• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• CHAPTER 1. Perverting the Gospel - The Ultimate Sin Against Humanity
• CHAPTER 2. The Gospel of Salvation - Part I - Faith and Obedience
• CHAPTER 3. The Gospel of Salvation - Part II - A Righteous Life by Faith
• CHAPTER 4. Regeneration: God's Creation of the Righteous
• CHAPTER 5. Sanctification: Set Apart for Righteousness
• CHAPTER 6. The Neccesity of Coming Under the Lordship of Christ - Part I
• CHAPTER 7. The Neccesity of Coming Under the Lordship of Christ - Part II
• CHAPTER 8. We Walk By Faith - Part I - Every Believer Overcomes the World
• CHAPTER 9. We Walk By Faith - Part II - Every Believer Takes up Their Cross
• CHAPTER 10. The Fallacy of the "Carnal Christian"
• CHAPTER 11. Bear or Burn: The Fate of the Fruitless in the Parables of Christ
• CHAPTER 12. Righteousness vs. Self-righteousness
• CHAPTER 13. Saint or Sinner?
• CHAPTER 14. Can a Christian Backslide?
• CHAPTER 15. Sin and the Misinterpretation of Romans 7
• CHAPTER 16. Examine Yourselves as to Whether You Are in the Faith

Clinging to a Counterfeit Cross

Grk/Heb Fonts

Over 75 Online Commentaries

by James P. Shelly

CHAPTER TEN

The Fallacy of the "Carnal Christian"

The term “carnal Christian” is not found in Scripture but is surmised from a single passage in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 3, wherein he states,

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? (NKJV).

He explicitly defines what he means by referring to them as carnal in v. 3, “For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?” and in v. 4, “For when one says, ‘I am of Paul,’ and another, ‘I am of Apollos,’ are you not carnal?” These are the only texts wherein we find the biblical concept of a so-called “carnal Christian” and how it would be defined. It is those who lack spiritual maturity and godly wisdom to the extent that it causes division, disunity, and disruption within the body of Christ. It is, in a word, the cause of sectarianism and denominationalism. Remarkably, however, many have so twisted these clear and simple words of Paul as to come up with a whole new class of human being. In 1909, Cyrus I. Scofield in his notes in “The Scofield Reference Bible” introduced the notion of three classes of human beings; natural, carnal, and spiritual. The natural man being the unbeliever, the carnal and spiritual man being two types of believers. This view was advanced in 1918 by Lewis Sperry Chafer, the founder of Dallas Theological Seminary, when he wrote “He That Is Spiritual” in which he interpreted 1 Cor. 3 as teaching the concept of two classes of Christians; the carnal and the spiritual; which was a novel view up to that time in church history. It was further advanced by men such as Charles Ryrie, author of the Ryrie Study Bible. Released in 1978, it is said to be “one of the most popular Bible study resources of the last 50 years.”¹ He wrote of 1 Corinthians 3:

Paul can only mean that these Carnal Christians lived like unsaved men. That clarifies why the word Carnal can label both unbelievers and believers, simply because the lifestyles of both are the same²(emphasis added).

Chafer wrote:

By various terms the Bible teaches that there are two classes of Christians: those who ‘abide in Christ,’ and those who ‘abide not’; those who are ‘walking in the light,’ and those who ‘walk in darkness’; those who ‘walk by the Spirit,’ and those who ‘walk as men’; those who ‘walk in newness of life,’ and those who ‘walk after the flesh’; those who have the Spirit ‘in’ and ‘upon’ them, and those who have the Spirit ‘in’ them, but not ‘upon’ them; those who are ‘spiritual’ and those who are ‘carnal’; those who are ‘filled with the Spirit,’ and those who are not. All this has to do with the quality of daily life of saved people, and is in no way a contrast between the saved and the unsaved. Where there is such an emphasis in the Bible as is indicated by these distinctions there is a corresponding reality. There is, then, the possibility of a great transition for those who are carnal into the reality of true spiritual living. The revelation concerning this possible transition, with all of its experiences and blessings, is taken seriously only by earnest believers who are faithfully seeking a God-honoring daily life. To such there is boundless joy and consolation in this gospel of deliverance, power and victory.³

Most everything said in this statement is foreign to the teachings of Scripture, and thus foreign to the teaching of the Church throughout her prior history. It is a leaven of doctrine that has been so toxic and has so permeated the church, that only God knows the multitudes, both then and now, who have been and will be, eternally damned by it. It is simply not possible to reconcile these teachings with the gospel as taught by Christ and His Apostles and therefore it must necessarily fall under Paul’s charge of preaching “a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you” (Gal. 1:8). Jude warned of those “who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality” (Jude 3, 4), which this teaching unquestionably does. Moreover, it is, ironically, at direct odds with the intended purpose of the very text from which it is derived. It literally provokes contentions, strife, and divisions within the body of Christ, exacerbating the problem of disunity which Paul reproved as unacceptable among those who profess to be Christian. For what unity or fellowship can there possibly be among those taught that they have the option of walking in entirely different directions? One walking in the Spirit and the other in the flesh — One walking in the light and the other in darkness — One who is abiding in Christ and one who is not — One directed by Christ, the other being self-directed — the carnal Christian and the spiritual Christian? This is the gospel of Christ! Whose own prayer to the Father was “that they may all be one”? (Jn. 17:20, 21). Paul says to these same Corinthians, “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?” (2 Cor. 6:14). He teaches here that believers walk in the light and in righteousness as opposed to unbelievers who walk in darkness and unrighteousness. If a Christian can walk in darkness and unrighteousness, as Chafer taught, they would be unequally yoked with those within the Church! What can be more twisted than this? Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (Jn. 8:12, emphasis added.) “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness” (Col. 1:13). Christ says to Paul that He was sending him to the Jews and Gentiles “to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God” (Acts 26:18). John says in 1 Jn. 2:11, “whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness” and in 1 John 3:10,“Whoever does not love his brother” is a child of the devil. In other words, anyone who does not love his brother walks in darkness, and is therefore, not a carnal Christian, but a child of the devil. We read in 1 John 1:7, “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.” The antithesis would be equally true — those who walk in darkness do not have fellowship with one another and are not cleansed from their sin by the blood of Christ. To teach that a Christian can walk in darkness finds no support anywhere in Scripture. The truth is, every Christian walks in the light, abides in Christ (1 Jn. 4:15, Jn. 6:56, Jn. 15:6), walks in the Spirit and in newness of life as we have shown elsewhere. Those who teach otherwise are even as those false apostles and deceitful workmen Paul warns them about in 2 Cor. 11:13. When he says in 1 Cor. 6:9, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived” it is evidentthat there were “deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ,” teaching this deception — that living a righteous life in obedience to Christ was optional rather than imperative. Sadly, this is precisely what the “carnal Christian” teaching does. Paul says in 2 Cor. 11:3-5,

I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.

Chafer further states;

There are two great spiritual changes which are possible to human experience — the change from the ‘natural’ man to the saved man, and the change from the ‘carnal’ man to the ‘spiritual’ man. The former is divinely accomplished when there is a real faith in Christ; the latter is accomplished when there is a real adjustment to the Spirit. Experimentally the one who is saved through faith in Christ, may at the same time wholly yield to God and enter at once a life of true surrender. Doubtless this is often the case. It was thus in the experience of Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9:4-6). Having recognized Jesus as his Lord and Saviour, he also said, ‘Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?’ There is no evidence that he ever turned from this attitude of yieldedness to Christ. However, it must be remembered that many Christians are carnal. To these the word of God gives clear directions as to the steps to be taken that they may become spiritual. There is then a possible change from the carnal to the spiritual state.... Though saved, the carnal Christians are walking ‘according to the course of this world.’ They are ‘carnal’ because the flesh is dominating them (See Rom. 7:14).⁴

Chafer quotes from Eph. 2 describing carnal Christians as those who walk “according to the course of this world.” However, when we look at that passage, we find that those who so walk are synonymous with the “dead in trespasses and sins,” “the sons of disobedience,” and “children of wrath,” which is, categorically, a description of those prior to becoming Christian. Paul says,

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest (NASB, emphasis added).

Paul is clearly describing their past course of life when they were yet children of wrath. It is difficult to envision how one could find a “carnal Christian” in this passage without twisting the text to fit one’s own theological scheme. Chafer then references Romans 7:14, which is so often the case when arguing for the allowance of sin in the Christian life and is one of the reasons why it is so critical that we interpret that text in its historical context and how costly indeed when misinterpreted (see chapter 15, Sin and the Misinterpretation of Romans 7).

This “carnal Christian” view has been further popularized by ministries such as “Campus Crusade for Christ” which teaches that the “carnal person” is described in Scripture as a Christian who “does not fully trust God” and can be “characterized by unbelief, disobedience, poor prayer life, no desire for Bible study.” “The Carnal Christian is a self-directed life. Jesus is in the life but not on the throne [of one’s heart]. Self is on the throne directing decisions and actions often resulting in frustration.”⁵ Interestingly, following these declarations it is then noted that, “The individual who professes to be a Christian but who continues to practice sin should realize that he may not be a Christian at all, according to 1 John 2:3; 3:6, 9; Ephesians 5:5” (emphasis added). The truth is that if self is on the throne of our hearts, it is self-evident that we are practicing sin and if so, as the passages referenced explicitly state, we are not Christians; “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning...and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God” (1 Jn. 3:9). The subtlety of the error of the statement “may not be a Christian at all” is what makes it so perilous. The simple words “may not be” as opposed to “is not” a Christian can be the difference between the eternal life and death of the soul.

According to this view in order for a “carnal Christian” to become a “spiritual Christian” one must be filled with the Spirit which is the “Christ-directed life by which Christ lives His life in and through us in the power of the Holy Spirit (John 15).” This is accomplished, “1. by sincerely desiring to be directed and empowered by the Holy Spirit. 2. by confessing our sins. 3. by presenting every area of your life to God and 4. by faith claim the fullness of the Holy Spirit.” This is then appropriated in the following prayer:

Dear Father, I need You. I acknowledge that I have been directing my own life and that, as a result, I have sinned against You. I thank You that You have forgiven my sins through Christ’s death on the cross for me. I now invite Christ to again take His place on the throne of my life. Fill me with the Holy Spirit as You commanded me to be filled, and as You promised in Your Word that You would do if I asked in faith. I now thank You for directing my life and for filling me with the Holy Spirit.⁶

If in this prayer is found all that is necessary for the “carnal Christian” to become a “spiritual Christian” what possible reason or justification would there be for not becoming a spiritual Christian at the outset of salvation? Furthermore, salvation is predicated on the fact that we are condemned as the “sons of disobedience” because we have sinned against God by rejecting His Lordship, directing our own life as do sheep who have gone astray from their Shepherd. To teach that the Savior saves us while allowing us to live a “self-directed life” can be likened to a shepherd that is said to have found his sheep while they remain lost. Although this is obviously an absurdity this is in essence what the “carnal Christian” teaching implies. A lost sheep is not found simply by receiving forgiveness for going astray, but rather it is considered found only when it is restored to the “flock,” coming under and following after the direction of the shepherd. Chafer, however, understands the lost sheep as those already in a state of salvation. He says of the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son;

In turning to an interpretation of the parable, some consideration must be given to the well-nigh universal impression that this parable is a picture of salvation. While it is a blessed picture of the heart of God, it most evidently had to do with restoration rather than regeneration.... This is not a picture of ninety-nine sheep and one goat: it is of one hundred sheep, and ‘sheep,’ according to the Scriptures, are always covenant people. The sheep, the piece of silver and the son were ‘lost’; but they were lost in such a way as that they needed to be ‘found.’ This is hardly the same as being lost in such a way as needing to be saved.⁷

Chafer admits that this view is contrary to the “universal” consensus that these parables are speaking of the lost in need of salvation. However, he rejects the consensus based on his view that in Scripture sheep “are always covenant people.” Covenant people yes, but these were sheep who walked away from their covenant with God and are therefore appropriately called lost sheep — The scattered sheep among God’s people who had apostatized by going after other gods. Jesus says in Matthew 15:24, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Was Christ sent to find lost sheep that were already saved? No! “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10, emphasis added). The sheep that return to the Shepherd are the lost sheep of Israel, the Old Testament people of God, who forsook their Shepherd and needed to return. Gentiles, excluding proselytes, never had a covenantal relationship with God, and were — “at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” (Eph. 2:12). Gentiles being alienated from the commonwealth of Israel are not called to return to God but to come into a covenantal relationship with Him Whom they had no prior relationship. The parable of the “lost sheep” the “lost coin” and the “lost or prodigal son,” although having implications pertaining to all, is speaking in reference to apostate and backslidden Israel. These have nothing whatever to do with a Christian returning from a life of sin. God promises in the New Covenant, “I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me (Jer. 32:40, emphasis added). The lost sheep who is found is referred to as a “sinner who repents.” Jesus’ listeners would understand the term sinner in no other way than that which would be descriptive of those outside the covenant of God. Moreover, the term is never used of a believer anywhere in Scripture (see Chapter 12, Saint or Sinner?). The prodigal son was dead and lost and could be restored only by regeneration, “for this your brother was dead, and is alive” (Luke 15:32). In other words, He was born again. Peter Pet in his commentary writes,

The story is partly based on Old Testament ideas where God said, ‘Sons have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against Me’ (Isaiah 1:2). And the consequence was, ‘A voice on the bare heights is heard, the weeping and pleading of Israel’s sons, because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten the Lord their God. Return O faithless sons, I will heal your faithlessness’ (Jeremiah 3:21-22a). And the reply then comes, ‘Behold we come to you, for you are the Lord our God’ (Jeremiah 3:22 b). And who can fail to see the yearning of the father for his lost son in Jeremiah 31:20, ‘Is Ephraim (Israel) My dear son? Is he My darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I remember him still, therefore My heart yearns for him. I will surely have mercy on him, says the Lord’. So the Old Testament is firm in its teaching concerning the Father Who yearns for His sons to return to Him, and is ready to receive them with mercy.⁸

To teach that the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son are “carnal Christians” is contrary to the plain teachings of Scripture and therefore explains the “well-nigh universal impression” that these parables are a picture of salvation.

It is critical to our understanding of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians to identify the context and culture of the city in which they lived. G. Campbell Morgan writes;

One must read with great carefulness the Corinthian letters in order to see Corinth as Paul saw it, not merely to see the church, not merely to see the apostolic method of dealing with the church, but to see Corinth itself. Everything which he denounced within the church was a reflection of the corruption of the city. In his first letter, he first corrected their attempt to form societies around emphases of Christian truth. That was a reflection of what was going on in Corinth. Men were splitting hairs, even in the realm of their own philosophies, and forming schools around different emphases or views.... In the great dramatic entertainments, Corinthians were almost always introduced as drunk.⁹

The context of the first four chapters of 1 Corinthians is carnal verses spiritual wisdom as the word “wise” or “wisdom” is used 26 times. They were indeed professing themselves to be wise while behaving foolishly. The Corinthians misguided regard for philosophical prowess and the inordinate esteem they were placing in the “wisdom of men” was resulting in sectarianism, having an elitist attitude claiming, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” etc. They were looking to the wisdom of mere men at the expense of the power and wisdom that comes from above which naturally led to divisions, contentions, and strife among the congregation. Paul seeks to make it clear that the preaching of the gospel is not with wisdom of words, the eloquent and sophisticated philosophical verbiage so highly valued and prevalent in Corinth, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect, v. 17. Then in verses 18, 19, “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’” and in v. 26 “For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.” In other words, not many of those the world esteems as wise are receiving the gospel because these often perceive themselves too wise and sophisticated to accept the foolishness of the message of the cross. However wise the world may think them to be they are fools in the sight of God. “Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” (1 Cor. 1:20). “Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise” (1 Cor. 3:18). For,

God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God (1 Cor. 1:27-29).

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom…and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Yet among the [spiritually] mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age [carnal] or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God [spiritual], which God decreed before the ages for our glory (1 Cor. 2:1-7)

Paul then says in chapter 3, v. 1-4, “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal,” etc. Paul is saying in essence, you think yourself so wise in your depth of knowledge and boast in the so-called wisdom of men when, in reality, you are so shallow and dull in spiritual understanding that I cannot even speak to you the solid food of the true wisdom that comes from God. I have to feed you with milk as you are like infants not yet weaned from their mother’s breasts.¹⁰ “The figure of ‘milk,’...is common in Rabbinical phraseology for instruction to beginners, who are called ‘sucklings.’”¹¹

This is the only place in the whole of the epistle wherein the term “carnal” is used and again, Paul plainly defines what he means by the term; “where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men” (NKJV). Moreover, he argues that these carnal traits of envy (Grk. zelos), strife (eris) divisions or dissentions (dichostasia), are those found in “mere men,” the unregenerate, and are entirely unacceptable in the character of a Christian and states in Galatians 5:19-21 that those who continue to practice sins such as these would ultimately be excluded from inheriting the kingdom of God;

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: ...contentions (eris), jealousies (zelos), outbursts of wrath (thumos), selfish ambitions (eritheia), dissensions (dichostasia)...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 (NKJV).

In other words, if these Corinthians would not repent forthwith of such carnal behavior — contentions (eris), jealousies (zelos) etc., they would not be partakers of the inheritance. Apparently, such was the case with some in Corinth as Paul states in His second letter, 2 Cor 12:20;

For I fear lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I wish, and that I shall be found by you such as you do not wish; lest there be contentions (eris), jealousies (zelos), outbursts of wrath (thumos), selfish ambitions (eritheia), backbitings, whisperings, conceits, tumults; lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and I shall mourn for many who have sinned before and have not repented of the uncleanness (akatharsia), fornication (porneia), and lewdness (aselgeia), which they have practiced (NKJV).

These are precisely the same sins he says if “practiced” would exclude one from the kingdom of God. We come to understand in these passages, that although Paul initially addresses the gathering of professing believers as a whole as “those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus,” he makes no assumption as to the final state of their individual souls. While in their ignorance, Paul was very patient with them, but once they were enlightened to the truth that their behavior was unacceptable, it was expected of them to repent or they would reveal themselves as unregenerate. “He is on the path of life who heeds instruction, but he who ignores reproof goes astray.” (Prov. 10:17, NASB). Therefore, to use this as a proof text to argue that a Christian can live in “carnality” is the antithesis of the message Paul was attempting to impart to the Corinthians. In other words, Paul is arguing that if they did not repent of such carnal behavior, they would not inherit the kingdom of God.

As stated, many of those in Corinth were converted from paganism steeped in corrupt and sexually immoral practices performed in their worship of the Greek gods. The majority, it would seem, were not intentionally rebelling against God but were simply ignorant of the ways of the God of Scripture, immature in their spiritual understanding, while being influenced by “false apostles” and “deceitful workmen” (2 Cor. 11:13) and had to be instructed in how they were to conduct themselves in truth. It is not that they had gone backward, but in fact, being ignorant of the truth, they had not yet come to that place from which they might stray. The intended impact of Paul’s exhortations was not presented as options — giving believers the choice as to whether or not they would comply with his rebukes in repentance and obedience, but to the contrary, he expected those walking in the light (John 8:12), seeking to do those things that are well pleasing to God (2 Cor. 5:9), hungering and thirsting after righteousness (Matt. 5:6), to obey them with all their heart and soul. One cannot be said to be a believer, who when once enlightened by the truth does not intend to obey it. Therefore, it is said that the word of God effectively works in the heart of the believer (1 Thess. 2:13). It is as Paul says, “And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we command” (2 Thess. 3:4). Paul had confidence that if Christ were truly in them, He would be effectually working in them both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13). We cannot, as Christians, perform what we are ignorant of, but once we are made aware of the Father’s will, we receive it, not as something optional, but rather as an imperative that we are determined to perform. We find in the Corinthian church that when Paul brought their sin to the light, those walking in the light responded to Paul’s words with a heart of repentance. He says in 2 Cor. 7:8-11,

For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it — though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting…For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter (emphasis added).

Charles Hodge writes:

In all ages the Greeks were distinguished by their fondness for speculation, their vanity and love of pleasure, and their party spirit. A church composed of people of these characteristics, with a large infusion of Jewish converts, educated in the midst of refined heathenism, surrounded by all the incentives to indulgence, taught to consider pleasure, if not the chief good, yet in any form a good, plied on every hand by philosophers and false teachers, might be expected to exhibit the very characteristics which in this epistle are brought so clearly into view.¹²

The Apostle begins, in chapter 5, to deal with sexual immorality. Again, it is imperative that we understand the religious background and culture out of which many of these Corinthians came particularly when confronting the issue of sexual immorality. Charles Hodge comments:

Another great evil in the Corinthian church was the violation of the seventh commandment in various forms. Educated as we are under the light of the gospel, in which the turpitude of such sins is clearly revealed, it is impossible for us to appreciate correctly the state of feeling in Corinth on this subject. Even by heathen philosophers’ offenses of this kind were regarded as scarcely deserving of censure, and by the public sentiment of the community they were considered altogether indifferent. They were in fact so associated with their religious rites and festivals as to lose their character as immoralities.¹³

Calvin, referring to the general sentiment regarding fornication in Corinth states:

For it was an evil that was so prevalent at that time, that it seemed in a manner as though it had been permitted; as we may see also from the decree of the Apostles, (Acts 15:20,) where, in prohibiting the Gentiles from fornication, they place it among things indifferent; for there can be no doubt that this was done, because it was very generally looked upon as a lawful thing.¹⁴

When Paul says that there was sexual immorality among the Corinthians, chap. 5 v.1, he was referring to the sexual immorality as exhibited in one man — a man having his father’s wife. In other words, there is sexual immorality among you in that among you is a sexually immoral man. Furthermore, he does not handle the situation with the attitude of, “Well, he is just a carnal Christian, after all we are just sinners saved by grace.” No, he severally reprimands them for not disciplining the guilty person and tells them to put such a one out of the church, not pamper him with comforting words:

You are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?(1 Cor. 5:5, 6).

“If this leaven¹⁵ - the incestuous person, be permitted to remain among you; if his conduct be not exposed by the most formidable censure; the flood-gates of impurity will be opened on the church, and the whole state of Christianity ruined in Corinth.”¹⁶

Paul says in 5:11, “But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler — not even to eat with such a one.” If a “carnal Christian” was one who was living in sins such as these, which is often argued in this day, his words would result in having to separate the “spiritual” Christians from the “carnal” Christians within the Church! Is he telling them not keep company with or eat with one another!? Obviously, that would be absurd as it would be cause for an escalation of the contentions, strife, and division which he so urgently condemns. Paul is dealing with the issue of one sexually immoral person and says, v. 13, “Purge the evil person from among you.” If there were others known to Paul to be involved in sexual immorality, would he not have included them in his exhortation after just telling them not to keep company with such? These are the same “carnal” Corinthians to which he says, “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.” (1 Cor. 6:9, 10) and in verse 11, “And such were some of you [past tense]. 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.” Calvin states;

The simple meaning, therefore, is this, that prior to their being regenerated by grace, some of the Corinthians were covetous, others adulterers, others extortioners, others effeminate, others revilers, but now, being made free by Christ, they were such no longer.¹⁷

In light of this, when Paul says in 2 Cor. 12:21, “I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced,” he is likely speaking of those who had not genuinely repented of their previous behavior prior to their coming into the church. The amplified translation makes this more apparent, “That I may have to sorrow over many of those who sinned before and have not repented of the impurity, sexual vice, and sensuality which they formerly practiced” (emphasis added). Ellicott writes;

That I shall bewail many which have sinned already. — Literally, who have sinned beforehand; leaving it uncertain what time is referred to. He may refer to sins before admission into the church.... He has in his thoughts such persons as those described in 1 Corinthians 6:9, and suspects that some of them have not really renounced the sins which he there names.... Probably he had in view the party of license, who maintained the indifference of ‘eating things sacrificed to idols,’ and of ‘fornication,’ just as, in the previous verse, he had chiefly in view the party of his Judaizing opponents.¹⁸

“What Paul feared, was, that when he got to Corinth he should find that many of those who had sinned, had not joined in the repentance for which he commended the congregation as a whole.”¹⁹

Having previously stated in his earlier letter that those who practice such sins would not inherit the kingdom of God, it comes as no shock that he says to those whom he fears have not responded as one would expect from a Christian, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you fail to meet the test! (2 Cor. 13:5). The word “fail” here, is the Greek word “adokimos” meaning, “worthless, rejected, not in the sense of that which is seen from the first to be unsuitable (not even in Heb. 6:8), but meaning that which has not stood the test, that which has shown to be a sham, and has therefore been rejected.”²⁰ Paul is warning as he did in Rom. 8:9, “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.” Hodge states,

The tendency to divorce religion from morality has manifested itself in all ages of the world, and under all forms of religion. The pagan, the Jew, the Mohammedan, the nominal Christian, have all been exact in the performance of religious services, and zealous in the assertion and defense of what they regarded as religious truth, while unrestrained in the indulgence of every evil passion. This arises from looking upon religion as an outward service, and God as a being to be feared and propitiated, but not to be loved and obeyed. According to the gospel, all moral duties are religious services; and piety is the conformity of the soul to the image and will of God. So that to be religious and yet immoral is, according to the Christian system, as palpable a contradiction as to be good and wicked. It is evident that among the members of the Corinthian church, there were some who retained their pagan notion of religion, and who professed Christianity as a system of doctrine and as a form of worship, but not as a rule of life. All such persons the apostle warned of their fatal mistake. He assures them that no immoral man, — no man who allows himself the indulgence of any known sin, can be saved. This is one of the first principles of the gospel, and therefore the apostle asks, Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Are ye Christians at all, and yet ignorant of this first principle of the religion you profess? The unrighteous in this immediate connection, means the unjust; those who violate the principles of justice in their dealings with their fellow men. It is not the unjust alone, however, who are to be thus debarred from the Redeemer’s kingdom — but also those who break any of the commandments of God, as this and other passages of Scripture distinctly teach. Believers are, in the Bible, often called heirs. Their inheritance is a kingdom; that kingdom which God has established, and which is to be consummated in heaven, Luke 12:32, Matt. 24:34, etc. From this inheritance all the immoral, no matter how zealous they may be in the profession of the truth, or how assiduous in the performance of religious services, shall be excluded. Let it also be remembered that immorality, according to the Bible, does not consist exclusively in outward sins, but also in sins of the heart; as covetousness, malice, envy, pride, and such like, Galatians 5:21. No wonder that the disciples, on a certain occasion, asked their master, Lord, are there few that be saved? or that the Lord answered them by saying, ‘Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it,’ Luke 13:24.²¹

Apparently, there were some in the Corinthian church that were profaning the Lord’s Table by drunkenness (1 Cor. 11:21). What then? Do we conclude that a so-called brother who continues in drunkenness is a “carnal Christian”? No! Paul had just stated earlier that those who practice drunkenness are excluded from the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:10). Paul says “not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is…an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler — not even to eat with such a one (1 Cor. 5:12). Clearly, if they were not to eat with or keep company with drunkards, then those profaning the Lord’s table in this manner would have to cease such behavior without delay. If they were to persist, they would necessarily have to be excommunicated from the church in compliance with Paul’s admonitions. Albert Barnes writes;

This refers to the contact of common life, and not particularly to the communion. The true Christian was wholly to disown such a person, and not to do anything that would seem to imply that he regarded him as a Christian brother.²²

In each of these cases where Paul deals with their sin, it is plain that once they come to the knowledge that their behavior is unacceptable, if they continue in it and remain impenitent, they would be exposed as unregenerate. God’s seed is not in them (1 John 3:9) and their hearts are yet to be circumcised. B. B. Warfield wrote:

It is a grievous error to teach that a true believer in Christ can stop short in ‘Carnality,’...the remainders of the flesh in the Christian do not constitute his characteristic. He is in the Spirit and is walking, with however halting steps, by the Spirit; and is to all Christians, not to some, that the great promise is given, ‘Sin shall not have dominion over you,’ and the great assurance is added, ‘Because ye are not under the law but under grace.’ He who believes in Jesus Christ is under grace, and his whole course, in its process and its issues alike, is determined by grace, and therefore, having been predestined to be conformed to the image of God’s Son, he is surely being conformed to that image, God Himself seeing to it that he is not only called and justified but also glorified.... There are not two kinds of Christians, although there are Christians at every conceivable stage of advancement towards the one goal to which all are bound and at which all shall arrive.²³

We must ever keep in mind, when interpreting the epistles to the Corinthians that this was a first century church wherein the doctrines of Christ were initially being established. Many of the books of the New Testament had not yet been written at this time which would place them at a disadvantage as compared to us in this modern age wherein there is a vast amount of material readily available to instruct us. In other words, we can easily understand and even expect that in the Corinthian church, considering the historical context along with the relatively limited material available to guide and educate them in the ways of the Lord, that there would be the type of situations Paul was addressing. We, however, in this day, have no excuse to plead such ignorance when so much light as been made available to us. The fact that there remains, after two thousand years, so much confusion about the fundamental truths of the gospel is a testimony to the depths of the depravity of the unbelieving heart, its aversion to God’s truth, and its insatiable appetite for sin. The “carnal Christian” teaching that has permeated the church is a prime example of the leaven Paul mentions in that it has slowly spread like a cancer throughout the body of Christ, negatively affecting even the healthy parts of the body. If left unchecked it will continue to “steal, kill, and destroy” the souls of its unsuspecting victims. The Truth of God’s Word, as a scalpel in the hands of a skillful surgeon, must cut out this malignancy from the body of Christ that the Spirit of God might administer and apply the “balm of Gilead” that it might be healed from its sickly state. Those who profess Christianity, while living in carnality, are in desperate need of hearing the truth; unless they repent and turn from their sin, they will find themselves standing before Christ clinging to a counterfeit cross.

CHAPTER ELEVEN
Bear or Burn: The Fate of the Fruitless in the Parables of Christ