The Misunderstood Theology of the Carnal Christian
June 29
In yesterday’s Bible reading and devotional, we saw that there are two types of people: spiritual and natural people. Spiritual people are able to understand the things of God, but natural people cannot. (1 Corinthians 2:12)
Many have read today’s Bible readings in 1 Corinthians 3 and saw a third type of person: the carnal Christian. Paul said that he was unable to speak to the Corinthians as mature spiritual people because they were still worldly. (1 Corinthians 3:1) He says that people in the church were appearing to be babies in Christ. They were unable to eat solid spiritual food; they were only able to live on spiritual milk.
It’s easy to make a simple mistake by reading this English description of worldliness. Paul uses two Greek words to describe these Corinthians: σάρκινος and σαρκικός. Even if you don’t have a background in the Greek Language, you can see the one-letter difference in these two words. The letter ν in the first word is a Greek nu. The letter κ in the second word is a Greek kappa. The difference can be understood by the one-letter difference in two related English words: fleshy and fleshly. Fleshy means made of flesh. Fleshly means having the characteristics of flesh.
Paul says, “I couldn’t even talk to you as an immature Christian; I had to talk to you as a lost person.” He says that their immaturity was evidenced by their envy and strife. Paul never questions their salvation. He doesn’t suggest that these people were natural/lost people. He says they were acting like natural/lost people, so he had to address them as such. (1 Corinthians 3:3) Their problem wasn’t that these people had backslidden. They were saved, but they simply never matured in their faith.
Using Paul’s words, there’s not a third type of person. Again, someone is either saved or not. Now, if someone is saved, but not living like it, they may be immature, having never grown in their faith. Or they could be a saved person who regressed in their walk with Christ, and now walks in rebellion against God.
Application
For many years, I have been concerned about the erroneous theology of the carnal Christian in churches. In an effort to encourage spiritual people (believers) to walk in Christian maturity, I fear that many people who claim they were saved, perhaps many years ago, have been given an “out” as a carnal Christian. By giving them a label of a carnal Christian, I believe they have been comforted in their backslidden condition. Pair that with the doctrine of eternal security, and you have a recipe for disaster where a believer thinks they can live however they want and still go to heaven when they die.
However, I would argue that if someone is actively walking in rebellion, they may not be a carnal Christian at all. They may, in fact, be a lost person. Only the Holy Spirit can confirm if someone has been born again. (Romans 8:16)
Those whose attitudes and behavior don’t line up with clear Biblical principles and teachings need to seriously consider whether or not they are saved at all. Both of these conditions of being lost or backslidden are spiritually dangerous.
People in either condition should seriously consider their lives. Neither condition is the way that God intends. God intends for His people to walk with Him in ever-increasing holiness. Rebellious Christians need to repent and walk according to their calling as a child of God. Lost people need to repent and turn to Jesus so they can have a dynamic walk with God.