Monday, March 11, 2019

ARE THERE CARNAL (WORLDLY, FLESHLY) CHRISTIANS?




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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