Posted on 05/25/2017 6:05:55 AM PDT by Gamecock
Growing into Conformity
The modern distinction between the “carnal Christian” and the “Spirit-filled Christian” is a dangerous one. If a carnal Christian is described as one whose fallen nature has not yet been changed by grace, it is a contradiction in terms. If a person is carnal in the sense that the Holy Spirit resides in him without affecting his constituent nature in any way, then he is simply not a Christian. To view regeneration as not effecting any real change in the person is a serious distortion of regeneration. Here the Holy Spirit indwells but does nothing to effect change in the person.
If a Spirit-filled Christian is defined as one in whom the flesh is absent entirely, then the only Spirit-filled Christians are those now in heaven. Every Christian is to some degree carnal in this world, insofar as the remnants of the flesh are still there provoking warfare. In this sense, the Apostle Paul, after his conversion, was a carnal Christian. Every Christian is also spiritual in that the Holy Spirit indwells him and works in him, through him, and on him.
The biblical view involves the indwelling of a divine person within a human person who has been truly regenerated by the power of the divine person. The human person has changed. His old nature is dying, and by cooperation with the grace of the Holy Spirit, the new man is growing into conformity to Christ.
Coram Deo
Thank God for the ministry of the Holy Spirit working in, through, and on you.
Passages for Further Study
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,3 he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Ping!
I know people who claim (claimed) to be Christian and NOTHING ever really changed for them.
One woman in particular who I dealt with used all the right lingo but refused to get into the word and would not deal with her ongoing personal issues.
She was a master manipulator and I am convinced that she picked up on just enough of what she thought I wanted to hear and used it to try to manipulate me.
She has passed on and I can only hope that her claims of conversion were genuine. I’ll find out some day.
I agree.
There are people who wish to be active in the culture of Jesus, and who profess belief, but have not fully committed their trust to Jesus, and are not truly "born anew." I call them "unregenerated believers." However, it is not given to me to judge whether one is or is not regenerated. Nevertheless, I often must evaluate whether or not one acts as though they are regenerated, and deal with them accordingly, regarding the degree of confidence for me to place in that person's profession.
One outstanding example was Charles Templeton (click here), the erstwhile evangelist contemporary and friend of Billy Graham.
Templeton was such an enthusiastic but unregenerate believer that he even fooled himself for quite a while. But events sadly show that one must assess that God never saved him.
On the other hand, one must realistically treat a person who says they do not trust God or Jesus as truly being unregenerate.
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