The Final Events.
Laodicea. The Spiritual and Carnal Christians.
Part Fifty- three in a Series.
https://secondcoming.org/blog/
The New Testament divides Christians into two camps: spiritual and carnal.
Paul wrote to the Christians at Corinth; “I, brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as to babes in Christ.” 1 Corinthians 3:1.
Notice that Paul doesn’t refer to these carnal Christians as the unconverted, but as babes in Christ. Babies as you know don’t walk perfectly at first. They fall often as they are learning to walk. In the same way, Christian babies fell fall down a lot too, as they learn to walk in the spirit. They fall because they are babies, they are weak.
Paul continues: “I have fed you with milk” 1 Corinthians: 3:2. That is another problem with babies, you can’t give them solid food.
Paul was writing to the Christians in Corinth approximately 10 years after the church had been established in that city. They were still babies in Christ, still carnal Christians; they weren’t growing spiritually.
In verse 3, Paul lists the problems they were continuing to have: “envy, strife, divisions”. These things are not the behavior of a Christian, they are the behavior of the world. Does Paul say that these carnal Christians are lost? Does he say that they are unconverted? No, in fact in verse 16 he says. “Ye (plural) are the temple (singular) of God and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you.” They are converted they’ve experienced the new birth, but you can’t tell it by their lifestyle. This is the picture of carnal Christians. Their behavior is like that of the ordinary people, instead of reflecting the life of the spirit who dwells in them.
Spiritual Christians, on the other hand have not only been converted but they are walking in the Spirit.
Conversion is not the factor that differentiates carnal Christians from spiritual Christians.
Both have been converted that isn’t the issue. The issue is that spiritual Christians have learned to walk in the Spirit and carnal Christians are still walking primarily in the flesh. Carnal Christians are still dominated by self— “self” is what the New Testament means by the term flesh. As a result, carnal Christians have a major problem. They are poor witnesses, they misrepresent Christ.
When people look at them, they say if that is what a Christian is like I don’t want any part of it. They are poor representatives of Christ because their behavior is so little different from that of an unconverted person.
We need to recognize that carnal Christians are also in a very dangerous condition. It is very easy for the devil to pull carnal Christians away from Christ because they are already walking in the flesh. There is often very little difference between the behavior of carnal Christians and the behavior of people who are of the world. It’s difficult to tell whether carnal Christians are converted because frequently their behavior is so like the way the world lives.
The Final Events will end with the splendor of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ also known as the Parousia. The Signs of Parousia are detailed in the Final Events Blog series and emphasize the Imminent Return and Second Coming of Jesus Christ, and the Love of the Father for all mankind.
In contrast spiritual Christians are not only converted they are walking in the Spirit. Spiritual Christians live a life that is clearly different from life worldly people live. As a result, there are two things going on in the life of spiritual Christians. First, they are up subduing the flesh through the power of the Spirit. Second, they are reflecting the righteousness of Christ. Paul says, “Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Galatians 5: 16
In other words, the way to conquer the flesh is not by willpower or by human effort but by walking in the Spirit. This is the only way. “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof.” Romans 13: 14
One of the pieces of evidence of spiritual Christians is that they are subduing the flesh through the power of the indwelling Spirit. The second is that they are reflecting Christ’s righteousness. That is why Paul goes on to say in Galatians 5: 22-23 that when you walk in the Spirit, He produces His fruit in our lives: “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.”
But we need to understand that this imparted righteousness of Jesus takes place in our lives only when we have lost all confidence in the flesh, and we can say sincerely in our hearts “Not I, but Christ.”
The Final Events will end with the splendor of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ also known as the Parousia. The Signs of Parousia are detailed in the Final Events Blog series and emphasize the Imminent Return and Second Coming of Jesus Christ, and the Love of the Father for all mankind.
The Final Events.
Laodicea. The Spiritual and Carnal Christians.
Part Fifty- three in a Series.