Preface
My opinion, like that of any, is of little importance, save as it might express God’s judgment of a matter. I have had upon my heart to pen “leaving the natural use” (Rom. 1:27), because I am persuaded that the misunderstanding, misplacement and misuse of nature is a paramount contributor to assemblies growing smaller and our spiritual state weakening.
I shall seek to consider, in this article, these three failures in the natural relationships associated with marriage. I write, not to reprove, but to awaken us to an awareness of the important role I believe nature has in relationship to spiritual development.
For many, our time of participation in this life is drawing to a close. What we have seen, or not seen, from the Word regarding nature, has had its effect already. I write with the desire that the younger Christians may see the principle of this subject in the Word and, by the grace and wisdom of God, benefit from this wonderful help we have in nature. “Doth not even nature itself teach you?” (1 Cor. 11:14).
Introduction
All men, with the exception of Christ, have their first relationship with God in the realm of what Scripture calls “nature” (Rom. 1:26; 1 Cor. 11:14). In that relationship with God, man is identified as a “natural man” (1 Cor. 2:14). This is the kind of man the Lord God created when “the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” This was man’s original or first kind of relationship with the Lord God. Man had no existence before his creation in this manner. The earth we live on is the natural habitat of the natural man (Psa. 115:16). He was created “male and female” (Gen. 1:27), both together being called “man.” “The first man is of the earth, earthy” (1 Cor. 15:47). Sin entered into the world by that man, and one consequence of his sinning was death, and after death, “the judgment” (Heb. 9:27). Sin and death now mar man and his natural habitat (Rom. 8:22).
Responsibilities of Nature
As man (male and female) still on earth in this realm of nature, we have responsibilities that are proper to that condition of manhood, even though, through faith in Christ, we now belong to a new creation. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature [or, there is a new creation ( JND)]” (2 Cor. 5:17). Of the believer it is said, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.... There is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:26-28). How we recognize and respond to those claims of nature affects, in a very great measure, our spiritual progress in what pertains to the new creation into which we now have been brought as children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. It is of grave consequence how we address the responsibilities of nature. They clearly have an influence on spiritual progress, both in ourselves and in those that know us. I do not speak of gaining entrance into the new creation by natural means. This cannot be done, for “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 15:50).
Marriage: A Relationship of Nature
The subject before me is vast and found repeatedly in Scripture. I would like to emphasize family relationships in the realm of nature, considering marriage first. We see that the Spirit of God requires our giving attention to this relationship with our spiritual understanding. “Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (Eph. 5:17). “Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them [wives] according to knowledge” (1 Peter 3:7). Responsibilities relating to nature will exist until the passing away of the present heavens and earth and the ushering in of the new. “I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.... For the former things are passed away” (Rev. 21:14).
A respected servant of Christ wrote regarding the natural relationship of marriage: “God had instituted marriage woe to him who should speak ill of it! But sin has come in, and all that is of nature, of the creature, is marred. God has introduced a power altogether above and outside nature that of the Spirit. To walk according to that power is the best thing; it is to walk outside the sphere in which sin acts. But it is rare; and positive sins are for the most part the effect of standing apart from that which God has ordained according to nature” (Synopsis, 1 Cor. 7, J. N. Darby).
Our failure to understand our roles in the realm of nature and not attending to the responsibilities proper to those roles have resulted in many sorrows in Christian lives and also hampered our spiritual progress. Once a believer marries, there are obligations pertaining to that relationship that cannot be neglected without serious consequences. When we, as believers, enter into this relationship of marriage, we are acknowledging we do not have the gift Paul spoke of in 1 Corinthians 7:7, nor the ability to walk altogether above and outside nature. I might add, in 1 Corinthians 7, the subject is chiefly a certain need men and women may have that can only be met in the marriage union. To meet that need outside of the marriage union is sin. What is before me is not confined to that particular need, but of the many needs of nature.
Nature As a Subject in Scripture
We will see that Paul himself was properly concerned about the realm of nature, and frequently addresses it, both as regards himself and as concerns all believers. It formed an important part of his ministry. We cannot live entirely above and outside the realm of nature as long as we are alive on this earth. We still bear the image of the earthy as we shall bear the image of the heavenly one (1 Cor. 15:49 JND).
Even our Lord Jesus Christ as He lived here on earth, prior to His resurrection, met the needs of the natural claims of others. He said concerning Himself, not “man shall not live by bread,” but that “man shall not live by bread alone.” He hungered as a man and, because He was a man, had that natural need. But such a natural need must be fulfilled with understanding as to its proper time and place according to the Father’s will. Would to God that this might be true of ourselves also.
H. Short
(to be continued)