This the apostle plainly asserts, 1 Cor. ii. 14, "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Sjairit of God : for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
(1.) The subject spoken of is -^u^ixhs av&po'Trog, " animalis homo," the "natural man," he who is a natural man. This epithet is in the Scripture opposed unto •Ti'su,aar/?c&e, " spiritual," 1 Cor. xv. 44, Jude 19, where -^u^ixoi are described by ntnZixa ixr\ 'i-x^ovng, such as have not the Spirit of God. The foundation of this distinction, and the distribution of men into these two sorts thereby, is laid in that of our apostle, 1 Cor. xv. 45, 'Eysvsro 6 'Trpuros civdpwTrog ' Aba,'M sic, ■^uy^YiV Z^MCav 6 sdyaTog ' Ada/j. s'lg ■Trvsu/j.a t,m-~oio\)V — "The first Adam was made a living soul." Hence every man who hath no more but whfit is traduced from him is called •v}/u;>/;xoc, — he is a " living soul," as Avas the first Adam. And, " The last Adam was made a quickening spirit." Hence he that is of him, jDartaker of his nature, that derives from him, is 'xvixj^ariKog, a " spiritual man." The person, therefore, here spoken of, or -^vx^ixog, is one that hath all that is or can be derived from the first Adam, one endowed with a " rational soul," and who hath the use and exercise of all its rational faculties.
Some who look upon themselves almost so near to advancements as to countenance them in magisterial dictates and scornful reflec- tions upon others, tell us that by this " natural man," " a man given up to his pleasures, and guided by brutish affections," and no other, is intended, — " one that gives himself up to the government of his inferior faculties;" but no rational man, no one that will attend unto the dictates of reason, is at all concerned in this assertion. But how is this proved? If we are not content with bare affirmations, we must at length be satisfied with railing and lying, and all sorts of reproaches. But the apostle in this chapter distributes all men
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258 CORRUPTION OR DEPRAVATION [bOOK III,
living into miviJ.aTr/.oi and -^uyj-A-oi, " spiritual" and " natural/' He who is not a spiritual man, be lie who and what he will, be he as rational as some either presume themselves to be or Avould beg of the world to believe that they are, is a natural man. The supposition of a middle state of men is absolutely destructive of the whole discourse of the apostle as to its proper design. Besides, this of ■^vyjyt.hg av&pc^vog is the best and softest term that is given in the Scripture to unregenerate men, with respect unto the things of God; and there is no reason why it should be thought only to express the worst sort of them thereby. The Scripture terms not men peculiarly capti- vated unto brutish affections, av6pd)'zrovg -^uyixoug, " natural men," but rather aXoya. l^Soa (pvffizd, 2 Pet. ii. 12, "natural brute beasts." And Austin gives us a better account of this ex2:)ression, Tract at. 98, in Johan: — " Animalis homo, i. e., qui secundum hominem sapit, ani- malis dictus ab anima, carnalis a came, quia ex anima et carne con- stat omnis homo, non percipit ea qua3 sunt Spiritus Dei, i. e., quid gratise credentibus conferat crux Christi." And another: " Carnales dicimur, quando totos nos voluptatibus damus; spirituales, quando Spiritum Sanctum praevium sequimur; id est, cum ipso sapimus in- struente, ipso ducimur auctore. Animales reor esse philosophos qui proprios cogitatus putant esse sapientiam, de quibus recte dicitur, animalis autem homo non recipit ea quee sunt Spiritus, stultitia quippe est ei," Hieronym. Comment, in Epist. ad Gal. cap. v. And another: iruyi/cog scfriv 6 ro 'xav roTg XoyKfix^oTg r/jg -y^vyrjg didovg, 7ui /ji^tj vo'mZ^oiv uvu&'sv rivog diTsdai jSoriOsiag, oinp isriv dvoiag, xai yap idoj'Aiv ahrr^v 0 Qshg ha /Mavdavr, %at hiyjirat ro 'Kap avrov, ovy 'iva hauTfj aurriv dpy.siv vofMi^Tj. Kai ydp o'l 6fda7^/Jjoi zaXoi %ai ypy]ffiixoi, aXX' sdv (SovXojvrai y^jpig (p'jjrog opaVj ohhiv avrovg to /tdXXog ovir/iffiv, ouds r, oiy.sia iffyog, dXXd xal TapaZXd'Trrst. " Ovroi roivuv i] ■^V'Xjh ^«i' l3ouXridfj yuplg 'Trvsv/u^aTog jSX's'XSiv, %a] i[j.'xohm laurfi yivsrai, Chrysost. in 1 Cor. ii. 15; — "The natural man is he who ascribes all things to the power of the reasonings of the mind, and doth not think that he stands in need of aid from above: which is madness; for God hath given the soul that it should learn and receive what he bestows, what is from him, and not sup- pose that it is sufficient of itself or to itself Eyes are beautiful and profitable; but if they would see without light, this beauty and power will not profit but hurt them. And the mind, if it would see" (spiritual things) " without the Spirit of God, it doth but ensnare it- self." And it is a sottish supposition, that there is a sort of unre- generate, rational men who are not under the power of corrupt affections in and about spiritual things, seeing the "carnal mind is enmity against God." This, therefore, is the subject of the apostle's proposition, — namely, " a natural man," every one that is so, that is ' To"; ^vxpo~s, ex editione Parisiensi, 1733. — Ed.