This is a very contentious issue among Christians, but it
shouldn’t be. At first glance, it doesn’t seem that Christians can be carnal.
Here are some verses that suggest this:
·
This is the message we have heard from him and
proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say
we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not
practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have
fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from
all sin. (1 John 1:5-7 ESV)
·
And by this we know that we have come to know
him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep
his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. (1 John 2:3-4)
According to John, it seems that if we are living carnally
and claim that Christ is our Savior, we are “liars.” However, there are other
verses that acknowledge that there are carnal Christians:
·
For anyone who eats and drinks without
discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of
you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we
would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so
that we may not be condemned along with the world. (1 (Corinthians 11:29-32)
This gives us a portrait of a Christian who is living so
carnally that the Lord takes him out of this world in order to save him. The
next verses are directed towards a church that is living carnally. They are
dividing the Body of Christ by breaking up into competing factions (1
Corinthians 1:10-17) and are cheating one another. Therefore, Paul warned:
·
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not
inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves,
nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the
kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were
sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the
Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)
Even though sinners will not enter the Kingdom of God, these
carnal Christians are no longer sinners
even though they continue to sin. Why are they no longer sinners? Because they
have been washed, saved, and have the Spirit!
How then do we reconcile these verses? Carefully! Here is my
humble solution – Christians can be carnal. This should be obvious. Any new
babe in Christ is going to be carnal. Even though we are sanctified by the
Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:11), sanctification is also a progressive work. We are
gradually sanctified into Christ likeness. However, if we are truly His, we
will not continue to make a practice out of sinning as we had:
·
No one born of God makes a practice of sinning,
for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been
born of God. (1 John 3:9)
However, some of the verses above indicate that some
Christians continue in their sins. How can this be if they are a new creation
and have “God’s seed” abiding with them? Perhaps, with them, they haven’t
partaken of good teaching and the means of growth – prayer and the Word of God
(Romans 12:2; 1 Peter 2:2)? Perhaps they haven’t been diligent (Hebrews
5:11-14)?
However, I would draw a line. If a “Christian” refuses to repent of their sins and carnality,
they are not demonstrating the most
basic work of the Spirit, repentance, which qualifies them for salvation (Luke
24:47; Acts 2:38; 5:31; 2 Corinthians 7:10). Consequently, they are to be put out
of the Church until they repent to demonstrate that they are truly of the Lord
(Acts 26:19-20). Therefore, when a Christian repents, no matter how carnal they
have been, they are to be received back as a brother.
Therefore, I regard our first two passages about someone who
refuses
to follow Jesus but claims that he is a follower. This person is a “liar.” It
is the same thing as a refusal to repent.
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