Carnal

It is written in 1 Corinthians 3:1 that there are 2 types of Christian. One is the Spiritual and the other is carnal. I was fascinated and intrigued by what Paul meant when he refers to these Corinth as carnal. Their conditions are explained in 3:2-3. Paul explained that he had to feed them milk and not meat - again because they were carnal. Then lately I stumbled upon a book "Master's Indwelling" by Andrew Murray who describes the marks of being carnal among others interesting point of view. The first mark is spiritual infancy. The state of not being able to care for their own needs.

“Their pastor and Christian friends must always be teaching and comforting them. They go to church, to prayer meeting and to conventions, always wanting to be helped.”

The second mark of carnal state is the continual sin and failure. Some have been Christian for many years but still struggle with some issues in life, especially those involve lusts of the flesh.

The third mark is an eye opener to me and it goes something like, not letting the Spirit rule over their whole lives. These people are active in church, have various talents and gifts but the author has clearly pointed out that a person can have the greatest spiritual gift but still remains carnal. The difference is the Spirit is to make a man free from self but spiritual gifts are to fit a man for work. That is why Paul praised the Corinth for their knowledge and gifts in prophecy (chapter 12,14) but still refers to them as carnal.

And lastly, a person that is not able to receive God’s word and be affected by it. Most would rely on their own wisdom and try to filter God’s word, allowing only those comforting words and wonderful promises of blessing to be their only foundation of a Spiritual life.

The author also offers some pointers on how to escape this carnal state and grow into a Spiritual Christian but I’ll save it for next time. It’s too much to absorb anyway.