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Laws of Sonship, part 2

Jesus is the Pattern Son. The sons of God are patterned after His example. When Jesus was conceived in Mary, it appeared to be that she had been unfaithful to Joseph. Matthew 1:18-20 says,

¹⁸ Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. ²⁰ But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.”

Luke records Mary’s personal account of what happened, how an angel of the Lord appeared to her and told her that she would conceive as a virgin. Luke 1:26 says,

²⁶ Now in the sixth month [of Elizabeth’s pregnancy with John the Baptist] the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary… ³⁰ The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son; and you shall name Him Jesus… ³⁴ Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” ³⁵ The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.”

Here we see how the angel defined the meaning of the phrase, “Son of God.” He was the Son of God because He was begotten by the Holy Spirit rather than by an earthly man. In doing so, He was able to avoid the liability of Adam’s sin. Mortality and corruption had been passed down from generation to generation through the male seed, but the “seed” of God (whatever form that was) bypassed the Adamic problem.

It was precisely because He was begotten by God that He was not subject to sin. He was in full agreement with His heavenly Father, and He also had the ability to refrain fully from sin. The same is true for the sons of God, although we ourselves are not sons of God at birth. We were begotten by Adamic seed from our earthly parents, and so the Holy Spirit must beget Christ in us at a later time. Our fathers begat us in the image of Adam; the Holy Spirit begets us in the image of “the last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45), that is, Jesus Christ.

Two Men Conflicting in One Body

In each case, whether we are speaking of Jesus or of ourselves as sons of God, the basic principle is the same. That which has been begotten by God is perfect and cannot sin, whereas that which has been begotten by mortal seed is imperfect and cannot help but sin. That which has been begotten the second time (that is, by the Spirit) is a new and different “man” in embryo form, so to speak. Thus, Paul speaks of the “old man” (Romans 6:6 KJV) and the “new man” (Ephesians 4:24 KJV). Paul also refers to the new man as “a new creature” (2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV).

The old man is Adam in us; the new man is Christ in us. The old man is a living soul; the new man is a life-giving spirit. For this reason we should know that soul and spirit are two different things. The soul is the conscious entity that we were born as; but when the Holy Spirit overshadows us, our (human) spirit comes alive as a new man in us. The two “men” complete with each other for control, and at any given moment we are under the control of one or the other.

When we sin, it is because we are following the leading of the old man; when we follow the leading of our spirit, we cannot sin, as Johnn says, because it was begotten by God. We read in 1 John 3:9 reads (literally),

⁹ No entity which is begotten of God practices sin; because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is begotten of God.

Paul discussed the conflict between the two “men” in Romans 7:14-25. Note how he calls each by the term “I” while acknowledging their very different natures.

¹⁴ For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold into bondage to sin.

This sets forth “I” as the old man.

¹⁵ For what I [old man] am doing, I [new man] do not understand; for I [old man] am not practicing what I [new man] would like to do; but I [old man] am doing the very thing that I [new man] hate. ¹⁶ But If I [old man] do the very thing that I [new man] do not want to do, I [new man] agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. ¹⁷ So now, no longer am I [new man] the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me [old man].

Toward the end of his discussion, Paul defines the new man, saying in Romans 7:22, 23,

²² For I [new man] joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, ²³ but I [new man] see a different law in the members of my [Adamic] body, waging war against the law of my [spiritual] mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my [Adamic] members.

Paul considered himself to be this “inner man” identified with his human spirit, which is in conflict and war with the Adamic man and its “members” (body parts). Paul had two I’s existing in one body side by side, one in his fleshly soul and the other in his spirit. Hence, it is important that we understand this, so that we may focus on being led by the spiritual man and not the fleshly, soulish man.

The Soul is Fleshly

Paul discusses this distinction again in 1 Corinthians 2:11-16,

¹¹ For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in Him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.

It is often difficult to know if Paul was speaking of the human spirit or the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit indwells the human spirit of those who have been begotten by God. In the case of a Spirit-filled believer, the two tend to merge as one. But here Paul tells us emphatically that full knowledge of both man and God come through the spirit and not through the soul.

¹² Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, ¹³ which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining [expressing]spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.

Finally, in the next verses Paul speaks specifically of the soulish man, that is, the old man from Adam. 1 Corinthians 2:14-16 concludes,

¹⁴ But a natural [psukikos, “soulish”] 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 [discerned]. ¹⁵ But he who is spiritual [new man] appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one [who is soulish]. ¹⁶ For who has known he mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.

The soulish man has a carnal mind and is incapable of receiving and understanding genuine spiritual revelation. The soulish mind lost that capability when Adam sinned. For this reason it is imperative that the Holy Spirit begets a new man in our spirit, having the capability of receiving spiritual things and knowing the mind of Christ.

But where did Paul get the understanding that the soulish man has a carnal mind? This came from Paul’s study of the law itself. In the laws of blood, we read in Leviticus 17:10, 11,

¹⁰ And any man from the house of Israel or from the aliens who sojourn among them, who eats any blood, I will set My face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people. ¹¹ For the life [nephesh, “soul”] of the flesh is in the blood…

“The soul of the flesh” is better rendered “the fleshly soul.” Hence, the soul is fleshly and is associated with flesh and blood, which cannot inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 15:50). The soulish man, that is, the old man, was sentenced to death; the spiritual man, begotten by the Holy Spirit, is the inheritor of the Kingdom. Both “men” are in contention for the same inheritance, but only the spiritual man will actually receive that inheritance. Those who have not been begotten by the Spirit are not inheritors—not until they are indeed begotten spiritually.

Those who fail to be begotten by the Holy Spirit, those who fail to become the sons of God in this lifetime, will have to achieve this goal in an age to come. God’s mercy has devised a plan whereby they will be instructed after they are raised from the dead, so God may be all in all.