“And I, brothers, was not able to speak to you as spiritual, but as carnal, as infants in Christ.” – 1 Corinthians 3:1
When I was in college, one of the required courses for all students was biology. Of the three different types of science classes I took in high school – biology, chemistry, and physics – I found biology to be my least favorite and the hardest for me. One of the sections of that college biology course was to be able to tell what type of tree a tree is by its leaves. I did alright with oaks and maples, but beyond that I struggled. I barely got the required “C” in that class to pass it.
The principle behind tree identification from its leaves is that what a tree or plant produces will identify what kind of tree or plant it is. It’s the same with trees and plants that bear some type of fruit. I would struggle to know what a pear or an orange tree looked like if there was no fruit on its limbs, but if I saw a pear or an orange, I would immediately be able to identify that a tree was a pear tree or an orange tree because fruit produced is an identifying trait.
It is the same with being spiritual. Over the years, I have had a number of people ask me this question – “What does it mean to be spiritual?” I’ve also asked people that same question and many, if not most, struggle to answer that question.
The concept of “being spiritual” may be one of those that people just assume everyone knows what it means and what it looks like. My experience tells me something different.
So, what does it mean to be spiritual? Why was the Apostle Paul able to qualify the Corinthian believers as not being spiritual? It all has to do with that principle of identifying something by the fruit produced.
If something is spiritual, then it must fund its source in the Spirit. In other words, it must be fruit that the Holy Spirit would produce. Paul mentions some in Galatians 5:22-23. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such as these there is no law.” There are others which Paul did not mention such as generosity, mercy, and grace. Basically things that are in God’s nature are the things that are spiritual.
So, one who is spiritual is someone who displays these traits because they are the fruit of the Spirit and are, therefore, spiritual, and anyone displaying them is spiritual because s/he is displaying the nature of God.
So, consider the things you are doing. Are they drawing you to being more loving? Or having more joy? Or more patience? Or being kind to those around you? If what you are doing is not drawing you into displaying the fruit of the Spirit, things of the Spirit, spiritual things, then start doing something different.
The question, “What does it mean to be spiritual,” should not be a difficult question to answer. Just look to the nature of God.
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