What Does It Mean To Be A Carnal Christian?

Some of the best examples of why someone should be a Christian can be found in how some Christians live their lives. Likewise, some of the worst examples of why someone should be a Christian can be found in how some Christians live their lives. By these two truths, many attitudes about Christianity are formed, unfortunately, often with deadly consequences. The Bible refers to Christians who are a poor example of Christianity as carnal Christians. Therefore, we will examine what does it mean to be a carnal Christian?

What does the word carnal mean? 

The word carnal is commonly defined as follows (1): carnal (adj): relating to physical, especially sexual, needs and activities. “carnal desire” Origin: late Middle English: from Christian Latin carnalis, from caro, carn- ‘flesh.’

The Bible defines the word carnal as follows (2): from G4561 (sarx); pertaining to flesh, i.e. (by extension) bodily, temporal, or (by implication) animal, unregenerate:- carnal, fleshly.

By these two definitions, we find that the word carnal describes something that is fleshly or physical in nature. The Bible adds to this the idea of being temporal, meaning that is earthly and temporary and not heavenly or eternal.

What is a carnal Christian? 

With these definitions in mind, a carnal Christian would be a Christian that behaves in ways that are motivated by fleshly desires. These desires are descried by the Bible as being human in origin, not from God, and demonstrated in human lusts. These three are lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride (1 John 2:15-16).

These lusts are what draw us away from God and tempt us to sin. Likewise, these lusts are what Satan uses to entice us to sin. We see the first use of these lusts in the Garden of Eden in (Genesis 3:1-6).

In this passage, Satan enticed Eve by telling her that what God said about eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was not true. When her mind was changed, she wanted the fruit for three reasons. She saw the fruit was good for food because of her hunger (lust of the flesh). See saw that it was pleasant to the eyes in appearance (lust of the eyes). And she desired it to make her wise like God (pride of life). Unfortunately, she listened to Satan, ate the fruit along with her husband, and sin entered mankind.

Likewise, fast forward several thousand years and we see the same approach used by Satan with Jesus in Luke 4:1-13. In this passage, Satan tried to entice Jesus by telling him that if He was the Son of God to turn a stone into bread because of His hunger from fasting 40 days (lust of the flesh). Satan then tried to entice Jesus by taking Him on a high mountain and telling Him that if He bowed down and worshiped Satan, He could have everything He saw (lust of the eyes). Finally, Satan placed Jesus on top of the temple and tried to entice Him by telling Him that if He was the Son of God to throw Himself off the temple because it is written that the angels would catch Him (pride of life).

We learn from these events that unlike Eve, Jesus used Scripture every time Satan tried to entice Him, even when Satan used Scripture out of context. This is where carnal Christians stumble and fall. They do not know what the Bible says, or they flat-out ignore it when it comes to fleshly lusts. This demonstrates no love of God or our neighbor.

What are Biblical examples of carnal Christians? 

The most notable passage is when Paul addressed the church in Corinth as follows:

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. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as 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? (1 Corinthians 3:1-5)

In this passage, Paul had just spoken about how unsaved people could not understand the Bible, nor make sound decisions because they did not have the wisdom of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2). Paul called the unsaved man the natural man. Paul continued in 1 Corinthians 3 by saying that he could not speak spiritual things to these Christians because they were carnal in their thinking.

Paul went on to describe how he had trained them in the basic things, but that they had not grown in their faith so they could only handle the “milk” of the Word and not the “meat” of the Word. When Paul used these words, he was making a comparison between a baby and an adult. These Christians were still babies and not yet weaned off the simple teachings of Scripture (1 Corinthians 3:1-2).

The immaturity of these Christians resulted in behaviors that were based on fleshly, or carnal, motivations. They were envying one another, fighting, and the church was divided. He went on to describe how they had splintered into what we would call denominations today. The result of this carnal Christianity was that they were behaving like non-believers (1 Corinthians 3:3).

Being carnal as Christians was not limited to the church in Corinth. Even the Apostle Paul struggled at times with it (Romans 7:7-25). He described how it was a constant struggle to fight against the fleshly motivations within him. The things he knew he should not do, he did and the things he knew he should do, he didn’t do.

What does God say about being carnal? 

The Bible tells us that the carnal mind is an enemy of God (Romans 8:7). It is the same thinking that non-believers have and is a result of the fall of man into sin (Genesis 3:15). God tells us that the remedy for being a carnal Christian is to remember that Christ died for us and will resurrect us. Because of this, we should seek to live for Him because He loved us first (1 John 4:19) and we owe our salvation to Him (Romans 8:10-17).

Finally, being carnal not only shows we do not appreciate what Christ did for us, it shows non-Christians that being a Christian is no different from anyone else. This usually results in non-believers looking at Christians as hypocrites. Worse yet, they see Christ as nothing special or different than any other religious figure. Sadly, this thinking, seals their demise and should break the hearts of every person who calls themself a Christian.

Conclusion 

The Bible calls a believer that acts like a non-believer a carnal Christian. The word carnal means fleshly and temporal or earthly. Carnal behaviors are those that are motivated by the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and pride of life. The Bible gives several examples of carnal Christians, including a confession by Paul that he struggled with carnal desires. Being carnal demonstrates that we do not love God or our neighbor and leads others to believe that being a believer and follower of Christ is worthless.

Article by Dr. Michael L. Williams

Dr. Michael L. Williams is a pastor, author, Christian educator and Biblical counselor who has served in ministry since March of 2000. Dr. Mike holds under-graduate through post graduate degrees in Christian Education and formerly worked as a nurse. Dr. Mike is the Senior Pastor of Selah Mountain Ministries, which he founded in March of 2010 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA (selahmountain.org). In addition to counseling, he teaches how to overcome life issues Biblically on topics such as anger management, marriage, addictions, and other subjects typically referred to as mental illnesses. Dr. Mike is also a writer at What Christians Want To Know. Dr. Mike lives with his wife Pamela Rose and adult daughter Hollie Rose. He and Pamela have other adult children and several grandchildren as well. Learn more about Dr. Mike at his personal ministry web site Wisdom4Today

Resources – Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, King James Version. (1) Google. (2015). “Carnal”. Retrieved from Google, https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=define+carnal. (2) Strong, James. Strong’s Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary. Greek Strong’s Number: 4559. Austin, TX: WORDsearch Corp., 2007. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.