If he thought of them as "carnal" he did not think of them as "in Christ".
??? But he did. As I showed you from his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul actually DID think of them both as "babes in Christ"
and carnal.
This was a slap in the face from Paul to the Corinthians..
A sort of "get straight or go home" message for the adulterers and other types of sinners who professed faith in Christ but whose actions denied it.
If they wanted to walk as children of the devil, then quit calling themselves children of God.
But this isn't actually what Paul wrote to the Christians at Corinth - as I showed you from the many references I offered to you from his letter. Yes, he tells the Corinthian Christians to shape up, but he never denies that they are fellow believers but, instead, repeatedly confirms their membership in God's family in the midst of his criticism of them.
Your following exchange with
electedbyhim is very concerning,
Hopeful:
Yes, thanks be to God.
How do you mean you are sinless? In actual, practical daily living? If so, I would refer you to the apostle John's words:
1 John 1:8-10
8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.
Every child of God is, positionally, in Christ, fully justified and sanctified by him (
1 Corinthians 1:30). But in their daily condition, the believer is in a process whereby their position in Christ is being more and more fully manifested in how they live. And so, we read all throughout the NT growth language:
Ephesians 4:14-15
14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;
15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,
Hebrews 5:12-14
12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.
14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.
1 Corinthians 14:20
20 Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.
Colossians 2:19
19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.
If one is in a process of growth spiritually, they will necessarily be moving from a place of immaturity to maturity, from ignorance to full knowledge, from carnality to crucifixion. But what marks immaturity, ignorance and carnality? Sin, selfishness, spiritual inconsistency.
Every believer moves through
a process from spiritual immaturity, characterized by moral stumbling, mistaken beliefs, and weak faith, toward holiness, spiritual stability, and deep, settled conviction of the truth of God's word. It is the self-deceived person, then, who claims they are without sin, contradicting God in the making of such a claim.
2 Peter 1:4-9
4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may BECOME partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,
6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,
7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.
8 For if these qualities are yours and ARE INCREASING, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.
