I AM CARNAL

For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. Rom. 7:14






CARNAL = the sensuous nature of man. I am carnal. I was born carnal; I was raised carnal. I was exposed to all kinds of carnal things growing up, mostly by media (entertainment) and advertising, to the point that I am attracted to and my lusts are gratified by all things worldly and all things of the flesh… albeit, momentarily. So are you.

I say momentarily because that is all anyone who seeks “satisfaction” in the flesh can really expect. We live in “a” moment. There is nothing in the temporal, carnal existence that is eternally satiating or fulfilling. Having our senses glutted satisfies for the moment, but then we want the experience again. Our emotions are excited, our senses are heightened, our intellect is stimulated from moment to moment. Because that is what time does… tick-tocks to the next moment. What has “happened” is of no further consequence or consideration, unless it is happening now.

There once was a “moment” when I did not believe there was any kind of God, let alone a Savior Father God. There was once a moment when I believed there was no condemnation… no hell. And then there was a moment when I believed I was a sinner and my ultimate destination was the same as satan's... the eternal lake of fire. Did I go from carnal to spiritual? NO! I went from unbeliever to believer.

“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things” 1 Cor. 13:11
“When I became a man”  speaks of (spiritual) MATURITY which I have not attained.

To this day I can be emotionally (carnally) moved by a dramatic or creative Broadway production… or a novice's metamorphic phenomenon on Dancing With The Stars… or an Ansel Adams photograph… or a Henry David Thoreau essay… or a piece of music (from almost any genre)… or a Shakespearean sonnet.

These are achievements of man. And while anyone and everyone would say, “These are wonderful works to be enjoyed and appreciated”… they are nonetheless carnal...fleeting and of no eternal consequence.

“For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace” Rom. 8:6.

The word “minded” speaks of a preoccupation, to have those thoughts, to be in agreement with (God). SPIRITUAL = of the spirit, i.e. the vital principal by which the body is animated… LIFE! Here we see the contrast between carnal and spiritual; the message of the Gospel - death or life. We KNOW we will die... we see it all around us every day. We are born, and we will die. What we DON'T see is ETERNAL life... or the NEW BIRTH for that matter.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Heb. 11:1

[How may we know whether we are after the flesh or after the Spirit? By examining what we mind, the things of the flesh or the things of the spirit. Carnal pleasure, worldly profit and honor, the things of sense and time, are the things of the flesh... The favor of God, the welfare of the soul, the concerns of eternity, are the things of the Spirit, which those that are after the Spirit do mind. The man is as the mind is. The mind is the forge of thoughts.
As he thinketh in his heart, so is he, Prov. 23:7.
Which way do the thoughts move with most pleasure? On what do they dwell with most satisfaction? The mind is the seat of wisdom] ~Matthew Henry Commentary

When (I dare not say IF) I was “saved” God DID something for me… I did nothing to merit His Grace except (one might say) I repented in sorrow for my sin, which God showed me. What He did for me was to adopt me into His kingdom as one being born again into a new life. A human baby as a “fetus” has a life within the mother. “In due time” it is born into a new life… much more liberating than the one before.

So is the one born again into the Spiritual Kingdom of God Almighty… liberated into the spiritual freedom of Christ… having been justified and sanctified… “into the glorious liberty of the children of God” Rom.8:21. We are to grow and mature into the very image of life that Jesus set before us - each of us manifesting… making clear, over and over again, the example He left for us.

The “instruction” on how to do that is neither clear nor simple. Oh it is easy enough to reiterate the exhortation… “mortify the deeds of the body” Rom. 8:13 …along with all the other clichés and truisms (for that is what they have become for too many people) that have been handed down to us from generation to generation - “walk in the Spirit… crucify the old man… be holy… sin not… love your enemies”, etc. All zealous goals of a truly regenerated man, but (it would seem) a difficult, illusive achievement for us all.


It is not so easy to elucidate on the how to’s and wherefores of the process of maturing into the discipleship. I am not talking about a “10 step” plan… I am talking about a way of life. Few individuals can just “start” living the spiritual life, let alone mature into (or toward) “perfection”. We don’t do that because we leave the “church” on Sunday and jump right back in the world. In fact, some of us bring the world to church with us. Oh I can hear the vehement denials, but the fact is… that is our sorry state.

“A spiritual state is the key to all that is of God. (Living in the Spirit) is the door and the key to the door, beyond which lies everything that relates to God. Without spirituality there is no way through; the door is closed. The word 'cannot' stands written as an impassable barrier - cannot understand or receive the things of the Spirit of God” ~T. Austin-Sparks, Spirituality: The Key to All That is of God

A mature Christian… a true elder in the faith is needed to impart the discipline and reveal the lessons of scripture for A P P L I C A T I O N in our lives.

"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?" 1 Cor. 3:1-4.
Or... "I am Baptist, I am Catholic, I am Presbyterian, I am" ...whatever you are.
ALL are carnal! We are convicted by that passage. Show me that Spiritual man whose testimony comes from God and NOT himself.

Someone once said, “Preaching the Gospel is like trying to describe the sunset to a blind man”. How insensitive and unloving to not try and describe a sunset to a blind man? What were you before the Gospel was preached to you, but blind?