1 Corinthians 2:14

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. NATURAL MAN, [ psuchikos (G5591)]. As contrasted with the spiritual man, he is one in whom the animal soul [psyche] overbears his spirit, which latter is without the Spirit of God (Jude 1:19). So the animal (English version, "natural") body led by the lower nature (including both man's fallen roasts and heart), is contrasted with the Spirit-quickened body (1 Corinthians 15:44). The carnal man is one led by unregenerate appetites, or by a self-seeking mind, not necessarily one of low sensuality, but estranged...

14._But the animal man. _(125) By the _animal man _he does not mean (as is commonly thought) the man that is given up to gross lusts, or, as they say, to his own sensuality, but any man that is endowed with nothing more than the faculties (126) of nature. (127) This appears from the corresponding term, for he draws a comparison between the _animal _man and the _spiritual _As _the latter _denotes the man whose understanding is regulated by the illumination of the Spirit of God, there can be no doubt that _the former _denotes the man that is left in a purely natural condition, as they speak. For the soul (128) belongs to nature, but the Spirit is of supernatural communication. He returns to what he had previously touched upon, for his object is to remove a stumblingblock which

10-16 God has revealed true wisdom to us by his Spirit. Here is a proof of the Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures, 2 Peter 1:21. In proof of the Divinity of the Holy Ghost, observe, that he knows all things, and he searches all things, even the deep things of God. No one can know the things of God, but his Holy Spirit, who is one with the Father and the Son, and who makes known Divine mysteries to his church. This is most clear testimony, both to the real Godhead and the distinct person of the Holy Spirit. The apostles were not guided by worldly principles. They had the revelation of these things from the Spirit of God, and the saving impression of them from the same Spirit. These things they declared in plain, simple language, taught by the Holy Spirit, totally different from the affected oratory or enticing words of man's wisdom. The natural man, the wise man of the world, receiv...

Verse 1 Corinthians 2:14. _BUT THE NATURAL MAN_] ψυχικος, The _animal_ man-the man who is in a mere state of nature, and lives under the influence of his animal passions; for the word ψυχη, which we often translate _soul_, means the lower and sensitive part of man, in opposition to νους, the _understanding_ or _rational_ part. The Latins use _anima_ to signify these lower passions; and _animus_ to signify the higher. The person in question is not only one who either has had no spiritual teaching, or has not profited by it; but one who lives for the present world, having no respect to spiritual or eternal things. This ψυχικος, or _animal man_, is opposed to the πνευματικος, or _spiritual man_: and, as this latter is one who is under the influence of the Spirit of God, so the former is one who is without that influence....

BUT THE NATURAL MAN - ψυχικὸς, δὲ ἄνθρωπος psuchikos de anthrōpos. The word “natural” here stands opposed evidently to “spiritual.” It denotes those who are governed and influenced by the natural instincts; the animal passions and desires, in opposition to those who are influenced by the Spirit of God. It refers to unregenerate people; but it has also not merely the idea of their being unregenerate, but that of their being influenced by the animal passions or desires. See the note on 1 Corinthians 15:44. The word “sensual” would correctly express the idea. The word is used by the Greek writers to denote that which man has in common with the brutes - to denote that they are under the influence of the senses, or the mere animal nature,

EXPOSITION 1 CORINTHIANS 2:1 _St. Paul's own method._ 1 CORINTHIANS 2:1 AND I; "I too;" I in accordance with God's method. WHEN I CAME TO YOU. The date of his first visit was in A.D. 52, and he had stayed a year and a half (Acts 18:11). He had since been (roughly speaking) "three years" (τριετίαν_, _Acts 20:31) at Ephesus. OF SPEECH OR OF WISDOM. I spoke to you neither oratorically nor philosophically. Hence the Apollos party, fond of the brilliant rhetoric of the young Alexandrian, spoke of Pau

BUT THE NATURAL MAN,.... Not a babe in Christ, one that is newly born again, for though such have but little knowledge of spiritual things, yet they have a taste, and do relish and desire, and receive the sincere milk of the word, and grow thereby; but an unregenerate man, that has no knowledge at all of such things; not an unregenerate man only, who is openly and notoriously profane, abandoned to sensual lusts and pleasures; though such a man being sensual, and not having the Spirit, must be a natural man; but rather the wise philosopher, the Scribe, the disputer of this world; the rationalist, the man of the highest attainments in nature, in whom reason is wrought up to its highest pitch; the man of the greatest natural parts and abilities, yet without the Spirit and grace of God, mentioned 1 Corinthians 1:20 and who all along, both in that chapter and in this, quite down to thi

NATURAL MAN Paul divides men into three classes: Greek, "psuchikos", meaning "of the senses" (James 3:15); (Jude 1:19) or "natural," that is, the Adamic man, unrenewed through the new birth (John 3:3); (John 3:5). Greek, "pneumatikos", meaning "spiritual," that is, the renewed man as Spirit-filled and walking in the Spirit in full communion with God (Ephesians 5:18); and Greek, "sarkikos", meaning "carnal," "fleshly," that is, the renewed man who, walking "after the flesh," remains a babe in Christ ...

CHAPTER 2 _ 1. The Apostle's Preaching. (1 Corinthians 2:1)._ 2. The Revelation of the Spirit. (1 Corinthians 2:6). 3. The Helplessness and Ignorance of the Natural Man. (1 Corinthians 2:14). The Apostle had been among them and declared unto them the testimony of God. This he had not done with excellency of speech or wisdom. He preached unto them the Person of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He, who is the wisdom of God, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3), was his one theme; he determined not to know anything among them but the Person

YET THERE IS A CHRISTIAN WISDOM REVEALED BY GOD'S SPIRIT. Yet there is a true wisdom of which the Christian teachers speak to those who are mature; not a wisdom of this world or of the angels who are its rulers and are coming to nought, but God's wisdom in a mystery now disclosed, a hidden wisdom predestined before time to secure our perfection; not known to the world-rulers, who otherwise would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. By rulers of the world Paul means angels, the principalities and powers, the elements of the world (Galatians 4:3; Galatians 4:9; Colossians 2:8). The identification with the Roman governor and the Jewish high priest, still held by some scholars, does not suit the words who are coming to noug