Hence also the apostle recognizes three divisions of dispositions, calling one "carnal," which is busied with the belly and the pleasures connected with it, another "natural ," which holds a middle position with regard to virtue and vice, rising above the one, but without pure participation in the other; and another "spiritual," which perceives the perfection of godly life: wherefore he says to the Corinthians, reproaching their indulgence in pleasure and passion, "Ye are carnal ," and incapable of receiving the more perfect doctrine; while elsewhere, making a comparison of the middle kind with the perfect, he says, "but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit: for they are foolishness unto him: but he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man ." As, then, the natural man is higher than the carnal, by the same measure also the spiritual man rises above the natural.

If, therefore, Scripture tells us that man was made last, after every animate thing, the lawgiver is doing nothing else than declaring to us the doctrine of the soul, considering that what is perfect comes last, according to a certain necessary sequence in the order of things: for in the rational are included the others also, while in the sensitive there also surely exists the vegetative form, and that again is conceived only in connection with what is material: thus we may suppose that nature makes an ascent as it were by steps-I mean the various properties of life-from the lower to the perfect form.

Ὅθεν καὶ τρεῖς διαφορὰς προαιρέσεως ὁ Ἀπόστολος οἶδε͵ τὴν μὲν σαρκικὴν κατονομάζων͵ ἣ περὶ γαστέρα καὶ τὰς περὶ ταύτην ἡδυπαθείας ἠσχόληται, τὴν δὲ ψυχικήν͵ ἣ μέσως πρὸς ἀρετὴν καὶ κακίαν ἔχει͵ τῆς μὲν ὑπερανεστῶσα͵ τῆς δὲ καθαρῶς οὐ μετέχουσα, τὴν δὲ πνευματικήν͵ ἣ τὸ τέλειον ἐνθεωρεῖ τῆς κατὰ Θεὸν πολιτείας. Διό φησι πρὸς Κορινθίους͵ τὸ ἀπολαυστικὸν αὐτῶν καὶ ἐμπαθὲς ὀνειδίζων͵ ὅτι Σάρκινοί ἐστε καὶ τῶν τελειοτέρων δογμάτων ἀχώρητοι· ἑτέρωθι δὲ σύγκρισίν τινα τοῦ μέσου πρὸς τὸ τέλειον ποιούμενος͵ λέγει· Ψυχικὸς δὲ ἄνθρωπος οὐ δέχεται τὰ τοῦ πνεύματος· μωρία γὰρ αὐτῷ ἐστιν· ὁ δὲ πνευματικὸς ἀνακρίνει μὲν πάντα͵ αὐτὸς δὲ ὑπ' οὐδενὸς ἀνακρίνεται. Ὡς οὖν ἀναβέβηκεν ὁ ψυχικὸς τὸν σαρκικόν͵ κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ἀναλογίαν καὶ ὁ πνευματικὸς τούτου ὑπερανέστηκεν.  

Εἰ οὖν τελευταῖον μετὰ πᾶν ἔμψυχον ἡ Γραφὴ γεγενῆσθαι λέγει τὸν ἄνθρωπον͵ οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἢ φιλοσοφεῖ τὰ περὶ ψυχῆς ἡμῖν ὁ νομοθέτης͵ ἐπ' ἀναγκαίᾳ τινὶ τῇ τάξεως ἀκολουθίᾳ τὸ τέλειον ἐν τελευταίοις βλέπων. Ἐν μὲν γὰρ τῷ λογικῷ καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ περιείληπται, ἐν δὲ τῷ αἰσθητικῷ καὶ τὸ φυσικὸν εἶδος πάντως ἐστίν. Ἐκεῖνο δὲ περὶ τὸ ὑλικὸν θεωρεῖται μόνον. Οὐκοῦν εἰκότως͵ καθάπερ διὰ βαθμῶν ἡ φύσις͵ τῶν τῆς ζωῆς λέγω ἰδιωμάτων͵ ἀπὸ τῶν μικροτέρων ἐπὶ τὸ τέλειον ποιεῖται τὴν ἄνοδον.