Chapter 6 Part 2

Paul’s Definition of the Carnal Christian

The entire Book of First Corinthians was written to
Christians who feed only on the milk, not on the
meat, of the Word. Paul classified this kind of
Christian as “carnal”:

And I, brethren, could not speak unto you
as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as
unto babes in Christ.
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.
— 1 Corinthians 3:1,2

Paul was saying to the Corinthians, “Look, there
are so many things I want to tell you, but I can’t.
You are carnal. You are not yet able to bear the
meat of the Word.”

Then, Paul went on to write the entire book to
what he labeled as the carnal mind — a mind
not yet capable of really receiving, discerning,
and understanding spiritual matters.

(That’s a little scary when you consider how few
preachers in the Church actually understand,
much less walk in, the “milk” of First Corinthians!
No wonder the Church walks in so little of the
power of God. No wonder the world looks at most
believers as not having the answers it needs.)

Then in First Corinthians 3:3, Paul defined what
constitutes carnality:

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

In other words, Paul was saying, “Do you not
walk as mere natural men, instead of as those
who have received the power of God in a new
nature?” It doesn’t take a super-spiritual Christian
to understand that if envying, strife, and divisions
exist among a group of people, they are walking
as carnal men. Who wouldn’t accuse someone who
walked in envy and strife of being carnal?

God once told me, “Do not hurt people. Do not
in any way destroy them — not for any reason.”
Interestingly, it seems irrelevant to our Heavenly
Father what people do to us. He simply said,
“Don’t hurt them.”

The more I attempt to know God, the more I
find out that He wants His love, outlined in First
Corinthians 13, to be fulfilled in me. That includes
thinking no evil and having no regard to the evil
done to me. I am also finding that the further I
go into the realm of First Corinthians 13, the more
peace, confidence, and assurance in my Father I
experience. If we are full of envy and strife, the
world labels us as carnal. But if we begin to walk
in the maximum degree of love and say, “I will not
hurt another man,” the world says we are eccentric.
That’s why we should only want to please Jesus.
The world won’t be holding our hand on the day
of reckoning. We will stand alone before Jesus,
accountable for our own actions.

So, Paul labeled envyings and strife as carnality.
I can understand that. The more kindly we treat
people —the more we let God love others through
us — the more real His Presence becomes to us.
But notice something else that Paul labeled as carnal
in First Corinthians 3:4 and 5. He said we are carnal
if we run after men:

For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another,
I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but
ministers by whom ye believed, even as the
Lord gave to every man?

In other words, Paul is saying in verse 5: “God gave
us our ministry, and because of that ministry you
believed unto salvation. But He has given every man a
ministry.” Then in verse 6, Paul goes on to say, I have
planted [you received salvation through my ministry],
Apollos watered [he came along to instruct you]; but
GOD GAVE THE INCREASE.

The Walk of the Spirit, The Walk of Power by Pastor Dave Roberson