Tony Evans is wrong on Carnal Christianity

Counterfeit, errant dogmas always creep around the Christian church. In fact, Revelation chapter two records a warning from Jesus against dangerous doctrines that led His people astray. In the contemporary church the "carnal Christian," a sin-friendly doctrinal hybrid, is worming its way into Christian orthodoxy.

Trumpeting this "carnal Christian" theme around the globe is Dr. Tony Evans. All of the quotations from Dr. Evans' contained in this article are excerpted from his pamphlet The Carnal Christian. In opposition to historic Christianity Dr. Evans gathers his carnal Christian theory from three solitary verses in first Corinthians chapter three:

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? 1 Cor 3:1-3

"Notice that Paul calls them brethren," wrote Dr. Evans, "which means that he believed they were a part of the family of God...it is possible," insists the learned Dr. Evans, "to be on your way to heaven but be of no earthly good because you compromise your faith." Tony Evans is correct dear reader, Paul did call the Corinthians "brethren" and this does indeed mean "that he believed they were a part of the family of God." From this passage, however, Tony Evans dives headlong into a gurgling cauldron of scripturally unfounded assertions:

"Simply defined, carnality is a spiritual state in which a born-again Christian knowingly, willingly, intentionally and persistently lives to please and serve self rather than Jesus Christ."

“Committed Christians may fall into sin, but a carnal Christian bathes in it. He has the mindset, motivation and methodology of sin."

Because Paul called the Corinthians "brethren" and "carnal" (or worldly) does it follow that they had the option to remain such and still enter the kingdom of God as Tony Evans assumes? The answer is plainly - No. Carnality was not an option for the Corinthians or for us. Paul's rebuke to the "carnal" in 1 Corinthians 3 is further clarified later in the same book (though Dr. Evans does not mention it):

"Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God." 1 Cor 6:9-10

Paul isn't the only one to disavow the "carnal Christian." Not even a hint of this dogma can be found in any teacher, confession or catechism that I have researched from Christian history. From the Ante-Nicene Fathers to the Westminster Confession and the Baptist Confession of 1689 no carnal Christian dogma may be found. From Martin Luther to James Arminius or John Calvin no carnal Christian dogma may be found. From Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield to John Wesley or Charles Finney no carnal Christian dogma may be found. Tony Evans' "carnal Christian" is not true.

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