1Cor 2:14 But a soulish man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him and he is not able to know them because they are discerned spiritually. 1Cor 15:45 So also it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living soul"; the last Adam [Christ] became a life-giving Spirit. 46 But the spiritual is not first but the soulish, then the spiritual:
A soulish man is a natural man, one living in his soul, not in his spirit. Such a man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. Rather, he rejects them. The religious Jews who required signs and the philosophical Greeks who sought wisdom (1:22) were such natural men, to whom the things of the Spirit of God were foolishness (1:23). The things of the Spirit of God in verse 14 refer to the deep things of God concerning Christ as our portion. A soulish man cannot know these things, for he does not have the constitutional capacity for spiritual perception. Hence, he is not able to know spiritual things. Spiritual things are spiritually discerned, examined, and investigated by spiritual persons with spiritual means. According to the context of 1 Corinthians, a soulish man is one who lives according to Greek culture. In principle, those who live according to their culture are soulish. If a Chinese believer lives according to Chinese ethics, he is soulish. Likewise, if an American brother lives according to modern American culture, he also is a soulish man. Hence, a soulish man is a person who lives in his culture. (c) Living Stream Ministry.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of 1 Corinthians, pp. 156-157. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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