1.

The Natural Man: He is born into the human family and lives in his natural state without being a child
of God (John 3:1-8; Galatians 3:26; 1 John 2:22-23; 1 John 3:9-10; 1 John 4:3; 1 John 1:7). He does not
have the Holy Spirit of God in Him and lives his life driven by three human motivators: the lust of the
flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride (1 John 2:15-17). He is unable to know, much less understand the deep
things of God, because He does not have the Spirit of God in Him that gives Him Spiritual wisdom.
Therefore, He considers Spiritually Godly things to be foolishness and rejects God and His Word, which
results in His destruction and rejection by God from having eternal life with God (Romans 1:18-32; 1
Corinthians 2:11, 14; James 1:23-24; 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16; 1 Peter 2:9-17; Revelation 14:9-10).

2. The Spiritual Man: He is one that is born again into God’s family and lives in a Spiritual state. Unlike
the natural man, he does have the Holy Spirit in him, Whom he received at the moment of salvation
when he trusted Christ as his Savior. He is born again as a child of God by his faith in Christ (Galatians
3:26). He is able to know the deep things of God because the Holy Spirit has revealed them to Him
(Isaiah 11:2; Daniel 2:19-23; 1 Corinthians 2:4, 9-11; Ephesians 1:15-22). Because he has the Spirit of
God in him, he has a new nature that is not driven by the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride
(Romans 5:5-9; 2 Corinthians 5:16-19; Galatians 6:15). Because He is born again by trusting Christ as
His Savior, He will be saved from God’s wrath to spend an eternity with God (Psalms 2:2; Romans
1:18; Romans 5:9; Ephesians 5:6; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16).

Let’s now describe a “spiritual Christian,” one who not only has been born anew but who is also walking by the
Spirit, thereby glorifying the Lord.

This description is easy. Take a look at Galatians 5:22 for the characteristics that God sets down for these
Christians. Paul says that one walking by the Spirit is filled with all “the fruit of the Spirit”—Love (Agape), joy,
peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.”

This description is then amplified in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 where Paul says, “Agape suffereth long, and is kind;
[His Love] envieth not; [His Love] vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh
not [its] own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth
all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. [God’s Love] never fails.”

When I think of a spiritual Christian, there is one person in our ministry who always comes to mind. She is one
who is willing to be a total servant to others. Nothing is too hard for her or beneath her. As I look around the
Christian body, it’s amazing to me how very few of these “servant heart” people there really are; Christians who
are willing to scrub the toilet if necessary, work in the kitchen if needed or be behind the scenes.

Humility, again, is the word that best describes a spiritual Christian. Most Christians, unfortunately, want to be
up in front where they can be seen as “spiritual.” They want the visible jobs! A Christian with a servant’s heart
is one who is only interested in what God thinks. And thus, they are willing to do whatever job is required. The
Bible tells us that God’s eyes are toward the humble, the unpretentious and the one who is free from pride.

Remember a couple of other things:

 Whatever does not issue from depending upon the Spirit is of the flesh.
 Attempting to follow God without denying self is the root of all failure.
 The flesh is Satan’s workshop.
 Putting confidence in the flesh is death and will destroy our ability to glorify Christ.

Consequently, we must continually judge ourselves and bring our flesh into captivity so that God’s Life can
come forth. This is called “the exchanged life” and this is what the sanctification process is all about.
 3. The Carnal Man: He is one that is born again into God’s family, but lives and behaves as a man in a
natural state living according to his carnal or fleshly desires. Instead of following the leading of the Holy
Spirit, he chooses to allow the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and pride tempt him, which produces
ungodly works and the inability to grow in Spiritual maturity and discernment (Romans 7:14-25; 1
Corinthians 3:1-14). Only by immersing himself in the Word of God and putting off the works of the
flesh can he abstain from his fleshly lusts and live a life that is pleasing to God and serves as a
glorification of God before unbelievers (1 Peter 2:11-12). Sadly, the carnal man often claims he is a
Christian, but demonstrates to the world that Christians are no different than anyone else.

Let’s put all of this into language we can understand. What are some of the characteristics that identify a “carnal
Christian”?1 These are born-again Christians because they have the Spirit of God in them. However, because
they have chosen to follow what the flesh has told them over God’s promptings, their actions show forth “self”
rather than God. Here are some marks of identification:

Carnal Christians are often talkative and flippant, always making themselves the center of attention. They tend
to use many words and look upon themselves as far more advanced than others. Consequently, they are often
fault finders. Working for the Lord is of the utmost importance to them, but they feel that everything must be
done in a hurry. They do not wait on the Lord for His answers. They often rely upon their own personality and
have a large spiritual vocabulary. They are ambitious and want to attain glory for themselves. They usually are
uncommonly gifted, have great talent and magnetic personalities. But, again, they dwell on their own
superiority.

The basic characteristics of the works of the flesh are independence or self-dependence, self-confidence and
self-reliance. This Christian values self-will above God’s will. He can do righteous deeds and do them well;
however, God says that any good that the flesh does is an abomination in His sight because it glorifies self, not
Him.

Soulish believers try to satisfy their curiosity by studying prophecy. They believe that knowing mentally is the
same thing as possessing experientially. They have great acquired knowledge, but not Spirit-revealed
knowledge. It’s important to note, however, that increased spiritual head-knowledge will often strengthen our
carnality, deceiving us into thinking we are spiritual.

The danger of the above is that because God’s Spirit is suppressed, the soulish and bodily realm will rule,
allowing the power of darkness to get an advantage. God designed the sanctification process to remove all
hindrances so that the Holy Spirit can control us. Sanctification is simply the process of restoring the image
of Christ in us. Unfortunately, many carnal Christians are unwilling to pay that price.

Thus, you can be born again by the Spirit and yet still spend 90% of your time in the soulish realm. If this is the
case, your ministry and teaching will not produce any real life or power. Listen to John 6:63, “It is the Spirit that
quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing...”

Ask yourself, do any of the above characteristics describe you? If so, allow the Holy Spirit to personally reveal
them to you and, in response, deal with them as God would have you before you get captured like that above
traveler.

Other “works of the flesh” are described in Galatians 5:19-21: “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which
are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations,
wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and the like.”
Conclusion
It is clear from Scripture that of all the studies that can be made about man, it is only these three Spiritual traits
that have eternal significance. All other aspects of humanity cease to have any impact or meaning at the
moment of death. Therefore, the Natural Man is born into the human family and lives in his natural state
without being a child of God. The Spiritual Man is one that is born again into God’s family and lives in a
Spiritual state. And the Carnal Man is one that is born again into God’s family, but lives and behaves as a man
in a natural state living according to his carnal or fleshly desires. Only by the Holy Spirit of God can any of
these three be conformed to the image of Christ (Romans:9-26-29).

Our flesh is corrupt because it was created in the image of Adam, rather than in the image of God (see Genesis
5:3). In other words, sin now dwells in our flesh. Romans 7:20-23 tells us that sin is a power that enslaves us.
It’s an energy force that dwells in our unregenerate bodies whose whole intent and purpose is to cause us to veer
off course and to miss the mark—the mark being total conformity to the image of Christ. Satan uses this power
of sin as his tool. And every time we choose to follow what our flesh is saying over what God is prompting us
to do, we quench God’s Spirit in us and become the enemy’s pawns.

Like a prisoner of war, we can easily become overpowered, seized and carried off by the flesh. We can become
an unwilling captive and wholly unable to rid ourselves of our bonds, our cords or bands of sin. We can become
like a traveler who is caught off guard by bandits that pounced on him and carried him off. What’s so sad is
how could we, a born-again Christian, allow the bandits to creep up on us so quickly and capture us? How could
we, who know so many Biblical truths, who have preached them and supposedly walked them, fall like this?
How could this happen? Paul, however, says that he himself continually experienced this battle. Listen:

But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the
law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this
death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but
with the flesh the law of sin. - Romans 7:23-25

Paul knew the choices he had to make to continually free himself from the enemy in order that Christ’s Life
might show forth. We, too, must personally understand this perpetual struggle, as well as know the exact steps
to overcome it.