Carnality Defined
No single word in the Christians vocabulary causes so much consternation as the word, carnality. It is in enigma to worldly church members, and they discredit vehemently because they are not sure what it means. It is a Mystery to the ecclesiastical powerful for they cannot see carnal motivation if they are successful, believing that the criterion of religion is success. The word has become a labeling and criticizing word for the ultra – spiritual to brand those who disagree with them. It is a word presenting the apex problem to the dedicated believer. To the unsaved sinner, the word has no meaning. To the backslider, the word is reminiscent of another life. To the self – centered church worker, the word is ignored. To those with spiritual knowledge, the word presents the outcome of the eternal conflict. It would be impossible for anyone to clearly define or explain all the details of carnality, for carnality -of necessity- is only determined and defined according to one's spiritual knowledge. The babe in Christ thinks little or nothing of its truth, while a mature, knowledgeable believer thinks of little else. There are innumerable levels and degrees of understanding between these two.
Defining carnality becomes all the greater problem because it seems, on the one hand – the practical side – that a believer may be saved, baptized in the Holy Spirit, and receive answers to prayers, and still be carnal, first Corinthians 3:1, while on the other hand the Bible declares: "To be carnally minded is death," Romans 8:6. What a strange dilemma that a believer can possess the vast inheritance of a world to come and still be so bound to the present world that he constantly stands in defeat. Stranger still is the fact that believers can be carnal and, at the same time, Carnality can be death. Can life and death abide together at the same time? To understand this question there are three facts concerning carnality which should be noted.
Earthly Motivation
1) I'll just do one for now.
The carnal believer is always pulled down by a power he cannot cope with. The center of gravity for his life is the earth. He may talk of heavenly things at times and may even have a strong desire to go there, but the influence of heavenly things is much weaker than the influence the earthly things, this influence determines his motivation. The carnal believer is like the defeated man in Romans seven. When he would do good, evil (earthly things and influences) was with him. The carnal believer seldom enters into the real Christian life because he can never disassociate himself from earthly things. His reasoning is always faulty because his motivations are wrong. When the carnal man buys something, the item is bought with money earned by labor.
If the carnal man has even a degree of spirituality, he will give God the glory for the earning power and thing bought. But then motivation enters.
Now that the thing is bought, he has to give it time, energy and attention to keep the investment real and profitable. Soon the thing controls him rather than him controlling the thing. He enters his Carnal relationship, however, in the name of the Lord. He says, God gave this to me, he expects me to take care of it. God expects me to use it and get pleasure out of it or He would not have given it to me. So, with such reasoning, a thing -perhaps actually given by God– becomes the object of earthly motivation. No believer can be earthly motivated and overcome. No believer can appease his Conscience by blaming God for the things by which he is controlled.
No single word in the Christians vocabulary causes so much consternation as the word, carnality. It is in enigma to worldly church members, and they discredit vehemently because they are not sure what it means. It is a Mystery to the ecclesiastical powerful for they cannot see carnal motivation if they are successful, believing that the criterion of religion is success. The word has become a labeling and criticizing word for the ultra – spiritual to brand those who disagree with them. It is a word presenting the apex problem to the dedicated believer. To the unsaved sinner, the word has no meaning. To the backslider, the word is reminiscent of another life. To the self – centered church worker, the word is ignored. To those with spiritual knowledge, the word presents the outcome of the eternal conflict. It would be impossible for anyone to clearly define or explain all the details of carnality, for carnality -of necessity- is only determined and defined according to one's spiritual knowledge. The babe in Christ thinks little or nothing of its truth, while a mature, knowledgeable believer thinks of little else. There are innumerable levels and degrees of understanding between these two.
Defining carnality becomes all the greater problem because it seems, on the one hand – the practical side – that a believer may be saved, baptized in the Holy Spirit, and receive answers to prayers, and still be carnal, first Corinthians 3:1, while on the other hand the Bible declares: "To be carnally minded is death," Romans 8:6. What a strange dilemma that a believer can possess the vast inheritance of a world to come and still be so bound to the present world that he constantly stands in defeat. Stranger still is the fact that believers can be carnal and, at the same time, Carnality can be death. Can life and death abide together at the same time? To understand this question there are three facts concerning carnality which should be noted.
Earthly Motivation
1) I'll just do one for now.
The carnal believer is always pulled down by a power he cannot cope with. The center of gravity for his life is the earth. He may talk of heavenly things at times and may even have a strong desire to go there, but the influence of heavenly things is much weaker than the influence the earthly things, this influence determines his motivation. The carnal believer is like the defeated man in Romans seven. When he would do good, evil (earthly things and influences) was with him. The carnal believer seldom enters into the real Christian life because he can never disassociate himself from earthly things. His reasoning is always faulty because his motivations are wrong. When the carnal man buys something, the item is bought with money earned by labor.
If the carnal man has even a degree of spirituality, he will give God the glory for the earning power and thing bought. But then motivation enters.
Now that the thing is bought, he has to give it time, energy and attention to keep the investment real and profitable. Soon the thing controls him rather than him controlling the thing. He enters his Carnal relationship, however, in the name of the Lord. He says, God gave this to me, he expects me to take care of it. God expects me to use it and get pleasure out of it or He would not have given it to me. So, with such reasoning, a thing -perhaps actually given by God– becomes the object of earthly motivation. No believer can be earthly motivated and overcome. No believer can appease his Conscience by blaming God for the things by which he is controlled.
