the carnal christian

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The Carnal Christian by Ernest C Reisinger Introduction Many who regularly occupy church pews, fill church rolls, and are intellectually acquainted with the facts of the gospel never strike one blow for Christ. They seem to be at peace with his enemies. They have no quarrel with sin and, apart from a few sentimental expressions about Christ, there is no biblical evidence that they have experienced anything of the power of the gospel in their lives. Yet in spite of the evidence against them, they consider themselves to be just what their teachers teach them — that they are ‘Carnal Christians‘. And as carnal Christians they believe they will go to heaven, though perhaps not first-class, and with few rewards.

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Ernest C Reisinger

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  • The Carnal Christian by Ernest C Reisinger

    Introduction

    Many who regularly occupy church pews, fillchurch rolls, and are intellectually acquainted withthe facts of the gospel never strike one blow forChrist. They seem to be at peace with his enemies.They have no quarrel with sin and, apart from afew sentimental expressions about Christ, there isno biblical evidence that they have experiencedanything of the power of the gospel in their lives.Yet in spite of the evidence against them, theyconsider themselves to be just what their teachersteach them that they are Carnal Christians.And as carnal Christians they believe they will goto heaven, though perhaps not first-class, and withfew rewards.

  • That something is seriously wrong in lives whichreveal such features will readily be admitted bymost readers of these pages; no argument isneeded to prove it. But the most serious aspect ofthis situation is too often not recognized at all. Thechief mistake is not the carelessness of thesechurch-goers, it is the error of their teachers who,by preaching the theory of the carnal Christian,have led them to believe that there are threegroups of men, the unconverted man, thecarnal Christian and the spiritual Christian.

    My purpose in this booklet is to argue that thisclassification is wrong and to set out the positive,historic, and biblical answer to this carnalChristian teaching. The argument from Churchhistory is not unimportant, for it is a fact that lessthan two- hundred years ago this teaching wasunknown in the churches of North America, but I

  • am concerned to rest my case on an honeststatement of the teaching of the Bible. I havewritten after study, private meditation and prayer,and after using many of the old respectedcommentaries of another day, but my appeal is tothe Word of God and it is in the light of thatauthority that I ask the reader to consider all thatfollows.

    I must also confess that I am writing as one who,for many years, held and taught the teachingwhich I ami now convinced is erroneous andwhich has many dangerous implications. As onewho has deep respect for many who hold thisposition, I am not going to attack personalities,but to deal with principles, and with theinterpretation of the particular passages ofScripture on which the teaching is built.

    In matters of controversy it must ever be kept in

  • mind that a Christians experience may be genuineeven though his understanding of divine truth istainted with error or ignorance. The opposite isalso possible a mans intellectualunderstanding may be good and his experiencepoor. I pray that if I am in error on this or anyother doctrine I shall be corrected before I leavethis world. I trust I am willing ever to be a learnerof divine truth.

    I know that one of my motives is the same as thatof many who hold this erroneous view, namely, toadvance biblical holiness and to seek to adorn thedoctrine of God our Saviour.

    To accomplish my purpose it is of the greatestimportance that the whole subject should be set ona proper foundation. I do not want to make acaricature of the view of others and thendemonstrate success by tearing it apart. I shall

  • also seek to avoid disproportionate and one-sidedstatements. The danger that we may darkencounsel by words without knowledge is still withus. I pray that this effort will elicit truth and thatthe existence of varied opinions will lead us all tosearch the Scriptures more, to pray more, and to bediligent in our endeavours to learn what is themind of the Spirit.

    My greatest difficulty will be to achieve brevitybecause this subject is so closely related to, andinterwoven with the main doctrine of the Bible,particularly with justification and sanctification,the chief blessings of the new covenant. Thesubject therefore involves a right understanding ofwhat the gospel really is and what it does to aperson when applied efficaciously by the Spirit.Our view of this matter will also affect ourjudgment of the relationship of the TenCommandments to the Christian in the area of

  • sanctification, and of the biblical doctrine ofassurance.

    Some of the fundamental questions which need tobe faced are these:

    1. Are we sanctified passively, that is,by faith only, without obedience tothe law of God and Christ? Ifsanctification is passive a viewrepresented by the slogan Let go andlet God then how do weunderstand such apostolic statementsas I fight, I run, I keep under mybody, let us cleanse ourselves, letus labour, let us lay aside everyweight? Surely these statements donot express a passive condition, nordo they indicate that by one single act

  • we may possess the experience ofvictory and thus become spiritualand mature Christians.

    2. Does an appeal to the so-calledcarnal Christian to become aspiritual Christian minimize thereal conversion experience bymagnifying a supposed secondexperience, by whatever name it maybe called higher life, deeperlife, Spirit-filled life, triumphantliving, receiving Christ as Lord, andnot merely as Saviour, and so on?The words we read in 2 Corinthians5:17, Therefore, if any man be inChrist, he is a new creature: oldthings are passed away; behold, allthings are become new, do not referto a second experience but rather towhat happens when any realconversion occurs.

  • 3. Has the spiritual Christianfinished growing in grace? If not,what is he to be called as hecontinues to grow in grace? Do weneed to make yet another class whosemembers are the super-spiritualChristians? 4. Who is to decide whothe carnal Christians are, and exactlywhat standard is to be used indetermining this? Do the spiritualChristians decide who the carnalChristians are? Does a church orpreacher decide where the line is tobe drawn that divides the two classesor categories? Since all Christianshave sin remaining in them, and sincethey sin every day, what degree of sinor what particular sins classify aperson as a carnal Christian?

  • Do not all Christians sometimes act like naturalmen in some area of their lives?

    Do not the inward sins, such as envy, malice,covetousness, lasciviousness (which includesimmorality on the mental level) demonstratecarnality as much as do the outward and visiblemanifestations of certain other sins?

    In Romans 8:1-9 there is a division stated, but it isnot between carnal and spiritual Christians. It is adivision between those who walk after the flesh(the unregenerate) and those who walk after theSpirit (they that are Christs). There is no thirdcategory.

    Again, in Galatians 5:17-24 we have only twoclasses or categories those that do the works ofthe flesh and those that are led by the Spirit. There

  • is no third or fourth class or group.

    My purpose, then, in these pages is to contend thatthe division of Christians into two groups orclasses is unbiblical. I want also to show thedangerous implications and present-day results ofthis teaching.

    The interpretation that I will seek to establish is aresult of studying the proven and respectedcommentators of former days, such as, MatthewHenry, Matthew Poole, John Gill, and JohnCalvin; and theologians such as Charles Hodge(of the old Princeton Seminary), James P. Boyce(founder of the first Southern Baptist Seminary),Robert L. Dabney (the great theologian of oldUnion Seminary, Virginia) and James H.Thornwell (distinguished Southern theologianwho was Professor of Theology at Columbia,South Carolina). I have also examined the

  • writings of John Bunyan and searched the oldConfessions and Catechisms, such as TheHeidelberg Catechism, and WestminsterConfession (that mother of all Confessions), theBaptist Confession of 1689 (The LondonConfession, later known as the PhiladelphiaConfession), and the Declaration of Faith of theSouthern Baptist Church. In all these sources thereis not one trace of the belief that there are threeclasses of men. All of them have much to sayabout carnality in Christians, and about thebiblical doctrine of sanctification and itsrelationship to justification, but there is no hint ofthe possibility of dividing men into unregenerate,carnal and spiritual categories. If the sources Ihave named had come across the carnalChristian theory, I believe that with one voicethey would have warned their readers, Be notcarried away with divers and strange doctrines(Heb. 13: 9).

  • I confess that I take up my pen in this controversywith deep sorrow. Although the teaching that Iwish to expose is so relatively new in the church,it is held by so many fine Christians, and taughtby so many able and respected schools of thepresent day, that I can only approach my presentundertaking with caution and anxiety.

    We live in a day when there are so many booksand such a variety of teaching on the subject of theChristian life that Christians are tossed to andfro, and liable to be carried about by every windof doctrine (Eph. 4:14). There is also theAthenian love of novelty and a distaste for the old,well-tested, and beaten paths of our forefathers.This excessive love of the new leads to aninsatiable craving after any teaching which issensational and exciting, especially to the feelings.But the old paths lead to a meek and quiet spiritwhich the apostle Peter commends: But let it be

  • the hidden man of the heart, in that which is notcorruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quietspirit, which is in the sight of God of great price(I Peter 3: 4).

    The Issue in Controversy

    At a church service that I attended recently, thepreacher, a sincere minister, was expounding 1Corinthians chapter 3, and he said to a largecongregation, Now after you become a Christianyou have another choice either to grow ingrace, follow the Lord and become a spiritualChristian, or to remain a babe in Christ and livelike natural men. He used 1 Corinthians 3: 1 4to state that there were three categories of men the natural man, the spiritual man, and the carnalman. He described the carnal man as being likethe natural man who was unconverted.

  • This is the essence of the carnal Christianteaching. One reason why it is so widespread isthat it has been popularized for many years in thenotes of the Scofield Reference Bible. A statementfrom these notes will indicate the precise nature ofthe teaching: Paul divides men into three classes:Natural i.e. the Adamic Man, unrenewedthrough the new birth; Spiritual i.e. the renewedman as Spirit-filled and walking in the Spirit infull communion with God; Carnal, fleshly, i.e.the renewed man who, walking after the flesh,remains a babe in Christ. (Scofield ReferenceBible, pp. 1213, 1214.)

    It is very important to observe the two main thingsin this Scofield note. First, the division of men intothree classes; second, we are told that one of theseclasses of men comprises the carnal, thefleshly, the babe(s) in Christ, who walk afterthe flesh. To walk implies the bent of their

  • lives; their leaning or bias is in one direction, thatis, towards carnality.

    We ought not to miss three very salient andimportant facts about the teaching:

    1. First, we note again that it divides allmen into three classes or categories.With this fact none of its proponentsdisagree, though they may present itdifferently and apply it differently.

    2. Second, one class or category is setout as containing the Christian whowalks after the flesh. The centre ofhis life is self, and he is the same asthe unrenewed man as far as the bentof his life is concerned.

    3. Third, all those who accept this view

  • use 1 Corinthians 3: 1 4 to supportit. Consequently, if it can beestablished that the preponderance ofScripture teaches only two classes orcategories of men regenerate andunregenerate, converted andunconverted, those in Christ andthose outside of Christ the carnalChristian teaching would beconfronted with an insurmountableobjection. It would be in conflict withthe whole emphasis of Scripture andof the New Testament in particular.

    Before I turn to some of the errors and dangers ofthe carnal Christian teaching it may be wise toindicate what I am not saying.

    In this discussion of the carnal Christian theory I

  • am not overlooking the teaching of the Bible aboutsin in Christians, about babes in Christ, aboutgrowth in grace, about Christians who back-slidegrievously, and about the divine chastisementwhich all Christians receive.

    I acknowledge that there are babes in Christ. Infact there are not only babes in Christ, but thereare different stages of babyhood inunderstanding divine truth and in spiritual growth.

    I also recognize that there is a sense in whichChristians may be said to be carnal but I must addthat there are different degrees of carnality. EveryChristian is carnal in some area of his life at manytimes in his life. And in every Christian the fleshlusteth against the Spirit (Gal. 5:17).

    All the marks of Christianity are not equally

  • apparent in all Christians. Nor are any of thesemarks manifest to the same degree in every periodof any Christians life. Love, faith, obedience, anddevotion will vary in the same Christian indifferent periods of his Christian experience; inother words, there are many degrees ofsanctification.

    The Christians progress in growth is not constantand undisturbed. There are many hills and valleysin the process of sanctification; and there are manystumblings, falls and crooked steps in the processof growth in grace.

    There are examples in the Bible of grievous fallsand carnality in the lives of true believers. Thuswe have the warnings and the promises oftemporal judgment and of chastisement by ourheavenly Father.

  • These truths are all acknowledged and are not thepoint of this present discussion. The question wehave to consider is: Does the Bible divide meninto three categories? This is the issue at the heartof the carnal Christian teaching.

    The teaching that I am opposing involves nineserious errors:

    1. The misuse of I Corinthians 3

    First: This carnal Christian doctrine dependsupon a wrong interpretation and application of 1Corinthians 3:1-4, And I, brethren, could notspeak unto you as unto spiritual, but as untocarnal, even as unto babes in Christ are ye notcarnal? To understand the true meaning of thesewords it should be remembered that 1 Corinthiansis not primarily a doctrinal epistle. Like all

  • Scripture it contains doctrine, but it was notwritten as was the Epistle to the Romans tolay doctrinal foundations. Pauls immediateconcern in writing this Epistle was to deal withpractical problems in a young church. In the thirdchapter, and earlier, he is dealing with the dangerof division arising out of a wrong esteem for thosefrom whom they heard the gospel. They werelooking at second causes and forgetting the God towhom alone all glory belongs. Instead of saying,We are Christs disciples and recognizing theirunion in him, they were forming parties andsaying, We are Pauls for he founded the churchin our city; or Apollos is more eloquent thanPaul and he edifies us more; or, We are of Peter.Thus opposing parties were set up.

    It is important to see that the whole context isdealing principally with this one problem ofunwholesome division. However, it has a common

  • root with all the other problems in 1 Corinthians the defrauding of one by another, the disorderat the Lords Table, and so on. All the problemswere the result of carnality, the outcome of thatremaining principle of sin in all believers whichPaul describes in Romans 7:2I-23: I find then alaw, that, when I would do good, evil is presentwith me. For I delight in the law of God after theinward man: but I see another law in mymembers, warring against the law of my mind,and bringing me into captivity to the law of sinwhich is in my members.

    In endeavouring to understand how Paul thinks ofthose he addresses in t Corinthians 3 we must bearin mind the designation he gives to them inchapter 1. He says they are sanctified in ChristJesus, they are recipients of the grace of God,enriched by Christ in all utterance, and in allknowledge (1:25). They are rebuked in chapter

  • 3, not for failing to attain to privileges which someChristians attain to, but for acting, despite theirprivileges, like babes and like the unregenerate inone area of their lives.

    This is very different from saying that the Apostlehere recognizes the existence of a distinct group ofChristians who can be called carnal. When Paulcomes to speak of classes, he knows only two, asis clear in chapter 2 of this same Epistle where hedivides men into natural and spiritual, andsays, But the natural man receiveth not the thingsof the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness untohim: neither can he know them, because they arespiritually discerned. But he that is spiritualjudgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of noman (1 Cor. 2:14-15). Under the term natural theApostle includes all those persons who are notpartakers of the Spirit of God. If the Spirit of Godhas not given to them a new and higher nature

  • then they remain what they are by their naturalbirth, namely, natural men.

    The spiritual may be but babes in grace and babesin knowledge. Their faith may be weak. Their lovemay be in its early bud, their spiritual senses maybe but little exercised, their faults may be many;but if the root of the matter is in them and if theyhave passed from death unto life passed out ofthe region of nature into that which is beyondnature Paul puts them down in another class.They are all spiritual men although in someaspects of their behaviour they may temporarilyfail to appear as such.

    Certainly these Christians at Corinth wereimperfectly sanctified, as indeed are all Christiansto a greater or lesser degree. But Paul is not sayingthat they were characterized by carnality in everyarea of their lives. He is not expounding a general

  • doctrine of carnality but reproving a specific out-cropping of carnality in one certain respect. WhenPaul does state a foundational truth respecting theposition of all Christians it is in such words as, Ifany man be in Christ, he is a new creature, andfor all who are in Christ it is also true that, oldthings are passed away; behold, all things arebecome new (2 Cor. 5:17). There is no place fortwo classes of Christians in Pauls letter to thechurch at Corinth, and indeed no place for itanywhere in the teaching of Scripture. To interpret1 Corinthians 3:14 in such a way as to dividemen into three classes is to violate a cardinal rulefor the interpretation of Scripture, namely, thateach single passage must be interpreted in thelight of the whole. It was a wise saying of one ofthe church fathers, If you have one Scripture onlyon which to base an important doctrine or teachingyou are most likely to find, on close examination,that you have none.

  • 2. New covenant blessings are separated

    Second: The carnal Christian teaching dividesthe two basic blessings of the new covenantbecause it denies that one of them is experiencedby all true Christians. Let me point out how basicthe covenant is to Christianity. Jesus was themediator of the new covenant Hebrews 8:6-10:But now hath he obtained a more excellentministry, by how much also he is the mediator of abetter covenant, which was established uponbetter promises. The New Testament preacherswere ministers of the new covenant 2Corinthians 3:5, 6: Not that we are sufficient ofourselves to think anything as of ourselves; butour sufficiency is of God; who also hath made usable ministers of the new testament (A.S.V. newcovenant); not of the letter, but of the spirit: for theletter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

  • Every time we come to the Lords table we arereminded of the blessings of the new covenant Luke 22: 20, This cup is the new covenant in myblood

    These facts are enough to establish the importanceof the new covenant. But what are the twoblessings of the new covenant? The answer isclearly seen in many scriptural statements:

    Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I willmake a new covenant with the house of Israel, andwith the house of Judah I will put my law intheir inward parts, and write it in their hearts Iwill forgive their iniquity, and will remember theirsin no more(Jer. 31:31 34).

    For I will take you from among the heathen, andgather you out of all countries, and will bring youinto your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean

  • water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from allyour filthiness, and from all your idols, will Icleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, anda new spirit will I put within you: and I will takeaway the stony heart out of your flesh, and I willgive you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spiritwithin you, and cause you to walk in my statutes,and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them(Ezek. 36: 24-27).

    Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us:for after that he had said before, This is thecovenant that I will make with them after thosedays, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into theirhearts, and in their minds will I write them; andtheir sins and iniquities will I remember no more(Heb. 10:15 -17).

    It is important to note that this is one covenantwith two inseparable parts the forgiveness of

  • sins and a changed heart. When a sinner isreconciled to God something happens in the recordof heaven, the blood of Christ covers his sins.Thus, the first blessing is the forgiveness of sins.But at the same time something happens on earthin the heart, a new nature is given.

    From the above Scriptures we also learn thatChrist purchased the benefits and blessings of thenew covenant. And the Epistle to the Hebrewsreminds us that the gospel which the apostlespreached as the gospel of Christ was the gospel ofthe new covenant. Therefore, whatever elsesinners may receive when they are savingly calledby the gospel, they must come into the primaryblessings of the new covenant, namely, theforgiveness of sins and a new heart.

    Well, what is the forgiveness of sins? It is anessential part of the justification of a man before

  • God. And what is a new heart? It is nothing lessthan sanctification begun. But the carnalChristian teaching appeals to those who aresupposed to be justified, as though a new heartand life are optional. Sanctification is spoken of asthough it can be subsequent to the forgiveness ofsins and so people are led to believe that they arejustified even though they are not being sanctified!

    The truth is that we have no reason to believe thatChrists blood covers our sins in the record ofheaven if the Spirit has not changed our hearts onearth. These two great blessings are joinedtogether in the one covenant. The working of theSpirit and the cleansing of Christs blood areinseparably joined in the application of Godssalvation. Hence the teaching which calls for anact of submission or surrender (or whatever else itmay be called) subsequent to conversion in orderthat the convert may live the spiritual life, cuts the

  • living nerve of the new covenant. It separates whatGod has joined together.

    3. Saving faith and spurious faith are notdistinguished.

    The third major error is that this teaching does notdistinguish between true, saving belief and thespurious belief which is mentioned in thefollowing Scriptures: Many believed in his name But Jesus did not commit himself to themJohn 2:23,24. Many believed on him; but becauseof the Pharisees they did not confess him John12:42,43. These have no root, which for a whilebelieve Luke 8:13. Simon Magus believed andwas baptized but his heart was not right in thesight of God Acts 8:12-22. In other words, it wasbelief without a changed heart and because thiswas Simons condition Peter says he would perishunless he came to true repentance: he was in the

  • gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity (vs.23). And the evidence that Simon Magus wasindeed unsaved can be seen in his prayer. He, likeall unregenerate people, was only concerned withthe consequence of sin and made no request to bepardoned and cleansed from the impurity of sin.Pray ye, he says to Peter, to the Lord for me,that none of these things which ye have spokencome upon me. Like the so-called carnalChristian he wanted Jesus as a kind of hell-insurance policy but he did not ask for deliverancefrom sin!

    In all these scriptural instances men believed;they had faith, but it was not saving faith. Andall carnal Christians profess their faith but it isnot always saving faith.

    Charles Hodge, following the Scriptures, makes aclear distinction between the different kinds of

  • faith,

    1. Speculative or dead faith,2. temporary faith,3. saving faith.

    Robert Dabney differentiates,

    1. Temporary faith,2. historical faith,3. miraculous faith,4. saving faith.

    The carnal Christian teaching makes no

  • allowance for these distinctions, it gives little orno recognition to the possibility of a spuriousbelief, instead it implies or assumes that all whosay they invite Jesus into their lives are inpossession of saving faith. If these professingbelievers do not live and act like Christians, theirteachers may well say that it is because they arenot spiritual Christians. The fact is they may notbe true believers at all!

    4. The omission of repentance

    A fourth flaw in the carnal Christian teachinglies in its virtual exclusion of repentance from theconversion experience. This is implied by thesuggestion that the carnal Christian has notchanged in practice but lives and acts just like thenatural man. This teaching is obviously set forthin the diagram given above where self is still onthe throne in the case of those in the second group.

  • But thus to suggest that repentance, including achanged attitude to sin, is not an essential part ofconversion is a very grave error. It is to departfrom the apostolic gospel. No one who sominimizes the necessity of repentance can saywith Paul, I kept back nothing that was profitableunto you, but have shewed you, and have taughtyou publicly, and from house to house, testifyingboth to the Jews, and also to the Greeks,repentance toward God and faith toward our LordJesus Christ (Acts 20: 20, 21).

    John Cotton, one of the Puritan leaders of NewEngland, was right when he wrote: There is noneunder a covenant of grace that dare allow himselfin any sin; for if a man should negligently commitany sin, the Lord will school him thoroughly andmake him sadly to apprehend how he has madebold with the treasures of the grace of God. Shallwe continue in sin that grace may abound? God

  • forbid: None that has a portion in the grace of Goddareth therefore allow himself in sin; but ifthrough strength of temptation he be at any timecarried aside, it is his greatest burden.

    5. Wrong teaching on assurance

    In the fifth place the three-class theory is prone togive assurance to those who were never reallyconverted. When a person professes to belong toChrist and yet lives like the world, how do weknow that his profession is genuine? How do weknow it is not genuine? We dont! There arealways two possibilities: he may be a trueChristian in a condition of back-sliding, or it isquite possible he was never savingly united toChrist. Only God knows. Therefore when wespeak of a back-slider two errors must be avoided:

  • Saying unequivocally that he is not a Christian;

    Saying unequivocally that he is a Christian. Thefact is that we do not know, we cannot know!

    The Bible certainly teaches that to make menconsider they are Christians when in reality theyare not is a great evil, and insofar as the carnalChristian theory allows for a whole category ofChristians whose hearts are not surrendered inobedience to Christ, its tendency is to promote thatvery evil. Nothing could be more dangerous. Lost,self-deceived souls who should be crying out toGod for that supernatural change which is madeknown to themselves and to the world by achanged heart and life are often found hidingcomfortably behind this very theory. As long asthey believe it they will never seek a realsalvation. Although they profess to holdevangelical truth their position is far worse thanthat of natural men who know that they are not

  • converted!

    The carnal Christian teaching ignores muchbiblical teaching on the doctrine of assurance,especially those Scriptures which show thatChristian character and conduct have a bearing onour assurance. The short First Epistle of John waswritten in order that those who believe may knowthat they have eternal life; that is, may know thatthey are born of God (5.13). Throughout theEpistle John stresses the marks that accompanythe new birth (3:9; 5:18). He shows that a manborn again is not at home in the realm of sin, andthat disobedience to Gods commandments cannotbe the bent of a Christians life, as the carnalChristian teaching would lead us to believe. Forwhatsoever is born of God overcometh the world;and this is the victory that overcometh the world,even our faith (5:4). And hereby we know that weknow him, if we keep his commandments. He that

  • saith, I know him, and keepeth not hiscommandments, is a liar, and the truth is not inhim. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily isthe love of God perfected: hereby know we that weare in him (2:3-5).

    From such texts it is clear that obedience isintimately related to assurance; if we do not liveand practice righteousness we have no reason tothink that we are born of God.

    Again, Jesus said, If you love me, keep mycommandments, (John 15.10) not, To be aspiritual Christian keep my commandments, forobedience is for all disciples. Follow holiness,without which no man shall see the Lord (Heb.12:14). Though he were a Son, yet learned heobedience by the things which he suffered; andbeing made perfect, he became the author ofeternal salvation unto all them that obey him

  • (Heb. 5:8, 9). But as he which hath called you isholy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation,because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy(1Peter 1:15, 16).

    The Bible makes it crystal clear that there is aclose relationship between assurance andobedience; but the carnal Christian teachinggives assurance to those who are at home in therealm of sin. They are classed as Christians. Manytimes this is a false and damning assurancebecause such have no biblical reason to believethat they are Christians at all.

    6. A low view of sin.

    Sixth: The fruits of this teaching are not new toChristianity even though the teaching appears onthe present scene under a new mask. It is the old

  • doctrine of Antinomianism. Paul attacks this inRomans 6:1, 2 when he asks, What shall we saythen? Shall we continue in sin that grace mayabound? God forbid By implication, theanswer of the three-category teaching to Paulsquestion is, Yes, you can continue in sin and be acarnal Christian. And that is Antinomianism!

    7. A second work-of-grace made necessary

    Seventh: carnal Christian teaching is the motherof many second work-of-grace errors in that itdepreciates the biblical conversion experience byimplying that the change in the converted sinnermay amount to little or nothing. It goes on to saythat the important change which affects a manscharacter and conduct is the second step whichmakes him a spiritual Christian.

  • 8. A wrong view of Christ

    Eighth: The carnal Christian teaching is also themother of one of the most soul-destroyingteachings of our day. It suggests that you can takeJesus as your Saviour and yet treat obedience tohis lordship as optional. How often is the appealmade to the so-called carnal Christians to putJesus on the throne and make him Lord! Whenthey accept Jesus as Lord, they are told, they willcease to be carnal Christians. But such teachingis foreign to the New Testament. When our Lordappeared in human form in history the angelannounced his coming in the words, For unto youis born this day in the city of David a Saviour,which is Christ the Lord (Luke 2:11). He cannotbe divided. The Saviour and Lord are one. Whenthe apostles preached they proclaimed Christ to beLord. To bow to his rule was never presented inthe Bible as a second step of consecration. For we

  • preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord;and ourselves your servants for Jesus sake (2Corinthians 4:5).

    When sinners truly receive him they do receivehim as Lord. As ye have therefore received ChristJesus the Lord, so walk ye in him (Colossians2:6).

    Matthew Henry, in his Introduction to the Gospelaccording to Matthew said: All the gracecontained in this book is owing to Jesus Christ asour Lord and Saviour; and, unless we consent tohim as our Lord we cannot expect any benefit byhim as our Saviour.

    Charles Haddon Spurgeon warned his students: Ifthe professed convert distinctly and deliberatelydeclares that he knows the Lords will but doesnot mean to attend to it, you are not to pamper his

  • presumption, but it is your duty to assure him thathe is not saved. Do not suppose that the Gospel ismagnified or God glorified by going to theworldlings and telling them that they may besaved at this moment by simply accepting Christas their Saviour, while they are wedded to theiridols, and their hearts are still in love with sin. If Ido so I tell them a lie, pervert the Gospel, insultChrist, and turn the grace of God intolasciviousness.

    It is vital in this connection to notice how theapostles preached the lordship of Christ. The wordSaviour occurs only twice in the Acts of theApostles (5:31; 13:23), on the other hand the titleLord is mentioned 92 times, Lord Jesus 13times, and The Lord Jesus Christ 6 times in thesame book! The gospel is: Believe on the LordJesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.

  • It is the carnal Christian teaching that has givenrise to this erroneous teaching of the dividedChrist. When Peter preached what we might callthe first sermon after our Lords ascension hemade it abundantly clear that we do not makeChrist Lord at all: Therefore let all the house ofIsrael know assuredly, that God hath made thatsame Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lordand Christ (Acts 2:36). God has made him Lord!For to this end Christ both died, and rose, andrevived, that he might be Lord of the dead andliving (Rom. 14: 9). And the same grace whichsaves brings sinners to recognize this. But thethree-category teaching invites carnal Christiansto make Christ Lord and thus become spiritualChristians. Again, we see that this is treating ouracceptance of his lordship as something additionalto salvation, when, in fact, recognition of him asLord is an integral and necessary part ofconversion. A. A. Hodge has written:

  • You cannot take Christ for justification unlessyou take him for sanctification. Think of the sinnercoming to Christ and saying, I do not want to beholy; I do not want to be saved from sin; Iwould like to be saved in my sins; Do notsanctify me now, but justify me now. Whatwould be the answer? Could he be accepted byGod? You can no more separate justification fromsanctification than you can separate the circulationof the blood from the inhalation of the air.Breathing and circulation are two different things,but you cannot have the one without the other;they go together, and they constitute one life. Soyou have justification and sanctification; they gotogether, and they constitute one life. If there wasever one who attempted to receive Christ withjustification and not with sanctification, he missedit, thank God! He was no more justified than hewas sanctified.

  • 9. False spirituality

    Ninth: This teaching breeds Pharisaism in the so-called spiritual Christians who have measuredup to some man-made standard of spirituality.There ought to be no professed spiritualChristians, much less super-spiritual ones!George Whitefield, a man who lived very close tohis Saviour, prayed all his days, Let me begin tobe a Christian. And another Christian has trulysaid: In the life of the most perfect Christian thereis every day renewed occasion for self-abhorrence,for repentance, for renewed application to theblood of Christ, for application of the rekindling ofthe Holy Spirit.

    Conclusion

    The effect of believing the truth set out in these

  • pages ought to be that we long to see more trueevangelism.

    The carnal Christian teaching is, after all, theconsequence of a shallow, man-centeredevangelism in which decisions are sought at anyprice and with any methods. When thosepronounced to be converts do not act likeChristians, do not love what Christians love, andhate what Christians hate, and do not willinglyserve Christ in his church, some explanation mustbe found other than calling upon them to decidefor Christ. They have already done that and havealready been pronounced by the preacher orpersonal worker to be Christians. But when theydont act like Christians something is wrong.What is it? The teaching I have sought to answersays that the trouble is that they are just carnalChristians; they have not made Christ Lord oftheir lives; they have not let him occupy the throne

  • of their hearts. Once this explanation is seen to beunscriptural it will also be seen to be closelyconnected with an initial error over evangelismitself. Too often, modern evangelism hassubstituted a decision in the place of repentanceand saving faith. Forgiveness is preached withoutthe equally important truth that the Spirit of Godmust change the heart. As a result decisions aretreated as conversions even though there is noevidence of a supernatural work of God in the life.

    Surely the best way to end this evil is to pray andlabour for the restoration of New Testamentevangelism! Whenever such evangelism exists itis certain that men will learn that it is not enoughto profess to be a Christian, and not enough to callJesus Lord, Lord (Luke 6:46). The gospelpreached in awakening power will summon mennot to rest without biblical evidence that they areborn of God. It will disturb those who, without

  • good reason, have believed that they are alreadyChristians. It will arouse backsliders by tellingthem that as long as they remain in that conditionthe possibility exists that they never were genuinebelievers at all. And to understand this will bringnew depths of compassion and urgency to thehearts of Gods people in this fallen world.

    One of the greatest hindrances to the recovery ofsuch preaching is the theory we have considered.To reject that theory is to be brought back to a newstarting-point in evangelism and in theunderstanding of the Christian life. It is to bringGods work into the centre of our thinking. It is tosee afresh that there are only two alternatives the natural life or the spiritual life, the broad wayor the narrow way, the gospel in word only orthe gospel in power and in the Holy Ghost (1Thess. 1:5), the house on the sand or the house onthe rock.

  • There is no surer certainty than the fact that anunchanged heart and a worldly life will bring mento hell. Let no man deceive you with vain words:for because of these things cometh the wrath ofGod upon the children of disobedience (Eph. 5: 6)

    It is not only in the world today that evangelism isneeded. It is needed in the church.