BibleStudysow

THE SOW

There are essentially three types of man in the world.
                     1) The Natural Man - the lost man.
                     2) The Carnal Man - could be lost or saved
                     3) The Spiritual Man - always a saved man
The sow is typical of the carnal man. It is not accidental that God forbade the jew under the law to consume pork. Even to this day among the jews the hog is the most unclean of the unclean animals. The carnal man is the man who is under the control of the flesh. Rom. 7:18 - "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing. Every man has a carnal nature regardless of whether he is a saint or a sinner. The sinner has the carnal nature only and as such he is the natural man. Whereas the saint has both the old nature (carnal) and the new nature (spiritual). Thus we have the conflict described by Paul in Rom. 7:14-25. Though saved, the old nature if given free reign will, like a freshly washed sow, return to the mire of the hog wallow as soon as you turn her loose. The most graphic example of the carnal nature in the entire New Testament is found in the attitude and actions of the Corinthian church. They, like the sow, gravitated to the things which the hog likes, i.e. self, slime, slop.

    I. The Carnal Nature as Characterized by Self Manifested Itself in corinth by:
       A. Schisms - 1 Corth. 1:11-15; 3:3-9; 11:17,18
           A party spirit is a carnal spirit. God's people are not to be divided into cliques, polarized around preachers or anything else. We are to work together - not fight each other over personalities.

       B. Sign Seeking - 1 Corth. 1:18-23
           This was the whole issue of the sign gifts of 1 Corth. 12. The Corinthians wanted the gifts which were obvious and self vindicating. For the same reasons we may be sure that the entire Charismatic movement is not only unscriptural, but also very carnal. Faith does not appeal to the flesh.

     C. Shame of Persecution - 1 Corth. 4:8-14
         Since the hog lives for himself, he is unwilling to identify himself with anything which will not be of personal benefit. likewise the Corinthians were ashamed to be identified with suffering saints.

     D. Spiritual Pride - 1 Corth. 5:1-7
         The Corinthians were proud of their toleration of sin as well as proud of their assumed spiritual attainments.

     E. Self Will - 1 Corth. 10:10,11
         In no way was the self will of the Corinthians more apparent than in their rebellion against Paul's apostolic authority. Like the sow they were very much determined to do just as they pleased.

   II. The Carnal Nature as Characterized by Slime Manifested Itself in Corth. by:
      A. Toleration of the godless sin of incest - 1 Corth. 5:1-7
      B. Toleration of the godless standards of the Corinthian culture. - 1 Corth. 11:13-16. The length of hair was symptomatic of attitude of that day and this.
      C. Toleration of godless sacrilege of the Lord's supper. 1 Corth. 11:20-22. They were in sad condition indeed to so abuse the Lord's table.

Like the perverbial sow, the Corinthians were not repulsed by the slime of their ungodly city but rather enjoyed and participated therein as much as they dared.

   III. The Carnal Nature as Characterized by Slop Manifested Itself in Corth. by:
       A. Perversions of doctorine - 1 Corth. 11:19
          1. Paul had to correct the doctrine of spiritual gifts.
          2. Paul had to correct the doctrine of the resurrection.
          3. Paul had to correct the doctrine of marriage.
          4. Paul had to correct the doctrine of love.
          5. Paul had to correct the doctrine of apostolic authority.

     B. Perversions of Deportment - 2 Corth. 12:20, 21
         To justify consuming the garbage of this world is a travesty of intelligency and a transgression of scripture. Like teh sow the Corinthians were the least discerning of all consumers. They would eat anything whether spiritually wholesome or not.
    *The carnal nature must not be permitted to have free reign in our lives.   To do so is to invite tragedy. See Rom. 8:1-13.

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"....the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire."