Understanding the bible: "Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature"
The spiritual man in the bible is the man who works to achieve perfection: "The disciple is not above his master; but every one that is perfect shall be as his master", Luke 6:40. Seeking perfection is seeking God. God is perfection in the highest degree, God is the wisdom itself explain Thomas Aquinas.
In metaphysics, transmutable things, that is, those that are subject to change through time are in general imperfect. And it is from here that this separation is born between the things of the world that are temporary and imperfect, and the spiritual realities that are eternal and immutable: "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal", 2 Corinthians 4:18. The new man, the spiritual man, is the man who frees himself from that which binds man to temporal realities: "Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry", Colossians 3:5.
Earthly things in the bible are all those things that are objects of concupiscence: power, money, fame. The understanding of God is essencial. To renew ourselves in the spirit is to put to death the things of the flesh, it is to suffer in the flesh. Jesus calls us to a change of mind and heart, and for this he gives us a new commandment: "Jesus replied: ´Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind´. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ´Love your neighbor as yourself´. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments." Matthew 22: 34-40
The spiritual man abandons the things of the flesh because the things of the flesh are always subject of disputes, the personal wars and its fruits are a consequence of greed, of idolatry: "But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, race, malice, slander and filthy language from your lips.", Colossians 3:8.
Spiritual goods such as joy, peace, well-being, on the other hand, are unlimited and can be shared freely. This type of goods does not produce conflicts or disputes between men, the spiritual goods are edifying, progressive, purifying: "Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.", Colossians 3:9-10.
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