What Does It Mean to Be Spiritual?

From The Christian Reader:

What Does it Mean to be Spiritual?


by Eric Rauch



How do we, as Christians, understand what it means to be “spiritual?” Oftentimes, spirituality takes on an arbitrary and undefined quality that is more emotional than it is intellectual. We are sometimes admonished that being spiritual is not an intellectual pursuit, it is something of a passive state where we “step aside and let the Holy Spirit lead.” But is this accurate? Just what is being “spiritual” according to the Bible?



Most Christians immediately associate spirituality with the Holy Spirit. Being spiritual must mean exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit right? In Galatians 5 we read that the fruit of the Spirit is: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” First, note that they are referred to as “fruit,” not “fruits.” The fruit of the Spirit is not a buffet. We don’t work on love one day, joy the next and peace and patience the week after, like Benjamin Franklin attempted with his “13 Virtues.” No, Paul tells us that these nine qualities are the fruit of the Spirit. A “spiritual” individual should exhibit all nine of them. Second, this spiritual fruit is discussed at the end of Galatians 5 (vv. 22-23). The verses that precede this section are vital to our understanding of what being spiritual really means.



The chapter begins: “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” Paul writes to the Galatians as ones for whom Christ had died. He tells them to not turn back in subjection to a yoke of slavery again. But from what yoke of slavery did Christ free them? In verse 13 Paul continues: “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” Paul says even though you are free, do not allow your new freedom to give an opportunity to the flesh. “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law” (vv. 16-18). Here we begin to see clearly the “old man, new man” dichotomy that Paul discusses elsewhere (e.g. Romans 7; 2 Corinthians 5). The flesh and the Spirit are set up as polar opposites, antagonists in a grand battle, and we are the battleground.



Paul then goes on in Galatians 5:19-21 to list the “deeds of the flesh” and warn that “those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” The flesh yields “deeds” but the Spirit yields “fruit.” While we do not possess the power to grow the fruit of the Spirit on our own, we are expected to pull the weeds (deeds) of the flesh. “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit” (vv. 24-25). In other words, it’s not enough to just say that you believe something: True faith will produce works (James 2:14-26) as well as fruit. Spirituality then, is not an emotional state or a surrender of one’s mind to a deeper state of consciousness. It is thinking God’s thoughts after Him and actively crucifying the flesh so that the Spirit of God can move in and plant fruit-bearing trees. But how is this accomplished?



Redeemed to Redeem



The Bible teaches that we have a flesh as well as a spiritual nature and that the two are at war. The Apostle Paul speaks to this in Romans 7:14-25, as he writes of his own struggle of “not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate” (v.15). He concludes this seemingly hopeless section of Scripture with these words:



I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin (vv. 21-25).



We learn here that our two natures each serve a different law; our spiritual nature serves the law of God and our flesh nature the law of sin. That’s pretty easy, the two natures are two laws, or two ways of doing things: God’s way or sinful man’s way. As humans, we are conceived in sin, so the law of sin is our default setting, our modus operandi (normal mode of operation). But, when God calls and justifies us by His grace, He writes the law of the stone on our hearts and we serve this “law of God” from the heart (Romans 6:17-18). The very same law that condemns our flesh nature when written on tablets of stone, i.e. the Mosaic Law, is the law we now joyfully serve in our spiritual natures (2 Corinthians 3), even to the point that we can agree with David when he says: “Oh Lord, I love your law” (Psalm 119). Same law, two different responses.



This often leads to misunderstanding though. If the flesh nature serves the law of sin and the spiritual nature serves the law of God, then maybe Plato was right, and the physical world is merely a distraction from what really matters. If the flesh is naturally in conflict with the spiritual, it makes perfect sense to do everything you can to ignore it and focus your attention on the spiritual. But this doesn’t square with what the Bible teaches. We are redeemed spiritually, in order that we may become redeemed physically. “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:1-2). While we may think that a “spiritual” Christian is one who has no involvement with the things of the world, this is not what the Bible teaches.



Decrees such as “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” were set up by some as obligatory for the practice of a “true spirituality.” The Apostle Paul clearly stated that they “have the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence” (Colossians 2:21, 23). In a word, true spirituality is not enhanced by abstaining from God’s good creation and those institutions He has ordained for the proper government of the world (e.g., Romans 13:1-4). [1]



The super-pietistic, Gnostic attitude of abandonment and neglect of the material world is not only illogical and counterproductive, it is unscriptural and sinful. We are redeemed in order to redeem—to “pay it forward” [2] in a sense. Our spiritual redemption should make a physical difference. Salt needs to come out of the shaker in order to be useful and light needs to shine into darkness to be any help at all. The physical analogies that Jesus used were not meant to be taken as spiritual riddles to confound the church, they were meant to be acted upon.



An aspect of being a Christian is being sent into this world to perform good works in Jesus’ name. “As you [the Father] sent me [Jesus] into the world, so I have sent them into the world” (John 17:18; 20:21). Jesus was “sent” and had a “work” to do. Jesus accomplishing His task is a helpful model for accomplishing our tasks. [3]



To be continued…





Notes:



[1] Gary DeMar, Myths, Lies and Half-Truths (Powder Springs, GA: American Vision, 2004), 17.

[2] Refers to a movie of the same title. The idea was to do three good things for complete strangers and if everyone kept this up, the world would be changed rather quickly.

[3] Robert J. Cara, The Witness of John,” Tabletalk magazine (Feb. 2009), 21.