The Meanings of "Fleshly" and the Meanings of "Soulical"

Adjectival Uses of “Fleshly” and “Spiritual”

“The Law is spiritual [PNEUMATIKOS], but I am fleshly [SARKINOS]” (Romans 7:14). “Fleshly,” then, may describe a person (human soul, person of flesh and blood) with focus on his inheritance of a sinful nature. But there may be adjectival use of “fleshly” without explicit reference to the sinful nature of human flesh, (human) souls; for example, we see in Romans 15:27 that Paul says that it is only right that those who have been helped spiritually (i.e., helped with things spiritual) be willing themselves to help their benefactors with fleshly things (i.e., be willing to help their benefactors physically; thus, the Corinthian Christians would be recognizing their indebtedness to Jewish Christians by giving them things for their fleshly bodies). So, Paul, at Romans 15:27, uses “fleshly” without a pejorative sense; he does not mean that Corinthian Christians owe sinful things to Jewish Christians.

A thing similar to uses of the adjective “fleshly” is seen also as respects uses of the adjective “soulical.” “Soulical” may describe a kind of wisdom that is not heavenly but is “wisdom” opposed to that which is heavenly/spiritual (godly). It is due to that opposition to things spiritual (i.e., opposition to things manifesting godly wisdom) that justifies one’s referring to men displaying that opposition as men who are, morally speaking, animalistic (“soulical,” see Jude 19). If, however, the focus is on bodies and not on the moral and spiritual character of any persons, then bodies themselves may be described as bodies that are either “soulical” (physical) or “spiritual,” ”heavenly” (1 Cor. 15:48; cf. description in 1 Cor. 15:47 of the second Adam’s resurrection body as one “out of heaven,” as one who is “heavenly”) because references are made to two different substances that respectively comprise the different sorts of (living) bodies for their form (figure, shape). That substance may be dust for physical bodies; see 1 Cor. 15:47a, 48a; or else it be an immaterial/non-physical substance for bodies suitable to 'non-dusty' life (i.e., suitable for non-earthly life, suitable for life in heaven; see 1 Cor 15:47b, 48b).