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unconsciously to God‘s will, the human self was endowed with the
capacity to respond willingly to God‘s Spirit or to harden the soul
against the will of God. Though, for Calvin, resistance to God
cannot thwart God‘s ultimate Sovereignty, yet in the existential
present man in his consciously resist the will of God.
In this sense, man‘s personality (mind or self) is like a
captain on the bridge of a ship who will set the course of his ship in
light of the influences that affect him. If the person trusts and obeys
the Spirit of God he begins to reflect God‘s glory. If, however, the
person rejects the Spirit and pursues his own ends his will becomes
subordinated to the ―desires of the flesh.‖ Carnal he grows
increasingly oriented downward and inward and dominated by selfindulgence.
Rather than becoming spiritual, he grows increasingly
bestial. This is why the apostle Paul would argue that the Spirit
and the desires of the flesh are fundamentally at odds. It is not that
the flesh is evil, but evil is the result when the appetites of the flesh
dominate man‘s will to the point that the carnal effaces the
spiritual.
Whereas Catholicism views the sin of concupiscence as a
tendency within man with the loss of grace, for Calvin carnality
continues to distort the fundamental image of God. Rebellion and
alienation from God are now part and parcel of man‘s sinful nature.
At odds with God‘s Spirit, man is now bereft of the orientation
needed to proceed towards spiritual perfection. More than mere
disbelief, man‘s carnal orientation perverts the vestige of his
spiritual nature in idolatry as man bends the knee to created things
rather than the creator. This only deepens enmity between God and
man. Trust and obedience become impossible if man fears the
approach of a just God. Judgment now separates man from the very
communion necessary to receive the Word of God. Man‘s feeble
attempts now to appease God‘s wrath fall short for having rejected
God, man is alienated from the needed guidance of the God‘s
Spirit. Without the Spirit, his baser instincts lead him to death and
judgment.