The Natural Man

Many believe that man was created as a perfectly righteous being that experienced all that was good until committing the first sin.  Is this biblical?

There is a natural and a spiritual… a physical and a spiritual… flesh and spirit… earthly and heavenly.  Equally unrecognized is the old and the new… letter and spirit… and this is God’s order… first the natural, physical, fleshly, earthly, old, law, and letter… and then comes the new, the heavenly, the spiritual.

And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
(1 Corinthians 15:45-49 KJV)

First is natural… earthy.  Only afterward is spiritual.  I know this sounds like a simple thought but so many miss this.  Without this understanding it is impossible to understand God’s word.  This is God’s order… his plan… the way it is, was, and will be.  When you read the verse above, meditate on ALL of the words.  What does natural or earthy mean?

…It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
(1 Corinthians 15:42-44 KJV)

Let’s look at another:

Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
(Philippians 3:21 KJV)

This says the natural man is sown in corruption, dishonor and weakness… a vile body.  Was it actually created this way though?

For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope…
(Romans 8:20 KJV)

“Was made subject to” comes from two Greek words, hupo and tasso, and means:

to subordinate; reflexively to obey: – be under obedience (obedient), put under, subdue unto, (be, make) subject (to, unto), be (put) in subjection (to, under), submit self unto.

This word “vanity” comes from the Greek “mataiotes” and means:

inutility; figuratively transientness; morally depravity: – vanity.
It root and base words mean empty and profitless.

Man was created spiritually weak… too weak to resist sin… to weak to be righteous… to weak to have any feelings for God other than hate.  How many scriptures do we need?

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
(Jeremiah 17:9 KJV)

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
(Romans 3:23 KJV)

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
(Romans 3:10 KJV)

Because the carnal mind is enmity (means hatred) against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
(Romans 8:7 KJV) (emphasis mine)

We didn’t become spiritually weak after partaking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil… we were created spiritually weak from the beginning.

Is the experience of evil necessary?
It is God’s plan.

And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.
(Ecclesiastes 1:13 KJV)

A better translation of this verse according to the original Hebrew words is by the Concordant version:

I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it.
(Ecclesiastes 1:13 CLV)

Man could not have experienced good before partaking of the knowledge of good… AND evil.  Man cannot understand hot without the knowledge of cold, rough without the knowledge of smooth, or the goodness of God without the knowledge of evil.  God has given us this experience to humble us by it… to know him by it.  What was God’s reaction to humanity after gaining knowledge of good and evil?

And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil…
(Genesis 3:22 KJV)

Isn’t that the purpose… to become like HIM…  to being created in his image?  Does Genesis 3:22 not indicate that man had become closer to the image of God with some basic knowledge of good and evil?  If you believe that man was created and complete (past tense) in the image of God… look around you.  Do you honestly believe that man represents the image of God?

Let me address one thing quickly that should make you think… and that is the verb tense used in Hebrew and it’s awkwardness in the translation of the King James and many other Bible translations.  Verb tense, mood, and voice of the Hebrew or Greek is difficult to translate into English, especially if the translators are biased toward their own doctrine.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
(Genesis 1:27 KJV)

This created however in Hebrew is as the English imperfect tense.  The Concordant Version more accurately translates this verse into English as:

And creating is the Elohim humanity in His image. In the image of the Elohim He creates it. Male and female He creates them.
(Genesis 1:27 CLV)

The natural man is far from the image of Christ… but is being created… Christ is creating humanity into his image.  This is a process… and the experience of evil is a part of this process.  God’s plan is unfolding exactly to plan… evil was not something that God didn’t see coming.  Evil was not an unforeseen occurrence that ruined God’s day.  The vast majority of the Christian church believe in a God that cannot bring about his own good pleasures due to the constant annoyance of one called Satan and man’s God thwarting free will.  What a weak God they have.

DOA
The natural man was always subject to death.  He was not created with immortality… and he is not immortal… he dies.

Yet from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you are not to be eating from it, for in the day you eat from it, to die shall you be dying.
(Genesis 2:17 CLV)

Read the following verses about the soul of man in Ezekiel:

Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
(Ezekiel 18:4 KJV)

The soul that sinneth, it shall die…
(Ezekiel 18:20 KJV)

But do we believe these scriptures?  No, the vast majority do not.  Instead they believe the first lie ever told:

And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
(Genesis 3:4 KJV)

Think what you have been taught… what is the doctrine which has been handed down from generation to generation since the serpent told the woman, “Ye shall not surely die”.  To the many in the Christian Church, being dead means being alive somewhere else!  This is a lie!  It has always been a lie and the many in Christiandom have never gotten past this very first lie of false doctrine.  When you die, you are dead.  Is it really that complicated?

Jesus stated that the serpent was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth. (John 8:44)  So who do you believe?  Christ and the very word of scripture or The Deceiver when he states, “Ye shall not surely die”?

For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing…
(Ecclesiastes 9:5 KJV)

Naked is figurative language for being without sound doctrine… truth.
Adam and Eve were naked, before their knowledge that they were naked.  Having the knowledge of their nakedness they tried to cover their nakedness. (Genesis 3:7)  This is universally true of the natural man – then, today, and tomorrow.  Man is however, unable to cover his nakedness.

Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
(Revelation 3:17 KJV)

The first sin?
Did man sin before breaking the commandment of God to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?  Was he a righteous, spiritual being prior to this point?

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
(Genesis 3:6 KJV)

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
(1 John 2:16 KJV)

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food (lust of the flesh), and that it was pleasant to the eyes (lust of the eyes), and a tree to be desired to make one wise (pride of life), she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
(Genesis 3:6 KJV)

Man was created spiritually weak… to weak to resist sin.  Knowledge, sin, and death are all according to plan.  This is just the beginning as God’s plan will bring about the salvation of all.

For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
(Romans 8:20-21 KJV)