The Carnal Christian

1 Corinthians 3:1–4

1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. 2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. 3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? 4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

The first thing we see in the passage that is before us is the distinction Paul is making respecting the characteristic behaviour of those he is addressing. 

One “Spiritual“, the other “Carnal“. 

One is a POSITIVE attribute that he prefers to see in the members of the Church, the other is the NEGATIVE attribute he does see.

One is evident preference, the other evident disappointment.

One is that of expectation, the other is that of present reality.

One is that which testifies to the beginning of their walk (their need of milk), the other to the expected maturity that accompanies a spiritual walk (to be fed with meat).

INTERESTINGLY, both ALSO testify to Paul’s evident discernment of their state and he calls it out together with the evidence to support his claim;

for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? 4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

A typical ‘Cause and Effect’ argument in those two verses, the reason there are envying, strife and divisions is due to them being Carnal Christians.

The ‘Cause’ is their carnality, the effect is envying, strife and divisions.

The testimony of the passage shows of an expectation toward spiritual maturity, but what is found is spiritual immaturity instead. 

We will find that this is firstly not unusual.

When Christians first come to the faith it is generally followed by great zeal but with little knowledge. 

The more we spend time with the Lord and in his word however, the more we grow in the likeness of Christ and our spiritual life begins to be fed firstly with the “milk of the word” (1 Pet 2:2). 

The more we trust in the Lord, the more his WORDS become our guide and joy and way of life, and thereby the more we grow into spiritual Christian adults and our life takes on greater joy. 

It really is that simple!

We then Find that the carnal manner of life can be advanced from.

Paul speaks to the ability of Christians to stomach spiritual truths found in the Bible as they continue to grow in their faith. 

No doubt many are the challenges facing new born babes in Christ and one of the most evident are the growing pains that many try to avoid.

Trusting God as a priority.

Conviction of sin

Conviction of faithlessness

Humility in general.

This is evident throughout church history and sadly becomes worse in the last of the last days.

But what is seen in our passage is that there is an expectation of ongoing growth that the ‘babe’ may soon stomach the spiritual meat necessary for full development. 

The babe thereby eventually becoming a ‘self sustaining‘ spiritual adult, aware of personal responsibility and ABLE TO FEED OTHERS.

This is Gods plan of multiplication and it is a PERFECT PLAN, if and ONLY if we would trust him.

We find spiritual immaturity leading naturally to “envy” and “strife” in the Church.

It is not possible to be spiritually mature and not discern that which is good or evil. (See Heb 5:14)

Such maturity can only come from reading and obeying the word of God and growing in our relationship with Christ.

The most basic level of reflection should have told the Carnal Corinthians that they are NOT to follow after men, but after Christ.

The word of God was rarely if ever found in the homes of the 1st century Church. It is interesting how little difference it is in the last century Church when Christians wont read the Bible they have. 

Lastly, we see that Christian Carnality is a contradiction.

A fountain cannot send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter (Ja 3:11), and so we must acknowledge that Christian Carnality is a CONTRADICTION.

It is the clearest indicator of all showing that something is terribly wrong.

1 Corinthians 3:1

1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

As we come to this passage we may find ourselves mistaken into thinking that Paul is unkind to the believers in the Church of Corinth. 

We see passages such as this and think love is lacking, but we would be far from the truth of the matter. Paul indeed as great and tremendous love for the Church at Corinth,

1 Corinthians 1:4–5

4 I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; 5 That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;

He speaks to his willingness to suffer so many trials for them;

2 Corinthians 11:24–28

24 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. 25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. 28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.

Too often a rebuke or a chastisement of the minister of Christ to those under his charge is taken as a lack of love, but this is far from the truth for those whom God has charged to lead his people.

Paul too is painfully aware of this and so he writes;

2 Corinthians 12:15

15 And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.

Therefore, please know and understand that it is out of sheer love that Paul writes to them as “Carnal Christians“, for his greatest desire for them is that they may grow in Christ;

13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: Says he to the Ephesians 4:13

Nevertheless, we come to understand that the Carnal Christian is not an unusual find in the Church and may be excused to some degree in their early faith in Christ. Paul speaks of them as “Babes in Christ“.

1 Corinthians 3:1

1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

The Newborn Christian is regularly depicted as a Babe, a small child in the faith, newly saved with many things to learn and to grow into the knowledge of.

There are new emotions that were not there before.

Sometimes great joy mixed with great sorrows of heart. 

Sometimes excitement in the Lord and tremendous desire to share the hope of Christ to all, and then sometimes great apathy as life seems to drone on.

Then comes the struggles with the old Adamic nature, the wrestlings with sin mixed with the desire to please God in all that we do, promising to do better next time.

But the cycle of sin and the seeking of forgiveness begins to tire the babe in Christ. 

Pressing up the ‘reset switch’ on his spiritual ‘circuit breaker’ becomes a wearisome task as considerations of SELF FLAGELLATION takes its place.

The Babe in Christ sets aside the book of life and tries hard to live by the Law instead. 

He punishes himself for his sin and forgets that his “iniquity is taken away, and his sin is purged” (Isa 6:7).

That he is 

….crucified with Christ: nevertheless he lives; yet not himself, but Christ liveth in him: and the life which he now lives in the flesh he ought to live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved him, and gave himself for him. 21 ought to know that he should not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

Galatians 2:20–21

Sadly however, the Carnal Christian turns “again to the weak and beggarly elements” of the law (Gal 4:9). 

And to justify himself more, he begins to point the finger at everyone else rather than himself, until he begins to follow after men and not after Christ. “I am of Paul…I am of Apollos…” (v4).

Now, the Word of God is kept on the shelf. 

True repentance for sin is no longer up for personal reflection and the only choice left him is to give IMPRESSION OF THE SPIRITUAL, WHILE BEHAVING LIKE THE CARNAL;

“Envying, and strife, and divisions” spring up within the Church.

 Just so is the inevitable legacy of the Christian who REMAINS CARNAL.

Turn to 1 Peter 2

1 Peter 2:1–3

1 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, 2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: 3 If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

Here we find a wonderful Segway into the next point that CHRISTIAN CARNALITY CAN BE ADVANCED FROM, and also how that advance is undertaken.

Peter speaks to the “laying aside” of Christian Carnality, “malise…guile..hypocrisies…envies, and all evil speakings“.

First there is the recognition that such is being attended to. If you are not willing to turn to the Lord and allow him to examine you, you will not “lay aside” such things but remain wilfully ignorant to them until the finally manifest themselves in “envyings, strife and division“.

But then Peter speaks to the same solution Paul alludes to in the next verse;

2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: 

Lets consider of it;

1 Corinthians 3:2

 2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

“I have fed you” writes Paul, bringing to us the simple understanding that in being fed we ought to be growing, developing, strengthening that “spiritual man” within us. 

Here we see a plain testimony that the Carnal Christian does not NEED TO REMAIN CARNAL, indeed, Christian Carnality CAN BE ADVANCED FROM and SHOULD be advanced from;

2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

Paul is making a statement of fact that the newborn babes are NOT GROWING!

Peter wrote in encouraging terms, saying;

1 Peter 2:2–3

2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: 3 If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

O how I wish there were a way that I can preach the same thing but in a way that you may be able to understand it and be motivated by it.

I grown within myself yearning that you might know the truth of this and that you might see the infinite blessing of simply trusting the Lord at his word.

You have seen with your own eyes and heard with your own ears the effects of the Carnal Christianity within this very Church last year. 

Why is it that you believe you can escape such behaviour remaining a BABE when you ought to be growing in your faith?

Carnal Christianity LEADS to “envyings, strife and divisions“, it cant HELP it, but IT CAN BE ADVANCED FROM.

Christian Maturity is NOT determined by the years one has been saved. 

THIS IS TRULY EVIDENT. 

A person can have been a Christian for fifty years and remained a BABE in almost every sense of the word. 

We see this beloved in normal life. How many people do you know who have never grown up? How many adults are nothing other than 50 year old 15 year olds?

So it is with the Christian.

The evidence of it is seen in their fruit, “envyings, strife and divisions” according to Paul here;  malice, … guile, … hypocrisies, … envies, and all evil speakings, according to Peter there.

The wonderful thing is that Christian Carnality can be Advanced From…BUT how?

BEING FED WITH SPIRITUAL FOOD!

desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: writes Peter

You cannot grow if you will not eat.

Turn to Matthew 4

When our Lord was tempted in the wilderness by the Devil, the natural state of his flesh was famished. He had endured 40 days and forty nights without the basic, carnal, needs of the Body, he needed food!

Jesus knew what temptation was like and would not capitulate to it, no matter how strong the natural forces in him urged him to eat. And what is the food he knew could sustain him most?

Matthew 4:3–4

3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Jesus quoted from the most ancient of writings of the Bible, the writings of Moses himself who equated the bread that fell in the wilderness which the people of God were to gather that which was sufficient for themselves each and every day but the Sabbath day, with the words of God.

Deuteronomy 8:3

3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

Everything about the manna that fell in the wilderness was an object lesson respecting the words of the Lord, for this and only this can better both sustain and grow a man.

Job spoke the words that so wonderfull represent this great truth;

Job 23:11–12

11 My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined. 12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

It is the WORD of God by which we can grow. 

We advance to adulthood, not by listening to sermons day in and day out as the manner of some is, but by READING or HEARING the words of the Lord!

By his WORDS light came into the world.

By his WORDS life came into the world.

By his WORDS the Gospel was preached.

By his WORDS we are quickened to ETERNAL LIFE.

And so it stands to reason that it is ONLY by his words that we can advance from Carnal Christianity to Spiritual.

Hebrews 5:12–14

12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. 14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Beloved, you can see that this is not something I am making up. I have preached along this line since the beginning of my ministry to this Church and nothing has changed respecting the truth of the matter.

If you will not take heed to these words you will either NOT GROW or you will BACKSLIDE to a BABE. 

When you pick up and read your good portion of his word, you will grow, you cant help it. 

But when you set the book aside you will shrivel back to childhood.

Do so beloved, before the famine comes!

What do I mean?

Amos 8:11–12

11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: 12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.

Yet another passage proclaiming the truth of the word of God as our necessary food, identified by “famine” when it is not present!

A time yet coming, for it has never yet been, when the words of God will not be heard. The technological advances and the schemes and laws are already set in motion when this will become a reality.

READ THE WORD

MEMORISE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN, that you might feed others when nourishment is needed.

1 Corinthians 3:3

3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

A new study from Lifeway Research suggests more Protestant churches closed in 2019 than opened — continuing a decades-long congregational slide that is only expected to accelerate.

The study, which analyzed church data from 34 Protestant denominations and groups, found that 4,500 churches closed in 2019 (Note; before Covid), while about 3,000 new congregations were started. The 34 Protestant denominations account for about 60% of U.S.-based Protestant denominations.

The study also pointed to the hastening of church closures. In 2014, it found, there were 3,700 church closures, compared with 4,500 in 2019.[1]

This was a US Study from 2021.

As of March 2022, the percentage of pastors who have considered quitting full-time ministry within the past year sits at 42 percent.[2]

That was according to a Barna Research paper in the US which surveyed 413 Senior protestant Pastors.[3]

A ‘Christianity Today’ article last year (2024) states;

“MORE PASTORS ARE LEAVING MINISTRY OVER CHURCH CONFLICT” [4]

An Australian survey in 2023 reveals more for us locally, headlining with;

“In the last 12 months 35% of Australian ministers Considered Quitting”[5]

Your pastor was certainly one of them beloved.

Hebrews 13:17

17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.

Churches are closing and Pastors are quitting in greater numbers than ever around the western world today. Many congregations do not have a pastor at all, for there are fewer and fewer who biblically qualify for the work.

The reasons so many pastors are quitting is NOT MATERIAL. 

Pastors in most Churches are well paid and can sufficiently sustain a modest livelihood, no, just under 60% quit because of the stress caused them within the church.

envying, and strife, and divisions (1 Cor 3:3)

malice, …guile, … hypocrisies, … envies, … evil speakings (1 Pet 2:1)

We begin to now see in todays Churches, men…. lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: 

Paul wrote that to a Pastor in the first century regarding the state of the Church in the “last days” (2 Tim 3:1-5)

Yet we see even in the “First days” that Paul was concerned about this developing more in the Corinthian Church, as evident in his second letter, turn to 2 Cor 12

2 Corinthians 12:20

20 For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:

James grants an insight into that; 

James 4:1–4

1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. 4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

Quite harsh words by James to his Church in Jerusalem, but not surprising if we were to consider the Last Days dispensational context of the passage. While it was given to the first century Church, its flow in the corse of Scripture is perfectly set for the Last Days.

What is the solution beloved for you and I lest we too become a “statistic” as others already have?

1 Peter 2:2

2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: 3 If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

1 Corinthians 3:4

4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

It is the 3rd chapter of James that so wonderfully testifies to the contradiction of Christian Carnality.

Though we use the expression, and though it is not unusual as a Babe in Christ, its continuance and its maintenance testifies to a contradiction that is difficult to ignore and even more difficult to diagnose.

What it testifies to with absolute certainty is that SOMETHING IS TERRIBLY WRONG. 

How can a true Christian also remain Carnal?

James 3:7–18

7 For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: 8 But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. 

9 Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. 10 Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.

11 Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? 12 Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh. 

13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. 14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. 15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. 16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. 17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. 18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

James chastises his Church for their contradiction.

In the next chapter he literally calls them ‘adulterers’ respecting their faith;

James 4:4

4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

The apostle John also writes of the love of the world in 1 John 2, he also speaks to it as a complete and perfect contradiction just as James alludes to here. 

John simply states;

1 John 2:15–17

15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

This is where “DIAGNOSIS” is not truly possible from the outside. Both Paul and James and John write to the Church.

Christians can indeed demonstrate almost the same carnality that the unspiritual man is by nature, yet it is a contradiction to their own nature.

Hence the typical charge of Hypocrisy. 

But as a Christian that demonstrates the opposite of Christ, it is blasphemy. Calling Jesus his Lord yet obeying the fleshly dictates of worldly lust.

AND SO BELOVED

We have seen that Carnal Christianity is not unusual to those who are babes in Christ.

That it can certainly be advanced from and is indeed expected in ALL Christians, to be teachers and not that others need teach us again the first principals of our faith.

Do you yet even know what the Gospel is beloved?

We grow through the reading of the word of God, desiring it as our spiritual food, even more than the food of our bodies.

The neglect of it becomes evident both in our personal lives and as we affect the lives of those around us through envy, strife and division.

It is a contradiction to remain Carnal as Christians. We can never be content therein.

What is the solution therefore?

Turn to

Hebrews 12:1-3

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith first and foremost.

READ YOUR BIBLES, much and regularly.

SPEND TIME DAILY in prayer.

{$NOTE_LABEL} https://religionnews.com/2021/05/26/study-more-churches-closing-than-opening/

{$NOTE_LABEL} https://www.barna.com/research/pastors-quitting-ministry/

{$NOTE_LABEL} https://www.christianpost.com/news/more-pastors-now-say-they-have-considered-quitting-study.html

{$NOTE_LABEL} https://www.christianitytoday.com/2024/04/pastor-leave-church-conflict-hartford-church-health-survey/

{$NOTE_LABEL} https://sydneyanglicans.net/news/in-the-last-12-months-35-of-australian-ministers-considered-quitting/53335

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