Synonomous Terms

When Jesus told Nicodemus “that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (Joh 3:6), He was drawing a line and saying that everything on one side is death and everything on the other side is life. On every page of the Word of God, we are shown the contrast between the two— between darkness and light, hate and love, the cosmic and the divine, the visible and the invisible, the sinking sand, and the solid rock. The following are only a few of the biblical terms synonymous with spirituality and carnality and their effects:

  1. Filled with the Spirit versus controlled by the old sin nature (Eph 5:18)
  2. In the Spirit versus in the flesh (Gal 5:16–17)
  3. The energy (or works) of the Spirit versus the energy of the flesh (Eph 3:20) (The Greek energeia, translated “works” in this passage, is the source of the English words “energy” and “energize”.)
  4. Being in (or having) fellowship versus being out of fellowship (1Jo 1:3–7)
  5. Godliness versus ungodliness (1Ti 3:16)
  6. Spiritual versus carnal (1Co 3:1)
  7. The spiritual man versus the natural man (1Co 2:14)
  8. Walking in the light versus walking in the darkness (1Jo 1:6–7)
  9. Walking by faith versus walking by sight (2Co 5:7)
  10. Divine good, divine production versus human good, human production (Eph 2:10) (“Good works” in this passage is from agathos, which refers to absolute or intrinsic good, and ergon, “work, enterprise, production.”)


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