by Dr. Martin R . DeHaan
Its members walked after the flesh instead of after the spirit. They were saved, but they were still carnal and fleshly, and walked as babes. Paul calls them “ the church of God,” “ sanctified,” and “ saints” (I Cor. 1:2). In our Scripture, I Cor. 3:1, he calls them “ brethren.” We must, therefore, remember that whatever rebuke these Cor inthians needed, they still belonged to Christ; they were still the children of God. The word, “ carnality,” comes from the Greek word, sarx, meaning “flesh.” In the setting of our passage, it is synonymous with the old Adamic nature with which we were bom of the flesh the first time. When believers give way to this old nature which is still in them, even after the new birth, instead of walking in the Spirit, and in the light of God’s Word, they become carnal in their conduct and condition. Now carnality expresses itself in two opposite ways. Sometimes it manifests itself in worldliness, and indulging in the sins of the flesh. Most people naturally think this is the primary meaning of a carnal Christian, and speak of the worldly believer who lives in sin and indulges in questionable practices as a carnal Christian. However, Paul’s idea of a carnal believer in First Corinthians 3 is quite the opposite from this common notion. Carnality in Corinth manifested itself not so much in worldliness and sinful practices, as in a “ holier than thou” attitude toward others in their spiritual pride and boasting. They were proud of the fact that they did NOT indulge in worldly practices. They prided them selves that they were superior to others and became separ atists, contentious and proud in their conduct. The Cor inthians were divided, therefore, into sects and groups and cliques, each despising the other. Some were admir ers of the apostle Paul, some of Apollos, some of Peter, and thought that they were better because of their deeper progress in the things of the Word. The result was
“And 1, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. “/ have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto y e were not able to bear it, neither yet now are y e able.” I Cor. 3:1-2 There are only two kinds of people in the world, saved and lost, bom once and bom twice, those on the way to heaven and those on the way to hell. The lost are called “ natural men” because they have had only a natural birth, the others are spiritual because they have in addition to the first birth had a second, spiritual new birth from above. The bom-again man, however, still retains his old nature, called also “ the old man,” and the “flesh,” as well as the new nature, or the divine nature, which came from above. This fact of the two natures is the reason for two kinds of believers — carnal and spiritual. A carnal believer is a saved man who is still controlled in a measure at least, by the old nature within him, and he gives heed to the old, Adamic nature rather than submitting himself to the new, spiritual na ture. «The spiritual believer, however, is one who has gained the victory over the old, Adamic nature rather than submitting himself to the new, spiritual nature. The spiritual believer, however, is one who has gained the victory over the old nature, and has enthroned the spirit ual, and claimed victory over the flesh, and is walking in the newness of life. The carnal believer is in the light, but is not “ walking in” the light, while the spiritual believer in addition to being in the light posi tionally, is also walking and making progress in the light. CARNALITY DEFINED The church of God in Corinth was a carnal church.
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