As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
Paul wrote (NKJV)
And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.
I chose the NKJV because it retains the word “carnal,” and the term “carnal Christian” was derived from that. So do genuinely carnal Christians exist? Or are these new believers who haven’t progressed much? Or is Paul uncertain about their conversion?
This could tie in with 2 Corinthians 13:5 perhaps?
“Taking a closer look at these charges.
“In the same way we struggled to assemble Christmas toys, evolutionary biologists have struggled to piece together a clear picture of life in one of its earliest forms—LUCA (life’s universal common ancestor).” - Reasons to Believe
“Dr. Mark Ward interviews Bible scholar, professor, and author Rev. Dr. Vern Poythress about Trinitarian theology and more.” - Word by Word
“What is temptation? As John Owen notes, ‘It is raising up in the heart, and proposing unto the mind and affections, that which is evil; trying, as it were, whether the soul will close with its suggestions, or how far it will carry them on, though it do not wholly prevail….’” - Ref21
“In an interview with CT, Hunt shared what he learned from listening to hundreds of Stott’s sermons. The transcript has been edited for clarity and length.” - CToday
“Why does God restore Job? I won’t bury the answer: God is God and he does what he wants. He wants to restore Job. This is what the entire book drives at.” - TGC
“[Matthew] Arnold’s ghost haunts a recent three-way dialogue between well-known public intellectuals Douglas Murray, Tom Holland, and Steve Meyer, hosted by Peter Robinson of the Hoover Institution.” - World
Read Part 1.
If we take a look at 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 we can try and track what the apostle is teaching:
But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. (1 Thess. 4:13)
Paul’s concern is that the embattled believers at Thessalonica are not unaware of a certain doctrine concerning those saints who have passed since it will give them hope.
The book “is the product of LaPine’s Ph.D. research… at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Deerfield, IL). His academic interests in theology, human emotion, the functions of the mind, and neuroscience were motivated by personal reasons and the desire to help those closest to him” - London Lyceum
Discussion