Chapter 11. Carnal and Spiritual People
Chapter 11
1. The Apostle pointed out the deeds he considers carnal, and since he foresaw the calumny of the unbelievers, he also explained himself, lest any difficulty remain for those who in unbelief scrutinize him. In his Letter to the Galatians he says this: Now the works of the flesh are plain, adulteries, fornications, impurities, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, quarreling, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I have warned you before, that those who do things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. This way he preached more clearly to his hearers what is meant by this that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Certainly, those who do these things really walk according to the flesh and cannot live for God. He also added the spiritual deeds that give life to man, which is the grafting of the Spirit. He says, But the fruit of the Spirit is: love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, continence, chastity: against such there is no law.
Hence, just as one who has made progress toward what is better and has produced fruit of the Spirit is altogether saved because of communion of the Spirit, so one who continues in the aforementioned deeds of the flesh is considered truly carnal, because he does not accept God’s Spirit and cannot inherit the kingdom of God. In the same strain the Apostle says to the Corinthians: Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God. The Apostle most clearly shows by what man perishes if he continues to live according to the flesh, and by what he is saved. The things that save, he said, are the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God.
2. Since, therefore, in this passage he enumerated the deeds of the flesh, which are without the Spirit and are deadly, in keeping with the things mentioned by him already, he exclaimed by way of summary at the end of the Letter [to the Corinthians]: Therefore, as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. I tell you this, brethren, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Now, the statement, Just as we have borne the image of the earthly is like this one, But such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God. When, then, did we bear the image of the one who is earthly? It was when the deeds of the flesh mentioned above were wrought in us. But when, on the other hand, the image of the heavenly? It was when, as he says, you were washed, and believed in the name of the Lord and received his Spirit. But we were washed by [washing away] not the substance of the body or the image of the handiwork, but the former way of living that resulted in emptiness. So in the very members in which we were perishing because we were doing the perishable deeds, in these we are given life because we do the deeds of the Spirit.