The Natural Man Treats God as an Enemy

Consider the following passage from Romans 1:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things (vv. 18-23).

It is no wonder that God is angry with the natural man. He is a suppresser of truth and a God-rejecter. He has chosen foolish idols over the worship of the glorious God, and he has exalted his own wisdom over the wisdom of his Creator. It should be no surprise to find that God considers the natural man His enemy (cf. Romans 5:10). What is less often understood is the fact that the natural man treats God as his enemy. Contrary to popular opinion, the natural man is not eagerly searching for the God he loves. He is studiously (though not always consciously) avoiding the God he hates. Again, notice the italicized words as Paul continues to describe mankind:

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things that were not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them (vv. 28-32).

Clearly, the natural man is not a God-seeker (also consider Romans 3:11, "There is none who seeks after God."). On the contrary, he does not like to think about God at all (also consider Psalm 10:4, "God is in none of his thoughts."). Even if he is a moral or religious person, the natural man hates the true God and everything He represents. He demonstrates his utter contempt for the righteous judgment of God, not only by scorning God's truth himself, but also by approving of others who do the same. And we must remember that the evil practiced and approved of by the natural man does not always appear in forms that are socially unacceptable or morally shocking. His evil often appears in ways that seem very moral and/or religious (cf. Matthew 23:1-33, specifically vv. 25-28). In fact, one of the greatest forms of evil seen in the natural man is his vain and prideful effort to please God apart from the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ (cf. Isaiah 64:6; Romans 10:1-4; Galatians 2:21).

The natural man further proves himself an enemy of God by his affection for the world. As James asks, "Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God" (James 4:4). "The world," here and in other places, refers to the mindset of fallen humanity more than to worldly goods and possessions. In fact, John distinguishes between the two in 1 John 2:15 when he writes, "Do not love the world or the things of the world." As Jesus said to His disciples regarding "the world:"

If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you (John 15:18-19).

The person who is "of the world," may covet worldly goods. Even more self-condemning, however, is that fact that he is a friend of the world. Even if he protests outwardly against evil, even if he avoids every appearance of evil himself, the lurking depravity of his own heart and the hostility of his mind are quite evident to God. The natural man, even in his own moral self-righteousness, stands in rejection of God's righteousness and grace. In doing so, he stands in approval of the whole corrupt system of fallen humanity which, at its core, is a God-rejecting, self-approving system.

Every natural man, no matter how religious, stands in direct and hostile opposition to God Himself. We find it easy to understand why Paul reminded the Colossians of their former natural state of paganism when they were "enemies in [their] mind by wicked works" (Colossians 1:21). But we must also remember that Jesus condemned the outwardly moral religious leaders of Jerusalem, men who never would have thought of themselves as "natural" men, saying:

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness (Matthew 23:27-28).

If we could know the heart of man as God does, we would see that the natural man, if he could, would eliminate God from existence. Far from any desire to find God or be rescued by Him, the earnest desire of the natural man is like that of the fool who says in his heart, hopefully and hatefully, "There is no God" (Psalm 14:1). It may seem redundant to say this again, but it is important to understand that the natural man's enmity toward God is not always obvious. It is commonly obscured by outward morality and various forms of religious expression, sometimes even by a seemingly sincere profession of faith in Christ.

The Natural Man Always Rejects the Gospel of God's Grace

No natural person has ever truly loved God, trusted in Christ, repented of sin, or understood the gospel. That is a strong statement to make. But look with me at three important passages of Scripture that prove it to be true:

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3).

For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Romans 8:6-8).

But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised (1 Corinthians 2:14 NASB).

Those three passages have one critical word in common: the word "cannot." The word describes inability. If someone will not do something, it may or may not be because he cannot do it. He may possess the ability while he simply remains unwilling. If properly persuaded, he may change his mind and do the thing requested of him. But if a person cannot do something, we can be absolutely certain that unless he is given new abilities, he will not do it, no matter how strong the persuasion or how great the incentive. His failure to perform as required is rooted in his inability.

This is a good place to further explain what I mean by "inability." The natural man's inability is moral and spiritual, not physical or intellectual. He cannot make himself want what he does not desire by nature, and he cannot make himself hate what he loves by nature. He has the physical and intellectual ability, as well as the opportunity and freedom, to choose what he wants. But he lacks the moral and spiritual ability to change his own nature—to create in himself a new heart and thus reorient his affections. As Jeremiah asks, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? [referring to things which are clearly impossible]. Then you also can do good who are accustomed to doing evil [something that is just as impossible]" (Jeremiah 13:23 NASB).

Though different terms are employed in the three passages quoted earlier (i.e. John 3:3, Romans 8:6-8, and 1 Corinthians 2:14), they all refer to the same kind of person—the "natural man." Paul calls him by this name in 1 Corinthians 2:14. In John 3:3, he is the one who is not "born again." And in Romans 8:6-8 he is the one who possesses "the carnal mind" or the one who is "in the flesh." These different terms all describe one and the same kind of person: the unregenerate person. And according to these three verses, there are four things that the unregenerate person cannot do:

1. He cannot see the kingdom of God (cf. John 3:3)
The word "see" in John 3:3 refers to spiritual perception of God's kingdom, not entrance into it or visual sight of it. The Greek word for see (eido) can refer to visual sight. But nowhere in the Bible are we given the idea that the kingdom of God, as spoken of by Christ during His earthly ministry, is something visible to human eyesight. It is an invisible, spiritual kingdom. We would not expect anyone, even a regenerate person, to be able to "see" it in the physical sense (at least not until Christ returns).

We are helped in our interpretation of this statement when we see that the same Greek word is used in Mark 4:11-12. There Jesus is clearly referring to spiritual blindness—the inability to perceive spiritual truth. He explains to his disciples that His reason for speaking in parables is not to make the truth simple and clear to everyone, but rather to restrain some from perceiving it. In that regard, he says to His disciples:

To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, so that "Seeing they may see [ blepo: to see with their eyes] and not perceive [eido: to perceive spiritually], and hearing they may hear [with their physical ears] and not understand [spiritually]; lest they should turn and their sins be forgiven them."

According to Jesus, His parables were a sort of code-language that only some had been given the spiritual ability to decipher. And it would seem evident that those who were not given that ability were in the same natural condition as the one who has not been born again. Such people cannot see (or perceive spiritually) the kingdom of God, as Jesus said in John 3:3. That ability was not theirs naturally, and it had not been granted to them. This seems all the more evident when we note that in Mark 4:11, Jesus referred to the truths He was teaching through parables as "the mystery of the kingdom of God."

The natural man may have certain ideas about heaven and hell, but the only reality he perceives with any depth or accuracy is the fallen world around him. Just as you cannot hear the tone of a dog whistle because it is beyond the range of your physical ears, the natural man cannot see the realities of the kingdom of heaven because they are beyond the range of his spiritual perception. This is why Jesus often ended His teaching with the mysterious statement, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear" (Matthew 11:15; 13:9; Mark 4:9; Luke 8:8; cf. Revelation 2:7).

2. He cannot be subject to the law of God (cf. Romans 8:7)
The natural man does not and will not submit to God's law because he cannot submit to God's law. He cannot submit himself to Christ as Lord and Master, meaning he cannot meaningfully confess Jesus as "Lord" (a necessary aspect of salvation, cf. Romans 10:9; 1 Corinthians 12:3). Jesus assures us that those who love Him will also obey Him—they will become subject to Him (John 14:15, cf. 1 John 2:3-4). But since the natural man cannot submit himself to Christ, he cannot be a true disciple of Christ (i.e. a Christian).

Remember that the natural man's inability is moral and spiritual, not physical or intellectual. He is always free to choose according to his own desires. In fact, he always does choose according to his desires. No one prohibits him from obeying Christ. No one says "You may not submit your will to God's." It is only the depraved affections of his own heart that invariably cause him to reject God's authority and righteousness and choose evil. As Jesus said of the natural man in John 3:20, "everyone practicing evil hates the light [i.e. truth and righteousness] and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed."

3. He cannot please God (cf. Romans 8:8)
The natural man is often preoccupied with morality and religious activity in his attempt to please either false gods, or a wrong perception of the true God. But as Paul writes of the natural man in Romans 8:8, "those who are in the flesh cannot please God" (emphasis added). When we realize what truly pleases God, we will be able to see more clearly what the natural man cannot do.

We know that faith pleases God, because "without faith it is impossible to please Him" (Hebrews 11:6). These words were offered by the writer of Hebrews as conclusive proof that Enoch's faith pleased God (cf. v. 5). We also know that when Abraham believed God, his faith pleased God (cf. Genesis 15:6). But since Paul assures us that the natural man cannot please God, we know just as certainly that he cannot believe God. The natural man does not have, within himself, even the ability to exercise saving faith. This is why Paul told the Philippians that it had been granted to them to believe (Philippians 1:29). Prior to God's grace, they did not have the ability to believe. Saving faith, far from being an inherent ability in the natural man, is a gift from God, given to those He has chosen for salvation (cf. Ephesians 2:8-9; 2 Thessalonians 2:13).

Secondly, we know that repentance pleases God. In Luke 15:7 Jesus said there will be "joy in heaven" when even one sinner repents. But the natural man cannot please God. And since we know that repentance pleases God, we know that the natural man cannot truly repent. This explains why Paul hoped that God would "grant" repentance to those in opposition to the truth, enabling them to "know the truth" (2 Timothy 2:25). Repentance, like faith, is God's gracious gift. Even though God commands everyone to repent (cf. Mark 1:15; Acts 17:30), even though He holds everyone responsible if they do not repent, no one is naturally able to repent.

To illustrate this further, consider a number of pigs that have become trapped in the bottom of a deep and barren pit with vertical walls. No one put them there; they fell in because pigs are greedy and foolish by nature and there was food in the bottom of the pit. The pit is rapidly filling with water so that soon the pigs will drown. There are no ledges to cling to, no trees to climb, and no objects on which to float. The pit is far too deep to allow for the possibility that any of the pigs could jump or climb to safety. Lastly, there is no hope that the water will recede in time for even the strongest swimmers to survive. These pigs are certainly doomed. The only possible way of escape, apart from outside assistance, would be for these pigs to have the ability to fly. But pigs cannot fly. The same nature that got them into trouble renders them unable to get out of it. Additionally, because of their greedy nature, they are so focused on gorging themselves that they are quite oblivious to their dilemma. And if someone were to try to rescue them, they would undoubtedly see the rescuer as a threat—as someone who was trying to take them away from the one thing they love most.

If we were to see some of these pigs escaping, flying out of the pit on their own power while the rest drowned, we could say with all certainty that they were no ordinary pigs. We would be right to conclude that they had been given new abilities as well as a new awareness of the danger, both of which ordinary (natural) pigs do not possess. Likewise, when we see people pleasing God through genuine repentance and saving faith in Christ, we know God has granted them new abilities and a measure of awareness that natural men do not possess.

4. He cannot understand the things of the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:14)
In order to understand the meaning of this verse, we must know what Paul meant by, "the things of the Spirit of God." Those "things" are foolishness to the natural man, and they are what he cannot understand in his natural state. What are they?

Paul is speaking throughout this passage of the gospel. He has referred to it as "the message of the cross" (1:18), "Christ crucified" (1:23), "the testimony of God" (2:1), and "the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory (2:7; cf. Mark 4:11). There is no break in thought or change of topic before Paul mentions "the things of the Spirit of God." In fact, in verse 12 he tells us one reason why the Spirit of God is given: "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God" (emphasis added).

Before the gift of the Holy Spirit, Paul was a natural, though extremely religious man. But in his natural state, not even he could have known "the things of the Spirit of God." Clearly, Paul is speaking throughout this passage about understanding the gospel. And just as clearly, he tells us that the natural man cannot understand the gospel (v. 14).

A natural man may understand the gospel in a superficial, intellectual sense. To be sure, intellectual understanding of the gospel is essential for salvation. Acknowledging the mystery of God's dealings with infants or others who have no intellectual capacity for understanding, no one will be saved apart from a clear and accurate intellectual grasp of essential biblical truth. What I mean by "a superficial, intellectual sense," is this: A natural man may be able to recite Christian creeds, or properly state the basics of Christian doctrine. He may even appreciate the teachings of Jesus for their moral value and their effect on society. He may be an intelligent, thoughtful, sincere person who feels comfortable in church. He may even stand behind a pulpit or teach in a seminary classroom. But in His spirit, there is no desperate conviction or true hatred of sin, no true fear of a holy and just God, no true sense of his need to be saved, no genuine perception of an eternal kingdom or an eternal hell, no willingness to unreservedly lay down his life for Christ, and no true love for God.

I have known unregenerate people to say they understand the gospel. They say they understand that there is a heaven and a hell. They seem to have a certain fear of hell and a desire to go to heaven. They may even acknowledge the fact that Jesus is man's only hope for salvation. Yet they prove themselves to be unregenerate because they do not repent of their sin or become followers of Christ, trusting in His promises, obeying His voice, and loving His people. Despite their claims, I can say with all certainty that these people do not understand.

Another illustration will help us to think rightly here: Imagine waking a man in the middle of the night and telling him that his house is on fire. Your warning is true. His house really is on fire. You urge him to get out of bed and rescue his wife and young children, all of whom will perish if he does not act quickly. The man responds by verbally acknowledging that he has heard your warning and that he understands the danger, but he takes no action.

Did this man truly understand? Your words of warning obviously entered his ears and evoked a coherent verbal response. He clearly heard and understood you in that sense. But nothing registered deeply enough to cause him to take action. He told you plainly that he understood that soon the fire would consume both him and his family. But the absence of any urgent and proper response proved that his "understanding" was not true or meaningful in any way.

It is inconceivable to think that a man who truly understood that his wife and children were going to burn to death made no move to save them. Even more inconceivable is that he truly understood that he was going to burn to death, yet made no move toward a readily available avenue of escape. Likewise, it is utterly inconceivable that anyone could truly understand his own guilt and continuing sinfulness, the holiness, power, justice, and wrath of God toward sinners, the eternal horrors of hell, or the unimaginable pleasures of eternal communion with God in heaven, and yet refuse the free offer of salvation in Christ. No matter what such a person says, he does not understand. This becomes even more certainly true when we realize that according to Jesus, everyone who truly understands will be saved. As He said:

No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, "And they shall all be taught by God." Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me (John 6:44-45, emphasis added).

No one who truly understands stays away from Christ through unbelief or unrepentance. Everyone who truly understands, everyone who has "heard and learned from the Father," comes to Christ in humble submission and trust. They are, in fact, drawn irresistibly to Him. In John 17:2-3, Jesus affirms this when He says that He will give eternal life to as many as the Father has given Him. And He goes on to say, "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." True understanding is eternal life.

Some of the Jews thought they understood and believed (cf. John 8:30). They saw themselves as perfectly able to grasp essential truth, and were certain that they, of all people, had done so. That is why they argued with Jesus when He said, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:31-32). Although they thought they had complete understanding, they had not yet come to realize their own bondage to sin. Therefore, they were offended when Jesus implied that they still needed to be set free from sin (v. 33). Jesus said to these supposed believers, "My word has no place in you" (v. 37). Then He shocked them with these words:

Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. . . . because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. . . . He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God" (John 8:43, 45, 47, emphasis added).

Jesus did not tell these men that they were unwilling to believe, although in a secondary sense that was certainly true. He told them they were unable to believe. These men, though highly intelligent and well educated in the Old Testament, had not been given "a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear" (Deuteronomy 29:4, cf. Matthew 13:9). To use the analogy of radio waves, their hearts, eyes, and ears (spiritually speaking) were not tuned to God's frequency. Therefore they perceived the Son of God as a fraud and His words of truth as lies.

All men are born spiritually dead. Only those who are regenerated by God (i.e. born again) are able to understand. Only then are they able to repent and believe. Only then are they able to submit their wills to God and become pleasing to Him. Of necessity, then, regeneration precedes true understanding, genuine repentance, saving faith, and submission to Christ. In other words, the first move in making a Christian is God's move. He is the only one who can adjust a person's spiritual radio antenna to perceive truth as truth, thereby causing him to desire and seek salvation. He graciously makes that adjustment, when and in whom He pleases, through regeneration. And as Ezekiel said when He recorded God's words of promise to His chosen people, it is a replacement more than an adjustment:

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them (Ezekiel 36:26-27).

Regenerate people are the ones spoken of in John 1:12, where John writes, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name." What kind of people are these who receive Christ through faith? Are they natural people? Or have they been changed by God? John goes on in the next verse to describe them as those "who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." People who believe were first created anew. They were born again, enabling them to believe. And it was not a decision of their will that prompted their new birth.

James tells us that it is God's sovereign prerogative alone that prompts regeneration. " Of His own will He brought us forth [lit. "gave birth to us "] by the word of truth" (James 1:18, emphasis added). And Jesus compared the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit to the wind which "blows where it wishes." "So," He said," is everyone who is born of the Spirit" (John 3:8). Just as the path of the wind cannot be directed by men, so the time and place of the Spirit's regenerating work cannot be controlled by the human will. "So then," as Paul writes, "it does not depend on the man who wills [i.e. the man who exercises faith], or the man who runs [i.e. the one who exerts religious effort], but on God who has mercy" (Romans 9:16, NASB ).

Only One Hope for the Natural Man

The natural man is in a terrible situation. He is sinful in every dimension of his being, enslaved to his own lusts and pleasures, defenseless against the temptations of the devil, and guilty by imputation. Even worse, he is so deceived about his own condition, so blinded to his desperate need, that he runs away from the light of truth. As Jesus said of the natural man:

And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed (John 3:19-20, emphasis added).

Natural man responds to God's saving truth the way rats or roaches scatter when the lights are turned on. Just as these vermin hate to be exposed by physical light, the natural man hates for his sin to be exposed by the light of truth. This may not always be the outward appearance. Many will seem outwardly interested, receptive, and morally upright, though they remain in a natural state of depravity. But Jesus understood the deceitfulness of the human heart and was never fooled by outward appearances as we often are (cf. Jeremiah 17:9-10; John 2:23-25). As the prophet Samuel said, "God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7 NASB).

Apart from the grace of God in regeneration, the natural man has no hope of salvation. He possesses neither the desire nor the ability to love God, to keep His laws, to repent of sin, to trust in Christ, or to understand the gospel. Unless God mercifully intervenes, the natural man will suffer justly and eternally in hell. Humanly speaking, no natural person could ever be saved. No matter how many opportunities he is given, no matter how wide a gate is opened before him, no matter how winsomely Christ is presented, he simply cannot and will not see his need. He is dead in sin, having committed spiritual suicide in Adam. And as he continues to sin against God and reject His truth, he only hardens himself in his deadness.

The natural man's hope of salvation is certainly not to be found in his own "free will." In fact, it is the depraved will of the natural man that is hopelessly loyal to sin, and therefore, causing him to treasure up wrath in the day of wrath (cf. Romans 2:5). If the natural man is to be saved, he must be saved not only from the wrath of God, but also from himself.

Part 2 of this article will be a discussion of the words, phrases, illustrations, and analogies we use in preaching to the unconverted.