Life On The Highest Plane # 2

The Relationship of the Natural Man to God

The attitude of the natural man to God determines his relationship to God. Romans 5:10 and Colossians 1:21 make it quite clear that the natural man is an open and avowed enemy of God. This attitude on his part determines what God's relationship to him must be.

Ephesians 2:17 - He is far from God.
Romans 3:19- He is guilty before God.
John 3:18 - He is condemned by God.
John 3:36 - He is under God's wrath.
Ephesians 4:18 - He is alienated from the life of God.
Ephesians 2:12 - He is without God in his life.
2 Thess. 1:9 - He is without God in the life to come.

The Condition of the Natural Man

The natural man is without the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour, therefore he lives wholly and only unto himself. "The old man" is the center of his life and has undivided control over his whole being. Self dominates his thoughts, affections, speech, will and actions. His nature is sinful, therefore his conduct is sinful.

The natural man is dead to God but alive to sin, self and satan. He is under the dominion of "the prince of the power of the air," and is the bondservant of sin. He is a lost man, helpless and hopeless. The tragic part of it is that "the god of this age" has so blinded his mind that he does not comprehend the seriousness of his condition and consequently he has no power within himself to know God, to love God, to receive God, nor even to seek God. Surely this brief sketch of the natural man reveals life lived on the lowest plane.

Let us next study life on the highest plane, that of -

The Spiritual Man

1 Corinthians 2:15, "But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man."

Galatians 6:1, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted."

The spiritual man is the exact antithesis of the natural man.

The Relationship of the Spiritual Man to God

The spiritual man is rightly related to God through faith in Jesus Christ. This relationship has been brought about by the Holy Spirit who has convicted him of the sin of unbelief in God's way of salvation and of the necessity of a righteousness not his own, if he would ever have fellowship with a holy, righteous God. He has revealed Jesus Christ to him as a Saviour from sin and as the Saviour he needs. The Holy Spirit has so wrought upon the mind, heart and will of the natural man that he has been convinced of the truth of the Gospel, convicted of the sin of his own heart, and has been led to put his faith in the Crucified One as his Saviour, and so has been "born of the Spirit" into the kingdom of God.

The spiritual man has the Holy Spirit dwelling in him, filling him, leading him, teaching him, empowering him. Through the new birth God's own life, eternal and uncreated, has been imparted to him and now Jesus Christ is his very life.

The spiritual man has a threefold relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ which is manifested in his character, in his conversation, and in his conduct.

The spiritual man has "accepted" Christ as his Saviour.
The spiritual man has "yielded" to Christ as his Lord.
The spiritual man has "appropriated" Christ as his Life.

Jesus Christ and he are one as the vine and the branch are one. Christ is the supreme need of his life and has the supreme place in his affections. Christ is all and in all to him.

The Condition of the Spiritual Man

The spiritual man having taken the crucified, risen, glorified Christ as Saviour, Lord and Life, lives his life wholly unto God. The Lord Jesus is the center of his life and has undivided control over his whole being. Jesus Christ dominates his thoughts, affections, speech, will and actions. He has become a partaker of the nature of God so that there are two natures in the spiritual man but the divine nature is sovereign.

The spiritual man is habitually alive to God and dead to sin and self. He is a bondservant to God and gladly, joyously, acknowledges and submits to the sovereign Lordship of Jesus.

Jesus Christ is intensely real and precious to the spiritual man, and he considers, loves, serves, adores and worships Him. This condition is not due to anything in himself but is true because of his yielding himself unreservedly to the influence and operation of the Holy Spirit, through whom he has been he has been enabled to seek, to receive, to love and to know Christ Jesus as his Saviour and through whom he is filled with his life. Surely this brief sketch of the spiritual man reveals life lived on the highest plane. 

~Ruth Paxson~

(continued with # 3 - "The Carnal Man")