Day 8/23 – Three Kinds of People

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Thoughts from the Diary of a Desperate Man by Walter A Henrichsen (“Walt”)
Three Kinds of People
Day Two Hundred Thirty-five

“And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.” 1 Corinthians 3:1

In this section of his letter to the Corinthians, Paul calls attention to three kinds of people. First he identifies the unregenerate person: “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”310 Second, the spiritual Christian: “The spiritual man judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.”311 Finally, the carnal Christian who acts like “a babe in Christ.” In this section of his letter, Paul contrasts the wisdom of the world with the wisdom of God. The carnal person is one who, although a Christian, reasons with the wisdom of the world and thus behaves in a manner similar to the unregenerate.

Worldly wisdom is that which the world uses to come to its conclusions. Paul does not argue that worldly wisdom is bad and therefore to be avoided, but rather that it cannot assist in either salvation or sanctification. It may be helpful in the affairs of this life, but it cannot help you find or please God. When you seek to apply worldly wisdom to the affairs of God, you manifest carnality. For example if you seek to get even with someone for the way your were treated, you are carnal.

Paul says the carnal person acts like a babe in Christ, but carnality is not an issue of how long you have been a Christian. You can be young in Christ and spiritual, and you can have known Christ for 50 years and be carnal. Any mind set, action or reaction not in accordance with the character of Christ is carnality.

310 I Corinthians 2:14
311 I Corinthians 2:15

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Psalm 113-115 1 Corinthians 6 (New King James Version)

Psalm 113-115
The Majesty and Condescension of God
113
Praise[a] the Lord!
Praise, O servants of the Lord,
Praise the name of the Lord!
2
Blessed be the name of the Lord
From this time forth and forevermore!
3
From the rising of the sun to its going down
The Lord’s name is to be praised.
4
The Lord is high above all nations,
His glory above the heavens.
5
Who is like the Lord our God,
Who dwells on high,
6
Who humbles Himself to behold
The things that are in the heavens and in the earth?
7
He raises the poor out of the dust,
And lifts the needy out of the ash heap,
8
That He may seat him with princes—
With the princes of His people.
9
He grants the [b]barren woman a home,
Like a joyful mother of children.
Praise the Lord!
The Power of God in His Deliverance of Israel
114
When Israel went out of Egypt,
The house of Jacob from a people [c]of strange language,
2
Judah became His sanctuary,
And Israel His dominion.
3
The sea saw it and fled;
Jordan turned back.
4
The mountains skipped like rams,
The little hills like lambs.
5
What ails you, O sea, that you fled?
O Jordan, that you turned back?
6
O mountains, that you skipped like rams?
O little hills, like lambs?
7
Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
At the presence of the God of Jacob,
8
Who turned the rock into a pool of water,
The flint into a fountain of waters.
The Futility of Idols and the Trustworthiness of God
115
Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us,
But to Your name give glory,
Because of Your mercy,
Because of Your truth.
2
Why should the [d]Gentiles say,
“So where is their God?”
3
But our God is in heaven;
He does whatever He pleases.
4
Their idols are silver and gold,
The work of men’s hands.
5
They have mouths, but they do not speak;
Eyes they have, but they do not see;
6
They have ears, but they do not hear;
Noses they have, but they do not smell;
7
They have hands, but they do not handle;
Feet they have, but they do not walk;
Nor do they mutter through their throat.
8
Those who make them are like them;
So is everyone who trusts in them.
9
O Israel, trust in the Lord;
He is their help and their shield.
10
O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord;
He is their help and their shield.
11
You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord;
He is their help and their shield.
12
The Lord [e]has been mindful of us;
He will bless us;
He will bless the house of Israel;
He will bless the house of Aaron.
13
He will bless those who fear the Lord,
Both small and great.
14
May the Lord give you increase more and more,
You and your children.
15
May you be blessed by the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
16
The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s;
But the earth He has given to the children of men.
17
The dead do not praise the Lord,
Nor any who go down into silence.
18
But we will bless the Lord
From this time forth and forevermore.
Praise the Lord!
Footnotes:
• Psalm 113:1 Heb. Hallelujah
• Psalm 113:9 childless
• Psalm 114:1 who spoke unintelligibly
• Psalm 115:2 nations
• Psalm 115:12 has remembered us

1 Corinthians 6
Do Not Sue the Brethren
6 Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? 2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3 Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? 4 If then you have [a]judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge? 5 I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren? 6 But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers!
7 Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated? 8 No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren! 9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor [b]homosexuals, nor [c]sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were [d]sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
Glorify God in Body and Spirit
12 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not [e]helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of [f]any. 13 Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power.
15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body [g]and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Footnotes:
• 1 Corinthians 6:4 courts
• 1 Corinthians 6:9 catamites, those submitting to homosexuals
• 1 Corinthians 6:9 male homosexuals
• 1 Corinthians 6:11 set apart
• 1 Corinthians 6:12 profitable
• 1 Corinthians 6:12 Or anything
• 1 Corinthians 6:20 NU omits the rest of v. 20.