Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Dr. David M. Berman

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

The indictment “You are carnal” is a stinging charge from the Apostle in that his words are right to the point of all of man’s problems with sin. To be a carnal person means to be fixated on that which in temporal. The scripture teaches us to set our affections on things above, meaning things which come from God who is eternal. Carnality speaks of an obsession with human feelings. It is to be emotionally driven and under the influence primarily of the flesh nature (the natural man) that all are born with. The Corinthians had a major problem with this. It seems clear that many today suffer the same crisis of faith.

The mind that has set its affection on earthly things is moved easily by what others have attained in terms of position and material things. Envy is of the most powerful forces in the carnal Christian. Instead of the biblical mandate to rejoice when your brother rejoices, the carnal would rather seethe in envy and bitterness while basking in self pity for not having received the blessing themselves.

The carnal enjoy living in strife. They feed on it and often cloak their frenzy on a false concern for others. In truth the carnal often use their fake concern to gain more information to feed more strife. The bible tells of the origins of strife; “But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish” (James 3: 14-15). Strife and divisions are devilish indeed and not in keeping with God’s call to the believers to walk in maturity. We are told not to walk as unregenerate men walk but rather we are called to walk as Christ. The power of a Christian life that has set its affection on things above is the blessing of life itself. That life brings unity, kindness, and prosperity to the local Christian body of believers. This is not so with the carnal who use every instance to feed envy, strife and division. All mature Christians must bring truth to those in the body that have their affections set on things temporal. One of the most obvious indicators of carnality is a person’s inability to control what they say as we see here;

James 3:6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

One can only wonder how many fights have been caused by the slip of the tongue. Perhaps the worst thing is not the slip of the tongue but rather the outright unleashing of it by the human will of those who have no desire to control it. It is amazingly powerful for such a small member of the body. What is said in Christ has the power to change entire cultures. It has the power to save lives and families, but what an uncontrolled tongue says may cause intense difficulties.

I have often said that I could punch a person in their arm and make is hurt but after a while it will heal as though they had never been hit. The same is not true concerning what is said. I could say something to a person that hurts them emotionally and although we may not see the injury, it could continue hurting them twenty years later. There are many people (perhaps you who are reading this today) who are still making bad decisions based on things said to them in the past that hurt them emotionally.

The bible tells us in Proverbs chapter eighteen verse twenty one; “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof”. It is not inherent in the raw human condition to respond according to the principles of life. It is rather that we often react in our flesh with all kinds of things spewing out of our mouths in the form of words that bring death to a situation. Jesus taught us that it is what comes out of our mouths that defile us. It may be words that are against the word of God or simply words that are not edifying.

We may have everything looking good on the outside. It may be that all who see us think that we have it all together in our relationships. Perhaps our careers are going well and also on all accounts we appear to be holy. All it takes is the unleashing of the tongue to see what really is going on inside of a person regardless of outward appearances. Perhaps the greatest test of true spiritual maturity is the ability of a person to control what they let come out of their mouths. The natural inclination is opposed to the Spirit of God as we see here;

1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

The natural man refers to people who have not been regenerated by the Holy Spirit through receiving Jesus Christ as their Savior. Natural means just that, and implies no understanding of spiritual things. I have frequently met people who tell me that they do not go to church nor accept the bible as the word of God and yet go one to proclaim to me that they are still “very spiritual people”. The bible never teaches that unsaved people are not spiritual. It however does teach quite clearly that unsaved people do not have “The Holy Spirit of God” nor do they understand the “Things of the Spirit of God”. The problem with unsaved people is not that they are not spiritual. It is that they do not know what spirit they are of. The unsaved are deceived and of the spirit of Satan. The unsaved see no need to obey God and be in a local church. They see no need to submit to Church authority or to support the work of the ministry with tithes. It is all foolishness to them.

It is an interesting study to watch people who say that they are believers and yet want nothing to do with the truth of the bible. Although anyone who is saved is only so due to the grace of God provided on the cross by Jesus Christ, immature saved people can sometimes act like the unsaved. When people decide to use their old thinking to interpret a situation, they in many ways end up reacting as though they were unregenerate. Spiritual discernment comes not from our natural thinking but quite to the contrary it comes from thinking as a new person in Christ.

There is a crisis in every believer’s life when that believer is confronted by the work of the old way of thinking before salvation clashing with the new way of thinking as a Christian. When a person comes to Christ they do not automatically change everything. There is a process known as sanctification when a believer chooses to put off the old nature and put on the new. This is done by an act of the will and an implementation of study of the word of God. If we really want to walk in newness of life we must choose not to walk in the power of the natural man with its inability to spiritually discern. Instead we must walk in Christ having infused his word into our souls as to effect a change in our thinking. The word of God is the only power given to ultimately give us godly insight and thus that gives us the ability to truly discern the things of the Spirit. The following is a list of 10 Carnal indicators;

1) Offended easily.

2) Envious of others blessings.

3) React without pondering a biblical response.

4) Self interest is first thing that comes to mind in a crisis.

5) Refusal to forgive.

6) Gossip.

7) Rebellious against Spiritual authority.

Can’t receive correction.

9) Not teachable.

10) Run by emotions.

So the choice is given to us between the Carnal and the biblical, the natural mind or the mind of the Spirit. The choice is always before us.