We must first begin by asking the question, “who is the natural man?” This is a critical question, and the answer will clearly prove Calvinism to be false.
The Greek word for “natural” is psuchikos, which is defined by Vines Expository Dictionary as "belonging to the
psuche, soul" (as the lower part of the immaterial in man), "natural, physical," describes the man in Adam and what pertains to him".
Paul clearly clarifies what it means for a man to be psuchikos in a different epistle:
Jude 1:19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual < psuchikos >, having not the Spirit.
Clearly, we see that to be a natural man, means to be a man “having not the Spirit." So 1 Corinthians 2:14 is teaching us that the man who does not have the Spirit “receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” The “things of the Spirit” is translated from the Greek phrase "ta tou pneumatos". Herein lies the Calvinist’s ideology that the man must first be regenerated in order to believe. They claim that "ta tou pneumatos" includes saving knowledge. Unfortunately, the Calvinists have forgotten a critical teaching of scripture which destroys this ideology. First, observe that that the Spiritual man, unlike the "sensual" or "natural" man, has "received the [indwelling] Spirit" (1 Cor 2:12). Now observe how Paul chastises the Galatians:
Gal 3:2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Paul is pleading with the Galatians that the indwelling Holy Spirit is received by faith1. They were being convinced by the Judaizers that they had merited the Spirit by works instead. This completely reverses the order of salvation and destroys the Calvinistic understanding of 1 Corinthians 2:14. Peter confirms this in his sermon to the Jews when he exhorts them, "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off..." The command to repent is in present tense, while the Holy Spirit's activity is future tense. Clearly, the sequence is belief/repentance first, and then the Holy Spirit's indwelling and baptizing activity. Peter and Paul are clearly teaching that the man without the indwelling Spirit (i.e. the natural man) must, in this "natural" (yet divinely assisted) state, have the ability to receive the Spirit by faith. Once he receives the Spirit, he is then no longer a “natural” man. I ask the Calvinist, “how does the natural man become a spiritual man?” The answer is clear – by faith! Paul states this truth elsewhere:
Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.
When are we sealed with the Holy Spirit? "After that ye believed"! Again, man in his "natural" (yet divinely assisted) state has the ability to receive the Spirit by faith. In fact, Paul elsewhere states that our very "sonship" is instituted and confirmed when we receive the Spirit (Rom 8:15, Gal 4:6). Combining this fact with Paul's assertion that the Spirit is received by faith (in Galatians 3:2 and Ephesians 1:13), we are led to the inescapable conclusion that John (in John 1:12) is positing the following chronology: The acquisition of the authority to become a son of God is subsequent to believing in His (Christ's) name. Why? Because, believing is required to receive the Spirit, which is prerequisite to receiving the status (and inner witness) of sonship.
With these critical conclusions in mind, let us now discuss the "things of the Spirit" ("ta tou pneumatos"). The only other passage that uses the phrase "ta tou pneumatos" is Romans 8:5, where Paul states, "For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit." And who are they who mind the "things of the Spirit"? Paul clarifies in verses 8 and 9, stating:
So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
So we see that only those who have the Spirit mind the "things of the Spirit" (or "ta tou pneumatos"). Yet we have already shown that the Spirit is received by faith (Gal 3:2, Eph 1:13, Acts 2:38). Therefore the natural man (psuchikos), or the fleshly man (sarkikos), cannot mind the things of the Spirit, nor receive the things of the Spirit until he, in his unregenerate state, receives the Spirit by faith. Nowhere does Paul assert that the natural man cannot receive the Spirit. His assertion is that this man cannot receive the things the Spirit has to offer.
This may leave some with a perceived dilemma about the interpretation of 1 Corinthians 2:14. Is saving knowledge part of "ta tou pneumatos"? Can someone be saved without a knowledge of "ta tou pneumatos"? Actually, there is no dilemma at all if we try to understand what "ta tou pneumatos" means. There is no indicator in the immediate context that Paul is strictly speaking of saving knowledge. One could argue that Paul is referring to the deeper things of the Christian experience (i.e. "the things which God hath prepared for them ..." - 2:9-10), including the depth of the reality of the things "freely given" to us already in Christ (2:12).
Using the Greek word "pneumatikos", Paul later sheds more light on the meaning of spiritual things (pneumatikos is another form which expresses a similar idea):
1Co 12:1 (YLT) And concerning the spiritual things (pneumatikos), brethren, I do not wish you to be ignorant; [after this Paul gets into a detailed account of the different spiritual gifts]
1Co 14:1 (YLT) Pursue the love, and seek earnestly the spiritual things (pneumatikos), and rather that ye may prophecy,
Paul uses the term pneumatikos here to refer to those things which believers should desire after their conversion, namely spiritual giftings, callings, and miraculous manifestations for the edification of the body. So again, there is no mention of saving knowledge.
I am convinced that saving knowledge is administered via prevenient grace; not via the indwelling spirit, but via the Spirit’s exertion on the natural from without. Jesus told the disciples:
Joh 14:17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
At the time of this statement, the disciples did not have the indwelling Spirit and could be considered “natural” men. They were confused about much of Christ’s teaching. For they had not yet received the Spirit, who would guide them in all truth and further reveal the Trinity to them (John 14:26, 16:13-14). Yet, they knew enough to submit their lives to Him and be purged of sin (Jn 15:3) -- on the basis of Christ's future atoning work, as did Cornelius and all Old Testament saints who trusted God apart from a full illumination of the Gospel by the indwelling Spirit. The prevenient grace of the Spirit who “dwelleth with [them]” illuminated enough truth for them to be able to place their faith in Christ, which subsequently resulted in the Spirit dwelling in them, and converting them to “spiritual” men. It is this prevenient operation of the Holy Spirit that enables “natural” men to be humbled by the guilt of their sin. Jesus claimed that the Spirit would convince the unsaved world of sin, righteousness, and judgment in His absence (Jn 16:8-10); A job that was done by Him during His earthly ministry, as he enlightened and thereby exposed the sin of “every man” (Jn 1:9); A job that beforehand was done primarily through prophets proclaiming the Law of God, which teaches sinners what sin is (Rom 3:20). This type of convincing operation of the Holy Spirit should be separated from "ta tou pneumatos". Then the whole of scripture on the matter can be reconciled.
Another clear example of this truth is in the person of Cornelius. Cornelius was already an Old Testament saint, who was justified and feared God (Acts 10:1, 22). He therefore had saving knowledge prior to receiving the Holy Spirit, which occurred in Acts 10:44-47. He then became saved in the New Testament sense (Acts 11:14), i.e. given the New Birth, or the salvation from the power (not just the penalty) of sin. However, his faith had preceded His receipt of the Spirit. According to Paul’s definition, he was a man without the Spirit prior to Acts 10:44, and thus a "natural man". Yet this "natural man" was enabled to respond to the light he had prior to the New Birth -- even to the point of being "just" in God's eyes. The same is true of every OT saint, who yet awaited the coming New Birth (Ezek 36:25ff, Jer 31:31ff, cf. Heb 8:8ff).
What About Inability Advocated in Romans 8:7-8?
Paul told the Corinthian believers that they were not “spiritual” (pneumatikos), but “carnal” (1 Cor 3:1,3), or "fleshly". So even believers can be in a place where they have saving knowledge but are not being fully surrendered, controlled, and illuminated by the Holy Spirit and the "things of the Spirit". So Paul's main point in this passage is that a mind inclined and purposed to act in the flesh cannot simultaneously be inclined to please God or obey the law (Rom 8:7-8). This is like saying "you can't serve God and Mammon", or "you can't exert a passion for adultery and a passion for obedience simultaneously". These are a common-sense statements, not statements of utter depravity, or inability. At any given time, our will chooses one way -- it operates on an either/or basis, not a both/and basis. Paul is not addressing the inability of unbelievers, but rather the inability of two mutually exclusive concepts being true at the same time. Since a "natural" man (i.e. man not having the spirit) can exhibit faith prior to having the indwelling Spirit (and thereby receive the Spirit), we then conclude that Paul was not teaching in Romans 8:7-8 that they can only be minded after the flesh at every instance of their pre-spirit indwelt existence. At the point of hearing the Gospel (and likely before then) they are divinely enabled to exert positive volition with regard to the Gospel and other influences of the Holy Spirit. This positive volition is birthed when the natural man is humbled by and exhausted with his state of spiritual death, as was Paul prior to his New Birth (Rom 7:14ff) -- similar to a slave desiring freedom from his forced vocation. His slavery is real, but he wants freedom from it, especially when he is told by someone that there is a way out. In Romans 8:9 Paul tells the Romans, "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you." So those who are indwelt by the Spirit are not consistently in the flesh (i.e. flesh minded (8:7), or "after the flesh" (8:5)). Rather, they appropriate their spiritual nature by faith. Does Paul's statement automatically mean that those who are not indwelt by the Spirit can only mind after the flesh? Since we have proven that the pre-Spirit-indwelt man can exercise faith, and there were OT saints who didn't have the new birth (and indwelling Spirit), the answer is "NO". IN fact, the author of Hebrews claims that the Israelites of Moses' generation (most of which ended up falling in the wilderness due to disbelief) had crossed the Red Sea "by faith" (Heb 11:29), and not a fake faith either, but rather the same quality as described in the context of Hebrews 11 (v1, v6). So, while Paul is speaking of the eradication of a mindset that is expected of those who are indwelt by the Spirit, he is not addressing those who aren't indwelt by the Spirit. For example, an NFL coach could tell one of his players, "You're a professional athlete. You can do this! Come on! You're not a weakling!" He is only addressing his expectation of the professional athlete, not those who are not yet professional athletes, nor their progress at becoming a paid athlete, or ability to "do this". He is not stating that every single person who is not a professional athlete is automatically a weakling. Likewise, Paul is not stating that the unregenerate can only exhibit a fleshly mindset even when presented with the Gospel. He is not adressing every unregenerate person here, nor is he addressing what level every unregenerate person is at with regards to the soil of their heart and acceptance of God's prevenient grace. No, he is merely stating expectations of those who are regenerated. Of course, we do agree that the unregenerate consistently yield to their flesh -- hence the need for salvation, and that the majority of mankind is entirely minded after the flesh. The point we are making is that, when confronted with grace to escape their sinful dilemma, they can respond positively. Every sinner has a disability called sin, and they have the God-given ability to know humble themselves and realize that their problem needs dealt with.
1 A charismatic Calvinist may perhaps argue that the reception of the Spirit in Galatians 3:2 is referring to the secondary work of the Spirit, (i.e. the baptism of the Spirit), due to Paul's mention of ministering the Spirit and working miracles in Galatians 3:5. Though we agree 3:5 may be referring to the Spirit in this manner, we posit that verse 3, which is even more proximate in context, is comparing the commencement of sanctification and the later stages of sanctification. Therefore, to argue that 3:2 is speaking only of the baptism of the Spirit is to argue that our process of perfection (i.e. sanctification) doesn't begin until we are baptized in the Spirit, and thus renders meaningless the initial indwelling of the Spirit. Therefore, we must conclude that Paul is referring to the receipt of the Spirit in all of His functions (whether regenerative or baptismal).