I. CORINTHIANS 10, 3. 173

from heaven.' Neither of these views, however, is consist- ent with the scriptural use of the word. Spiritital neither means refined nor typical. In 15, 44, "spiritual body" means a body adapted to the spirit as its organ. 3. Others give the word here its very common sense, pertainmg to the spirit; as, in the preceding chapter, " carnal things " are things pertain- ing to the body, and " spiritual things " are things pertaining to the soul. The manna, according to this interpretation, was designed not only for the body, but for the soul. It was spir- itual food ; food intended for the spirit, because attended by the Holy Spirit and made the means of spiritual nourishment. This is a very commonly received interpretation. Calvin as- sumes it to be the only possible meaning of the passage, and founds on it an argument for his favourite doctrine, that the sacraments of the Old Testament had the same efficacy as those of the New. But this exalts the manna into a sacra- ment, which it was not. It was designed for ordinary food ; as Nehemiah (9,15) says, "Thou gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth for them water out of the rock for their thirst." And our Lord represents it in the same light, when he said, " Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead." John 6, 49. He contrasts himself, as the true bread from heaven which gives life to the soul,, with the manna which had no spiritual efficacy. 4. One of the most common meanings of the word spiritual in Scrip- ture is, derived from the Spirit. Spiritual gifts and spiritual blessings are gifts and blessings of which the Spirit is the author. Every thing which God does in nature and in grace, he does by the Spirit. He garnished the heavens by the Spirit ; and the Spirit renews the face of the earth. When therefore it is said, God gave them bread from heaven to eat, it means that the Spirit gave it ; for God gave it through the Spirit. Thus God is said to renew and sanctify men, because the Spirit of God is the author of regeneration and sanctifica- tion. The manna therefore was spiritual food,, in the same sense in which the special gifts of God are called spiritual gifts. That is, it was given by the Spirit. It was not natural food, but food miraculously provided. In the same sense, in the next verse, the water is called spiritual dri7ik, because miracu- lously produced. In Gal. 4, 29, the natural birth of Isaac is said to have been after the Spirit, because due to the spe- cial intervention of God. As the miraculous deliverance and miraculous guidance of the Israelites was their baptism, so