“That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God,” (Romans 8:4-8 AV)





I was tuning around the radio the other day for news.  Nothing unusual was going on so I punched up the memory button for one of the local Christian stations I have programmed into the radio's memory bank.  My all time favorite, go to guy for just about everything theologically interpretive and spiritually applicable, was on the air.  Good," I thought.  "I haven't listened to him, or anyone else other than my pastor, for a long time."  So I settled back to listen.  He was talking about those who teach there are valleys and mountains in every Christian life and that if you just hold on to God in the darkness, the light will bloom and another mountain top will be achieved, or something like that.  So I thought, "So far; so good."  He then, for the second time in 30 years of listening to him, including supporting his ministry through the purchasing of many of his teaching tapes over the years, heard him say something that, not only rub me wrong, but I believe is Biblically incorrect.  Thankful that the radio program was coming to an end, I reached over, and snapping off my radio, I leaned back in my recliner and thought about what he had just said for the second time.  It has to do with the Biblical usage of the word "carnal.".



To save you time of going back and reading the previously quoted passage again, I'll plug it in here again before going further with my comments.



“That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God,” (Romans 8:4-8 AV)



Let me begin by saying how much this passage, shoot, even the whole chapter, used to bother me to no end through the majority of my 58 years of being born again.  Why?  First, I wasn't for sure I was walking in the Holy Spirit or my own flesh most of the time.  I mean, really, what does that mean.  I thought I knew but I had personal doubts about myself and what God would, and would not, accept.  Much of the doubting came from Bible teaching and preaching, too, and the rest came from what other Christians did in their life.  I was taught to focus on strong Christians, I growled as a lion that was about to spring, when I typed the word, "strong."  What in the world is a strong Christian anyway?  At least, I used to always wonder but never said it out loud for fear someone might hear me.



The Greek word for "Carnal" and it's various forms, means two basic things.  First, one word means animalistic or ones nature which leads to sin and to the physical body.  The other Greek word refers more to the natural way of life but which doesn't always end up as living in perpetual sin.  In most Christian teaching that I have heard, during the 58 years of being a born again Christian and hearing no fewer than probably 60,000 sermons, teachings, and Biblical messages, it always seemed to be used as a sinister word of degradation and debauchery; resulting in sin and condemnation of some sort.  As I said, some usage of the word means it refers to every day human life.  Earthly and fleshly are words we commonly use in relationship to some Greek renderings of the words carnal or carnality.  So, without setting up my own Bible seminary or starting my own church, is my favorite Bible teacher right or wrong?  Let me remind you, basically, what he said.  He believes you are not walking in faith if, as a Christian, you have ups and downs, valleys and mountains, in your walk with the Lord.  What he means is this:  If you were walking in faith, you would not have ups and downs.  Try telling Elijah that; the greatest prophet that ever lived, in my opinion.  How about Moses, King David, Solomon, the Apostle Paul, or maybe Peter?  Did they experience hard times and were they always successful and on cloud nine?  Can anyone point to any person that hasn't faced ups and downs, or if you prefer, valleys and mountains, in their relationship with the Lord?



The problem, in my humble opinion, is what we believe about being sinners.  I was raised the we were born a sinner, truth enough, and that we needed a Savior; absolutely.  Then, even as Christians, our own hymns we sing, report that we are still sinners.  Believers, Christians, people who are born again, are still sinners.  There are two types of sinners; the lost, those who have never accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior, and the saved living in willful sin, or committing sin knowingly.  1 John 1:9 confirms "If we confess our sins," as Christians, these are sins committed since our salvitic born again experience, "He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins," so we are admitting we have sinned although we are in our new nature, and God promised to "cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  Hey, wait just a minute.  How did we jump from committing sin as Christians to the righteousness of God.  It's this way.  Sins committed as a born again Christian are not sins which condemn of to hell; they are sins of unrighteous acts which isn't compatible with God's nature of righteousness.  So how do we adjust our relationship with God if we sin as a Christian?  We use 1 John 1:9 to get it fixed.  Note we do not have to ask for forgiveness; only confess we sinned.  We aren't confessing we are unsaved or somehow have lost our salvation; we are confessing we fell short of the righteousness of God as his children.  You see, this is how people have come to believe that we don't get to keep our salvation if we commit sin once we are born again.  They believe we must be saved all over again.  This becomes a problem when facing death's door.  Are we, or are we not, because a big question we desperately want answered before dying.  Right?  You see, it is this way.  You are not a sinner because you sin; you sin because you are a sinner.  Read that a couple of more times and meditate on it and you will see what it truly means.  So when we are born into this world, all are born sinners and we sin perpetually.  Once you are born again, you are born anew.  You do not experience being reborn over and over again because you sinned as a Christian, you simply confess that unrighteousness as sin and God cleanses you from all unrighteous acts committed as a Christian.  Getting cleansed from all sin happened at the cross and at the moment you prayed and admitted you were a sinner and could not save yourself; asking Jesus to forgive your sins and to come be your Lord of your life and the Savior of your soul.  After that is done, committed sin is not condemnatory, meaning, you won't go to hell because you sinned, it means, you are walking in unrighteousness and you simply pray, confess you recognize it as sin, and God, who is faithful and just, will cleanse you from all unrighteousness committed as a Believer.



Now back to carnality as a Christian.  If it were true, as my favorite Bible teacher says, walking in faith, there won't be valleys and mountains, that is, we won't change from happy to sad and back again but walk a smooth straight path, is he right.  No, he is incorrect based upon 1 John 1:9.  If we are still sinners, Jesus didn't finish His salvitic work on the cross and His resurrection didn't finalize anything.  To prove what I just said, read this:



“By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.” (Hebrews 10:10-18 AV).



Right about now, somebody is thinking, "but I doubt my salvation from time to time and it scares me to think that way."  Me, too, that is, I was 50 years old before I got the message about doubting my own salvation.  Did you notice that it said the Holy Ghost is our witness?  Even if you think you've sinned, lost your salvation, the Holy Spirit stands in your place to confirm to God that you are truly born again and nobody is going to deny the Holy Spirit.  It is very God of very God that is living with us and bears witness in our behalf.  Years ago, I had an older friend ask me an unusual question.  He wanted to know if a born again Christian gets a head injury, something we today call TBI or Traumatic Brain Injury, and he experiences amnesia and cannot recall if he is born again, is he truly born again or does he have to get saved all over again?  Of course, the answer is, yes; he is born again and, no, he doesn't need to be born again a second or third or fourth time.  The reason is because the Holy Spirit is our witness; we don't stand on our own witness; we can't, without the Mediator between God and man; the man Christ Jesus , (I Timothy 2:5).  The Holy Spirit stands in witness of our salvation.  Jesus died once for all sin regardless of what it is and when it is.  In short, Jesus died for all your sins from beginning to the end of your life.  Sure, if you want to keep praying and asking Jesus to save you, you can.  It doesn't hurt anything except it is burning needless spirit energy and it won't make you feel any better anyway.  I know that from personal experience.  So we stand on the authority of God's Word or we don't.



Let me say something that most Christians will say is heresy.  If I were to ask you, "How long do you go without sinning?" most Christians would say they sin every day.  If I say, "Ok, tell me when you last sinned and what you did," the average Christian quickly comes to a stopping point.  If you are living in habitual sin willingly, note I said, "willingly," then we are discussing something different.  Let's say you think for a minute and then you say, "Well, I told a dirty joke yesterday.  Well, it is sort of dirty.  I mean, it isn't Christian, so I sinned."  Did you sin or was it an act of unrighteousness?  There's no difference you say.  Then explain 1 John 1:9 to me because they are not the same thing.  One type of sin is committed repetitively because they don't know Christ or possibly have heard the Gospel and said, no.  The other form of sin is classified by the Holy Spirit as an act of unrighteousness and can be forgive and dismissed; never to be counted against you again.  Why, because Jesus died once for sins, all sins, even those you may commit even as a Christian.  All my kids are grown but lets say, when they were little, they got punished for something they said or did.  Maybe I go into the bedroom and try and comfort them that I'm not mad at them and try explaining everything to them all over again for the reason they were punished.  What if they said, "Go away.  I don't like you.  I hate you.  I don't want you to be my father any more."  Do you think that makes me stop loving them?  Do you think it stops me from still being their father?  Of course not.  So where does it say in the Bible that God stops being your Father?  About this time, people start making up all sorts of scenarios of what if this happened and what if that happened and what if I said and so on and so forth.  Just stop it.  Jesus isn't going to stop loving you even if you deny Him.  To do so is denying Himself and that is literally impossible.   

“If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.” (2 Timothy 2:13 AV).  When we were first born again, Jesus invested Himself fully in us and the Holy Spirit bears witness such is true.  He cannot deny you because He is in you.  Finally, people end up saying, well, I never really got saved in the first place.  This is called deceit.  The Enemy has fooled you, using unholy reasoning and ungodly logic, and you simply are believing a lie.  Then the granddaddy argument, concerning our salvation, that is supposed to stop us dead in our tracks.  "What if I die as a Christian with unconfessed sin?  Won't that keep me from going to Heaven?"  No, and for three reasons.  First, The cross covers all sin, whenever, and wherever, it has been committed; even after salvation.  Secondly, as just stated, with the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, Jesus cannot deny Himself.  Finally, we will stand before the Lord, after death or following the rapture, and confess what sins we somehow overlooked.  Those confessed sins do not condemn us because they were acts of unrighteousness; not sins of condemnation to hell.  See there?  You've been worrying all this time for nothing.  By the way, if you doubt your salvation, you cannot doubt something you never had in the first place.  "But I did this and I did that."  Yes, we all are deceived by the Enemy from time to time and our salvation is the number one target.  Take every thought captive and don't believe everything you hear in your thoughts.



Phil.