One of the great crises of our day is the ever-growing popularity of the teaching known as the carnal Christian. This doctrine sets forth the proposition that after a person becomes a Christian there is a choice to grow in grace, follow the Lord and become a spiritual Christian, or to remain a babe in Christ and live in a fleshly manner like a natural man. Supporters of this teaching point to 1 Corinthians 3:1-4 which reads,

“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?”

Many look to this passage to teach there are three categories of men. That is, there is the natural man who is unconverted, there is the spiritual man who has received Christ as savior and is growing in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, and there is the carnal man. The latter is described as a born again Christian but one who persists in acting like the unconverted.

Perhaps one major reason for the widespread popularity of the doctrine of the carnal Christian can be contributed in part to the teaching of C. I. Scofield and his reference Bible. According to Scofield, Paul divides men into three classes: "Natural" i.e. the Adamic Man, unrenewed through the new birth; "Spiritual" i.e. the renewed man as Spirit-filled and walking in the Spirit in full communion with God; "Carnal," "fleshly," i.e. the renewed man who, walking "after the flesh," and so remains a babe in Christ. But I would suggest that Christians should be concerned with the doctrine of the carnal Christian for several reasons.

First, the teaching adds a new concept to the historic faith of the Christian church. I would exhort God’s people to study the teaching of the church prior to the publication of the modern day theory of the carnal Christian (c. 1909) and see what conservative commentators have said in the past when examining 1 Corinthians 3:1ff. Read for example, The Carnal Professor by Robert Bolton (1572-1631), the complete works of Matthew Henry, Luther, Calvin, Edwards or any Puritan divine and you will notice this teaching is conspicuously absent.

While the church has always acknowledged that individuals do succumb to fleshly interests and are too much swayed by selfish affections even after conversion, there is no warrant for a third distinct category. Consider, “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Rom 8:13). Galatians 5:19-21 teaches the same. “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Notice the warning. Those who live a fleshly life–such as that of a “carnal Christian”–will not inherit the kingdom of God. Individuals may profess faith in God but the root of righteousness must produce the fruit of the same. The fruit of righteousness does not delight in carnality but is expressed in “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Gal 5:22-24).

Second, the doctrine of the carnal Christian dismisses the two distinct categories of individuals consistently found elsewhere in the Bible.

There are the just and the unjust. Matthew 5:45

There are the wheat and the tares. Matthew 13:24-30

There are the sheep and the goats Matthew 25:31-46

There are those who are saved and those who perish. 2 Corinthians 2:15

There are those who have done good and those who have done evil. John 5:28-29

Third, the doctrine of the carnal Christian does not promote holiness as much as it gives comfort to those who are willfully sinning. The conclusion of the doctrine could easily be that while a person may not get many rewards because of the way they have lived after conversion at least they are secure in their salvation regardless of how they live.

Of course that is not in the intent of the doctrine, but, be that as it may, it is a natural or fleshly response. Someone familiar with this doctrine once confessed to me, “I do not care about others. I know I am going to heaven. I don’t care where others go.” This was from the lips of a man who was unchurched and full of selfish interest. But at least he knew the doctrine of the carnal Christian–which is on the same level as trying to teach a doctrine of the heavenly Devil. If only the man properly understood the biblical teaching of regeneration, then he would have realized that “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor 5:17). The Bible knows of no such thing as a carnal Christian as taught by C. I. Scofield and dispensational theology–there are only those who seek to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever over against those who continue to revel in their wicked ways.