Natural, Nature
Natural, Nature
nat-u-ral, natur (, leah; , psuchikos, , phusikos, , phusis) :
1. As Used in the Old Testament:
Natural is the translation of leah, freshness or vigor (Deu 34:7). Of Moses it is said, His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.
Nature in the sense of a system or constitution does not occur in the Old Testament. The world and men, each individual, were conceived as being the direct creation of a supra-mundane God, and conserved by His power and Spirit. The later conception of nature came in through Greek influences.
In the Apocrypha, we find nature in the sense of innate character or constitution (The Wisdom of Solomon 7:20, the natures (phuseis) of living creatures; The Wisdom of Solomon 13:1, Surely vain are all men by nature (phusei), 3 Macc 3:29, mortal nature (phusis)).
2. As Used in the New Testament:
In the New Testament nature (phusis) is frequently found in the latter sense (Rom 1:26, against nature; Rom 2:14, by nature; Rom 2:27; Rom 11:24, also contrary to nature; 1Co 11:14, Doth not even nature itself teach you?; Gal 2:15; Gal 4:8; Eph 2:3; in 2Pe 1:4, we have that ye might be partakers of the divine nature, the Revised Version margin or, a) ; phusis occurs also in Jam 3:7, every kind of beasts, the Revised Version margin Greek: nature, also mankind (Jam 3:7), the Revised Version margin Greek: the human nature. Natural (Rom 11:21, Rom 11:24) is the translation of kata phusin, according to nature. Paul in 1 Corinthians speaks of the natural man (1Co 2:14, the American Revised Version margin or unspiritual, Greek: physical) and of a natural body (1Co 15:44 twice), the Greek word being psuchikos, of the soul (psuche), the animal, natural, principle, as contrasted with what pertains to the higher principle of the spirit (pneuma). In 1Co 15:46 the contrast is expressed, Howbeit that is not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, the American Revised Version margin Greek: physical. The natural man is the man in whom the spirit is unquickened, the natural body is that corresponding to the psychical or soul-nature, the spiritual body that corresponding to the Spirit as the dominant principle of the life. In Jud 1:10, we have phusikos, naturally naturally, as brute beasts, the Revised Version (British and American) naturally, like the creatures without reason; genesis, origin, birth, is translated natural (Jam 1:23, his natural face, the Revised Version margin Greek: the face of his birth); and nature (Jam 3:6, the course of nature the Revised Version (British and American) the wheel of nature margin or birth) (wheel probably means circle of nature (the whole creation; see COURSE)); gnesos, genuine (true to right nature) legitimate, sincere, is translated naturally (Phi 2:20, who will naturally care for your state, the Revised Version (British and American) truly, margin Greek: genuinely).