FIRST THE NATURAL, THEN THE SPIRITUAL, PRINCIPLE
There is a principle of Bible interpretation that exists throughout the Bible. It is present in mystery and Symbols, Signs, Types, Parables, Copies, and Shadows. If this principle is not understood, Bible readers will default to reading the Bible literally instead of symbolically. When they do this, they will not hear God’s voice explain to them the mystery of the Bible. And if they do not hear God’s voice, they will always interpret the Bible in ways that lead them down the path to religion. This is not good.

The “first the natural and then the spiritual” principle is best represented in 1 Corinthians 15:41-49.

41 The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor. 42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being” the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth,  the second man from heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

COMMENTARY: When God said the natural came first and the spiritual followed, he was not talking only about the examples cited in the passage. Rather, he was also telling us how he represents Biblical truth in general: He first tells the story in natural terms to which people can relate easily because they live in the natural world. Then he later explains the spiritual meaning of the story in many different places in scripture.

Since the explanations are distributed widely, and we might even say randomly, throughout the Bible, it is not easy to connect the spiritual meanings with the natural representations. Man’s way would be to provide the explanation immediately in the context of a topic, but that is not God’s way.

God will typically provide the explanation, or explanations, in places we might not expect to find them. This pattern is both challenging and rewarding. It challenges us because we do not find answers where we hope to find them. But it is rewarding when we discover them in places we would not expect to find them.

If we do not keep searching to find answers, we run the risk of accepting the literal story as the ultimate truth. Doing that is an easy solution but it is a big mistake that has caused problems for Jews and Christians since the law was first given. It is a big piece of the Law as a Stumbling Block  problem.

It is important, therefore, to always apply the “first the natural and then the spiritual” principle when studying the Bible. And the way we do that is by reading the natural (i.e. literal) word after asking God to reveal the spiritual understanding, and then listening for God’s voice to explain those scriptures we do not understand. It is imperative to listen to God’s voice because the literal law (i.e. the Bible) and God’s spoken word are not always the same. God’s voice is the final authority.

Since most scriptures are impossible to understand and apply in their literal meaning, readers will continuously need to stop and ask God to explain how they should be interpreted in ways that contribute to teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. These are God’s purposes in making scripture available to us. If we do not read with the same objectives, we are reading for the wrong reasons.

See STUDY and Study Tips for more about this process.

So what is the pattern?  We think it is found most clearly in these two statements in verses 44 and 46:

“… if there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.” “The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.”

The fact of this pattern exists throughout the Bible, but it will be noticed only by readers who look for it. It begins with a report of the natural creation of things and then moves to a report of the spiritual order of things. Consider Genesis 1:1-2:

In the beginning  God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving/hovering over the waters.

COMMENTARY: Most of the words (beginning, created, heaven, earth, formless, empty, darkness surface, deep, hovering, waters) in this sentence are words that people in all cultures would understand. But the word “spirit” is not easily understood. More to the point, spirit is represented as being over/above the other words. We interpret this to mean that spiritual things supersede natural things. Specifically, it means that spiritual understanding from God supersedes man’s natural understanding. No one would argue with this.

Once readers recognize this pattern they will see it repeated continuously throughout the Bible.

The Bible says that God is spirit and that we are created in His image which is a spiritual body. But we know also that we are fleshly beings who live in a temporal, natural environment. That is the natural body.

1 Corinthians 15:41-49 says, the natural body comes first and is followed by the spiritual body. The Greek word Psuchikos is translated as both natural and sensual. This means that man is naturally sensual. Sensuality is the hallmark of religion. Everything about religion appeals to the physical senses (e.g. eyes, ears, taste, touch, smell) and human emotions (e.g. love, acceptance, etc.) Each of these senses is able to arouse visceral, emotional responses in the physical body. Religion would not exist if it did not appeal to and satisfy man’s desire for sensual fulfillment or for acceptance by a religious community.

We will not understand the full scope of how God feels about sensuality until we consider 1 Corinthians 2:14:

But a natural (i.e. sensual) man does not accept (i.e. receive) the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised (i.e. discerned, judged).

What this verse says is that sensual, fleshly, religious people cannot accept or understand God because God is spirit. This truth is presented in many scriptures that tell us that spirit and flesh are not compatible.

Religious people interpret Bible references to flesh much too narrowly. Their interpretation of flesh is limited to behaviors like sex, greed, power, and similar attitudes that are not acceptable in most cultures. These are not God’s ideas of flesh. For God, flesh is nothing more than or less than religion. Flesh is a code word for religion because religion demands use of the body (i.e. muscles, bones, eyes, ears, taste, mouth, and mind). One or more of these body parts are always activated in religious activity. This contrasts with spiritual activity which happens in the quiet, hidden place of the heart. Here is the simple way to understand the difference between flesh and spirit:

• • • Religion (i.e. flesh) involves the body and its various senses.
    • Spirit only involves the heart.

STUDY TIP: See Religion is Flesh in Motion for understanding of flesh.

With this understanding of the difference between flesh and spirit, we can also understand why God feels the way he does about flesh. Flesh and sensuality is everything that God is not.

This truth is bad news for all religious people. They go to church, go to synagogue, sing religious songs, and hear religious messages all with the hope of connecting with God, but, because they are trying to connect with God through the use of their fleshly, human senses (e.g. eyes, ears, etc.), it is impossible for them to know God.

God, who is spirit, cannot be understood by using physical, human, fleshly senses. God can only be understood spiritually (i.e. without using human senses.) God cannot change who he is or how he functions. The way he functions is through his spirit. It is not in his nature to function through physical, natural means. People must change if they are to connect with God. But people don’t want to stop being religious because religion satisfies their fleshly, human senses. It is a stalemate situation unless people stop seeking to know God through religion. God will not and cannot change, so it is people who must change.

It is instructive to understand how God sees the situation.

• • The world is full of religious people.
  • God desires intimacy with all religious people but they do not listen to his spoken voice.
  • Religious people cannot hear God’s voice because he speaks a unique spiritual language that only New Covenant disciples can hear and religious people cannot hear.
  • He needs a human mediator who understands his spiritual language and who can communicate with religious people through their human language.
  • People want so desperately to know God that they are willing to spend time and money to connect with him.
  • They have been taught by people whom they trust that religion is the way to connect with God.
  • Religion activates their senses in pleasing ways that people interpret as being touched by God.
  • Religious teachers tell them what they like to hear about God and religion.
  • Because they are reinforced by the pleasing ways their bodies react to religious activity, they become addicted to religion and enslaved by it. They keep going back to religion so they can restore the feelings that convince them that religion connects them to God.
  • Whenever they sense that their connection to God is diminishing, they go back to the religious environment that inspires the pleasing feelings. Here they experience the feelings again and receive instruction from people whom they trust that reinforces the belief that religion is the way to connect to God.
  • God tries to connect with people but they are so busy trying to connect with him through religious activity that they cannot hear his voice.
  • God’s solution is to send true prophets, angels, messiahs, high priests, witnesses and warriors to be his voice to speak for him.
  • Religious people persecute God’s messengers because they don’t like being told that religion is sin.
  • But a few will listen to God’s messengers and receive eternal life.

This is a brief overview of the story of the Bible. It is the same story told in different ways with different characters.

Religion always works to elicit pleasing, fleshly, responses that make people feel good in their flesh. Because they feel good while singing in a beautiful building with friends, religious people will return often to capture those feelings. They are also intellectually excited when finely presented sermons from polished preachers arouse minds in ways that cause them to believe they have received special knowledge from God. This also keeps them returning for more religious teaching. The choreographed display of sights, sounds and teaching is all bait that entices religious people to come often and bring money to pay for the entertainment they receive from professional religious performers (i.e. hypocrites.)

Beginning with Genesis, the Bible is a collection of parables that report when and how natural people with evil, impure hearts are transformed into spiritual people with clean, pure hearts. This is what the Bible means when it says that we are created in God’s image.

Jews and Christians like to think that all natural-born people are created in God’s image. That is wrong thinking. God is spirit and humans are flesh. God’s image is spiritual and unseen because God is spirit, unchanging and unseen. That is the opposite of the image of man which can be seen and does change. It is foolishness to say, therefore, that all humans are created in God’s image.

Being created in God’s image happens later in life at a different, unique time for each individual. It happens when God changes a heart from evil and impure to clean and pure. That is the miracle of creation, or recreation, that represented in the parable of creation in Genesis 1.

When they are created in God’s image, they do not stop being natural, physical people. What happens is that God does a creative miracle in their hearts — not in their physical bodies.

Symbolically speaking, the natural body is an evil, impure heart that is obsessed with, and controlled by, religion.

The natural body is represented in Old/First Covenant religionists who have evil, impure hearts. They always interpret the Bible literally.

The spiritual body is represented in New Covenant disciples who have good, pure hearts. They know how to hear God’s spoken voice and always expect God to interpret the spiritual meanings of the Bible for them. And when that meaning is not revealed to them immediately, they will continue to search with their whole hearts until understanding does come. The understanding, when it comes, it is the fulfillment of God’s promise to write his laws on the heart according to the terms of the New Covenant.

The process goes like this: Everyone begins as an Old/First Covenant religionist. After they respond to God’s call to quit religion, they are transformed (i.e. born again) into a New Covenant disciple. This transformation is a spiritual miracle — not a natural miracle — that only God can perform.

STUDY TIP: See GOD DOES ONLY ONE KIND OF MIRACLE, THE MIRACLE OF CREATION: BORN AGAIN, and CREATED IN GODS IMAGE These links all explain the spiritual meaning of the Genesis creation story.

God knows that there is a tension between the spiritual and natural environment and that we are limited in our spiritual understanding. Therefore, He first introduces what he has to say in natural terms that Old/First Covenant religionists are able to understand. That is the easy part. The harder part, and the one over which there is the most confusion and disagreement, is God’s expectations that his people study and listen to understand the spiritual meanings of the written words. This understanding is only available to New Covenant disciples who have God’s laws written on their hearts because they listen to his spoken voice. When this understanding comes to those who listen, it is so amazingly incredible that the New Covenant disciples who hear and understand will consider it a miracle. It is not a public miracle that can be observed with natural senses. It is the very private miracle of creation (i.e. recreation) that occurs in the hearts of New Covenant disciples.

God does not make the transition from Old/First Covenant to New Covenant understanding easy. It begins by reading the literal words of the Bible and ends when people hear God’s spoken voice. We see the principle in the following scriptures:

Psalm 78:1-4: 1 A Maskil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! 2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, 3 things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. 4 We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders which he has wrought.

COMMENTARY: This Psalm reports the purpose for understanding the ancient mysteries (i.e. parables and dark sayings) of God. It is so that we might teach our spiritual children about God and the things he does for his people. In other words, we do not seek understanding for spiritual titillation that feeds our soulish needs to be spiritual and be seen as spiritual. The knowledge is for teaching others about God so that they might be drawn to him. This is the job of a True Prophet who is anointed to speak for God.

Proverbs 25:2  It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter. 

COMMENTARY: The glory/honor extends to those who search for the hidden, spiritual meanings of scripture. But inquiring of religious leaders (e.g. rabbis, preachers, teachers, authors, etc.) for answers does not qualify as searching in God’s eyes. The only searching that he recognizes is when people listen to his spoken voice.

This kind of searching is the habit of New Covenant disciples who choose to receive their learning only from God’s voice/spirit. When God reveals a concealed truth to New Covenant disciples, they feel like kings because they are rich with understanding of spiritual truth. Before that understanding comes, they are spiritually poor.

Deuteronomy 29:29  The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

COMMENTARY: Secrets hidden in the literal words of the Bible are revealed so that we may follow all the words of the Law. The emphasis here is on “words” which are the spoken words of God — not the literal words of the Bible.

It is not the literal law that God wants people to obey. He wants them to obey his voice which communicates his spiritual laws which are written on their hearts according to the promise of the New Covenant.

Matthew 11:25  At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants;

COMMENTARY: God hides revelation from those who think they are wise and intelligent. He makes revelation known to infants who know that they know nothing and live to learn with excitement like an infant. Being open minded and ready for discovery about God is especially difficult for people who have been religious for a long time.