An older sister was donating her time to a young mother one day, helping with various things that needed to be done in the home. The mother was also working along while interacting with her young children, and the older sister heard repeated references to “the new man” and “the old man” and other such New Testament terms as she was guiding and correcting the children. Finally, the older believer said to the younger, “Sister, maybe you should just simply tell them what to do. First, that which is natural, afterwards that which is spiritual.” The scripture partially quoted in the older sister’s exhortation reads as follows:
“It is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam ... a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual” (1 Cor. 15:45-46).
The primary meaning (the interpretation) of this scripture refers to the order (sequence) of God’s placement of the first man, Adam, on the earth followed by the last Adam (there will never be another), and goes on to describe the difference in character and action of the first (natural and earthy) versus the last (spiritual and heavenly). In the anecdote related above, however, the older sister was applying the passage wisely in a practical way. Most of us have responsibility and care of others in our lives, whether our children and grandchildren in our extended families, young people in the assembly, or even employees under our care in the workplace. Simply put, her point was not to ignore instruction and training in natural things in our zeal for the spiritual.
We are clear that the natural man does not, and cannot, receive the things of the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2:14) and that without faith it is impossible to please Him (Heb. 11:6). Before God initiated a work in our souls, we were without strength, without hope and without God in the world (Rom. 5:6,8; Eph. 2:12). Any and all blessing, for any soul at any time, is on the basis of the shed blood of Christ on Calvary’s cross, “There is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:22,23). Faith in Christ is the sole foundation of our acceptance in Him.
Mentoring Children in Good Behavior
However, we notice in the parable of Matthew 22 That after the king’s invitation to the wedding of his son was declined by all those bidden, he sent out his servants “into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good” (vs. 10). Does the fact that there were “both bad and good” conflict with Romans 3:22-23, that there is “no difference”? Not at all; Romans 3 addresses the universal, fallen condition of all men through sin, whereas Matthew 22 notes comparative differences in the practical character of men. Both the good and the bad needed “a wedding garment” supplied by the king, for the relative goodness of some was not adequate for acceptance in the presence of the king. But even so, it is better to have been good than bad. Why? Because the transformative power of the Holy Spirit indwelling and guiding the believer works within us to produce “fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God” (Phil. 1:11), starting from where we are practically in our souls. It is in this latter aspect that we can aid our children and younger people to real faith in Christ, in most cases even before conversion, by mentoring them in practical habits and good character. There are personal, family or even national or ethnic tendencies that must be overcome to a greater or lesser extent in order to walk worthy of God. “The Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies,” Paul quoted in his letter to Titus. He was to rebuke them sharply, not that their flesh would be better, but “that they may be sound in the faith” by not allowing these tendencies of sin to reign in their lives (Titus 1:12-13; Rom. 6:11-13).
The Progress of Training
Again, this is not a matter of improving the flesh — the inward, fallen nature of a man, which God has condemned (Romans 8:3)—for “that which is born of flesh is flesh,” and “in my flesh dwelleth no good thing” (John 3:6; Rom. 7:18). Only the Spirit of God can produce in a life that which practically meets with God’s approval. But those who have indulged in careless and undisciplined living, whether before or after conversion, have significant and difficult challenges to overcome to produce in their practical lives, by faith and by His Spirit, that which is pleasing to Him. The pit dug or the hedge broken are not automatically repaired upon belief in Christ, for “God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Eccl. 10:8; Gal. 6:7). The early training of the young is vital in this respect, as is also the guidance to young adults. A hedge broken is not repaired quickly, and increased immoral exposure makes it difficult for the young to make progress in their growth, in practical sanctification.
The Desire for Sexual Experience
Failure to train up our children effectively in natural things can have a ripple effect in their lives. For example, the scriptural way to accommodate the desire for sexual experience is marriage: It is better to marry than to burn. I sense that many young men take this too lightly, until they realize they have a problem and are acting unseemly in their virginity and taking up with fornication or uncleanness. Often the root cause of this problem is in earlier seasons of life; it takes diligence to “prepare [our] work without, and make it fit for [ourself] in the field” before we “build [our] house” (Prov. 24:27). Who would anticipate that our diligence as schoolboys aged six or ten or twelve or maybe working for our fathers as young boys would lay the groundwork for future order and happiness, for rejoicing with the wife of our youth? God anticipates it, and He lays out guidance in His Word “to give subtlety [prudence] to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion” (Prov. 1:4). Natural training in youth, which can be presented in a spiritual context as in the Word, can allow the young to avoid severe challenges after conversion in later life (as also for those that are already saved).
Moral Depravity – The Image of God
There may be among us a tendency to overemphasize the truth of the moral depravity of “the old man,” to the exclusion of proper appreciation for man as being “the image and glory of God” (1Cor. 11:7). Man is God’s special creation, in whom He placed qualities that reflect his own, with a spirit designed to interact with His own, with intellectual powers capable of complex and abstract thought, and with feelings of a sensitive and high caliber related to these other abilities. How wonderful that God’s delights in the sons of men “before ever the earth was” will be realized in “that day” in new creation, outlasting even this “earth and all things that are therein.” Redeemed men will bear the image of the heavenly One, the last Adam, having been restored to God’s likeness by the work of Calvary’s cross and the transformative power of the Holy Spirit in them. How God loves man!
The Fruit of the Spirit Displayed
In light of God’s purpose to head up all things in Christ for His eternal glory, His desire (and ours) presently is for His own to “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things” (Titus 2:10) by a practical life that displays the fruit of the Spirit in proper order and in steadfastness of faith in Christ (Col. 2:5). Satan’s efforts in the Western world today are not only to block the display and understanding of spiritual things, but to attack the order of natural life in man. The increased promotion of gender confusion, the despising of traditional roles of male and female and young and old, the cultural acceptance of sexual promiscuity and uncleanness, reticence to marry and have children, and unwillingness to learn and “profess honest trades” (Titus 3:14) all serve to the dishonor of God in His creation of man and the increased confusion and suffering of man.
The Importance of Training
All this points to the importance of training our children and young people in those natural things, as laid out in the book of Proverbs and the practical portions of the New Testament—in diligence, integrity, purity and order. Personal faith in Christ is the foundation of our eternal and blessed standing in Christ; the foundation of a practical life that honors Christ now in this world begins for the youngest in the simplest things in the home, continuing over time in the family and assembly circles and in the workplace. To borrow an expression, may the Lord not make a breach upon us as the result of our not seeking Him according to the due order (1 Chron. 15:13). “First that which is natural, afterward that which is spiritual” (1 Cor. 15:46).
B. Conrad