The Origin of Humanness
Part Three
First The Natural
Then The Spiritual
By John Gavazzoni



Origin Of Humanness Series
Part 1 Adamic Development	Part 2 A Living Soul: Its Problematic Dimension	Part 3 First The Natural Than The Spiritual
Part 4 Humanity's Commission	Part 5 Deficiently Glory-Bound	Part 6 Searching the Depths of God

In his classic resurrection-treatise on resurrection, as part of what is recorded as the 15th chapter of his first epistle to the Church in Corinth, Paul contrasts "the natural" with "the spiritual," but it needs to be noted, PLEASE, that in his context, while pointing out the contrast, he affirms an essential union between the two, i.e., the spiritual is found within the natural, with the natural, in the eonian dimension, appearing first. In that formation-appearing, the spiritual exists at the outset as a deep potentiality, awaiting the "breath of lives," to be released from eternity into time. (From here on out in our series, I will refer more accurately to God breathing into the man the breath of lives [plural] as it is in the Hebrew text.)

From the time I set out to present this series, I've undergone a process of meandering around back and forth among consideration, reflection, meditation, and pondering, and very integral to that process has been what I call seeing various points in scripture that seem to call for connection toward the emergence a biblical picture of "the spiritual" nature of humanness released out from eternity, to become "the natural" in/as eonian existence. Paul, understanding that the Bible is God's book for the eons, points out that it begins with "first, the natural," and "then, the spiritual."

Just so the reader will know where I'm coming from as I proceed to press for the connecting of those points, I must address once again, how firm is my conviction that God did not create anything out of nothing, much less mankind. The formation of man, as recorded in the text we've been dealing with, Genesis 2:7, certainly is the crowning event of God's creation.

The man, whose formation is described in the above verse, is not only the CROWN of God's creativity, but he, the man, as we finally see his Reality in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, is CROWNED with glory and honor; of this the writer of Hebrews was most clear. That's why we can say that His formation is God's crowning act of creation. That such a result could come out of nothingness, has come to be an intolerable consideration to my intellect, intuition, and sense of what is the true relationship between Deity and humanity, as a traceable thread running all through the biblical revelation.   The reader needs to know that I understand humanness, as intrinsic to Deity, and to be God's very glory in Personhood expression. Pseudo-orthodoxy teaches that Deity and out-of-nothing humanity, came together in perfect union in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Son of Man.

Most certainly, in Him, there is no contradistinction between Deity and humanness, BECAUSE, the truth is, that by His virgin birth, the humanness which is at the heart of Deity, came forth into the eons in the fulness of time. The two needed no combining, for the one emerged out of the other, the former being intrinsic to the latter.

As I've pointed out in previous articles, and in several spoken messages, the Ark of the Covenant gives us a perfect picture of this truth. It was constructed of wood, overlaid with Gold. Wood is a symbol of humanity in scripture, as gold is of Deity. From this, we see that WITHIN Deity is humanness. In scripture, that with which we are clothed, in the case of the Ark, with which it was overlaid, originates from within. The glory which encompasses Deity, that glory with which God clothes Himself, and makes for Himself, a habitation, comes from within Him, and as Paul wrote, man is that glory.

So this brings us to the point of needing to have some grasp of what particularly the New Testament is conveying using the words "natural," and "spiritual." I can't help discerning that while we use those two words so as to convey something of edifying content re: God's dealing with us in our existential state; we're still pretty fuzzy about their meaning, and how they relate to one another.

For our present purpose, in this third installment in our series, I will approach defining their meaning without at all insisting that I'm presenting definitions that are all-determining reference points for further investigation. I'm requesting that the reader consider, for now, that understanding "the spiritual," as that which is the eternal Origin, the out-from-eternity Intrinsic Substance, and Timeless Constituting Essence of all things, is very close to the heart of its meaning. While spirit originates in eternity, and is native to eternity, it, as "the natural" in the eons belongs to the eons also, which thought might offer one more dimension to our understanding of life eonian.

EveryTHING IS out-formed spirit. Spirit is the all pervasive underlying reality of all that God has created. Spirit is UNcreated, while all that is created, is created out of that spirit, the One Spirit, which is God. Spirit has the quality of being able to give of Itself/Himself for the creation of an all which is complementary to the Spirit's allness. God can give freely of His Spirit as the "stuff" by which He creates/forms/carves out a contrasting, yet complementary dimension of His eternality, namely the ages, and all that is included in them, without any loss to Himself. To give of Himself thusly, does not leave Him with less of Himself, for the infinity of spirit cannot be reduced. It gives of Itself/Himself, but remains as measureless as before.

Also, we need to understand that while all things are created out of God's Spirit-substance, the act of God giving up a measure of His infinite Spirit for creation construction, does not equate to God transferring His Personhood by that act. The relationship between creation out of spirit, and the eonian nearness of God's Presence, is much more complex than that. (Sorry, if the factor of complexity doesn't fit with your understanding of the necessity of simplicity, but it's not either/or, it's both. The wisdom of God is manifold/multi-faceted/complex, yet at the same time simple. Learn to live with that fact).

There's a difference between a sense of God-content that can come to us, as we view a scene of nature, as opposed to seeing the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. You've known the difference, and so have I. Just this morning before sitting down to write this installment, I was rather unexpectedly, and momentarily captivated by a sense of the sacredness of the scene set before me as I looked out the bedroom window of our townhouse. But it wasn't the same as those moments when Christ Himself has drawn me into His Presence for a time of personal communion.

The dust of the ground from which God formed the man had a spirit-constitution, albeit concealed, but, at that point, he was "natural," that is, he could only interact with spirit in its eonian, material form,  God, Himself, had not yet appeared to him. First there had to be the transference of lives by the infusion of God's breath into that man, the lives of all the eternally generated family of God out from eternity into time, into him.

The nature of spirit, has taken on the nature of space/time/materiality, and that is what is meant by "the natural," and that is a peek at the relationship between the natural and the spiritual. When he received that breath of lives from God, those lives brought with them, the communion of the family of God out from eternity. That communion, in the vulnerability of that which is "the natural," was to eventually suffer the agony of estrangement.

Talk about mystery: On one hand, out from eternity, the glory-nature of spirit, comes forth as "the natural," yet in turn, out of "the natural," "the spiritual" comes forth. Now doesn't this lead to connecting the two-stage creation of man, that is first as man formed of the dust of the ground, and second as man infused with a particularity of God-breathed soulness, unique to humanity, and Paul's teaching about the first man, of the earth, earthy, and the Second Man, of the heaven's heavenly? Likewise, the comparison with the first Adam, and Last Adam?

Though we very rightly identify the Second Man with our Lord, Jesus Christ, isn't His Humanity traceable to the Spirit-Glory of His eternal Sonship, and ours in Him, as the God-stuff from which the first man was created? From there, don't we have a perfect picture of the first man being that man formed of the ground, of the earth, earthy, without the God in-breathed breath of lives? And isn't the Second Man in the picture, the Man from heaven, heavenly now having within Himself, within the ages, the lives of all His brethren from eternity? In a word, were we not all created IN Christ?

An aspect of this mystery, which I still don't see clearly, but which is beginning to appear to my spiritual eyes through the veil of my flesh, has to do with the difference between Adam's eonian existence beginning as one created, and Jesus' eonian existence beginning as the One birthed. There's a certain circularity involved there. His eternal birth, leads to His eonian creation, and that eonian creaturely journey leads to His birth in Bethlehem.

He is the eternally begotten (not created) Son, who takes on creaturehood beginning way back there in that two-stage creation/formation of Adam, but His creaturely solidarity with the Adamic race leads up to Him being born of Mary, by which birth, He becomes the One Eternally Begotten, within the ages. He is born on earth from the origination of His "above" birth, born on earth "from above," or as one of Jonathan Mitchell's translation options offers, He is "born back up again."

When He was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, leading to the consummation of His New Humanity in His resurrection, we were "born back up again/born from above" born again from where we were first eternally generated in Him. His Personhood remained hidden throughout the creaturely existence of man from Adam to Jesus, until that time when God sent His Son, born of a woman, into this world.

Do you see the "law of circularity" summed up in Him? The One from the heavens, heavenly, becomes the one of the earth, earthy, to in turn have His earthiness infused with His all-inclusive life of lives from eternity into the ages, to have his heavenliness renewed, and proceed to being born of the Spirit out from the earthiness of a woman, on to return to the glory which He had with the Father before the world began, as the Firstborn of all creation, and the Firstborn from among the dead. To be sure, this cannot be understood fully until we see Him face to face. The "as in a mirror" perception, is at best, just a foretaste of understanding, or better, as Fanny Crosby wrote, a foretaste of glory divine:

"Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.
Oh what a foretaste of glory divine.
Heir of salvation, purchase of God.
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.”



Origin Of Humanness Series
Part 1 Adamic Development	Part 2 A Living Soul: Its Problematic Dimension	Part 3 First The Natural Than The Spiritual
Part 4 Humanity's Commission	Part 5 Deficiently Glory-Bound	Part 6 Searching the Depths of God