Christian Living
Have you been asking the question; ‘who is a carnal Christian? And have you been wondering on ‘how to identify a carnal Christian? Well, here comes your help! In this bible study series on Renewal of the Mind, I share on 3 Classical features of carnality.
Who Is A Carnal Christian?
A carnal christian is someone who has confessed Jesus as Lord and saviour but isn’t growing spiritually, neither is his/her mind renewed.
The process of spiritual formation starts at the newbirth; with an forward movement towards spiritual maturity. A mature Christian being someone who accepts and yields to the entire counsel of God’s Word. The process of renewal of the mind and spiritual formation are not mutually exclusive but occur concurrently as a newborn Christian consistently feeds on the Word of God (1 Peter 2:2).
Carnality is not a stage in the process of spiritual formation. It is an alteration or an aberration in the spiritual formation pathway. Someone who has been born again for sometime, but who refuses to intentionally feed on the word of God, and so have remained stunted spiritually, with an unrenewed mind, is a carnal Christian.
The carnal Christian is governed by his/her senses and reasoning rather than by the recreated spirit and the Word of God. Apostle Paul thus describes the carnal Christian as nonspiritual and fleshy (1 Corinthians 3:1-4).
“And I, brethren, 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, 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?” I Corinthians 3:1-4
Hebrews 5:12-14 tells us more about carnal Christians….
“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” Hebrews 5:12-14
How To Identify a Carnal Christian…
The difference between a carnal Christian and a newborn Christian is that the newborn babe has only just been born again, hence needs exposure to the Word in order to grow. The carnal Christian on the other hand is not a newborn babe, however he/she is not ingesting the Word of God in order to grow. Aside the differences between these 2 groups, the both tend to exhibit fleshy attributes. Galatians 5:19-21 lists characteristics of a fleshy, nonspiritual person….
“Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:19-21
Now, there are not many people who would exhibit all the fleshy attributes listed in Galatians 5:19-21. And really, someone can be very committed in Church, serving, very devoted in church and yet be carnal. Again Apostle Paul helps us identify carnality even in it’s subtle form in 1 Corinthians 1:1-4. He mentions 3 classical features of carnality in that portion of scripture-envy, strife and divisions. So someone may not be a drunkard, murderer, adulterer, fornicator, etc, but is still carnal.
Join me in this short bible study as I elaborate on each of these identifiers of carnality.
What Is the Remedy for Carnality?
To outgrow Carnality, the word of God must be taken in; this ensures spiritual growth and maturity as well as the renewal of the mind. As Apostle Paul notes in 1 Corinthians 3:1-4 and Hebrews 5: 12-14, the carnal Christian cannot handle solid food (teachings that are beyond fundamental). Both they and the newborn Christian need the sincere milk of the Word of God to grow, mature and operate with a renewed mind.
I think that the bigger problem of a carnal Christian is the lack of interest in the Word, or low or almost absent attention span for the Word. In Hebrews chapter 5, Paul notes that the carnal christian exhibits ‘dullness of hearing’.
How Do we Get A Carnal Christian to Be interested in the Word of God?
This is where the problem and the solution is…
The solution for the carnal Christian is the Word, the problem is they have low attention span for the Word….
I believe that the intervention required for a carnal Christian is prayers….this is what we can do for them…
We must Prayer for them to DESIRE the sincere milk of the word, just the way we pray for new babes in Christ.
Shalom!
