1 CORINTHIANS 3:1\u20132<\/b><\/p>\n
And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal<\/i><\/p>\n
(1 Cor. 3:1)<\/i>.<\/p>\n
1 Corinthians 3:1 has been the source of much debate and conflict. It has been the proof text for the erroneous teaching commonly called carnal Christianity. This teaching asserts that there are two classes of Christians, the carnal and the spiritual. The carnal Christian, according to their argument, can continue living in sin and still be considered a true child of God. They look to Paul\u2019s teaching in this verse as the basis of their assertion. But is Paul teaching that a Christian can continue to live in sin and still be called a Christian? Is he contradicting his own teaching in Romans 8? There he says, \u201cFor those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be\u201d (Rom. 8:5\u20137). If 1 Corinthians 3:1 is to be interpreted as the advocates of carnal Christianity would have it, then there is a blatant contradiction in Scripture, not only with Romans 8 but with other passages that teach that the children of God cannot continue to live in sin.<\/p>\n
What then is Paul saying? He is not saying that these Christians are continuing to live in sin as if they were \u201cnatural\u201d men, unbelievers, but that they are thinking carnally and worldly instead of spiritually. Some Christians are more spiritual, more conformed to Christ\u2019s image, than others. Other Christians, however, struggle with worldliness and thus are carnal compared to their more spiritual brothers. Such were those in Corinth. They were not carnal, as in another class of Christians who could not be distinguished from the world, but they had allowed the world to influence them greatly so that they appeared carnal when compared to those who had matured in Christ. Paul rebukes them because they should have grown up in the teaching of Christ, putting away foolish things and putting on the ways of Christ. But since they chose to listen to false teachers and thus tear the church into dissenting fragments, Paul had to treat them as children, going back to the basics of Christianity instead of pushing forward into the deeper regions of sanctification.<\/p>\n
CORAM DEO<\/b><\/p>\n
Numbers 19\u201320<\/p>\n
Mark 7<\/p>\n
Read the For further study<\/i> verses below. What do these passages have to say about the Christian\u2019s relation to sin? How do these verses disprove the doctrine of carnal Christianity? How do you reconcile these passages with the reality that Christians still struggle with remaining sin? (Read Rom. 6, 7; and 1 John 1 for help.)<\/p>\n
For further study: Rom. 8:1\u201311 \u2022 James 1:21\u201327 \u2022 1 John 2:3\u201317; 3:1\u20139<\/i><\/p>\n
tuesday<\/p>\n
february<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
1 CORINTHIANS 3:1\u20132 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal (1 Cor. 3:1). 1 Corinthians 3:1 has been the source of much debate and conflict. It has been the proof text for the erroneous teaching commonly called carnal Christianity. This teaching asserts that there are two … Continue reading “CARNAL CHRISTIANS?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12703\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}