D
I first tried to identify what the natural mind rejects about God. So I did a search for "natural mind rejects." Those exact words appear in 1 Corinthians 2. The interesting thing about that chapter, at least for me, was that Paul didn't say Jews and Greeks reject the idea of a sovereign God. He said the Jews want a sign and the Greeks want fancy philosophy. They were searching for God, but they were blind because they refused to see power in a cross. Paul called crucifixion a stumbling block that hindered even those who were deist.
Then I tweaked the keywords to look for the same thing that may have been phrased differently. "Fleshy mind" will take you to Romans 8 and Colossians 2. Romans 8 fits in with the theme of rejection, so I read the chapter to see what the fleshly mind was rejecting. "Flesh reveal" brings up Matthew 16.
It's not an exhaustive method to find every reason why people reject God. Some people are indeed simply rebellious. Others fancy themselves able to judge God's moral character (in regards to wrath).
But I took the Edwards quote to mean sensible, responsible people who could not comprehend certain things in the natural mind. Some things about God cannot at all be surmised in human thinking even when we want to believe. 1 Corinthians 2, Romans 8, and other Bible passages describe this phenomenon.
So I guess it's a question of what Edwards meant by natural man. Did he mean rebellious unbelievers who were looking for excuses to stay in sin? Or did he mean the actual inability to understand spirit?
Then I tweaked the keywords to look for the same thing that may have been phrased differently. "Fleshy mind" will take you to Romans 8 and Colossians 2. Romans 8 fits in with the theme of rejection, so I read the chapter to see what the fleshly mind was rejecting. "Flesh reveal" brings up Matthew 16.
It's not an exhaustive method to find every reason why people reject God. Some people are indeed simply rebellious. Others fancy themselves able to judge God's moral character (in regards to wrath).
But I took the Edwards quote to mean sensible, responsible people who could not comprehend certain things in the natural mind. Some things about God cannot at all be surmised in human thinking even when we want to believe. 1 Corinthians 2, Romans 8, and other Bible passages describe this phenomenon.
So I guess it's a question of what Edwards meant by natural man. Did he mean rebellious unbelievers who were looking for excuses to stay in sin? Or did he mean the actual inability to understand spirit?
Holy cow! I'm kind of stuck on words and phrases in the Bible I already know. No way, no how, did it ever dawn on me that words like "natural minds" and "fleshy minds" would be in the Bible.
(Thick. I'm really thickheaded. lol)
Thank you. Will try that next time.
Since Edward's big theme was Sinners in the Hands of a Wrathful God, I just assumed he meant sinners. That said, I also assumed natural minds and fleshy minds weren't in the Bible, so I could be wrong.