1 Cor. 4:21.

The last verse in this epistle is very significant.