THE NATURAL MAN
"For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find" (Romans 7:18).
The teaching of this chapter cuts across many of the accepted beliefs of modernism and humanism, for it shows that there is nothing good in man; that there is no divine spark of natural goodness which only needs to be developed.
This does not mean that some people are not naturally kind and loving. Some men and women seem naturally lovable, just as some seem naturally mean and wicked.
Natural niceness can be the product of a good digestive system, or the result of a careful upbringing by the parents. Often it is simply the result of the physical, psychological and nervous make-up of the individual.
Just as in animals some dogs are born mean, others are just as lovable and affectionate. The Word of God is quite definite concerning mankind, "For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:22-23). "As it is written, 'There is none righteous, no, not one. . . there is none who does good, no, not one'" (Romans 3:10, 12).
In the last chapter we thought of the fall of man; now we see what happened in men as a result of that fall.
A well-known preacher, famous for his Bible knowledge and for his quick and unusual wit, was once drawn into a conversation concerning a new baby.
He was asked to express his views on the baby's likeness to various members of the family, but he shocked the mother by quoting: "He is like his father the devil!"
That seems rather rude and cruel, and yet consider what Christ said. In John 8:30 is recorded the incident where our Lord was speaking to some Jews, good religious men who were attentive to His message. "As He spoke these words, many believed in Him." These people had responded in a way to His message. But it was to these same people — those who were good, respectable, religious and believing, that in verse 44 Christ said, "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will want to do."
They had claimed in verse 41, "We have one Father, even God." Jesus replied in verse 47, "He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."
It comes as a shock to realize that Christ taught not the Fatherhood of God, but the fatherhood of the devil!
These words were spoken to Jews — the chosen people of God, those who possessed all the laws and commandments of God, the descendants of faithful Abraham, possessors of all the promises of God, and they were spoken by the Son of God who "always (does) those things that please Him" (John 8:29). They came as true words of condemnation, "you are not of God", "You are of your father the devil." The proof of this, according to our Lord, was the family likeness: "the desires of your father you will want to do."
If this was true of believing Jews, how true this must be of all men who are "without Christ . . . having no hope . . . without God" (Ephesians 2:12). We are all of our father the devil, and the lusts of our father we will do. The family likeness is there, right from the beginning.
We know from Scripture that man was made in the likeness and image of the Trinity (Genesis 1:26). We have seen how Adam died spiritually in that God withdrew His Holy Spirit from man's human spirit.
The thing to remember now is that man in innocency was indwelt by God's Holy Spirit in man's human spirit. The Holy Spirit present in man was able to exercise sovereignty over the heart of man. He could teach man's mind, occupy his affections, and control his will.
Thus divine righteousness was expressed through man. Righteousness is God expressed in terms of man — God incarnate. The withdrawal of the Holy Spirit as the personal representative of God left a throne without a King, a kingdom without a Ruler, an area of unoccupied territory.
The devil had promised that man would be free, would be as god, that he could control his own life in every way. But, as we look around today we see that although man has cast off God, he is still in slavery, this time to sin.
As Paul says in Romans 7:19, "For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil that I will not to do, that I practice."
Man did become "free" of God in a sense, but only to enter into the "bondage of sin." The devil moved in to take possession, to stake a claim in man's soul. The devil thus expresses himself in man's activities. Sin in man is the devil in action. The words "the flesh" is that area of the devil's dominion, his kingdom in the hearts of men.
In Matthew 12:26 and 28 our Lord not only taught the fatherhood of the devil, but He also recognized the kingdom of the devil as well as the kingdom of God. A kingdom presupposes three things — first a king, then subjects, and thirdly the kingdom itself. Our study of the flesh in this chapter requires us to know a little about the kingdom of the devil. We speak generally of "the world, the flesh, and the devil." This is the Trinity of Hell, the substance of the kingdom of the devil.
In John 12:31 and John 14:30, our Lord twice called the devil "the ruler of this world." In Luke 4:5-7 the devil offered our Lord the kingdom of the world and he said in verse 6, "All this authority I will give you, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish."
He claimed that all the power and the glory was his, and Christ never corrected or challenged his statement. In Ephesians 2:2 he is called "the prince of the power of the air." I John 5:19 says, "the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one" or as the Amplified Bible puts it, "the whole world [around us ] is under the power of the evil one."
The devil's kingdom is the world system, all mankind without Christ, for he rules over the hearts of men, godless humanity.
Some of the references quoted on preceding pages emphasize the fact of this kingdom. The devil is called in Scripture a murderer (John 8:44), a liar (John 8:44), a deceiver (Revelation 12:9), accuser (Revelation 12:10), tempter, (1 Thessalonians 3:5), wicked one (Matthew 13:19), adversary (I Peter 5:8) — all names which suggest corruption, evil and wickedness.
And if this is the character of the king we shall know what to expect from his kingdom. In John 7:7 our Lord said, "I testify of it that its works are evil." Christ had only condemnation and judgment for the world system, i.e. for Satan's Kingdom.
Christ's prayer in John 17 is full of such an attitude. He said, "I do not pray for the world" (verse 9). "I have given them Your (His own) word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world" (verse 14).
Our Lord is not referring to the individual sinners who make up the world; to them His cry was "Come to me" (Matthew 11:28). In John 15:19 Jesus said, "If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."
I John 2:15-17 says, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides for ever."
The devil's subjects are unredeemed humanity — men and women without Christ — and the point of control is through the flesh. It is this foothold in human nature, this point of inside contact, this agency in the soul, that gives the devil his unbroken rule over the hearts of men and women.
Jesus said in John 8:44, "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will want to do."
In short, the devil is completely and utterly corrupt and wicked. So is his kingdom, and so are the subjects of his kingdom.
Now it is this flesh, this godless human nature, this which is utterly opposed to God, and with which God can have no dealings. It is this flesh which we seek to make attractive and presentable to God.
Galatians 5:19-21 lists for us the works of the flesh, "Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like."
Everything in this list bears the stamp of the devil, yet it is by the flesh we seek to serve God, by improving ourselves, by developing our latent qualities. All is the flesh, and all is against God.
There are other names applied to this area of the devil's dominion. Sometimes it is called "the old man" or "the body of death" — the implication being that it is "the old nature" or the "spiritually dead part." It is also called "the carnal mind" — carnal here meaning "of the flesh."
The great thing to realize is that there is a state of perpetual enmity between God and the flesh. "So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God" (Romans 8:8). "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be" (Romans 8:7).
Notice the last four words in Romans 8:7 — nor indeed can be. It is impossible to make the flesh acceptable to God.
"For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another" (Galatians 5:17).
Notice the word Spirit has a capital, the Holy Spirit. The devil has got his fifth column — the flesh — in every human heart.
It is good at this point to pause and remember what the Lord said in John 14:30, "for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me." The Lord's body was perfect humanity.
Like the original first Adam, there was no area of "the flesh," no area in his personality where the devil had a foothold. There was no "fifth column" in the life of our blessed Lord.
The "flesh" is all that a man is without Christ.
What religion seeks to do is to somehow make an offering to God. Being of the world, it takes the things of the world. It takes "the flesh" and proceeds to dress it up, to deck it out and make it lovely to look at. It covers "the flesh" with beautiful thoughts, color, impressive music, and ritual. Everything looks good to the eye, sounds good to the ear, so it must be good — but it is flesh, all flesh.
God's Word says, "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:24). Also, "the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthians 2:14).
Notice the words — nor can he know them. There is no possibility that the natural man can ever know the things of God. What is the natural man referred to here? Really it is the flesh; it is man without the Spirit of God.
The French Bible translates "the natural man" as L'homme animal — the animal man — the man who is like an animal, in that there is only the body and the soul functioning.
As we saw in the previous lesson, the natural man or the unbeliever is fallen man. He is physically alive, soulishly active, but spiritually dead.
His flesh is the area of his soul which dominates his body. His soul is his mind, his emotions and his will, and man is on the throne — so he thinks.
He boasts of his freedom, of how he can please himself. He gives in to his lusts as and when he pleases; it is the "natural" thing to do because he is a "natural" man. Notice that his lusts may not be only vile and filthy. The word lust means overdesire. Some men and women lust for power in business or home. Some lust for beauty, art and education to the exclusion of other things — an overdesire.
But at the back of every man's desire is the devil. Man may be on the throne, but it is the devil who is the power behind the throne. The devil has taken all the normal desires and needs of the human heart, and overstressed, and overdeveloped them until the ordinary things of life bear his mark.
One of the greatest shocks that can come to a simple believer in Christ is to realize that "the flesh" still exists after conversion. During the first flush of joy of sins forgiven, the new believer sometimes makes the error of imagining that his Christian life will be joy and peace all the way.
Then, after a period of days, weeks or months, the devil comes back again to tempt through the flesh, the same old way, and the believer suddenly realizes that something in him responds to the old lusts and worldly pleasures, and, more than that, it not only responds but it wants again the old things and the old ways.
Like the children of Israel, as detailed in Numbers 11:5-6, "We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes." They looked back to the things that gave them pleasure. They forgot the lashes and the slavery. They despised the heavenly provision. I Corinthians 10:11 tells us these incidents concerning the children of Israel were written for us as types and warnings.
When the flesh moves within the believer producing these desires and lusts for past sins, the child of God is greatly tested. Sometimes he wonders whether he ever was converted, or whether the whole thing was a fake or a fraud.
But far from proving that his conversion was a fraud, it emphasizes the fact that it was real. Galatians 5:17 says, "for the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish."
The unbeliever is never conscious of such an inward battle. His lusts have long since stifled the voice of his conscience — God's built-in warning system — so that his life is a progression of adventure into lusts (i.e. overdesires) as opportunities occur, circumstances arise, and the devil drives.
The correct thing to do is to realize that what is born of the flesh is flesh and always will be flesh. You cannot alter it, improve it or develop it. It will always be opposed to God and God's things. The Word of God teaches us how to handle it. Galatians 5:24 says, "And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."
Paul says in Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ" — meaning the flesh, the area of the devil's control. We are instructed in Romans 6:11, "Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Our problem is that as fast as we reckon the "self-life," the "flesh" to be dead, the devil seeks to revive it.
There is no such thing as the eradication of the old nature, or sinless perfection; the Bible teaches that God never removes the old nature, but He does provide the remedy.
We can be "alive unto God" but only "through our Lord Jesus Christ." As we saw in the last chapter we are made partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4) — Jesus Christ lives in us in the Person of His Holy Spirit.
Where Christ is in control there is peace, whether it be during the storm on the sea, or in the maniac from the tombs — He is the author of peace.
So in our lives if we recognize the sinfulness of the "flesh," and cease our efforts of self-improvements, recognizing the truth that we are new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), we will remove much of the heartache and frustration from our Christian living.
Not I but Christ — In me no good thing — I can do all things through Christ. We must recognize ourselves for what we are, and thank Him for what He is.
"Sin shall not have dominion over you" (Romans 6:14) if you yield yourselves unto God.
We must remember continually that God has "written off" human nature. He has made no attempt to select good parts to repair the damage of sin. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
The presence of the indwelling Christ is the perfection and the purity and the peace. This teaching is utterly opposed to the indefinite philosophies of much modern teaching. To realize this is to understand yourself.
God is not shocked at our continual failure, it is no surprise to Him. So long as we try to improve our flesh, then so long will we know continued heartache and frustration. The greatest saints of God have all had a tremendous sense of their own personal unworthiness — which in consequence, cast them more on the sufficiency of Christ.
We need to realize how malignant is the cancer of sin in the flesh, yet how perfect is the inworking of the indwelling Holy Spirit of Christ.
Christ never prayed for world peace; instead, he called people out of the world system. This should set us thinking of how different was the mind of Christ from many of the world organizations for peace. He was not of the world, and yet He was in the world seeking the lost.
"The flesh" is anti-God — "it lusts against the Spirit" — its words are of the devil — and yet the natural man ever seeks to make it presentable to God. He wants to worship God with the flesh in spite of the words of Christ in John 4:24, "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." How cleverly the devil uses his agency to keep man from God.
While it is no excuse for sin, it is a sure comfort to realize that although temptation comes through the flesh, temptation itself is no sin, nor is it a cause for doubting your salvation. Very often there is a fiercer strife within the human heart after the decision has been made for Christ than before. This fierce strife is a proof of the indwelling Spirit striving against the flesh, convicting of sin and seeking to purify the temple.
The only answer to this battle of the believer is to yield all to Christ, to let Him move into every area of the human personality, mind, emotions and will, so that there may be a personal experience of the truth of Romans 8:37, "Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us."
