August 29, 2023
Carnal and spiritual Christians: what can that possibly mean? In this passage, 1 Corinthians 3:1-9, the concept of carnal Christianity is established. According to many teachers, a carnal Christian is someone who is still fleshly, or carnal, after he or she has become indwelt by the Spirit of God. A carnal Christian is still thinking and acting like an unsaved (carnal) person. In other words, a carnal Christian is a “saint” who lives like a sinner but is saved nonetheless.
Another website states the following, “Carnal Christians have not renewed their mind with the word of God or allowed the Holy Spirit to change them. They think, talk, and act like the rest of the world and follow the world’s way of doing things. They allow their flesh and fleshy impulses to control them. You can be saved and still be a carnal Christian rather than a spiritual Christian.” Revival Ministries International website published on 7-30-2006. Again, a carnal Christian is someone who lives like and acts like an unsaved person but is not unsaved. Spiritual Christians live like honest Christian’s ought to live and are not carnal. However, both the carnal and spiritual Christians are saved, according to Revival Ministries. Can there ever be a genuine revival with this false teaching?
The following lengthy excerpt is from another website titled Got Questions. This is a good description and will be helpful in addressing this subject. Some of the information on this website is accurate and more reliable than other material I have read. However, most of it is incorrect or biblically unsound.
“Can a true Christian be carnal? In answering this question, let’s first define the term “carnal.” The word “carnal” is translated from the Greek word sarkikos, which literally means “fleshly.” This descriptive word is seen in the context of Christians in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3. In this passage, the apostle Paul is addressing the readers as “brethren”, a term he uses almost exclusively to refer to other Christians; he then goes on to describe them as carnal. Therefore, we can conclude that Christians can be carnal. The Bible is absolutely clear that no one is sinless (1 John 1:8). Every time we sin, we are acting carnally. The key thing to understand is that while a Christian can be, for a time, carnal, a true Christian will not remain carnal for a lifetime. Some have abused this idea of a “carnal Christian” by saying that it is possible for people to come to faith in Christ and then proceed to live the rest of their lives in a completely carnal manner, with no evidence of being born again or a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). Such a concept is completely unbiblical….Can a Christian, in a time of failure and or rebellion, appear to be carnal? Yes. Will a true Christian remain carnal? No. Since eternal security is a fact of Scripture, even the carnal Christian is still saved. Salvation cannot be lost, because salvation is a gift of God that He will not take away (see John 10:28; Romans 8:37-39; 1 John 5:13). Even in 1 Corinthians 3:15, the carnal Christian is assured of salvation: “If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” The question is not whether a person who claims to be a Christian but lives carnally has lost his salvation, but whether that person was truly saved in the first place (1 John 2:19)…….For a genuine believer in Christ, though, these outbreaks of carnality will be the exception, not the rule.”
I am now going to address the three (3) places above that I underlined.
Paul calls them brethren; therefore, they must be real Christians
The author acknowledges that the term “brethren” is not always used to describe a genuine Christian. The author admits that it is almost exclusively used (but not solely used) in that way. When many of us use the term Christian, we mean it in a very general way, including both nominal and real believers. The word “Christian” today means many different things; it means very little. Just because Paul called them “brethren” does not mean he considered all of them genuine Christians. That is my point. Paul was a spirit-filled follower of Jesus Christ, but he was not omniscient. Paul did not know whether all the “Christians” in Corinth were genuine Christians in the true sense of the word. He used the word Christian in a general or nominal sense because Paul was not all-knowing. It is the same for today. The congregations of Christian churches are comprised of both nominal and genuine Christians, but all are most often referred to as Christians.
Some have abused this idea of a carnal Christian
The author is correct, many (not just some) have and continue to abuse this idea, stating that a genuine believer can live a carnal or sinful life and show no evidence of becoming a new creation. The author states that this is entirely unbiblical. I agree with him. That is why this is such a dangerous false doctrine, because it tends toward abuse.
Salvation can’t be lost
The author of this website says, salvation can’t be lost because it is a gift of God that He will not take away. He incorrectly asserts that eternal security is a fact of Scripture. He references a few passages of scripture, which I will now address.
John 10:28
If you read verse 27 along with verse 28, you will notice that Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27. Jesus then goes on to say about those who hear His voice and who follow Him, “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” John 10:28.
This promise of eternal life only applies to those who hear His voice and who follow Him. Salvation is conditional, according to Jesus Christ. So much for the false idea of unconditional eternal security. Does a carnal Christian fit this description of a person who knows Jesus and follows Him? Obviously not. A carnal or sinful Christian doesn’t hear His voice or follow Him; that is what makes them carnal.
Romans 8:37-39
What will or can separate us from the love of God? The author of this website uses this passage as proof of the dogma of eternal security. However, the love of God that pertains to actual salvation is conditional. There are conditions we must meet in order for the promise to apply. Jesus mentioned two of those conditions in the passage above from the book of John. Moreover, sin does separate us from the salvific love of God, for the wages of sin are death. The Romans’ passage in question doesn’t state that sin will not separate us from the love of God, only that the things mentioned will not. Sin was not mentioned. Sin can and does separate us from the salvific love of God.
Let us consider other passages in the book of Romans, chapter 8. In Romans 8:1 it is written, “There is therefore now, no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh (are not carnal), but after the Spirit.” Emphasis added. Paul then adds this statement in verse 4, “That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh (are not carnal), but after the Spirit.” I really do not know how it could be written more clearly. There is no condemnation to those in Christ who do not walk according to the flesh or do not walk carnally. Those who are in Christ walk after the Spirit, that is, they are not carnal so much for the idea of a carnal Christian.
“For they that are after the flesh (carnal) do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity (hatred and hostility) against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they are in the flesh (carnal) can not please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you…..” Romans 8:5-9 emphasis added.
If you are a carnal Christian, you hate God and are hostile toward Him. In this state, you can’t please God, and that should be obvious. Do you really think that those who call themselves Christians but hate God, for the carnal mind is enmity toward God, are saved and born again? If you walk following the Spirit, you are pleasing to God. Only those whom the Spirit of God leads are sons of God. The carnal Christian is definitely not being led by the Spirit of God and is therefore not a child of God. How does it get any clearer? Please tell me.
There are many other verses in chapter 8 of Romans that tell us that the idea of a carnal Christian is utter deception. And I have not mentioned any verses from Chapter 6 of Romans, which complements all that is being said in Chapter 8. (Some of you may be thinking about Romans 7 right now. Please read my article on Romans 7.)
1 John 5:13
Typical of those who espouse the false doctrine of eternal security is the use of this passage of scripture to support belief in this dogma. How unbelievable. We are discussing the concept of a genuine believer in Jesus Christ being carnal or sinful. John wrote this epistle and said, “these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life…” Chapter 5 is the last chapter of this short epistle. In the preceding chapters, John addressed the subject at hand in clear statements, leaving no doubt whatsoever that a carnal/sinful person is an unsaved person, contrary to the position of this website’s author.
“whosoever abideth in him sinneth not:….” 1 John 3:6
“whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin” 1 John 3:9
“In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness, is not of God……” 1 John 3:10
Then after these and other passages in this short epistle of John, we have this final word, “We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not……” 1 John 5:18.
Yet despite all this evidence, the website author has the temerity to quote 1 John 5:13 as proof of the false doctrine of eternal security of the carnal or sinful “believer.” Hard for me to understand how anyone can attempt to use this epistle of 1 John as support for the doctrine of eternal security and the support of carnal Christianity. The only way this can be done is by taking a passage out of context.
I will add one last comment on this author’s position. He said that a person who remains carnal was never saved in the first place. Hold on to your seat because I am going to agree with him on this point. He is correct, especially today, when the standard for being a Christian has been dropped to such a low level. In some nations, becoming a Christian can cost you your life or your livelihood. In our country, the way many pastors present the “gospel” has no conditions and no teeth. It is a superficial gospel, with no cost. I have no problem believing that the vast majority of “Christians” today are not and have not been saved or born again. I can agree with him up to this point.
However, while this may be true for many, the reality is that some have actually been born again and have lost their salvation because of their sinfulness and backsliding. Because this author doesn’t believe a Christian can be lost, he must say that even backsliders have never been born again to begin with. Scripture and experience tell me this is false. I personally know of some people who were born again and walked away from the faith.
1 Corinthians 3
Before we end this article, we must address the passage in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 that almost all of these authors use to justify the concept of a carnal Christian. In this chapter, the author Paul states the following. “And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ……. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? For one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?” 1 Corinthians 3:1,3,4.
You will notice that the idea of carnality is associated with ministry leadership controversy, not with such evil practices as are listed in Chapter 6 of this same epistle.
“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” I Corinthians 6:9-11.
What are we to make of this? Their idea of being a carnal Christian goes well beyond divisions related to ministry leadership and how that is handled. For these “carnal Christian” website authors, do they believe that a real Christian can practice all the sins listed in this passage in chapter 6 and still be a child of God? They think that real Christians can be effeminate, homosexual, adulterers, murderers, drunkards, thieves, covetous, and so on. They believe these “carnal believers” will, in fact, inherit the kingdom of God in direct contradiction to the apostle Paul. Paul says the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. If you call yourself a Christian and do these unrighteous carnal sins, you will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Did Paul contradict himself from chapter 3 to chapter 6? In chapter 3, he said that there is such a thing as a carnal “Christian”. Do you really think that Paul could then turn around and say what he said in Chapter 6? In Chapter 6, Paul cautions us not to be deceived; the unrighteous (carnal Christians) will not inherit the kingdom of God if they practice the sins Paul lists in this chapter.
Paul did not contradict himself. In Chapter 3, Paul discussed strife and division regarding ministry leadership and aligning ourselves based on which leader we might follow. Some were saying, “I am of Paul and another, I am of Apollos: are ye not carnal?” verse 4. In this same chapter 3, Paul says that these Christian’s works will be burnt up (wood, hay, and stubble), yet they will be saved, “as yet by fire”.
However, in chapter 6, Paul wants everyone to know that the unrighteous (carnal and unrighteous believer) will not inherit the kingdom of God. He most assuredly did not want to convey that the unrighteous themselves would be saved or that they would inherit the kingdom of God. Paul wants everyone to know that only those who once were “some of you” are sanctified and justified. Only those Christians who “are” actually righteous will inherit the kingdom of God. There is no place for an impenitent, sinful, or carnal believer in the kingdom of God. Do not be deceived, is Paul’s admonition.
I could go on and on listing passages of scripture that refute both the idea of carnal Christianity and eternal security. The concept of carnal Christianity and the eternal security of the carnal believer has just about destroyed the evangelical church in the United States. Coupling this idea with the dogma of eternal security makes it especially dangerous and destructive. If you have ever wondered why the nominal Church of Jesus Christ is so ineffective, sinful, and worldly, look no further; you have found the answer. False teaching always produces these results.
There will be Christians who are saved as yet by fire. The skin of their teeth will save them. That makes me think of the thief on the cross. However, these Christians, who are saved by the skin of their teeth, will not be any of those whom Paul describes as the unrighteous in chapter 6. According to Paul, the unrighteous “Christian or non-Christian” will not, under any circumstances, inherit the kingdom of God and of Christ. You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. Praise God for the truth.
