Spiritual Hiccups - From Fleshy to Spiritual

There is an unfortunate tendency in our day to think of body and spirit as two totally different, separate, disconnected things.  To many people, the body is a shell or container while the spirit is something altogether different that can exist within this shell or outside of it.  In this understanding, to become spiritual is to get in touch with this non-corporeal side of our being.

The Apostle Paul does not share our modern, Western notions of body and spirit.  For him, flesh and spirit do not speak of any body-spirit dichotomy.  Paul has a holistic understanding of our human nature.  When he speaks disparagingly about being "in the flesh" he is not talking about a problem inherent to having a body.  Rather he is talking about a life that is driven and animated by the ways of the world.  This can include bodily desires, but it also includes things like greed, jealousy, or desire for autonomy and control, things we don't necessarily associate with our bodies.

In today's epistle reading, Paul speaks of those who are spiritual receiving "the gifts of God's Spirit,"  having spiritual discernment, and having "the mind of Christ."  In contrast, he speaks of the congregation of believers in Corinth as still being "of the flesh" because there is "jealousy and quarreling" among them. 

What an interesting contrast between spiritual and fleshy.  If a congregation experiences quarreling they are not spiritual but fleshy.  But if instead they are discerning and know the mind of Christ, they are spiritual.  Obviously they have fleshy bodies either way, but Paul says they are fundamentally different.

When I grew up in the Presbyterian Church I never heard much about spirituality or discernment.  And by natural inclination, I am not a person who gravitates toward activities that many think of as spiritual: meditation, chanting, silence, candles, and so on.  Yet I have found myself experiencing deep spiritual longing in recent years.  As much as I love theology and studying the Scriptures, I feel a burning need to do more than know about God.  I need to discern the mind of Christ.  I need to know God.

In his letters, Paul speaks of the transformation that happens when one is "in Christ."  We become new creations and everything old passes away.  This sort of dramatic transformation does not happen by getting enough information or the right information.  It does not happen simply in the mind.  It goes deeper, into the totality of who we are.

My faith upbringing did not well equip me for this sort of knowing.  This is not because we have bad or wrong theology, but because we somehow forgot that faith could never simply be about getting the facts right or agreeing with this and that.  Faith is about moving from fleshy to spiritual in the way Paul speaks of that transition, a move that fundamentally changes who we are.

This is sometimes a struggle for me.  It is so easy for me to slip back into those comfortable, well-practiced ways of "knowing about" that I have learned, ways Paul might describe as "of the flesh."  God, draw me in deeper.  Let me know you.  Let me have the mind of Christ.

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