What does it mean to be spiritual?
Christians often use the word "spiritual" loosely, but Scripture gives it a definite sense, and commentators warn that it is "despised by some, misunderstood by others, and carried too far by many." The question is not whether a person is religious, thoughtful or sincere, but whether the Holy Spirit gives character to their life.
Marked by the Spirit
At its root, being spiritual is not a mood or a temperament. It means one Person shapes what you are.
H J VineTo be spiritual, therefore, in the true sense is to be characterized by the Holy Spirit of God who has been given from our ascended Head and Lord… Extraordinary things, too, have been done in later days by men who have not been marked by true spirituality, nor by the fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness and self-control. Not simply power but grace and truth will mark those who are truly spiritual.
Put more simply, it is a matter of sharing His outlook — and one commentator ties that directly to how the heart treats Christ.
J. G. BellettAnd what is it to be spiritual? It is to have the mind of the Holy Spirit. Have you ever delighted to get out of the house to make room for Jesus?
Not a retreat from the material world
A common mistake is to treat "spiritual" as the opposite of physical, as though bodies and visible things belonged to a lower order. Scripture does not talk that way.
H J VineOften it has been contrasted with that which is material, and a state of mind has consequently been produced of a most harmful nature. Scripture does not so speak, for the Spirit tells us that the body which the saints will have in the resurrection will not only be incorruptible and immortal but also spiritual. When He rose from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ said to His disciples, "Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have" (Luke 24:39); nevertheless His body was spiritual although still "flesh and bones."
The same writer adds that spirituality does not make a person strange or cold toward ordinary human ties: "We do not become unnatural by being spiritual."
Natural, carnal, spiritual
Scripture sets the spiritual against two other conditions, and they are not the same as each other. One cannot follow; the other fights back.
H J VineThe natural man may be educated, adopting Christianity too as its religion (as it is often termed), yet without the Spirit of God; it may also despise low practices and even the failures of true believers, it may be zealous for human righteousness and honourable behaviour, nevertheless it is still natural… the natural man lacks the necessary ability to discern spiritual things, whereas that which is carnal bitterly wars against that which is spiritual.
Believers are not immune. Writing to the Corinthians, Paul had to address people who had believed and confessed Christ, yet "the fleshly lusts which war against the soul had hindered their progress in spiritual things."
Christ as the one object
Spirituality is measured by what actually fills the heart — and a blameless life is not proof of it.
J. N. DarbyWhile a person may be walking outwardly uprightly and blamelessly, it may be very feebly as a Christian and without spirituality. You will find many a true Christian, who has Christ as his life, and nothing to reproach him with as to his walk, and yet has no spirituality whatever. If you talk to him about Christ, there is nothing that answers. There is, between the life that is at the bottom and the blamelessness that is at the top, between him and Christ, a whole host of affections and objects that are not Christ at all. How much of the day, or of the practice of your soul, is filled up with Christ?
That test is open to anyone, whatever their circumstances or usefulness.
G. V. WigramIt is the question of the object of life — what am I living for? That is a life of the Spirit where Christ is the only object… A bedridden saint may live to Christ.
Not the same as gift or knowledge
Ability in public service and depth of soul can come apart, which is why maturity is never simply a matter of talent.
William KellyOne might be not only a great preacher of the gospel but also a powerful teacher, yet not a "father." It depends not on gift in any way, but on that spirituality which has learned the valuelessness of everything but Christ.
Sound teaching held without warmth carries the same danger: "Knowledge is not faith, and principles are not power," warns one writer, describing people "priding themselves on holding orthodox principles with practical indifference to the honour and claims of our Lord Jesus Christ."
How it shows
Spirituality proves itself in three visible ways. It guides decisions where no rule settles the matter.
Frederick W Grant"The spiritual man discerns all things." He "discerns." It is not internal feeling or blind impulse which controls, but the knowledge of one whose mind and ways of thought are formed by the word, and who is in the presence of God, so as to be guided by His eye.
It also shows in how failure in others is handled — those who are spiritual are the ones told to restore a fallen brother gently — and in fruit: "Bad fruit witnesses to a bad condition. No fruit shows a faulty condition."
Summary
- Source. To be spiritual is to be characterized by the Holy Spirit — not by unusual power, but by grace, truth and the Spirit's fruit.
- Object. The Spirit's work centres on Christ, so the real test is how much of your day and your affections He actually fills.
- Contrast. The natural man cannot take in spiritual things; the carnal fights them — and a believer can slip into that second state.
- Correction. Spirituality is not the opposite of the material, and it never makes a person unnatural or without affection; even the resurrection body is called spiritual.
- Evidence. It appears as discernment in guidance, meekness in restoring the fallen, and fruit in every good work — never merely as gift or correct doctrine.