MAN, NATURAL

nat’-u-ral, nach’-u-ral (psuchikos anthropos):

Man as he is by nature, contrasted with man as he becomes by grace. This phrase is exclusively Pauline.

I. Biblical Meaning.

The classical passage in which it occurs is 1 Corinthians 2:14 King James Version:

“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” In his anthropology Paul uses four groups of descriptive adjectives in contrasted pairs:

(1) the old man and the new man (Romans 6:6; Ephesians 4:22; Colossians 3:9; Ephesians 2:15; 4:24; Colossians 3:10);

(2) the outward man and the inward man (2 Corinthians 4:16; Romans 7:22; Ephesians 3:16);

(3) the carnal man and the spiritual man (Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 3:1,3,4);

(4) the natural man and the spiritual man (2 Corinthians 2:14; 3:3,4; Ephesians 2:3; 1 Corinthians 2:15; 3:1; 14:37; 15:46; Galatians 6:1).