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CHAPTER EIGHT
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The Carnal Christian

Book

What about the carnal Christian? It is not denied that the Apostle Paul uses the term in 1 Corinthians 3 in regards to a believer. However, to say that the term is used in Scripture to describe a Christian who is living in or practicing sin, or of a believer who has not yet submitted to the lordship of Christ, is a misinterpretation of the text. Closely connected to this misunderstanding is the "two-nature theory." Ernest C. Reisinger in his book "Lord & Christ," writes:

"The Carnal Christian teaching was invented to accommodate all the supposed converts of modern evangelism, which has left biblical repentance out of its message. I am referring to those who make "decisions," walk aisles, and profess to be Christians while their lives remain unchanged by the power of the Holy Spirit. They are people who do not love what Christians love or hate what Christians hate. Because these supposed converts think and behave like non-Christians, their teachers have devised an explanation for their unchanged lives; they have invented the unbiblical category of ‘carnal Christian.’ The ‘carnal Christian’ idea is part of the nonlordship two-experience theory of the Christian life. Stage one is conversion, the decision to receive Christ as one’s personal Savior (and escape hell). Stage two, a later decision, makes Christ Lord...Between these two stages or experiences, the supposed convert may live like a non-Christian. A testimony would be something like this: "when I was seven or eight years old, I received Christ as my personal Savior, but I did not make Him my Lord until much later in life...That is why we must always interpret our experiences by Scripture and not Scripture by our experiences...The notion of two kinds of Christians is just the old "second blessing" teaching in new garb — a teaching that sends Christians on a quest for an instantaneous holiness that does not exist...There is reason to believe that this theory has spawned the terrible perversion of the gospel known as "nolordship" salvation...The idea of two categories of Christians has been popularized by the Scofield Reference Bible, Dallas Theological Seminary, and Campus Crusade for Christ. Scofield wrote that Paul divides men into three classes: ‘Natural’ i.e. The Adamic Man, unrenewed through the new birth; "Spiritual" i.e. the renewed man Spirit filled and walking in the Spirit in full communion with God; ‘Carnal’, ‘Fleshly’, i.e. the renewed man who walking "after the flesh," remains a babe in Christ....‘Walk’ implies the bent of their lives; their leaning or bias is in the direction of carnality...Not all the marks of Christianity are equally apparent in all Christians. Nor are these marks manifest to the same degree in every period of a Christian’s life. Love, faith, obedience, and devotion will vary in the same Christian at different stages of his Christian experience. In other words, there are many degrees to sanctification....Chapter 3 does not speak of three categories of mankind or two classes of Christians, but of carnal versus spiritual attitudes and behaviors. That should be clear from the rest of the Bible...there are only two classes or categories of people, within which there are many shades and degrees. To interpret 1 Cor. 3:1-4 in such a way as to divide humanity into three classes is, therefore, to violate the cardinal rules of biblical interpretation: interpret single passages in the light of the whole of Scripture; interpret all subordinate passages in the light of the leading truths; interpret all obscure passages in the light of clear passages. The ‘carnal Christian’ teaching fails to do that. It is an incorrect interpretation and application of the one portion of Scripture on which it is founded. It is based on an erroneous interpretation of 1 Cor. 3:1-4. It corrupts many other doctrines of the Christian faith. It separates the two main doctrines of the Christian faith — justification and sanctification and thereby separates the blessings of the new covenant. It makes holiness, obedience, discipleship, and submission to Christ optional (compare John 10:26-28; John 14:21-23; John 15:10; Titus 2:10-14; Heb. 12:14; 1 Pet. 1:15, 16). In addition the carnal Christian teaching breeds antinomianism and gives a false standard of what it means to be a Christian. It is the mother of many second work of grace errors. It teaches two ways to heaven: the ‘Carnal Christian’ way and the spiritual Christian way — which ever you prefer. It also ignores the biblical distinction between the grounds of salvation and the grounds of assurance. And it breeds a false spirituality or Phariseeism in so-called ‘spiritual Christians’ who have measured up to some man-made standard of spirituality. There ought to be no professed ‘spiritual Christians’ much less ‘super-spiritual ones’....The words of one of the early church fathers are very appropriate to our examination of this text: ‘ If you only have one Scripture on which to base an important doctrine or teaching, you are most likely to find, on close examination, that you have none’"(1) (italics added).

In 1 Corinthians, Paul pleads with the Corinthian believers to speak the same thing in Christ and that there be no divisions among them (1 Cor. 1:10). They were looking to the wisdom of men rather than the power and wisdom that comes from above. They were puffed up one against the other saying, "I am of Paul," or "I am of Apollos," etc. The whole context of the first four chapters of 1 Corinthians deals with carnal verses spiritual wisdom. Their carnality was that of a "party spirit." Paul seeks to make it clear that the preaching of the gospel is not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect (1 Cor. 1:17).

"Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?" (1 Cor. 1:21)

"And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God....my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. However we speak wisdom among those who are [spiritually] mature, yet not the wisdom of this age [carnal], nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God [spiritual] in a mystery, the hidden wisdom of God ordained before the ages for our glory, "(1 Cor. 2:1-7) (words in brackets added).

"But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of this world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence" (1 Cor. 1: 27-29) (italics added).

The Corinthian believers were caught up in the wisdom of men, glorying in the flesh. Paul says,

"I could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food: for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able for you are still carnal. For where there are envy and strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?" For when one says, "I am of Paul,"and another, "I am of Apollos, are you not carnal" (1 Cor. 3:1).

Paul uses the word "spiritual" in this passage as he does in Galatians 6:1, "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted." He uses it in the sense of spiritual maturity. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:6, "However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age..." He then says in chapter 3, verse 1, "And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but to carnal, as to babes in Christ." In other words, "I could not speak to you the solid food of the wisdom of God as I would to mature Christians, but I had to feed you with milk, as you are yet immature with much carnality remaining in your spiritual understanding.

So then, the carnal Christian is not one who is backslidden and walking in immorality. Rather Paul describes them as babes in Christ, dulled in their spiritual hearing, resulting in strife and divisions among the brethren. However, if any in the community of believers would continue in this state of immaturity, they reveal their hearts as unregenerate, for Paul also says that those who would continue in their contentions, dissentions, jealousies, envy, etc., would not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal. 5:19-21).

Is it not strange then, that this one passage of Scripture would be grounds for an entire theology that teaches that one can reject the rule of Christ in ones heart and yet be a Christian? A teaching that divides Christians into two categories; one that practices obedience and the other blatant sin. Paul simply says are you not acting like mere men when you boast in the wisdom of men. Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. (1 Cor. 3:5-7). Why then do you boast one against the other when each minister is simply an instrument through which God works? Paul follows in 1 Corinthians 3:18,

"Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, ‘He catches the wise in their own craftiness’, and again ‘The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile."

The Lord Himself will,

"...bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God. Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that you may learn from us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you be puffed up on behalf of one against the other" (1 Cor. 5:6) (italics added).

The carnal Christians are those who are puffed up "one against the other," "thinking beyond what is written," with a tendency to lean on their own earthly understanding rather than that of the wisdom which comes from above. The carnal Christian is impressed with, and looks to the wisdom of the world, which is the cause of division and strife among the brethren. Charles Hodge writes:

In all ages the Greeks were distinguished by their fondness for speculation, their vanity and love of pleasure, and their party spirit. A church composed of people of these characteristics, with a large infusion of Jewish converts, educated in the midst of refined heathenism, surrounded by all the incentives to indulgence, taught to consider pleasure, if not the chief good, yet in any form a good, plied on every hand by philosophers and false teachers, might be expected to exhibit the very characteristics which in this epistle are brought so clearly into view.(2)

The Apostle begins, in chapter 5, to deal with sexual immorality. However, it is imperative that we understand the religious background out of which many of these Corinthians came. Hodge writes:

Another great evil in the Corinthian church was the violation of the seventh commandment in various forms. Educated as we are under the light of the gospel, in which the turpitude of such sins is clearly revealed, it is impossible for us to appreciate correctly the state of feeling in Corinth on this subject. Even by heathen philosophers’ offenses of this kind were regarded as scarcely deserving of censure, and by the public sentiment of the community they were considered altogether indifferent. They were in fact so associated with their religious rites and festivals as to lose their character as immoralities.(3)

Calvin, referring to the general sentiment regarding fornication in Corinth states:

For it was an evil that was so prevalent at that time, that it seemed in a manner as though it had been permitted; as we may see also from the decree of the Apostles, (Acts 15:20, ) where, in prohibiting the Gentiles from fornication, they place it among things indifferent; for there can be no doubt that this was done, because it was very generally looked upon as a lawful thing.(4)

Although it would seem obvious to us that these sexual immoralities were utterly sinful, it was not so in Corinth. A modern day example would be that of a couple living together apart from marriage. The society in which we live has become so indifferent to such as being sinful that those in this living situation when they come into the church are often times ignorant of its evil, not knowing that it is contrary to Scripture. They, even as the Corinthians, need to be enlightened to the truth in order that they might repent of it. However, once enlightened, if they continue to live in this way, they show themselves unregenerate.

When Paul says that there was sexual immorality among the Corinthians, he was referring to the sexual immorality as exhibited in one man — a man having his Father’s wife. In other words, there is sexual immorality among you in that among you is a sexually immoral man. Furthermore, he does not handle the situation with the attitude of, "Well, he is just a carnal Christian, after all we are just sinners saved by grace." No, he severally reprimands them, and tells the Corinthians they should put such a one out of the Church, not pamper him with comforting words. "Deliver such a one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus" (1 Cor. 5:5) We find here an example of the love of the Spirit in that it is always more concerned with the well being of the soul than the comforts of the flesh. Such an evil act left unchecked, says Paul, is like leaven that spoils the whole lump (v. 6). Paul says in verse 11, "But I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner — not even to eat with such a person." If the "carnal Christian" is one who is living in sin, it would be nonsensical for Paul to tell the "carnal" Corinthians who were living in sin, not to eat with such that are living in sin. He would in essence be saying, "Do not eat with yourselves." The implication that many in the Corinthian church were carnal and, therefore, sexually immoral, is strongly refuted by this. But he says, "put away from yourselves the evil person." If there were many others known to be sexually immoral, Paul would have included them in his exhortation. He did not. The passage we have mentioned several times previously is to these same "carnal" Corinthians. "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived" (1 Cor. 6:9) and in verse 11, "And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." Calvin states:

The simple meaning, therefore, is this, that prior to their being regenerated by grace, some of the Corinthians were covetous, others adulterers, others extortioners, others effeminate, others revilers, but now, being made free by Christ, they were such no longer.(5)

Charles Hodge states, concerning 1 Cor. 6:9,

The tendency to divorce religion from morality has manifested itself in all ages of the world, and under all forms of religion. The pagan, the Jew, the Mohammedan, the nominal Christian, have all been exact in the performance of religious services, and zealous in the assertion and defense of what they regarded as religious truth, while unrestrained in the indulgence of every evil passion. This arises from looking upon religion as an outward service, and God as a being to be feared and propitiated, but not to be loved and obeyed. According to the gospel, all moral duties are religious services; and piety is the conformity of the soul to the image and will of God. So that to be religious and yet immoral is, according to the Christian system, as palpable a contradiction as to be good and wicked. It is evident that among the members of the Corinthian church, there were some who retained their pagan notion of religion, and who professed Christianity as a system of doctrine and as a form of worship, but not as a rule of life. All such persons the apostle warned of their fatal mistake. He assures them that no immoral man, — no man who allows himself the indulgence of any known sin, can be saved. This is one of the first principles of the gospel, and therefore the apostle asks, Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Are ye Christians at all, and yet ignorant of this first principle of the religion you profess? The unrighteous in this immediate connection, means the unjust; those who violate the principles of justice in their dealings with their fellow men. It is not the unjust alone, however, who are to be thus debarred from the Redeemer’s kingdom — but also those who break any of the commandments of God, as this and other passages of Scripture distinctly teach. Believers are, in the Bible, often called heirs. Their inheritance is a kingdom; that kingdom which God has established, and which is to be consummated in heaven, Luke 12:32, Matt. 24:34, etc. From this inheritance all the immoral, no matter how zealous they may be in the profession of the truth, or how assiduous in the performance of religious services, shall be excluded. Let it also be remembered that immorality, according to the Bible, does not consist exclusively in outward sins, but also in sins of the heart; as covetousness, malice, envy, pride, and such like, Galatians 5:21. No wonder that the disciples, on a certain occasion, asked their master, Lord, are there few that be saved? or that the Lord answered them by saying, "Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it," Luke 13:24.(6)

It seems as though there were some in the Corinthian Church that were profaning the Lord’s Table by drunkenness. What then? Do we conclude that a Christian can live in drunkenness and yet be saved? God forbid! Do you not know that those who practice drunkenness are excluded from the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:10). In each of these cases where Paul deals with their sin, it is plain that once they come to the knowledge that their behavior is unacceptable, if they continue in it and remain impenitent, they show themselves unregenerate. His seed is not in them (1 John 3:9). They have not been baptized into the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 6:3).

As was stated, many of those in Corinth were converted from paganism with all its corrupt religious practices. It is impossible for a Christian to repent of those sins in which he is ignorant. It is not that they had backslidden, but in fact, they had not yet come to that place from which they might fall. There is sin in every Christian that he is not yet aware of. For if God were to shine the light of His holiness on our hearts and expose to us all that is sin in us, we would perish under the weight of the enormity of our offences and the depth of our own depravity. Therefore, the Spirit does not sanctify us instantaneously but rather by process. We progressively grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord. The Spirit uses God’s Word to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart, exhorting us to overcome those things which are contrary to His will. The intended impact of these exhortations are not to give us options, to give us a choice as to whether or not we will submit to them in repentance and obedience. To the contrary, because we are believers, walking in the light (John 8:12), seeking to do those things that are well pleasing to Him, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, we seek to obey them with all our heart and strength. One cannot be said to be a believer, who when once enlightened by the truth, does not intend to obey it. The believer is not looking for options but is rather seeking his Father’s pleasure. Therefore it is said that the word of God effectively works in the heart of the believer (1 Thess. 2:13). It is as Paul says to the Thessalonians, "And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, both that you do and will do the things we command you" (2 Thess. 3:4). They had confidence in the Lord, knowing that it is God who is effectually at work in them both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13). His word has the effect of bringing to light that hidden darkness, exposing the sin rooted deep in our heart, that we might uproot it and put it to death. It is to be led by the Spirit, who leads us into all truth. We find in the Corinthian church that Paul brought their sin to the light and those walking in the light, took heed of Paul’s words, and repented. For what does Paul say in the second letter to the Corinthians?

"For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner; What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! (2 Cor. 7:11).

Most in this day speak as though the Corinthian’s were the worst example of a Church, when in truth, we should be praying that the Church of today would be as responsive to the Word of God as they were. We can only hope that the hearing of the words of the Apostle Paul today would produce that same diligence, zeal, indignation, and reverence that we find in Corinth.

There were some in the Corinthian Church who had shown themselves to be unrepentant (2 Cor. 12:21), and what does Paul says to them; "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? - unless indeed you are disqualified (2 Cor. 13:5). The word disqualified here, is the Greek word "adokimos." According to the NIDNTT, it means, "worthless, rejected, not in the sense of that which is seen from the first to be unsuitable (not even in Heb. 6:8), but meaning that which has not stood the test, that which has shown to be a sham, and has therefore been rejected."(7) Paul is warning as he did in Rom. 8:9, "...if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His."

Reisinger writes:

"...Those who are spiritual may be but babes in grace and in knowledge. Their faith may be weak. Their love may be in its early bud. Their spiritual senses may be but little exercised....But if the root of the matter is in them, they have passed from death unto life, passed out of the region of nature into what is beyond nature — the state of Grace. Paul puts them in another class — all of them. They are spiritual men. The difference is that the spiritual receive the things of the Spirit, embrace them with delight and feed on them with intense satisfaction...First Corinthians is not expounding a general truth about categories of men but reproving a specific outbreak of carnal behavior. If we want to be true to Scripture, we must not misinterpret this text by accommodating it to the miserable performance or inordinate affections of men....The ‘carnal Christian’ teaching is after all, the consequence of a shallow, man-centered evangelism in which decisions are sought at any price and with any methods...The teaching I have sought to expose says that the trouble is that they are just "carnal Christians"; they have not made Christ ‘Lord’ of their lives; they have not let Him occupy the throne of their hearts. This unscriptural explanation is closely connected with faulty methods of evangelism. Too often modern evangelism has substituted an empty ‘decision’ in the place of repentance and saving faith. Forgiveness is preached without an equal emphasis on a change of heart. As a result, decisions are mistaken as conversions even though there is no evidence of a supernatural work of God in a person’s life. Surely the best way to end this evil is to pray and labor for the restoration of New Testament evangelism! In such evangelism people will learn that it is not enough to profess faith, not enough to call Jesus "Lord, Lord" (Luke 6:46). The gospel preached in awakening power will summon men not to rest without biblical evidence that they are born of God. It will disturb those who, without good reason, have believed that they are already Christians. It will arouse backsliders by telling them that as long as they remain in that condition, they may never be genuine believers at all. And to understand this will bring new depths of compassion and urgency to the hearts of God’s people in this fallen world...One of the greatest hindrances to this recovery of such preaching is the theory we have considered. To reject that theory is to be brought back to a new starting point in evangelism and in the understanding of the Christian life. It is to bring back God’s work into the center of our thinking. It is two see afresh that there are only two alternatives — the natural life or the spiritual life, the broad way or the narrow way, the gospel ‘in word only’ or the gospel ‘in power, and in the Holy Spirit’ (1 Thess. 1:5), the house on the sand or the house on the rock. There is no greater certainty than that an unchanged heart and worldly life will bring a man to hell. ‘Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience’ (Eph. 5:6). Not only in the world is evangelism needed. It is also needed in the Church."(8)

B. B. Warfield wrote:

"It is a grievous error to teach that a true believer in Christ can stop short in ‘Carnality, ’ ....the remainders of the flesh in the Christian do not constitute his characteristic. He is in the Spirit and is walking, with however halting steps, by the Spirit; and is to all Christians, not to some, that the great promise is given, "Sin shall not have dominion over you," and the great assurance is added, "Because ye are not under the law but under grace." He who believes in Jesus Christ is under grace, and his whole course, in its process and its issues alike, is determined by grace, and therefore, having been predestined to be conformed to the image of God’s Son, he is surely being conformed to that image, God Himself seeing to it that he is not only called and justified but also glorified. You may find Christians at every stage of the process, for it is a process through which all must pass; but you will find none who will not in God’s own time and way pass through every stage of it. There are not two kinds of Christians, although there are Christians at every conceivable stage of advancement towards the one goal to which all are bound and at which all shall arrive."(9)

To take these passages in 1 Corinthians, chapter 3, as a proof text for teaching that a Christian can live in the practice of sin, is to assume that which is not in the text. The fact that many have come to the conclusion, from this one passage of Scripture, that there are two kinds of Christians; one that lives in sin or according to the flesh (carnal) and the other which lives according to the Spirit, proves the very point Paul is seeking to make. Teaching that is based on carnal reasoning and not Scripture, if left unchecked, is like a little leaven that spoils the whole lump. It has a destructive influence in the Church with immeasurable consequences.

Footnotes

1. Ernest C. Reisinger, Lord and Christ, (Phillipsburg, N.J.: P&R Publishing), 79

2. Charles Hodge, Commentary on 1 Corinthians

3. Charles Hodge, Commentary on 1 Corinthians

4. Calvin’s Commentary on 1 Corinthians 6:13

5. Calvin’s Commentary on 1 Corinthians 6:11

6. Charles Hodge, Commentary on 1 Corinthians

7. New International Dictionary of N.T. Theology, Edited by Colin Brown ( Zondervan: 1986)

8. Ernest C. Reisinger, Lord and Christ, (Phillipsburg, N.J.: P&R Publishing), p.99

9. B.B. Warfield, Bibliotheca Sacra, (Critique of Lewis Sperry Chafer’s book “He that is Spiritual), 1918

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