What is the pattern of the natural and the spiritual in Scripture?
Scripture consistently follows a pattern of first the natural, then the spiritual. This runs from the beginning of human history: Cain natural, Abel spiritual; Esau natural, Jacob spiritual; genealogies list natural first, then spiritual. Jacob was natural Jacob, then spiritual Israel. Believers are originally natural, then become spiritual through salvation.
Les teaches that one of his rules of thumb is that you always have first the natural, and then the spiritual, ever since the beginning of the human experience. He gives examples such as Cain the natural, then Abel the spiritual; Esau the natural, and Jacob the spiritual. He says the genealogies follow that same format: first the genealogy of the natural or non-spiritual, then the spiritual. In Jacob's life, he was first the natural man, Jacob, and then he became the spiritual man, Israel. Les calls this Jacob's true salvation, where he experienced what today is called the new birth, and God gave him a new name. Jacob the deceiver was the natural, but Israel the prince with God was the spiritual. Les applies this to believers: originally we were natural, having nothing to do with a spiritual life, but after being born into the family of God and experiencing salvation, we are spiritual, citizens of heaven, a totally different person. He also says that from the beginning of human history there have primarily been two groups: the lost, which are by far the greatest number, and the believers, the saved of the ages. That same division continues today: the saved element or the unsaved, no matter black or white, rich or poor, bond or free; a person is either in the lost, natural element or in the spiritual.